Chamber and committees

As a result of the announcement of additional sums of money during 2011-12, North Lanarkshire Council received an extra £3.6 million; South Lanarkshire Council £3.2 million and Falkirk Council £2.1 million. These sums were in addition to their original allocations contained in the 2011-12 local government finance settlements.

I have not had any recent direct discussions with North Lanarkshire Council about the council tax freeze but I wrote to the COSLA President, copied to all local authority leaders, on 20 September 2012 setting out the terms of the 2013-14 local government finance settlement. In that letter I made it clear that in return for this agreed level of funding I will expect all local authorities, including North Lanarkshire Council, to maintain the council tax freeze in 2013-14 which will be the sixth consecutive year of the freeze.

North Lanarkshire Council was allocated £656.2 million in revenue and £28.5 million in capital funding as part of the 2011-12 local government finance settlement. Following the announcement of additional sums of money during 2011-12, North Lanarkshire Council received a further £3.6 million in revenue funding.

Achieving a Sustainable Future: The Regeneration Strategy articulates the vision of a Scotland where our most disadvantaged communities are supported and where all places are sustainable and promote wellbeing.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/12/09110320/0.

The government is putting in place an overarching flexible framework for delivery and the right conditions to implement the vision, and to drive forward and evaluate change so as to make a lasting difference. This includes an emphasis on community-led regeneration and on focussed funding mechanisms.

Local authorities have responsibility for delivering local economic development and local regeneration. They are well placed to link economic opportunity and need across Central Scotland by developing the right working relationships so that opportunities can be exploited to respond to local conditions in an effective way.

As set out in Scotland’s Digital Future – Infrastructure Action Plan, enhanced mobile coverage across the whole of Scotland is a priority for the Scottish Government; and we continue to have discussions with mobile operators about improving coverage across Scotland.

EE (formerly Everything Everywhere) will launch the first 4G network in the UK on 30 October 2012. This will initially cover ten cities, including Glasgow and Edinburgh, with six more to be added by the end of the year. Other operators’ roll out plans will be confirmed once the 4G spectrum auction has taken place early next year.

Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, has responsibility for the auction and for setting licence conditions. The Scottish Government has successfully lobbied for a high 4G coverage obligation in Scotland. This has resulted in a 95% indoor coverage level target being set in all four UK nations – a considerable improvement on the targets originally proposed by Ofcom in 2011 and one that will extend 4G services across the whole of Scotland.

I last met the Chair of NHS Lanarkshire at the monthly meeting of Health Board Chairs on 1 October 2012 when a range of important health issues were discussed.

The total amount of indicative funding which the Scottish Government will provide to authorities in Central Scotland under the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme is £61.46 million. Central Scotland has been defined for the purpose of this parliamentary question as the local authorities which fall under the Central Scotland Parliamentary area. These include Falkirk, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire.

Scottish Government guidance issued under cover of SGHD/CMO(2011)3 on 18 March 2011 clarifies that the responsibility for an application to an NHS board for an Individual Patient Treatment Request (IPTR) rests with the clinician who supports prescribing the requested medicine. The guidance also clarifies that it is the clinician who is expected to demonstrate the clinical case to support the IPTR application.

The Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee have agreed to consider the evidence presented to it at its meeting on 18 September 2012 within the context of the three petitions (PE1398; PE1399 and PE1401) referred to it by the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee in March 2012.

The Scottish Government will consider and respond to any recommendations from the Health and Sport Committee regarding improvements to extant arrangements for the introduction of newly licensed medicines in the NHS in Scotland.