Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has brought forward approximately £350 million of capital spending from 2010-11 into 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Using the Scottish Government Input Output model of the Scottish economy, it is estimated that this expenditure will support approximately 5,100 jobs in the Scottish economy over this period. The number of jobs created relative to the number of jobs sustained will depend upon the individual employment decisions taken by companies benefiting from projects undertaken as a result of the capital acceleration.

The Scotland Performs website shows the progress being made by government towards the National Outcomes and targets set out in the National Performance Framework. The Framework was fully integrated into the Spending Review 2007 and was articulated in the Spending Review 2007 document. It provides clarity for outcomes-focused government, aligning all government action and spending decisions behind a single unifying purpose. Essentially, it ensures that our spending decisions, and those of our partners, support the achievement of our shared ambitions. Scotland Performs is still developing and the picture it offers will build and become more sophisticated over time, enabling people to see and judge for themselves the progress we are making.

The Scottish Government will honour any existing multi-year pay deals for government and public sector staff for whom it has responsibility.

We are working together with the Equality and Budget Advisory Group on how the budget processes can take equality issues into account. We are continuing to raise awareness about the need to mainstream equality both into policies and budgets, seeking to improve the information on equality issues in the government''s budget, and looking into possible ways of reporting on progress of equality proofing the budget. To support successful delivery on our purpose and outcomes and to meet our public sector equality duties, we expect policies and activities to be subject to the equality impact assessment process.

During the debate on the economy on 30 April 2009, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth confirmed that a carbon assessment of expenditure would be published with the 2010-11 budget proposals, making it available for parliamentary scrutiny at the same time. This intention was reflected in motion S3M-4004 passed at the end of that debate, and work is currently on-going to deliver that assessment. Some policy areas such as transport already include carbon as part of their appraisal of proposals, and we are continuing to develop an assessment method which can be applied more widely across government at the level of plans, policies and projects.

The Scottish Government''s end-year flexibility (EYF) balance was last published in HM Treasury''s Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper (PEOWP) issued in July 2008. This recorded a balance of £952 million. £313 million has been drawn down in 2008-09 and there is an agreement with HM Treasury to access a further £400 million in 2009-10 and £174 million in 2010-11. Any EYF generated in 2008-09 will be announced as part of my provisional outturn statement in late June and the total EYF balance will be next published by HM Treasury in July 2009.

Details of the allocation of the Barnett consequentials will be announced shortly, following discussions between Scottish ministers.

The government''s purpose of delivering sustainable economic growth and the targets described in the Government Economic Strategy are the key drivers of Scottish Government policy and spending decisions. This was clearly articulated in the Spending Review 2007 document and has been reaffirmed in subsequent budget documents. Further progress to demonstrate the linkages between expenditure and the government''s National Performance Framework will be reported to the Finance Committee during the next budget round.

The Scotland Performs website brings together many different results from dozens of sources, all of which have differing requirements in terms of processing, quality assurance and publication. The data on Scotland Performs is at any time the most up-to-date there is available. Though some gaps and time lags have been unavoidable due to the move to focus on outcomes and the need to identify new performance measures to best support that, the position is improving all the time. In the past six months alone, 24 updates have been made to the website, some of them making data available for the very first time.

The data on Scotland Performs is produced under Official Statistics Standards, which are set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. This requires that data is published as soon as is practicably possible, whilst assuring the high standards of quality of Official Statistics. Statisticians within government are always striving to minimise data lag and, where these cannot be reduced further, to consider provisional or proxy sources to help give earlier information.

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) are providing on-going expert advice to the NHS Grampian Outbreak Control Team to support the management of the current outbreak at Dr Gray''s Hospital, Elgin.

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) have also undertaken a review of the infection prevention and control processes in place at Dr Grays. This function is consistent with the NHS QIS remit of providing advice and guidance on effective clinical practice, including setting standards, and to drive and support implementation of improvements in quality across NHS Scotland.

Their report will be published on the NHS QIS website by the end of June 2009. I will ensure that any lessons needing to be learned are applied to NHS Grampian as well as to NHS Scotland as a whole.

I am advised by NHS Grampian that on 30 April 2009 the Infection Control Team at Dr Gray''s Hospital identified a higher than expected number of Clostridium difficile cases recorded over the course of that month. The Scottish Government was notified on the same day.

NHS Grampian has determined the start of the outbreak in Dr Gray''s Hospital as 1 April 2009. The first case identified thereafter was on 6 April 2009. However, in line with Health Protection Scotland (HPS) guidance, a look back exercise of all Clostridium difficile cases up to 12 weeks prior to 1 April 2009 is now underway. This will confirm when the first case linked to the current incident occurred.

A full Outbreak Control Report will be available once all investigations are complete.