Chamber and committees

I fully appreciate the views expressed about a public inquiry. As I said in Parliament on 11 September, it is right to allow the investigation by the area procurator fiscal to conclude before any further decisions are taken by ministers. I will make a further statement to Parliament at the conclusion of these investigations. I am always happy to meet with the families of the deceased to discuss what happened at the Vale of Leven hospital.

As stated on page seven of the Independent Review Team''s report much consideration was given on how to appropriately and sensitively contact patients and relatives and it was decided that a newspaper advert would be the most appropriate means of contact. However, this meant that the review team were required to work to the publishing timetables set by the newspapers that were approached and this meant that there were unavoidable delays in getting the adverts published. The fundamental issue is, however, that the Independent Review Team met with a number of representatives of the families affected and took account of their comments when formulating the recommendations in their report.

I am advised by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde that fifteen nurses from the Vale of Leven hospital attended the training on Clostridium difficile in May 2007. It is not appropriate to present this figure as a percentage of the total nursing population at the hospital as not all nurses perform duties or functions where Clostridium difficile training would be relevant to their position.

A decision on whether to publish the written evidence considered by the Independent Review Team is currently being considered under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2005.

I have nothing further to add to my answer to question S3W-15681. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I am advised by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde that of the 73 staff who registered since May 2007 for the cleanliness champions programme, a total of 23 have now completed it. It is not possible to specify precisely when each member of staff completed their training as this will depend on when the staff member enrolled, but the programme takes approximately 20 hours to complete.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15681 on 10 September 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

It is for members of the local Infection Control Team to determine if a trigger point has been reached by using statistical process control methods. Trigger levels are based on norms calculated from historical data for each site under study, and are specific for each individual site.

The Scottish Government does not hold data regarding fuel prices as this matter is reserved. Competition authorities, such as the Office of Fair Trading, routinely investigate allegations of price fixing, anti-competitive agreements and abuse of any dominant market position.

The matter of fuel prices is reserved. But throughout the INEOS strike and the subsequent Suckling/Hoyer dispute, Scottish ministers discouraged petrol retailers from putting up prices unnecessarily. In addition, Scottish ministers encouraged the public to report instances of suspected profiteering to the appropriate competition authorities.