Chamber and committees

Section 245E of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 allows for an offender to apply to the court for a review of a Restriction of Liberty Order. In considering an application for review the court will take into account any information about the proposed new address, including the views of those affected by the enforced presence of the offender.

Eating for Health, the Scottish Diet Action Plan, set out dietary targets and recommended that accurate consistent healthy eating messages should be based on these. The dietary action recommended in Eating for Health is aimed at improving overall health and reducing the incidence of preventable dietary-related illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. The recommendations in Eating for Health apply to all sections of the community.Healthy eating in line with Eating for Health is promoted as part of health improvement by a range of organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors. A National Food and Health Co-ordinator was appointed in 2001 to give further impetus to implementation of Eating for Health. Information on the total resources involved in this work, which includes support for breakfast clubs from a number of sources, is not held centrally, nor is it possible to break down expenditure to identify work with adults and children separately. The Scottish Executive allocates £1 million each year to implementing Eating for Health and has prioritised diet within the £26 million Health Improvement Fund. Diet forms an important part of the £6 million National Health Demonstration Project "Have a Heart Paisley". The Executive has also created a £250,000 Breakfast Service Challenge Fund to expand services targeting vulnerable children and is reviewing current provision, and is also taking steps to improve the quality of school meals. The Scottish Community Diet Project has a specific remit to work with low-income communities and will receive funding of £1.2 million between 2002 and 2005. It supports a range of community food initiatives including breakfast clubs, community garden and allotment schemes, healthy food tasting sessions and local healthy food stores.

The issue of the balance between naval and commercial contracts was considered by the Clyde Shipyards Task Force which my predecessor, Ms Wendy Alexander, chaired. The task force recognises, in its report published in February 2002, that "BAE SYSTEMS Marine is predominantly a warship builder ... the Govan, Scotstoun and Barrow yards employ approximately 80% of the UK's warship design, build and integration skills base. However, given BAE SYSTEMS Marine's current business strategy, the success of this nationally important business is almost completely dependent upon continued success in winning warship design and build contracts."The task force's report also includes a recommendation that "BAE SYSTEMS Marine should continue to pursue commercial work where this is compatible with warship capacity demands and a sound business case can be made."The Govan and Scotstoun yards now have a healthy order book for naval orders and are well placed to win a significant proportion of the work on the MoD's two future aircraft carriers.

My predecessor, Ms Wendy Alexander, was unable to give evidence at the committee due to Cabinet business. However, she provided the committee with comprehensive and relevant evidence in the form of the recently published report of the Clyde Shipyards Task Force. This has provided the basis for evidence by other witnesses, a significant number of whom were members of the task force.

Electronic monitoring does not have a direct effect on an offender's housing entitlement. The court is required to request a social work assessment of the suitability of the place of restriction and information as to the attitude of persons likely to be affected by the enforced presence of the offender. If the social work assessment shows that the offender does not have accommodation, it is likely that the court will consider imposing a different sentence.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-26348.

The information requested is shown for financial years April 1997 to March 2001.Number of Patients Resident Outside the Greater Glasgow NHS Board Area Treated as an In-Patient or Daycase within the Board Area, April 1997 to March 2001.

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01
Number of patients1,2,3	38,439	38,862	37,534	37,576

Notes:1. These statistics are derived from data collected on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland.2. Probability matching methods have been used to link together individual SMR01 hospital discharges for each patient, thereby creating "linked" patient histories. Hence, if a patient has multiple hospital discharges in a year, they are counted once in the figure for that year.3. Figures exclude health board of residence "Unknown" or "No Fixed Abode".

The West of Scotland Chief Executives Group is currently considering a proposal for the regional planning and funding of neurosciences.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-26348.

Adult neurosurgical services are currently provided at four centres in Scotland: Grampian University Hospital NHS Trust, Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust, Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust and the Institute of Neurological Sciences, South Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust. Paediatric neurosurgery is provided at these four centres and at Yorkhill NHS Trust.