This search includes all content on the Scottish Parliament website, except for Votes and Motions. All Official Reports (what has been said in Parliament) and Questions and Answers are available from 1999. You can refine your search by adding and removing filters.
Will the First Minister share with us the instructions that he gave to his new Minister for Health and Community Care about the devolution of decision making to local areas in the health service?
The question concerns the interaction between schemes for establishing community health partnerships under new section 4A(1) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978, which is introduced under section 2 of the bill, and the regulations made by the Scottish ministers under new section 4A(5).
That should not hinder any understanding of the process. I am new to the Parliament and its committee system, but I believe that the people who elected us would want us to be as transparent as possible.
To put the matter in context, I must say that I am not aware of an order for expenses ever having been made against a general commissioner. Nevertheless, the new provisions will contribute to removing the risk, however remote, of any such liability.
We felt that the idea of a limited service enhancement fund that could be bid for on a competitive basis and which would allow new ideas to be tested out was an idea that should be pursued with the minister.