Chamber and committees

Under section 12 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, local authorities are required to promote social welfare by making available advice, guidance and assistance on such a scale as may be appropriate for their area and to provide or secure provision of such facilities. The Scottish Executive has no plans to make the provision of day care services for older people a specific statutory duty.

I understand that a weekly clinic continues to be provided at the hospital for complementary treatment for cancer sufferers and that this is funded out of existing resources.

The end-year balance of £135 million, out of a total health budget of over £5,000 million, to which the member refers, comprises mainly continuing, committed NHS expenditure, reflecting sensible financial planning and management by health boards and NHS Trusts. The remainder is being spent on Executive-wide, health-related projects.

The Scottish Executive's main agenda to support the textile industry was outlined in SE Press Release 1687/2000 of 12 June. The Scottish Textile Forum met today to discuss how this and the action plan announced by the DTI on 6 June can be developed further.

I refer to the answer I gave on 5 September to question S1W-8931.

Training for young people in Scotland is delivered by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise through the Enterprise Network. Co-ordinated activity is channelled through the Scottish Textiles Network, a body funded and supported by Scottish Enterprise, the key textiles LECs and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

There are currently 86 young people undergoing work-based training through the Skillseekers programme, six of whom are training towards Modern Apprenticeships. The Enterprise Network is actively promoting Modern Apprenticeships in order to raise both awareness and the profile of the training programme amongst young people, their parents and employers. The Executive has set the Enterprise Network a target to reduce the proportion of Skillseekers leaving the programme early. Ultimately, it is for employers across all industrial sectors to manage the labour market available to them.

I announced the names of the four textiles champions on 12 June in SE Press Release 1687/2000. They are Belinda Robertson (Belinda Robertson Ltd), Michelle Mone (MJM International), James Sugden (Johnstons of Elgin) and Jim Thomson (Hawick Cashmere Company Ltd).

The provisional outturn expenditure of local authority social work budgets in 1999-2000 in supporting older people in residential and nursing homes was £239.6 million and in other settings was £186.2 million. In addition the NHS is estimated to have transferred £42.6 million to local authorities to spend on the care of older people. Information on the expenditure by the NHS and from local authority housing budgets in the categories requested is not available centrally.

The information requested is not currently collected centrally. My officials have however obtained the information from The Scottish Ambulance Service and it is set out below. Occupational health and safety Minimum Datasets are currently in preparation for issue shortly to the service and these will include a requirement for information on staff who leave on health grounds to be collected. An element in the occupational health and safety service strategy is a requirement for NHSiS organisations to develop policies to give security of employment, where this is possible, including redeployment, as a consequence of disability or ill-health. Adoption of such policies will secure the continued employment and retention of experienced officers in the Service in useful employment.

Year	Number	Percentage
1995-96	47	1.78%
1996-97	41	1.4%
1997-98	24	0.8%
1998-99	32	1.0%
1999-2000	27	0.9%

Christine Grahame has drawn attention in her motion S1M-1116 to a number of reports on the subject. These continuing allegations of discrimination within the NHS on grounds of age are a source of concern. The Scottish Executive is clear that clinical decisions must not be taken solely on the basis of an individual's chronological age.

Neither the Scottish Executive Health Department nor the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health is aware of the application of uptake targets in other European countries. Similarly, the Department of Health in England has no information in this area. The target was agreed with representatives of the BMA in Scotland as a Scotland-wide target, which is regarded as both achievable and beneficial in current Scottish circumstances.