Chamber and committees

Plans for the training of midwivesto support the future operation of the Scottish National Cord Cell Bank are beingdeveloped by the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service.

The Executive plays no partin setting the levels of pay or conditions of service in higher educationinstitutions. We are however aware through the Higher Education Phase 3 Reporton “The Competitiveness of Higher Education in Scotland” that there isevidence that academic salaries have not kept pace with comparable professions.We will use the results of the review to inform our decision making processabout funding levels for the higher education sector in the forthcomingspending review. In recognition of the pressures facing the sector, the First Ministerand I have already given an assurance to make additional funding available aspart of that process.

I hope to be in a positionsoon to announce decisions on the 2004-05 Scottish Rural Partnership Fund, ofwhich Rural Challenge Fund is a strand. The Executive recognises thatapplicants need to know the outcome and will let them know whether they havebeen successful as soon as possible.

The Executive recognises theimportant contribution that allied health professionals (AHPs), includingphysiotherapists, make to the wellbeing of patients throughout Scotland.

In partnership withNHSScotland, the Executive is supporting enhanced access to physiotherapy througha number of initiatives tackling recruitment and retention issues set out inthe AHP strategy Future Directions. New figures published on 25 Februaryby ISD show an increase in allied health professionals including physiotherapists,where numbers increased by 13.8% between September 2002 and September 2003.These demonstrate good progress in meeting the Partnership Agreement commitmentto ensure a total of 1,500 extra AHPs.

Cabinet has agreed toappoint three external members to the cabinet sub committee on sustainable Scotland. Iam sure that Jan Bebbington, Professor of Accountancy and Finance, University of Aberdeen; Ian Good, Chairman of the Edrington Group; andSimon Pepper, Director of WWF Scotland, will bring a useful externalperspective and challenge to the work of the sub committee.

There is no provision underthe terms of the central heating programme for the removal of asbestos. I currentlyhave no plans to alter the terms of the programme.

The Home Secretary is awarethat we are keen to make early progress in extending the remit of the SecurityIndustry Authority (SIA) to include Scotland and Whitehall officials are pursuing a number of potentialvehicles for making the necessary legislative changes. The Queen’s Speech inNovember will set out the legislative programme for 2004-05 and it is only thenthat we will be able to confirm if the proposals have been included in the nextsession.

My officials and the Scottish Qualifications Authority are working with the SIA on the detail of howtraining will be organised in Scotland.Consideration is also being given to the strategy for consulting and workingwith the Scottish industry, once the SIA has a formal role in Scotland.

The Executive is consideringhow to expand affordable broadband coverage well beyond the 70% target we have alreadyreached. Our independent advisers have made cost projections of the likelystages. However, it could prejudice the value for money of any futureprocurement exercise if these estimates were made public at present.

The Executive has taken noaction directly related to this report. In September 2000, the Scottish Medicaland Scientific Advisory Committee produced a detailed and comprehensive reporton immunology and allergy services in Scotland. This identified deficiencies in service provisionand made a number of recommendations for their improvement. The report waswidely distributed to NHS boards, NHS trusts and individual clinicians with aninterest in allergy and immunology, with a view to informing future decisionson services in these fields. Since the report was published, three moreconsultant immunologists have taken up posts.

We expect to publish shortlyrecent research on the evaluation of revised planning controls fortelecommunications development introduced in 2001. We will consider whether anyrevision of the existing planning guidance is required in light of the findingsof this research.

I would also refer the memberto the answer given to question S2W-5472 on 22 January 2004,with regard specifically to National Planning Policy Guideline 19: RadioTelecommunications. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.