Chamber and committees

Market rate costs for medical locum doctors have been increasing in recent years, as have requests by NHS boards for agency locum doctors. Those factors are likely to have contributed to any increase in NHS boards'' spend on agency locum doctors. It is not possible to determine whether the different contractual arrangements in place over the period from 2004 have in themselves resulted in additional costs.

This year we are providing almost £600 million in resource funding for colleges, a record level of support and evidence of this administration''s continued commitment to our further education sector.

In his strategic letter of guidance to the Scottish Funding Council earlier this year, The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning made clear his wish to see colleges give priority to give to 16 to 24-year-olds, including those who need more choices and chances. Our ambitions for all young people are reflected in our key learning strategies, including Skills for Scotland, 16+ Learning Choices, and Curriculum for Excellence.

Addressing the needs of the More Choices, More Chances group is therefore a mainstream activity for all colleges and we expect an element of the substantial resource we make available to be deployed to that end. We have no plans to make available additional funding.

I am kept advised of developing NHS board workforce projections on an ongoing basis.

As stated in the Audit Scotland report, while the cost of agency medical locums has increased since 1997, the overall spend on medical locums has remained static in recent years. Contributing factors identified in the Audit Scotland report include increased demand for agency locum doctors. In addition, prices charged by agencies have increased.

Physical activity levels are measured and published annually via the Scottish Health Survey. We do not routinely measure the cost of physical inactivity.

Physical activity levels are measured and published annually via the Scottish Health Survey. We have no plans to routinely measure the cost of physical inactivity.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-34444 on 21 June 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has a number of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with other NHS boards across Scotland. The SLAs are based on a three-year, rolling average activity level and cover all specialties within the board rather than separate agreements with Royal Hospital for Sick Children. The three-year rolling averages are reviewed with health boards on an annual basis and any activity or financial adjustments are made to the SLA at that stage As part of the year-end accounting process for 2009-10, all NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde balances were formally agreed with other NHS boards.

A breakdown of the amount spent by territorial boards on medical and dental staff for 2008-09 and 2009-10 is shown in the following table:

	Medical and Dental Pay Costs
	2008-09	2009-10
	£000	£000
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	56,575	57,836
NHS Borders	19,710	20,154
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	27,533	28,591
NHS Fife	55,656	52,540
NHS Forth Valley	43,882	45,253
NHS Grampian	122,283	123,591
NHS Greater Glasgow	328,052	329,922
NHS Highland	61,479	61,251
NHS Lanarkshire	91,227	91,941
NHS Lothian	174,524	183,713
NHS Orkney	4,687	5,411
NHS Shetland	4,483	5,956
NHS Tayside	97,538	98,202
NHS Western Isles	5,098	5,034
Unified Boards	1,092,727	1,109,395

Source: Figures taken from the Scottish Financial Return 15 which is an analysis of the gross cost of salaries and wages (i.e. including employer''s share of national insurance and superannuation).

The information requested is not centrally available in respect of substantive NHS medical staff undertaking locum work. Expenditure on agency locum doctors is shown in the following table:

Health Board	Total 2008-09	Total 2009-10
Ayrshire and Arran	£2,048,004	£2,719,299
Argyll and Bute	£380,018	£0
Borders	£299,016	£542,367
Dumfries and Galloway	£1,382,631	£2,735,478
Fife	£2,235,818	£2,708,564
Forth Valley	£1,390,000	£1,499,487
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	£6,408,816	£7,288,868
Grampian	£2,934,454	£3,276,282
Highland	£3,018,694	£3,408,344
Lanarkshire	£3,069,234	£3,069,551
Lothian	£2,771,294	£4,999,299
Orkney	£1,070,737	£729,686
Shetland	£307,424	£433,838
Tayside	£1,055,830	£2,054,320
Western Isles	£645,209	£614,046

Source: NHS National Services Scotland National Procurement data collected from NHSScotland Boards accounts payable information.