Chamber and committees

Our National Health; A plan for action, a plan for change, commits the Scottish Executive to developing a complaints process which is "credible, easy to use, demonstrably independent and effective."A working group, which includes patient representatives and NHS staff, has been established to develop proposals for inclusion in a public consultation on a revised NHS complaints procedure. The group is currently considering responses to a pre-consultation exercise on the report of the independent evaluation of the NHS complaints procedure. The group's advice will inform the development of a formal consultation document to be issued in the spring.The consultation process will seek views on how to raise the profile of the NHS complaints procedure and make it more accessible to patients and the public including the use of a telephone and internet-based feedback system.

The Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit has not yet been formally established. The Scottish Executive Health and Education Departments are working with the Health Education Board for Scotland, COSLA, and Learning and Teaching Scotland to establish the Unit within the first half of 2002.

The Public Health (Notification of Infectious Diseases) (Scotland) Regulations 1988 require medical practitioners to notify viral hepatitis as an infectious disease.In addition, the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health operates an enhanced hepatitis C infection database, developed in collaboration with the key hepatitis testing laboratories, which is believed to have an under-reporting rate of less than 1%.

Funding applications submitted to the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) can propose using researchers based outside Scotland but the principal research grant holder must be a permanent salaried member of staff in a Scottish Institution and the administering body must be based in Scotland. Further information on CSO grant conditions is available on the CSO website at www.show.scot.nhs.uk/cso/.

There has been no public commitment made by the Scottish Executive to consult on mental health services for deaf and deafblind people.

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) within the Scottish Executive Health Department has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health services and patient care within the NHS in Scotland. CSO directly funds three projects on child and adolescent mental health research. Details are as follows:Adolescents with psychosis in Scotland: prevalence, health service use and disabilities. Cost: £116,134. A pilot study using fMRI to image imitation in autistic spectrum disorders. Cost: £66,165. Prosodic skills in children with autism. Cost: £135,438. In addition, information provided to CSO by NHS Trusts suggests that the NHS R & D Support Fund indirectly supported 359 research projects into mental health, at a total cost of £2,729,260 in the last financial year. It is not known what proportion of these projects deal specifically with child and adolescent mental health. Details of all current and recently completed research projects can be found in the National Research Register, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 17404).

Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change confirmed the Executive's commitment to working with others to move the focus of health policy and health services from treatment to prevention. While occupational health and safety is a reserved matter, it has a strong bearing on many devolved areas, such as health, local government, transport and the environment. The Executive has been tackling this broad agenda in partnership with the UK government, Scottish local authorities, NHSScotland, the CBI, the TUC, the Federation of Small Businesses, the British Chambers of Commerce, Scotland's Health at Work, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and others. This joint activity includes, for example, the Revitalising Health and Safety initiative; Securing Health Together - a long-term occupational strategy for Scotland, England and Wales; Towards a Safer, Healthier Workplace, the occupational health and safety strategy for NHSScotland, and Tomorrow's Roads - safer for everyone, a strategy to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents in Great Britain by 40% by 2010. The Health and Safety Executive is also contributing to the Job Retention and Rehabilitation Pilot, led by the Department of Work and Pensions.

The Executive has not made any such representations and has no plans to do so.The Medicines Control Agency continuously monitors the safety of all medicines. If new side effects are detected, the product information is updated to ensure it contains all of the available information to aid the safe use of the medicine. The adverse reactions known to be associated with Roaccutane treatment are fully described in the product information, which consists of a Summary of Product Characteristic for healthcare professionals and a Patient Information Leaflet for patients.

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) within the Scottish Executive Health Department has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health services and patient care within the NHS in Scotland. The CSO has no plans for research into Isotretinoin but would be pleased to consider research proposals, which would be subject to the usual peer and committee review.

The information requested is not available.