Chamber and committees

The requested information on the number of crimes and offences involving the alleged use of firearms in 2001 is published in Table 1 of the statistical bulletin Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland, 2001. Copies of the bulletin are available in Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 24105).

The requested information on the number of firearm certificates issued in 2001 is published in Table 1 of the statistical bulletin Firearm Certificates Statistics, Scotland, 2001. Copies of the bulletin are available in Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 22812).

The Scottish Executive is consulting with Scottish police forces, via the Scottish Criminal Statistics Committee, about collecting information on the numbers of seizures of illegally held firearms. Scottish police forces hold such information but do not currently record this data in a standard way.

National and international recruitment continues to be pursued against the background of recognised shortages in the oncology specialties across the UK. In this, the Beatson Oncology Centre is supported by the HR Department within the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust. Dr Bryson and his colleagues continue to have the full support of the Chief Executive of Greater Glasgow NHS Board, the Chief Executive of the North Glasgow Trust and the Scottish Executive.

The Executive has established a working group containing a range of external experts to consider the support needs of children who run away from home and children abused through prostitution. The working group has established that there is a lack of data on the numbers of young people sexually exploited through prostitution and has proposed that research should be commissioned by the Executive on the scope of the problem.

The national healthy eating campaign, "healthyliving", was launched on 7 January 2003. An announcement about the standards for school meals, which are part of the report of the Expert Panel on School Meals, will be made shortly.

Local authorities have powers under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to provide short-term refuges for children who appear to be at risk of harm. The role of the local authority in providing refuge is to provide the child with somewhere safe to stay and any other services consistent with safeguarding the child's welfare.The Executive has established a working group containing a range of external experts to consider the support needs of children who run away from home and children abused through prostitution. The working group has suggested that the Executive should undertake an assessment of how local authorities are meeting the needs of young people for refuge, the levels of demand and examine models of good practice before issuing additional guidance on the provision of refuge support. The Executive has identified up to £600,000 in funding to take forward work on refuge provision and £57,000 for a study led by Barnardo's to identify effective services for young people abused through prostitution, with a particular focus on ensuring that there are alternatives to secure accommodation.

A senior official from the Scottish Executive Justice Department and a chief officer from a Scottish police force are the members from Scotland who attend the Firearms Consultative Committee.

The Clinical Standards Board for Scotland (CSBS) criteria for breast cancer services standards, state:Essential a minimum of 70% of patients referred to a symptomatic clinic are seen within four weeks from date of GP referral.Desirable a minimum of 80% of patients are seen within two weeks from date of GP referral. In March 2002, the CSBS published their National Overview of Breast Cancer Services alongside 17 local reports on service provision for breast cancer services in Scotland. These are available from www.clinicalstandards.orgIn May 2002 Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer were distributed throughout NHSScotland. A copy is available from:www.scotland.gov.uk and www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/cancerinscotland.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range if issues including collection of student loan repayments.There is no income threshold for payment of the graduate endowment.