Chamber and committees

The information requested is not held centrally.

During 2002-03, two additional linear accelerators will be purchased and installed at the Beatson Oncology Centre, funded by the Scottish Executive's radiotherapy equipment modernisation programme. This will bring the total number of linear accelerators to 10, which is 3.9 per million population.

I have not received any representations concerning difficulties in contacting the Student Loans Company. The company has specific performance targets on answering telephone calls and acknowledging and responding to complaints, its performance against which is recorded in the company's annual report. I am aware that callers to the Student Awards Agency for Scotland may sometimes refer to difficulties in contacting the company by telephone.

The Clyde Shipyards Task Force included Gordon Jackson MSP as chair of the Scottish Parliamentary Shipbuilding Group. The task force do not plan individual consultations in advance of publication of the report in the next few weeks.

No specific guidance is given to the Student Loans Company on the use of tracing companies. The company is responsible for following established procedures on inviting tenders for the subcontracting of its debt recovery function.

The following table shows, by NHS board areas for the years 1994-98, the number of patients diagnosed with cancer and percentage of the population served by Scotland's five cancer centres. However, it should be noted that oncology services are provided through regional managed clinical networks which transcend NHS board boundaries.

Cancer centre area	Period of diagnosis	Number of cases	Percentage of population
Aberdeen (Grampian, Orkney and Shetland)	1994 1995 1996 1997 1998	2,607	0.45
		2,678	0.47
		2,579	0.45
		2,594	0.45
		2,668	0.47
Dundee (Tayside)	1994 1995 1996 1997 1998	2,028	0.51
		2,125	0.54
		2,231	0.57
		2,100	0.54
		2,140	0.55
Edinburgh (Lothian, Fife, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway)	1994 1995 1996 1997 1998	6,906	0.51
		6,990	0.51
		7,461	0.54
		7,037	0.51
		6,632	0.48
Glasgow (Argyll & Clyde, Ayrshire & Arran, Forth Valley, Glasgow and Lanarkshire)	1994 1995 1996 1997 1998	12,637	0.49
		12,522	0.49
		13,411	0.53
		12,983 12,550	0.51 0.49
Inverness (Highland, Orkney and Shetland)	1994 1995 1996 1997 1998	1,189	0.50
		1,141	0.48
		1,192	0.50
		1,312	0.55
		1,422	0.60

Notes: 1. 1998 is the most recent year for which complete cancer registration information is available.2. There are likely to be cross-boundary flows (for example of Dumfries & Galloway patients seen in Glasgow; Fife residents seen in Dundee) which have not been accounted for in these calculations.

Officials from the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department and the Student Awards Agency for Scotland meet regularly with officials at the Student Loans Company. Complete details of all meetings held between the department and the company over any particular two-year period could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

The information requested is not held centrally. NHS trust chief executives at the acute hospital trusts which host Scotland's cancer centres will be able to provide information locally - Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust, Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust, Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust, North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust and Highland Acute Trust. Contact details are available online at: www.show.scot.nhs.uk.

Cancer is one of three clinical priorities for the Scottish Executive and for NHSScotland. The Executive is committed to year-on-year increases in the unified budget allocations made to NHS boards. From within these allocations, local NHS management are responsible for planning service provision to meet the needs of their resident populations, including provision for tertiary services from specialist centres such as the Beatson Oncology Centre. Greater Glasgow NHS Board was allocated an initial unified budget of more than £846 million for this year with indicative unified budget allocations of £907.9 million for 2002-03 and £982.3 million for 2003-04.In addition, an additional £40 million is being invested across Scotland over this and the next two years specifically for cancer services. Plans designed to secure improvements in these services, for example, through more rapid diagnosis and shorter waiting times, were announced on 6 November 2001. Of more than £10 million being invested this financial year, more than £5 million will secure improvements in Glasgow and the West of Scotland cancer services.Plans to build a new cancer centre in Glasgow are also being progressed, for which £44 million investment has also been set aside.Implementation/investment plans are available on www.scotland.gov.uk and www.show.scot.nhs.uk and copies have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

The West of Scotland Regional Cancer Advisory Group is chaired by Mr Tom Divers, Chief Executive NHS Greater Glasgow. The Regional Lead Clinician is Dr Harry Burns, Director of Public Health, NHS Greater Glasgow.There are more than 60 members drawn from across NHS Argyll and Clyde, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Forth Valley, NHS Greater Glasgow, NHS Lanarkshire, Managed Clinical Network leads, the voluntary sector, patient representation and representatives of regional services such as breast screening and cancer surveillance.There are three members from the Beatson Oncology Centre,Dr N Reed, Clinical DirectorProfessor J Cassidy, Academic OncologyMs C Hutchison, Consultant Nurse OncologistFull details of the membership of the North, South East and West of Scotland RCAGs will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.Guidance on the role, structure and function of Regional Cancer Advisory Groups is set out in NHS HDL (2001) 71 issued on 13 September 2001. This is available online at www.show.scot.nhs.uk.