Chamber and committees

We will report on the proposalsfor this study as soon as possible.

We will report on the proposalsfor this study as soon as possible.

Our discussions with local authoritieson the operation of free personal care will continue as part of our current policyevaluation and while we consider its implications with all relevant stakeholders.Local authorities are represented on the reference group overseeing this evaluation.We will decide nearer that time how best to communicate the outcomes to the Parliamentand other interested parties.

I will notify the Convener of the Health Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into these and related issues,once discussions with COSLA have concluded.

I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-24664 on 19 April 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility forwhich can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-24664 on 19 April 2006. 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/wa.search.

All NHS dental examinationsare free from 1 April 2006.

Both independent andsalaried dentists providing general dental services have the discretion toprovide occasional NHS treatment to unregistered patients and this couldinclude a free dental examination.

To expand access to generaldental services across Scotland we are investing £295 million over three years underthe Dental Action Plan and a further £30 million over two years on improvingdental workforce and premises.

The Scottish Executive and VisitScotlandremain committed to increasing the value of tourism across all areas of Scotland as wasdemonstrated in the recent launch of a Tourism Framework for Change. VisitScotlandwill continue to promote Dundee as a great city to visit through a range of marketingcampaigns and other promotional activities.

Dundee is promoted as part of VisitScotland’s City Break marketingcampaigns along with Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and Stirling. Dundee is also featured in VisitScotland’s recent CityFreedomcampaign, which promoted the idea that visitors to Scottish cities can get the bestof both worlds – urban and rural experiences combined in one short break. The campaigntargets visitors from the UK. City breaks, with elements such as walks, cycling, wildlife,architecture, gardens, castles and historic sites, will be promoted in a varietyof ways. A new section has been included on VisitScotland’s city breaks website(www.visitscotland.com/citybreaks),which gives visitors information about everything from day trips to where the bestcity and rural views are. As part of the campaign 46,000 direct mail leaflets willbe sent to people who take city breaks across the UK containingthe message “no need to be torn between city and country on a short break in Scotland”. TheList Cities Guide will be used as part of the City Freedom Springdirect mail, and electronic newsletters featuring the six cities with the lead theme City Freedom, supported by City Culture and City Shoppingwill go out early in April.

In addition, VisitScotland isworking in conjunction with BBC Radio 1 to ensure that Dundee gets the maximum benefitfrom Radio 1’s Big Weekend in May when they will take over Camperdown Park in Dundeefor the weekend of Saturday 13 May and Sunday 14.

While the Scottish tourism industryis continuing to grow, we are fully aware of the challenges that Scotland facesfrom the increasing number of competing tourist destinations around the world. Inaddition, the expectations of our guests are constantly changing and rising, andit thus becomes an even greater challenge to exceed them. That is why we have beenworking in very close partnership with the tourism industry as a whole to identifyopportunities for improvement and the changes that need to be made. The result ofthat collaboration is a joint action plan – the Tourism Framework for Change– which was published in March 2006.

Provision for NHS prescriptioncharges and exemption from or remission of charges is made in secondary legislationby means of regulations. The regulations involved are the NHS (Charges for Drugsand Appliances) (Scotland) Regulations and the NHS (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Scotland) Regulations. These statutoryinstruments are made by the Scottish ministers in exercise of the powers conferredon them by the relevant sections of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act1978. Any changes to NHS prescription charging and exemption arrangements resultingfrom the outcomes of the review would be brought into force by amending one or bothof these sets of NHS regulations.