Chamber and committees

The review of operation of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 will take place around 18 months after it came into operation in Scotland. As the Act came into operation in April 2000, the review will not be undertaken until October 2001. Decisions about the format of the review will be taken nearer the time.The Scottish Asylum Seekers Consortium manages and monitors the commissioning and provision of housing and other services for asylum seekers. The Scottish Executive will ensure that the consortium is involved in the review.

The Executive is discussing with Audit Scotland how information on local authorities' support for carers should be reflected in their statutory performance indicators. Local authorities have not previously recorded this information separately, and they plan to start doing so as a result of the work of the Social Work Information Review which reported in 2000. Comprehensive figures are likely to be collected from April 2002, following a pilot survey starting later this year. Audit Scotland's existing performance indicators already include information on people being assessed for, and receiving, respite services which gives an indication of the numbers of carers benefiting from short break services.

Yes.

Work is ongoing with surgeons and manufacturers with a view to introducing single-use instruments as quickly as possible so that doctors and patients/parents no longer have to face the dilemma of whether or not to undertake/undergo this type of surgery.The present best advice is that supplies of the new instruments will start to come into use from late spring, but it may be the autumn before sufficient quantities are available to guarantee a continuous supply.

I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-12997.

The Executive is advised on this matter by the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC), which has stressed the importance of rigorous washing and decontamination in reducing risk. In November 2000, the committee endorsed the concept of a pilot scheme involving tonsillectomy to assess the practicability of using disposable instruments. The move to single use instruments is a precautionary one, and there is no evidence of any cases of vCJD having been caused by surgery. The Deputy Chief Medical Officer has advised health boards and NHS Trusts, that, until single use instruments come fully on stream, it will be for clinical judgement to be exercised in each case, balancing the unquantifiable risk there might be from vCJD against any more immediate health concerns that the surgery would be designed to address. The British Association of Otorhinolaryngologists, Head and Neck Surgeons advised their members that, where there are "definite indications for surgery" (e.g. malignancy, significant airway obstruction), the benefit of surgery outweighs the theoretical risk there may be from vCJD.If tonsillectomy procedures are postponed, there will be an impact on waiting lists and waiting times for this procedure. But there may be scope for hospitals to bring forward other ear, nose and throat operations to fill the gaps caused by any tonsillectomy postponements.

I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-12999.

I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-12997.

I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-12997.

The Trust is forecasting that it will keep to its financial plans and return a reduced overspend of £8 million this financial year.