Chamber and committees

The 1996 Policy Review of Health Services in Schools placed the responsibility for the provision of Health Services in Schools at local level with Primary Care Trusts. The review recommended a shift away from routine physical examinations towards a more selective approach based on assessment of individual needs.The School Health Service is not an isolated service but contributes with others towards the overall health of the child. Before starting school a child will have had a programme of health screening and immunisation. During this period any specific problems or needs will be identified. Any special needs identified will then be picked up by the School Health Service and the General Practitioner. This means that the needs of the child should be addressed at an early stage. Most children will receive a comprehensive physical examination that includes growth, vision and hearing in primary one. Thereafter the School Nurse or Doctor provides health education, immunisation and selected examinations of certain children whenever it is felt they are needed.

The Scottish Executive is in the process of considering views from the football authorities and other interests, including the Scottish Federation of Football Supporters, on the ideas discussed in the Co-operative Party's pamphlet Mutualism-A Golden Goal? I hope to be in a position to make a statement on this issue in the next few weeks.

Health boards and NHS Trusts prepared contingency plans, including opening more beds, to increase capacity to cope with extreme seasonal pressures and ensure those who needed emergency care received it. NHS Trusts have been managing the situation by re-scheduling elective surgery to concentrate resources on those most in need. I am aware that Fife Acute Hospitals NHS Trust postponed elective appointments due to the pressure of emergency admissions but I understand elective surgery recommenced on 7 February 2000.

Fife Health Board and the two NHS Trusts in Fife are still developing their proposals for acute hospital services. The Health Board has been encouraged to involve all its planning partners, the public and interest groups in this process and is expected to consult formally on its plans later this year.

The Scottish Executive published on 24 January an information booklet called Working with Children which sets out the career opportunities available in early education, childcare and playwork.

The information requested is given in the table below.

Underlying cause of death	Year	Under 16 years old		Under 18 years old		All ages
		Fife	Scotland	Fife	Scotland	Fife	Scotland
Road traffic accidents 1
	1994	1	36	1	51	20	353
	1995	1	33	3	44	19	420
	1996	5	27	6	44	28	364
	1997	1	27	3	45	24	385
	1998	2	34	2	49	21	385
Use of Class A drugs 2
	1994	0	2	0	2	1	116
	1995	0	2	0	11	2	128
	1996	0	0	0	6	0	164
	1997	0	1	0	6	5	150
	1998	0	2	0	6	6	179
Use of volatile substances 3
	1994	0	1	0	1	0	3
	1995	0	2	0	3	0	3
	1996	0	1	0	1	2	8
	1997	0	0	0	0	1	1
	1998	0	0	1	2	1	3

Source: Death registration data held by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS).1. Road traffic accidents: Deaths classified to ICD9 (International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision) codes E810-E819 and E826-E829. GROS use slightly different definitions to those used for classifying the road accident statistics collected by the police eg the GROS data are classified by place of residence whereas road accident statistics are based on place of occurrence.2. Use of Class A drugs: Deaths classified to ICD9 codes 304, E850-E858 and E980 where a Class A drug was known to be involved. Each year GROS publish a short paper on drug-related deaths. The figures in the table are based on the definition of drug-related deaths used in this paper but they are restricted to cases where a Class A drug was known to have been involved.3. Use of volatile substances: Deaths classified to ICD9 code 3046. A research team at St.George's Hospital, London, also collate (GB) information on deaths from volatile substance abuse. Their figures are usually slightly higher than those of GROS because, for example, they may include deaths where volatile substance abuse was mentioned on the death certificate as one of the causes of death although the underlying cause of death was not coded to ICD 3046 by GROS.

I refer the Member to the answer I gave him to question S1W-3695.

I refer the Member to the answer I gave him to question S1W-3695.

The existing water pollution control legislation has been very effective at addressing problems of industrial and sewage pollution, but SEPA has identified the need for additional statutory powers which would secure further water quality improvements.A consultation paper will be released today on new regulatory powers for SEPA to prevent and control water pollution. Under the proposed regulations SEPA will be able to serve anti-pollution works notices on polluters or potential polluters requiring them to take action to clean up pollution or reduce the risk of incidents.These powers provide a more direct and effective means for SEPA to prevent and mitigate pollution than its existing powers to carry out anti-pollution works itself and then recover the costs from the person responsible.

The consultation paper is being launched today. The consultation period will last until 3 March 2000.