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The information requested is not currently collected centrally. My officials have however obtained the information from The Scottish Ambulance Service and it is set out below. Occupational health and safety Minimum Datasets are currently in preparation for issue shortly to the service and these will include a requirement for information on staff who leave on health grounds to be collected. An element in the occupational health and safety service strategy is a requirement for NHSiS organisations to develop policies to give security of employment, where this is possible, including redeployment, as a consequence of disability or ill-health. Adoption of such policies will secure the continued employment and retention of experienced officers in the Service in useful employment.

Year	Number	Percentage
1995-96	47	1.78%
1996-97	41	1.4%
1997-98	24	0.8%
1998-99	32	1.0%
1999-2000	27	0.9%

The provisional outturn expenditure of local authority social work budgets in 1999-2000 in supporting older people in residential and nursing homes was £239.6 million and in other settings was £186.2 million. In addition the NHS is estimated to have transferred £42.6 million to local authorities to spend on the care of older people. Information on the expenditure by the NHS and from local authority housing budgets in the categories requested is not available centrally.

Christine Grahame has drawn attention in her motion S1M-1116 to a number of reports on the subject. These continuing allegations of discrimination within the NHS on grounds of age are a source of concern. The Scottish Executive is clear that clinical decisions must not be taken solely on the basis of an individual's chronological age.

Neither the Scottish Executive Health Department nor the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health is aware of the application of uptake targets in other European countries. Similarly, the Department of Health in England has no information in this area. The target was agreed with representatives of the BMA in Scotland as a Scotland-wide target, which is regarded as both achievable and beneficial in current Scottish circumstances.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

No formal consultations are being carried out in what is an internal SPS business review, though informal discussions have been undertaken with a number of bodies with an interest in penal issues. No date has been set for the end of the review. The review will assist discussions with Ministers on SPS strategy over the next few years.

Statistics on the local authority provision of residential care are collected annually and analyses are published in statistics information notes. We do not currently have arrangements to monitor standards but we will be bringing forward legislation to establish an independent national body - the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care - to monitor the quality of care in all care homes.

The package of support measures for the textile sector announced by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 6 June did not allocate resources to particular parts of the UK. Resources will be allocated as the industry and support agencies come forward with good projects which meet the necessary criteria in the various initiatives. The Scottish Executive and Enterprise Networks are working closely with the DTI to establish how the Scottish textile industry can take full advantage of these new initiatives. The Scottish Textile Forum will also be consulted as these plans are drawn up.

The information requested is given in Grant Aided Expenditure 2000-01, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 7912).

As at its meeting in January 2000, the membership of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) was:

Professor Michael Langman (Acting Chairman), Professor of Medicine, University of Birmingham

Professor Roy Anderson, Professor of Infectious Disease and Epidemiology, University of Oxford

Dr Robert Aston, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control/Immunisation Co-ordinator, Wigan and Bolton Health Authority

Dr Barbara Bannister, Infectious Disease Physician/Consultant in Communicable Disease Control, Coppett's Wood Hospital (Royal Free Hospital)

Professor Keith Cartwright, Microbiologist, Director, Gloucester Public Health Laboratory

Dr Stephen Conway, Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Leeds

Ms Gillian Creighton, Nurse, Neighbourhood Manager, Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow Health Authority

Dr David Goldblatt, Paediatric Immunologist, Senior Lecturer/Honorary Consultant, Institute of Child Health

Dr David Joynson, Medical Microbiologist, Director, Swansea Public Health Laboratory

Dr Colin Kennedy, Paediatric Neurologist, Southampton University Hospital

Dr Karl Nicholson, Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases, Leicester University and Leicester Royal Infirmary

Dr Marie Ogilvie, Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Medical Virology, Edinburgh University Medical School

Professor Lewis Ritchie, General Practitioner and Professor of General Practice, Aberdeen University

Dr Richard Smithson, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control/Immunisation Co-ordinator, Western Health and Social Services Board

Dr Diana Walford, Director, Public Health Laboratory Service

Dr Chris Bartlett, Director, Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre

Dr Ian Jones, Director, Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health

Professor George Griffin, Chairman, Medical Research Council Committee on Development of Vaccines and Immunological Practices

Dr Geoffrey Schild, Director, National Institute of Biological Standards and Control

A number of members have come to the end of their terms of appointment and any changes to the membership will be announced in the near future.

Scottish Borders Council has submitted an application to the third round of the Public Transport Fund for the cost of securing the necessary permissions for reinstating the railway between Edinburgh and the Central Borders. I will consider that carefully alongside other applications to the fund. Thereafter the promoters of the railway would be able to seek additional public and private funding from various sources for the capital costs of the project itself. The Scottish Borders Railway Feasibility Study, funded by the Executive and other key stakeholders in the project, provides a wealth of information to underpin any such application.

We will shortly be consulting on strategic priorities for Scotland's railways as part of the process of developing directions and guidance to the Strategic Rail Authority on the franchise for passenger rail services that start and end in Scotland. During this process we will give consideration to a wide range of issues, including proposals for additions to the passenger rail network such as the reinstatement of the Borders railway.