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The Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum is currently considering the long term future of the programme and is expected to report back in early autumn. Once the forum has provided its recommendations the necessary decisions on the future of the programme will be taken.

The fuel poverty budget for 2008-09 and 2009-10 was set at £45.9 million as part of the Strategic Spending Review (2007) announced on 14 November 2007.

The independent review team received a high number of written requests and went on to interview 22 patients and relatives who were affected by the cases of Clostridium difficile at the Vale of Leven Hospital. The independent review team were extremely pleased with this high response.

The independent review team issued an advert for a call for evidence to the local press on 8 July 2008.

National policy on faecal management is included in Health Protection Scotland model policies on Standard Infection Control Precautions and Transmission Based Precautions. Guidance is also included in the NHSScotland Code of Practice for the Local Management of Hygiene and Healthcare Associated Infection.

My officials were briefed by the Independent Review Team (IRT) and Health Protection Scotland (HPS) on 31 July 2008. They received Draft Reports from the IRT and HPS on 1 August 2008. The formal report was received on 4 August 2008 and published on 7 August 2008.

On 18 June 2008, I announced in the Parliament an independent review of procedures in place at the Vale of Leven Hospital over the period December 2007 to 1 June 2008, in response to information that 55 patients had developed Clostridium difficile Associated Disease (CDAD), 18 of whom had died.

The Independent Review Team (IRT) met and was briefed on 26 June 2008 with a remit to report by 31 July 2008. The IRT requested and reviewed all relevant documentation regarding cases of CDAD at the Vale of Leven Hospital over the six month time-frame and the circumstances contributing to these cases. The IRT visited the Vale of Leven Hospital on five occasions and interviewed a wide range of staff from the hospital and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. An open invitation was made through the local press for patients and their families to submit written and oral evidence to the review and meetings were held with representatives from 10 families.

Full details of the process followed by the IRT are set out in the report, Independent Review of Clostridium difficile Associated Disease at the Vale of Leven Hospital from December 2007 to June 2008, which was published on 7 August 2008.

Of the 55 patients at the Vale of Leven Hospital, 18 patients died either as a direct result of Clostridium difficile Associated Disease (CDAD) or had C. difficile recorded on the death certificate as contributory factor to their death. Further analysis of the death rate is required and is on-going as part of a separate exercise being undertaken by the board and Health Protection Scotland. Full details of the outbreak will be produced by the Outbreak Control Team in due course.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are in the process of implementing the recommendations arising from the Independent Review of Clostridium Difficile Associated Disease at the Vale of Leven Hospital. I understand that the board has already undertaken a review of the infection control structure, management and leadership arrangements.

To be confident that all of the actions are taken forward and have the desired outcomes, I have already asked, as recommended by the independent review team, that they review the actions taken by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in six months time. The report will be made public.

Since the formation of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in April 2006, the board has looked closely at how to best integrate services across the whole board area, including management and infection control systems, to bring about benefits such as unified procedures and structures, improved communications, and the sharing of best practice.

This work has culminated in the board merging its Clyde acute operational and administrative functions into the board''s Acute Services Division on 1 July 2008, and the establishment of new infection control arrangements across the whole board area, also on 1 July 2008.