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The white paper Partnership for Care notes that patient information is currently available from a variety of sources. However, this information may vary in quality, or may not be in a format which is readily accessible to those who use NHS services in Scotland.The Patient Information Initiative will develop national quality assurance guidance for the development, review and management of patient information. An important part of this is the involvement of patients in the development of information. It will also support equal access across Scotland to a patient focussed resource of generic health information. Funding for this initiative will be £1 million.

Improving Health in Scotland - the Challenge was launched today at the third Healthy Scotland Convention held in Edinburgh. I also refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-34705 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The overall financial effect of the integration of the Health Education Board for Scotland and the Public Health Institute of Scotland will be cost neutral.

Information, Management and Technology Strategies are agreed at NHS health board level together with associated local investment plans, which will include provision for systems such as hospital appointments systems. The Health Department intends to investigate with the service new ways of making appointments which will bring a closer involvement for the patient in the appointment process and may involve the use of contact centres for hospitals.

The Executive issued a resource pack with information on occupational health to approximately 77,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in December 2001. This includes guidance on the development of workplace drug and alcohol policies.Scotland's Health at Work (SHAW) provides free policy advice and guidance to help and support organisations to develop health promoting workplaces. SHAW will receive funding of £750,000 in 2003-04 and is targeted with doubling the participation of small- and medium-sized enterprises within its scheme.

Full details about projects funded by the Health Improvement Fund across Scotland, between 2000-01 and 2003-04, is given in the Investment Report Putting the Pieces in Place. This is available from the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 19606) or from the Scottish Executive website www.scotland.gov.uk.

The Scottish Executive is taking action to build capacity in NHSScotland. Return to Practice schemes are an important part of that and some examples are given:£2 million has been allocated to NHS boards, spread over 2002-03 and 2003-04 to fund Return to Practice for nurses and midwives who have taken a break from their careers. This should allow between 400 and 600 nurses and midwives to return to NHSScotland.£100,000 has been allocated for Return to Practice for the Allied Health Professions in the next financial year. Programmes to support this will need to be developed and funding will be reviewed thereafter.The on-going recruitment and retention package announced for dentistry includes the introduction of an enhanced "return to work" scheme under the Scottish Dental Access Initiative to encourage dentists who have taken career breaks to return to general dental practice and provide NHS dental services on a sessional basis. Under the previous scheme, a returning dentist could earn up to £2,000 for working up to 200 NHS sessions in the year following return, with an equivalent payment for the practice owner. The revised scheme will enable the returner and practice owner to earn up to £6,750 each where the returner works up to 450 sessions. The revised scheme is also open to dentists returning to NHS orthodontic practice.

A large number of NHS patients in Scotland already receive treatment in hospitals outside their NHS board areas of residence. Arrangements are already in place for the planning and funding of these out of area treatments. The number of out of area treatments undertaken as a result of NHS boards ensuring that waiting guarantees are met is expected to represent a relatively small addition to existing patient flows. Individual NHS boards receive funding to enable them to meet their responsibility for forecasting and meeting the health care needs of their residents, including arranging and paying for treatment in neighbouring NHS board areas.The key objective is that the longest waiting times experienced by NHS patients in Scotland are reduced to meet the Executive's targets, as made clear in Partnership for Care published on 27 February.

A total of £86.071 million was allocated in 2002-03 to the four Scottish teaching boards to meet the additional costs to the NHS of teaching being carried out in hospitals. It is for the four teaching boards to arrange for distribution of this funding to those hospitals carrying out teaching.

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) will receive £47.5 million in 2003-04 to support research into health and health care needs in Scotland. The strategic direction of that research over the next five years, will be determined by CSO's new research strategy, which is currently the subject of public consultation.