Chamber and committees

The Scottish Executive regrets the closure of Millennium Cellular Services. Our sympathies are with those who have lost their jobs. We understand that the decision to close in no way reflects on the quality or productivity of the workforce.Following the closure the Executive has been in contact with Scottish Enterprise and the local economic development agency.

The Scottish Executive is dedicated to improving the health of all Scots and, in particular, to tackling health inequalities. Our National Health: A plan for action; a plan for change, published on 14 December 2000, sets out fully the policy framework which provides the focus for our work to tackle the root causes of ill health. Implementation of these policies at local level will lead to improvements in health with consequent improvements in life expectancy rates for both men and women. Greater Glasgow Health Board (GGHB) is involved with partner organisations in a wide variety of initiatives aimed at improving the health of all of its population. Information about the specific actions being taken by the board can be obtained from their Health Promotion Department.The Executive has recognised the high levels of morbidity and deprivation in the Greater Glasgow Health Board area in implementing the recommendation of Fair Shares for All. This means that GGHB will receive in 2001-02 an increase of 7.7% in its allocation for hospital and community health services, compared with an average increase of 6.5%.

Over the period 2001-03, up to £4,000,000 will be made available through sportscotland and about £1,000,000 will be made available from Reduction in Pools Betting Duty monies.

The settlement provides local authorities with an additional £1.2 billion in Scottish Executive support over the next three years and with the stability of firm three-year grant figures. This should enable them to improve the range and quality of local services, including sport and cultural facilities, although it is for each authority to determine its service priorities.

The criteria applied to the funding available through sportscotland are the Policies and Procedures of the Scottish Lottery Fund Football Academy Strand. These criteria are based on the proposals drawn up and endorsed by the Scottish Football Partnership established by the Scottish Executive. Criteria for other sources of funding have yet to be established.

Awards of financial assistance will be determined by assessment of applications received. It is not possible, therefore, to say which clubs will benefit and to what extent. I do expect, however, to be able to announce shortly the first sportscotland awards for football academies.

Although responsibility for policy on energy pricing is a reserved matter, the Scottish Executive is in regular contact with Scottish Gas on a range of issues, including concerns about fuel poverty in Scotland. The current rise of 4.7% in the price of gas must be seen in the context of a fall in gas prices over the last five years of around 20% in real terms. The effect of the rise on domestic consumers will be to cause a marginal increase in fuel poverty, but this will be mitigated by a number of programmes across Government aimed at helping low-income households.

The Millan Committee, in its report New Directions, which was published on 25 January, recommends the introduction of a community order, where a patient meets the criteria for compulsory measures. The Executive is considering the report and proposes to publish a policy statement in the summer, setting out, as promised in Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, proposals for a modern legislative framework to meet the needs of people with a mental illness who require care and support, both in hospital and the community.

The core telecommunications networks in Scotland provided by operators such as BT, Thus and Energis, all are engineered as Integrated Digital Networks. The fibre backbone extends from Wick in the Highlands, through central Scotland and into Galashiels in the South of Scotland. The principle challenge is to ensure that advanced digital services are extended out to individual customers - the so-called "last mile" problem. The Scottish Executive is working to promote conditions for the most rapid and comprehensive provision of such services.

The position in Scotland regarding retention of organs following post-mortem examination is set out in detail in the Report of the independent Review Group on the Retention of Organs at Post-Mortem published on 6 February 2001.The Executive is seeking urgent changes to the law to make it clear that parents' consent must be sought to the retention of children's organs at post-mortem, and to make it an offence to retain organs without such consent.