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Lothian and Borders Police have confirmed that a report was submitted to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) on 27 December 2012. It will be for the COPFS to decide if any further action is required.

The Equality Act 2010, places duties on NHS boards to reduce inequalities in access to health care and improve health outcomes for people. On 1 October 2012, new provisions in the Equality Act 2010 came into force, introducing a ban on unjustifiable age discrimination.

The equality team within NHS Health Scotland, are working to strengthen equality of access for all in NHS Scotland through their health inequalities impact assessment (HIIA). Impact assessment is an important tool for NHS boards to check their policies and services do not inadvertently exclude or discriminate groups within the population and it is an opportunity to promote equality of opportunity and good relations.

The Scottish Medicines Consortiums(SMC) processes for appraising orphan medicines are the same as that for any other medicine. However, in recognition of the small patient populations involved, the SMC can consider application of its modifiers which allow greater flexibility in its decision-making to allow consideration of additional factors such as accepting more uncertainty in the health economic case or a higher cost per Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY).

The Scottish Government has funded the Chartered Institute of Housing to provide guidance to social landlords on the UK Government’s reforms to housing benefit. This includes guidance on the collection of arrears specifically and asks landlords to identify whether there are other ways of collecting unpaid rent which do not risk the tenancy. The guidance is published at:

http://www.cih.co.uk/resources/PDF/Scotland%20Policy%20Pdfs/Bedroom%20Tax/CIH_Bedroomtax_e.pdf.

We are supporting landlords to consider, and where necessary, adapt their practice in response to the UK Government’s housing benefit reforms. The guidance will be updated as required to reflect changes in this respect.

<>The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that eviction is the last resort. In August 2012, it introduced regulations under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010 which require landlords to have exhausted all attempts to resolve the arrears with the tenant before taking action to evict. In June 2012 we published guidance for social landlords on these pre-action requirements. The guidance is published at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/06/2337. We will update the guidance to take account of the introduction of Universal Credit in due course.

We have also recently funded the Chartered Institute of Housing to provide guidance to social landlords on the UK Government’s reforms to housing benefit. This guidance highlights the challenges landlords are likely to face and asks landlords to identify whether there are other ways of collecting unpaid rent which do not risk the tenancy. The guidance is published at:

http://www.cih.co.uk/resources/PDF/Scotland%20Policy%20Pdfs/Bedroom%20Tax/CIH_Bedroomtax_e.pdf

The information requested on the number of NHS staff in West Scotland there are to provide patients being treated for cancer with follow-up health checks following surgery is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13013 on 5 March 2013. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

The information requested on how many staff each NHS board has to ensure that patients being treated for cancer are provided with follow-up health checks following surgery and whether it considers these numbers are sufficient is not held centrally.

It is for each NHS board to decide how best to plan and deliver their services to meet the needs of their population. This includes how best to utilise funding and staff, taking account of national and local priorities to meet local health needs. The Scottish Government does not advocate minimum staffing levels.

The table gives the contribution from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) towards discretionary housing payments (DHP) in each local authority area in Scotland.

Local authorities are allowed to supplement the amount they spend on DHPs from their own resources up to a maximum of 1.5 times the figure given in the table. Therefore the overall amount of DHPs spent in any local authority area in a given year is capped at a maximum of 2.5 times the figure given below.

However, we do not hold information centrally on the amount of DHPs awarded by each local authority in Scotland. We therefore do not know how many local authorities spent up to their maximum allowed amount.

In addition, a further breakdown of the amount allocated to each tenure is not held centrally.

Further information on the allocation of DHPs is available from the Department for Work and Pensions website at:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/local-authority-staff/housing-benefit/user-communications/hbctb-circulars/subsidy-circulars-2013/

Summary of Discretionary Housing Payment amounts by Scottish local authority (DWP contribution)

Local Authority Area	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Aberdeen	73,674	76,110	94,240	226,785
Aberdeenshire	24,260	24,963	45,276	160,695
Angus	25,414	32,429	56,313	130,802
Argyll and Bute	34,569	40,773	58,246	152,601
Clackmannanshire	5,336	9,981	23,661	162,088
Dumfries and Galloway	39,425	45,327	63,250	232,271
Dundee	31,246	69,850	114,767	311,904
East Ayrshire	14,208	20,629	49,849	142,006
East Dunbartonshire	33,592	29,948	42,723	102,051
East Lothian	24,783	28,932	47,911	125,982
East Renfrewshire	14,562	14,965	25,501	82,776
Edinburgh	332,431	337,526	570,286	1,347,299
Eilean Siar, Comhairle nan	7,200	9,360	10,582	49,911
Falkirk	7,878	11,150	37,972	136,698
Fife	77,858	95,697	165,386	435,614
Glasgow	894,434	1,053,201	1,393,221	2,979,970
Highland	44,158	54,635	80,994	216,106
Inverclyde	34,299	40,548	55,072	212,068
Midlothian	24,007	28,151	42,324	150,453
Moray	7,633	9,042	18,543	68,980
North Ayrshire	39,771	49,677	95,074	273,421
North Lanarkshire	60,463	103,420	163,264	374,676
Orkney	651	761	3,042	26,754
Perth and Kinross	12,878	19,665	43,018	149,177
Renfrewshire	42,350	52,314	74,462	251,714
Scottish Borders	17,599	20,927	38,787	170,470
Shetland	524	687	721	22,223
South Ayrshire	74,411	121,673	153,344	233,422
South Lanarkshire	121,428	140,212	217,462	413,967
Stirling	27,306	31,081	48,493	111,886
West Dunbartonshire	29,132	48,693	67,016	325,468
West Lothian	44,326	54,512	79,785	239,205
Scotland	2,221,806	2,676,839	3,980,585	10,019,443
Great Britain	20,000,000	30,000,000	60,000,000	155,000,000
Scotland share	11.1%	8.9%	6.6%	6.5%

The initial diagnosis, subsequent treatment and the ongoing aftercare that may be required by patients with cancer is a top clinical priority for both the Scottish Government and NHSScotland. The nature of aftercare required for patients treated for cancer will vary according to tumour type and will be determined by clinical judgement based on individual patient need and evidence-based, good practice guidelines.

A key component of the Scottish Government’s Cancer Taskforce Action Plan is the development and implementation of models of care which promote recovery of function and confidence after anti-cancer treatment, empowering patients to self manage where it is appropriate and right to do so and reducing the need for unnecessary face-to-face follow-up without impacting on cancer surveillance or outcomes.