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As the number of patients who fall into this category are small, there are no plans to recover costs from private healthcare providers at present. This will, however, be kept under review and recovery of costs considered if required.

That is a matter for the private healthcare provider and patient to agree.

No information is held on the number of patients resident in Scotland whose PIP silicone breast implants were implanted in either England or abroad.

As stated in my answer to question S4W-05591 the Scottish Government has held back around £20 million of Resource DEL consequentials available in 2012-13 in view of risks presented by the current economic and financial climate including, in particular, those presented by UK welfare reform and the unpredictability surrounding the eurozone.

As the full extent of the implications of the UK Welfare Reform Bill is still unknown I cannot confirm, at this stage, how much of the available consequentials will be allocated in response to the impact of the bill.

Where a proposal made by the Scottish Government requires it, the Member State notifies the European Commission of its terms.

On current evidence, the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) considers women with Poly Implant Prothese (PiP) silicone breast implants to be eligible to donate blood, provided that they meet all of SNBTS’s donor selection criteria.

I met the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli on 7 February 2012. During the same visit I also met with senior officials from DG Enterprise and Industry. I was accompanied by Donald Henderson, Head of Public Health Division, Scottish Government.

The primary responsibility for ensuring that a local authority monitors welfare guardianships effectively lies within the authority itself. Under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 a local authority is required to do various tasks including supervising welfare guardians, consulting with the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) and the Office of the Public Guardian on issues of common interest, investigating complaints and providing guardians with information and advice. The Care Inspectorate is responsible for regulating and inspecting social work services.

The MWC has responsibility under the 2000 Act for a variety of protective functions in respect of adults who are subject to welfare guardianship. The MWC visits a sample of adults. Where not visiting, the MWC writes to guardians and asks guardians to advise the MWC about any change of circumstances or concerns they may have. The MWC will also investigate a complaint relating to a welfare guardian where the local authority fails to investigate the complaint or where the MWC are not satisfied with the local authority’s investigation.

The total amount spent by NHSScotland on clinical negligence claims since 2007-08 is detailed in the following table:

Fluctuations in the sums paid from year to year are due to the number of high value settlements occurring in any one year. These tend to relate to birth cases where the sums paid can be substantial. In 2010-11 there were 25 claims paid that were in excess of £1m compared to 16 in 2009-10.

The amount spent for 2011-12 as at 31 January totalled £22.5 million.