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The standardisation of the Drug Dictionary for Scotland will allow the Hospital Medicines Utilisation Database to show comparisons across NHS Scotland both in terms of the costs and volumes of medicines. Where possible, the Drug Dictionary for Scotland is standardised in line with the UK dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d) and is also mapped to the World Health Organization Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system to facilitate international comparison. Therefore comparisons may be made where compatible systems exist.

The SPICe Financial Scrutiny Unit has already published a breakdown of the Health Protection budget. The figures are reproduced in the following table:

Health Protection	2010-11 £ million
Bloodborne Virus Prevention	9.5
Sexual Health Strategy Implementation	5.1
Genetic Services	3.7
Emergency Planning	3.0
Flu Vaccine for Carers	2.5
Public Health	2.1
Life Begins Health Checks	1.5
Other below £1 million	0.7
	28.1

 

The Improvement and Support Team delivers National Improvement Programmes and Performance Support Programmes. National Improvement Programmes account for about 90% of funds. NHS boards receive allocations for local improvement teams that allow staff time for clinical leadership, project management and data analysis.

The remaining funds are deployed in support of NHS boards who require tailored performance support and on sharing good practice through events and web-based resources.

The Scottish Government''s policy on water and sewerage charges for the 2010-15 period was set out in its Principles of Charging Statement which was published on 27 October 2009.

The Statement sets out the Scottish Government''s policy of charge caps that are affordable and do not rise above inflation across the period. It explicitly requires the bandings for household water and sewerage charges to replicate council tax bandings, with reductions on water and sewerage charges also mirroring the discounts that apply to council tax. It also provides for those in receipt of council tax benefit to receive up to 25% discount on their charges if they receive no other reduction or discount.

 These measures to secure the affordability of water for low income households in Scotland can be compared positively to the rest of Great Britain where average household charges are greater than in Scotland, where charges are increasing at a greater rate over the next five years, where there is no mirroring of council tax reductions and where those on council tax benefit are not eligible for a discount.

The full details of the statement can be viewed at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/917/0088612.pdf.

Scottish Water accrued £17 million for household bad debt in 2008-09. This is not broken down across property valuation bands.

The total cost of billing and collection of unmeasured household charges via the 32 local authorities across Scotland was £14.06 million in 2008-09. Each local authority is paid a set amount for the billing and collection of water charges for every domestic property in their area, irrespective of its property valuation band.

The Scottish Government has already responded to Waterwatch Scotland about this report on 10 September 2008. Following consultation in 2008 the Scottish Government''s policy on water and sewerage charges for the 2010-15 period was set out in its Principles of Charging Statement which was published on 27 October 2009.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-30648 on 26 January 2010 for further details of that policy. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Under Section 25 of the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002, Scottish Water can engage in any activity which it considers is not inconsistent with the economic, efficient and effective exercise of its core functions. Scottish Water can therefore write off debt and it does so in accordance with the debt write off policies of local authorities.

The Scottish Government can confirm that NHS Health Scotland contracts and agency appointments are all tested through rigorous procurement procedures. This includes taking account of principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination in the tendering process. The pre-qualification questions are all compliant with the directives contained within the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and EU Procurement legislation. There is also a mandatory equality and diversity questionnaire which forms part of all of the tender documentation which is considered. This tender documentation is derived directly from the Scottish Government''s Procurement toolkit.

The budget for the Directorate of Equalities and Planning is £1,132,098. The breakdown is as follows:

(a) Staffing and associated costs: £882,848.

(b) Programme Costs: £249,250.