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NHS 24 is not being piloted in the Grampian region; Grampian is the first part of Scotland to benefit from the national rollout of this new NHS service. NHS 24 was designed and developed with the support of staff from the Scottish Ambulance Service and accident and emergency services to complement these services. By providing callers with home care advice or, where required, directing them to the most appropriate NHS service it should help reduce inappropriate demand on these services. NHS 24 is working very closely with NHSScotland to maximise nursing resource and minimise impact on local NHS services. Consequently, no additional funding was provided to the Grampian NHS Board area solely because NHS 24 would be launched in that area.

Detailed decisions have not yet been made on the distribution of the health budget announced on 12 September.

Record sums are being invested in the NHS by the Scottish Executive so that we can revitalise services for patients everywhere. As part of our action on workforce development we are encouraging innovative multi-professional teamworking, and seeking to reward staff appropriately to the level of responsibility carried. We are working at local, regional and national levels to provide attractive career opportunities for staff at all levels and in all specialities.

The Health Technology Board for Scotland provides timely advice on the clinical and cost effectiveness of the broad range of existing and new health technologies to NHSScotland, including most recently for mental health on:the prescription of anti-cholinesterases to people with Alzheimer's Disease, andthe prescription of atypical anti-psychotics to people with schizophrenia.NHS Scotland and their care partners will also continue to invest in treatments, approaches, services, support and other interventions that aim not only to treat but also to prevent or reduce the incidence and individual severity of mental illness in Scotland. In terms of investment, over £600 million spent last year alone offers a clear signal of the priority we attach to and our national programme to improve mental health and well-being further signals our intent to maintain this profile.

The national clinical effectiveness organisations, for example the Health Technology Board Scotland, the Scottish Inter-Collegiate Guidelines Network and the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland, are funded to evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of health technologies and develop evidence-based clinical guidelines and standards. NHSScotland is expected to take account of advice and evidence from these organisations so that effective medical advances are quickly adopted as mainstream practice across Scotland. NHS boards are expected to allocate their funds so as to meet national and local priorities, including taking account of clinical advances where relevant. NHS boards' allocations for future years will be announced around the turn of the year, and we expect those to be sufficient to meet pay and price increases and clinical advances.

Substantial additional resources are being made available to the NHS in Scotland over the years of the spending review as announced on 12 September 2002, with an average annual increase of 8.7% over the years 2003-04 to 2005-06 rising to £8.6 billion a year by the end of the period. Within these substantially increased resources, NHS boards are responsible for ensuring that patients residing in their areas have access to clinically appropriate treatment, including new drug treatments. At Scottish level, the Health Technology Board for Scotland reviews new drug treatments and provides guidance on their use. NHSScotland is expected to take account of advice and evidence from the HTBS and ensure that recommended drugs or treatments are made available to meet clinical need. At local level, Area Drug and Therapeutic Committees are responsible for giving advice to clinicians and for ensuring consistent application of national and local guidelines.

This investment will enable 1,000 additional people to move from hospital into more appropriate community-based settings at varying costs. It will also allow local authority and NHS board partnerships to put in place a variety of other measures to tackle delayed discharge, including admissions avoidance and rapid response.

The Food Standards Agency have advised me that they are committed to reducing food-borne illness in Scotland by at least 20%, by 2006.The funding allocated to reduce food-borne illness across the spending review period is:

2003-04	£1.4 million
2004-05	£4.1 million
2005-06	£3.9 million

The terms in-patient, day case and out-patient denote the type and level of resource used to treat a patient during a particular contact with hospital services. These terms are formally defined by ISD Scotland in its Definitions and Codes manual, which can be accessed at the following web address. Other defined terms include day patients, ward attenders, accident and emergency attenders and nurse only clinic attendances.http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/isd_services/NHSiS_services/National_data_standards/defsmanual.htm.

The detailed allocations of the health budget, including NHS 24's, will be published in the draft budget document towards the end of October. NHS 24's funding will facilitate the national rollout of this new NHS service over the next two years. NHS 24 is working very closely with NHSScotland to maximise nursing resource and minimise impact on local NHS services.