Seòmar agus comataidhean

No comparative assessments have been made with England and Wales. Judicial expenses relate to the work done under the relevant procedures and reflect a fair level of remuneration for that work.

There are a variety of ways in which needs assessments are informed. For cancer services these include,the Scottish Executive's on-going modernisation programme for radiotherapy treatment equipment. This programme has already seen three new linear accelerators sited in the new Beatson Oncology Centre facility at Gartnavel Hospital:a preparatory assessment of chemotherapy needs for breast, lung, colorectal and ovarian cancers was carried out by the previous Scottish Cancer Group (SCG). This work is shortly to be taken forward by the current SCG and will inform service planning in the future;Cancer Scenarios: an aid to planning cancer services in the next decade was published by the Scottish Executive in May of this year; the Royal College of Radiologists, which includes radiation oncology, published two reviews in 1999, one on workforce needs and one on linear accelerator needs, and in 1999, the Scottish Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee (SMASAC) undertook an assessment of radiology equipment needs.The Scottish Executive expects that the advice of Royal Colleges and other professional advisory bodies be taken into account when local NHS providers are planning the delivery of services.

The Executive has been represented at one of the five meetings held since being invited to attend as observers.

The Scottish Executive is committed to making substantial increases in health spending for the duration of this Parliament to deliver sustainable improvements for patients across Scotland. Significant resources totalling £5.9 billion are being invested in NHSScotland in 2001-02.Certain elements of revenue expenditure and most capital investment including PPP/PFI is used for the delivery of new modern facilities, modernisation of existing facilities, modernisation of working practices or the purchase of modern medical equipment.

None. I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-19757.

NHS management are responsible for planning services required to meet the assessed needs of their respective patient populations.From time to time professional bodies, such as the Royal Colleges, may make recommendations for the provision of services by their members within particular clinical specialties. Any such recommendations are expected to be taken into account by NHS Boards when planning local services.

Cancer services in Scotland are delivered by clinicians working within three regional managed clinical networks. The whole-time equivalent (WTE) of oncologists working within a particular cancer centre area and the ratio of these to the local population is therefore not an indicator of the level of patient access to these highly specialised services.The following table shows the latest available WTE of consultant oncologists working within the areas covered by the three regional cancer networks. The table should be read in conjunction with the notes below.Consultant Medical and Clinical Oncologists Employed in NHSScotlandWhole-Time Equivalent and Rate per 1,000,000 Population: 30 September 2000^p

	Whole-Time Equivalent			per 1,000,000 Population
	Total	Medical Oncologists	Clinical Oncologists	Total	Medical Oncologists	Clinical Oncologists
Scotland	45.4	11.0	34.4	8.9	2.2	6.7
North1	12.8	3.2	9.6	10.8	2.7	8.1
West2	19.1	3.9	15.2	7.5	1.5	6.0
South East3	13.5	3.9	9.6	9.7	2.8	6.9

Source: Staff - Medical and Dental Census, ISD Scotland; Population Estimates - Registrar General for Scotland.p. The data shown is provisional and is the value on 30 September 2000. This may not necessarily represent average staffing levels throughout the year.Notes:1. The North of Scotland Cancer Network area covers the following NHS board areas: Grampian, Highland, Orkney, Shetland, Tayside and Western Isles. This area includes the cancer centres in Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness.2. The West of Scotland Cancer Network area covers the following NHS board areas: Argyll & Clyde, Ayrshire & Arran, Forth Valley, Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire. This area includes the cancer centre in Glasgow.3. The South East Scotland Cancer Network area covers the following NHS board areas: Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, Fife and Lothian. This area includes the cancer centre in Edinburgh.There are likely to be some cross-boundary flows between network areas which have not been accounted for in this table.

The populations served and percentages for each of Scotland's five cancer centres are as follows.

Centre	Population	% of total
Aberdeen	565,320	11.1
Dundee	385,500	7.5
Edinburgh	1,386,700	27.1
Glasgow	2,541,300	49.7
Inverness	235,780	4.6

The answer given to question S1W-19747 provides information on the populations served by each of the five cancer centres. The number of linear accelerator and the number per million population served are as follows.

Centre	No. Linear accelerators	No. per m.pop
Aberdeen	2	3.5
Dundee	2	5.2
Edinburgh	5	3.8
Glasgow	7 (8 by December 2001)	2.8 (3.2)
Inverness	1	4.3

Capital investment in NHSScotland continues to increase year on year.The resources made available for capital investment in NHSScotland in 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02 totalled £138 million, £180 million, £238 million and £285 million respectively.