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Significant consultation with the NHS in Scotland and patient representatives has resulted in the development of a service blueprint for NHS 24. The service has been established as a Special Health Board and is accountable to the Scottish Executive Health Department.

NHS 24 will be available to callers 24 hours a day, every day of the year and will provide three core activities:

nurse consultation and triage of patient symptoms;

the provision of health information, locally and nationally, and

will integrate with GP out-of-hours services, A&E departments and the Scottish Ambulance Service to provide a seamless service and simplify contact with the NHS for members of the public.

NHS 24 will operate out of three contact centres located in the north-east, the west and the east of Scotland. Commissioning and recruitment for the first of the three contact centres is on target for its planned start in spring 2002.

I am awaiting the report of a broadly-based working group which I set up to consider how a community legal service might be developed for Scotland. I expect to receive that report at the end of October, and will consider the way forward once I have studied it.

The Scottish Executive believes that it is absolutely essential to engage communities and the public generally in the design of health care services, including option appraisal exercises. The new NHS Boards are committed to that principle. Formal advice to the NHS on involving the public in developing health services was provided by the then Scottish Office in 1975.

In the Scottish Health Plan Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change, published in December last year, we gave a commitment to review guidance on formal NHS consultation to ensure that it meets the needs of a modern health care system, and takes into account the changes which have been made following Our National Health. This work is under way and further guidance will be issued in the near future.

Every local authority has established multi-disciplinary teams involving the statutory and voluntary agencies concerned with juvenile justice. These teams are identifying areas of need and gaps in existing resources. They are also developing programmes to tackle offending behaviour using the £20 million the Executive is making available over the next three years.

We are committed to improving the health of young people and working to reduce the rate of suicides among young people and we will report on progress in our forthcoming Social Justice Annual Report.

We plan to issue widely in October 2001 our consultation document National Framework for the Prevention of Suicide and Deliberate Self-harm in Scotland. Copies will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

In addition, our preparatory work continues for the introduction of a telephone helpline for people with low mood or depression. Arrangements for the launch will be announced in due course.

I can today announce that funding is being provided to the local authority areas of Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Angus, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde for the purposes of establishing Drug Treatment and Testing Order schemes, leading to increased capacity for a further 200 Orders to be made from 2002-03. This will allow the sheriff courts at Edinburgh, Dundee, Perth, Arbroath, Forfar, Paisley and Greenock access for the first time to Drug Treatment and Testing Orders.

The Eco-schools programme will give young people in Scotland the opportunity to learn about sustainable development, to put it into practice in their local environment and to share their ideas and experiences with other young people around the world.As the First Minister explained in answer to Rhona Brankin's question on 4 September, I will shortly submit a report on the development of the Eco-schools programme in Scotland to the Parliament's Reference Centre.

We are aware that a great deal of good practice exists in our schools in integrating asylum seeker and refugee children into the school community. Last week Nicol Stephen launched a newsletter, Welcoming Newcomers, which aims to share best practice and promote race equality in all our schools. This will be distributed to all schools and equal opportunity interest groups.On Monday Iain Gray chaired the first meeting of the Scottish Refugee Integration Forum. This new forum will be used to drive Executive policy on the devolved matters which affect people who have been granted asylum, such as housing, health, and education. The forum will help to develop action plans, based on best practice, to bring together refugees and existing communities, with the provision of more accessible and co-ordinated services.

Independent Assessors play a vital part in ensuring that the principles of the Commissioner for Public Appointments' Code are adhered to and that public appointments are made on a fair, open and transparent basis.As I made clear in my statement to Parliament last week, ministers have agreed that, in future, responsibility for appointing Assessors will transfer to the Scottish Commissioner for Public Appointments once it has been established.However, in order to ensure that we have sufficient numbers of Assessors in place until such time as a Commissioner is set up, the Executive is today embarking on a recruitment campaign inviting members of the public to consider applying for these posts. This recruitment campaign has received the full backing of the UK Commissioner for Public Appointments.