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Reducing waiting for patients at all stages in their use of health services is one of the Executive's key objectives for the NHS in Scotland. We are currently working with the service on the development of all-Scotland maximum waiting times in the national clinical priorities of cancer, heart disease and mental health.

Action to reduce hospital waiting lists is primarily for health boards and NHS Trusts. The Executive has put substantial extra investment into the NHS in Scotland, including targeted investment to help reduce waiting. Coupled with new ways of working and delivering services, this will help the service to achieve sustained improvements.

The information requested is not available centrally.

The following tables give the information requested for UK graduates (Table 1) and Scottish graduates (Table 2). The information has been provided by the Medical Careers Research Group (MCRG) at the University of Oxford. MCRG ask all those who graduate from UK medical schools about their employment history, providing a long-term picture of medical careers. They do not survey graduates every year. The most recent four years for which data are available are the graduates of 1996, 1993, 1988 and 1983.

The numbers recorded as not currently working in medicine include those who will rejoin the profession after a temporary career break.

Table 1: All UK medical graduates two years after graduation

	1996 graduates in 1998	1993 graduates in 1995	1988 graduates in 1990	1983 graduates in 1986*
Total responders	2,509	2,803	2,823	3,275
Not in medical profession	71	86	124	126
%	2.8	3.1	4.4	3.8

* After three years: data for two years unavailable.

Table 2: All Scottish graduates two years after graduation

	1996 graduates in 1998	1993 graduates in 1995	1988 graduates in 1990	1983 graduates in 1986*
Total responders	413	439	456	459
Not in medical profession	8	11	16	13
%	1.9	2.5	3.5	2.8

* After three years: data for two years unavailable.

The number of medical students graduated in Scotland in each of the last five years for which figures are available are shown in the following table. The table should be read in conjunction with the notes below.

	1993-942	1994-95	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98
Dentistry	1,049	125	135	143	125
Medicine		1,090	903	930	977
Allied to Medicine5	1,520	2,094	2,825	4,030	5,671

Notes:

1. Source: Scottish Executive, Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

2. Separate figures for Dentistry and Medicine in 1993-94 are not readily available.

3. Figures are for full-time students, from both Higher and Further Education Institutions, who successfully completed a higher education course in Scotland.

4. Higher education courses are defined as those at HNC/HND level and above.

5. Allied to Medicine includes courses such as Pharmacology, Opthalmics and Nursing.

6. 1998-99 data will be published in November 2000.

The expenditure incurred in each of the last three years and in each of the following three years is:

1997-98	£183,391
1998-99	£228,720
1999-2000	£224,771
2000-01	£327,151
2001-02	£343,992
2002-03	£304,792

I refer the member to the statement I made to Parliament on transport spending on 28 September 2000.

This information is not held centrally. NHS in Scotland employers are required to be working towards attaining the "Positive about Disability Two Ticks Symbol" and ensuring the health service is working towards the guidelines in the Employment Service Code of Good Practice on the Employment of Disabled People. The Symbol requires employers to:

• interview all applicants with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy and consider them on their merits;
• ask disabled employees at least once a year what the employer can do to make sure disabled employees can develop and use their abilities at work;
• make every effort when an employee become disabled to make sure the employee remains in employment;
• take action to ensure that key employees develop an awareness of disability needed to make the employers commitments work;

each year employers are required to review their commitments and achievements, plan ways to improve on them and let all employees know about progress and future plans.

Although there were shortages of generic drugs during 1999-2000, contingency arrangements already in place ensured both that patients continued to receive their medicines and that community pharmacists were appropriately reimbursed. Scottish Executive Health Department officials are in regular contact with the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council to ensure that these arrangements continue to achieve these twin objectives in cases of shortages.

I also support the steps taken by the Department of Health to commission a fundamental review of the way the generics market serves the needs of Primary Care. I will be looking carefully at the department's conclusions and the implications for Scotland.

It is too early to quantify what savings may be attributable to the work of the Common Services Agency's fraud investigation unit, which has been in operation since July, but this is a matter which will be examined further in the light of experience. The unit will also focus on deterring fraud against the NHS.

Scottish Healthcare Supplies (SHS), a Division of the Common Services Agency with responsibility for arranging central contracts for the NHS in Scotland, is committed to ensuring that any goods, equipment or services placed on contract are safe, of optimal quality and represent good value for money. SHS has negotiated a wide range of national contracts for common usage, and these have generated substantial savings for the NHS in Scotland. The Scottish Executive continues to work to seek further improvements in this area.