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The Scottish Health Purchasing Information Centre (SHPIC) published a report on hepatitis C in September 1998. This report was updated to include recommendations on the use of combination treatment with interferon alfa and ribavirin and disseminated to the NHS in Scotland in February 1999. The working group set up under The Scottish Needs Assessment Programme will be further considering interferon alfa and ribavirin treatment. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence in England is also to consider the issue of antiviral combination treatment for hepatitis C early in 2000. The conclusions of these bodies will help to inform decisions about the provision of this treatment within the NHS in Scotland.

There are no plans at present to introduce national guidelines. It is for health boards to assess the local needs for patients with hepatitis C, and many health boards have developed local treatment guidelines and protocols.

It is the responsibility of health boards to assess local needs for patients with hepatitis C, and arrange provision of appropriate treatment and care services. Last year, the Scottish Office commissioned the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme to establish a working group to consider all aspects of Hepatitis C including epidemiology, prevention, investigations, and treatment, and to estimate future implications for the Scottish population and for service needs. This working group is expected to report early in 2000.

The appraisal of the M74 Northern Extension carried out for the Strategic Roads Review indicated that the scheme would have negative effects on a range of environmental indicators, namely noise and vibration, water quality and drainage, ecology, visual impacts, heritage and landscape character. The appraisal indicated that 20 listed buildings would be adversely effected by the scheme.

The information contained in this report confirms the scale of the work that needs to be done in tackling poverty and social exclusion in Glasgow. In recent years, Glasgow has made tremendous strides - population decline has been halted, there is net job growth in the city and Glasgow has been voted third most desirable business location in Europe. The challenge is to ensure that all of Glasgow's citizens benefit from its economic development. There are no quick fixes to the cycle of disadvantage that includes unemployment, low skills and poverty, but through its participation in the Glasgow Alliance and its support for the city's Social Inclusion Partnerships, the Executive is committed to a long term programme of concerted action. This includes action to promote economic development, to tackle low educational achievement, to expand childcare, to address homelessness, drug misuse and poor health and a radical solution to Glasgow's acute housing problems. By joining up and delivering on these policies, we aim to create a framework within which all Glaswegians have a decent quality of life and the opportunity to prosper.

Information is not collected on "drop-out" rates for universities but non-completion rates have been complied and were published on 3^rd December 1999 for 1996-97 as part of a package of Performance Indicators. The figures below show the number of starters at each institution in 1996-97, those that are expected not to obtain a qualification and not to transfer to another HE institution, together with the related non-completion rate. A full copy of the Performance Indicators in Higher Education 1996-97, 1997-98 report is available through the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Comparable information about the further education sector is not available.

Full-time students starting first degree courses 1996-97 - Numbers projected not to obtain an award or to transfer to another higher education institution in the UK

Higher Education Institution	Number of starters	Neither obtain an award nor transfer
		Number	Per cent
Scotland
All Scottish Institutions	28,926	4,995	17
University of Aberdeen	1,991	389	20
University of Abertay Dundee	1,373	157	11
University of Dundee	1,401	191	14
		218	6
Edinburgh College of Art	349	32	9
University of Glasgow	3,286	428	13
Glasgow Caledonian University	4,035	1,214	30
Glasgow School of Art	351	35	10
Heriot-Watt University	1,076	179	17
Moray House Institute of Education (1)	372	47	13
Napier University	1,524	509	33
Northern College of Education	232	48	21
University of Paisley	1,539	456	30
Queen Margaret University College	839	128	15
The Robert Gordon University	1,358	249	18
Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama	109	12	11
Scottish College of Textiles	171	22	13
University of St Andrews	958	46	5
St Andrew's College of Education (1)	181	46	25
University of Stirling	1,190	149	13
University of Strathclyde	3,062	439	14

Source: Performance Indicators in higher education 1996-97, 1997-98

Notes:1. These institutions have subsequently merged with universities

The details of the Public private partnership contract are matters for Glasgow City Council. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Special Deprivation Payment is being treated as a special allowance outwith Grant Aided Expenditure; the resources are not hypothecated and are intended to apply for one year only, pending the completion of a joint review with CoSLA of the account taken of deprivation and poverty within the local government finance distribution formula.

The establishment of the Scottish Parliament has created an additional workload on the staff of the Executive. Around 170 additional members of staff have been recruited to assist with the general increase in workload including, but not specifically, written Parliamentary Questions.

The number of deaths in Scotland due to prostate cancer is set out below for the three most recent years for which information is available.

1996	743
1997	708
1998	677