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There is no specific guidance as to how far people with multiple sclerosis (MS) or other long-term conditions that cause fatigue should have to travel to gain access to specialist services.

The Scottish Government is however committed to providing services for long-term conditions such as MS which are fully responsive to the totality of people''s needs and are delivered as locally and as speedily as possible, but with ready access to specialist services when needed. We made clear in Better Health, Better Care our support for a Managed Clinical Network (MCN) approach to these conditions, since MCNs balance the need for specialisation with local delivery of services wherever possible.

This approach is echoed in the development of the obligate networks concept in the 2007 report Delivering for Remote and Rural Healthcare. These networks are intended to link Rural General Hospitals with larger centres to support local delivery of care by reducing to a minimum onward referral and travel for patients in remote and rural areas. This work is being taken forward by the Remote and Rural Implementation Group of the North of Scotland Planning Group.

We expect this overall approach to be encouraged through implementation of the clinical standards for MS which NHS Quality Improvement Scotland expects to publish in final form next month. Regional neurology centres are expected to develop contacts with Community Health Partnerships to facilitate the management of people with MS in the community.

The Physical Disability Rehabilitation Unit at the Southern General is a 30 bed specialist Rehabilitation Unit. A further eight beds are provided at the Larkfield Unit, Inverclyde Royal Hospital. While it is not possible to make direct comparisons there are a further seven specialist units across Scotland. The location and capacity of these units is set out in the following table.

NHS Board	Location	Bed Numbers
Lothian	Astley Ainslie Hospital, Edinburgh	28
	Liberton Hospital, Edinburgh	26
	Royal Edinburgh Hospital	19
Orkney	Balfour Hospital, Kirkwall	20
Ayrshire and Arran	Central Hospital, Irvine	19
Grampian	Woodend Hospital	16
Forth Valley	Ward 11 Falkirk District Royal	8

 

In areas where there are no specialist units NHS boards provide rehabilitation services in a range of hospital and community settings to meet local needs.

The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), within the Scottish Government Health Directorates, has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland. CSO primarily responds to requests for funding research proposals initiated by the research community in Scotland and this role is well known throughout the healthcare and academic community. CSO would be pleased to consider further research proposals for innovative multiple sclerosis studies of a sufficiently high standard.

Direct Expenditure on Multiple Sclerosis Research since 1999 is as follows (£ Millions):

	CSO	Department of Health	Medical Research Council
1999-2000	0	0.5	not available
2000-01	0	0.5	1.5
2001-02	0	0.6	2.1
2002-03	0	0.1	1.8
2003-04	0	0.1	1.1
2004-05	0	0.1	1.4
2005-06	0	0.8	1.9
2006-07	0	0.01	3.1
2007-08	0.1	0.8	3.6

 

In addition to direct expenditure, CSO and DH also meet the additional indirect costs to the NHS of hosting research funded by bodies such as the MRC and research charities. Such indirect expenditure on multiple sclerosis is not held centrally.

Information regarding spend on multiple sclerosis research in other OECD countries is not available.

The detailed information requested is not held centrally.

Research studies suggest there are around 10,000 people in Scotland with multiple sclerosis (MS). The national MS register which the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland has been developing with the MS Society Scotland, with some government funding, will in time provide more accurate data on the incidence and prevalence of the condition.

The information requested is not centrally available. A wide range of health professionals, which includes medical staff, clinical nurse specialists and allied health professionals, are needed to care for those patients with specific conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis. National Services Scotland, Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland publish NHS Workforce data which is available from the website link http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/796.html.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26936 on 10 September 2009. All the answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The following housing associations are currently, as of 3 August, registered and using the Public Contracts Scotland portal to advertise their contracting activity.

Aberdeenshire Housing Partnership

Almond Housing Association

Castlehill Housing Association

Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership Ltd.

Eildon Housing Association

Fife Housing Association

Garrion Peoples Housing Co-Operative

Glasgow Housing Association

Kingdom Housing Association Limited

Kingdom Initiatives Housing Association

Queens Cross Housing Association Ltd

River Clyde Homes

Viewpoint Housing Association

Waverley Housing

Whiteinch and Scotstoun Housing

Association Limited.

This information is freely available to anyone who wishes to keep up to date with the progress in their specific area of interest.

Instructions to obtain future reports:

If you go to the portal website; www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk.

On the left hand side you will see a menu bar, select info centre and then publications. Scroll the screen down to Selection number 5 which is headed Scottish Contracting Authorities, if you select this heading by clicking it the system will take you to a page where it asks for you email address. Enter your email address and click send and the most recent list of all organisations currently using the portal will be emailed to you directly.

The Public Contracts Scotland website was launched in October 2008 as a free-to-use one stop shop for public bodies to advertise public sector tender opportunities and for suppliers to register their interests and receive free e-mail alerts whenever advertisements which may be of interest, are posted. Significant progress has been made to encourage its use and all contract opportunities for contracts to be awarded by the government, its agencies and local authorities and which are above the financial thresholds set out in the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (currently £90,319 or £139,893 depending upon the status of the public body) are published on the website.

In addition, 123 organisations, including the government, 18 of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies'', and 25 local authorities have advertised contract opportunities on the website where the value of the contract is below these financial thresholds. The Public Procurement Reform Board, in which I chair, has stated that all public bodies should aim to advertise contracts with a value of £50,000 or more on the Public Contracts Scotland website. Since its launch 4,867 contract opportunities have been advertised.

The Scottish Government recognises the significant contribution made to the delivery of public services in Scotland and to the Scottish economy by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We have introduced a number of measures to encourage SME participation in bidding for public contracts, including writing to chief executives and heads of procurement throughout the public sector, encouraging them to use The Six Simple Steps (which include the Public Contracts Scotland Portal and Supplier Charter) in their procurement activities.

Information obtained from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub, which monitors spend by major Scottish public bodies indicates that in each of the last three financial years, over 48% of Scottish public sector spend has been with SMEs.

: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are made aware of opportunities in a variety of ways including:

Targeted Meet the Buyer events that provide practical assistance to SMEs to help them bid for public sector contracts (these events are aimed at SMEs in industry sectors for which we have forthcoming requirements);

On the Scottish Parliament website (the website provides information on current and forthcoming contracts (over £5,000) as well as contract adverts and sub-contracting opportunities);

On the Public Contracts Scotland website;

SMEs registered on the Parliament''s supplier database are alerted to contract adverts being placed;

The Parliament''s supplier database is used to source suppliers for low-value requirements wherever it is inappropriate to advertise a contract.  As 69% of suppliers on the database are SMEs, this increases their contracting opportunities,

Procurement staff attending SME events organised by other public sector bodies or organisations aimed at supporting SMEs. All SMEs encountered are encouraged to register on the Parliament''s supplier database and also on the Public Contracts Scotland website.