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We are currently supporting a pilot campaign with Age Concern Scotland to encourage older people to take up the financial support, including benefits, tax credits, and other awards, such as help with heating costs, to which they are entitled. This is the first campaign specifically targeted at older people or the low paid which we have supported. Local government supports a wide range of services, through which older people and the low paid can access help, though these do not necessarily focus specifically on those groups. These include welfare rights services and money advice agencies. Some third sector organisations such as housing associations also provide support to access financial support alongside their other activities.

The Scottish Government places great importance on Scotland''s relationships in Europe, and engages on an ongoing basis with Ireland, Iceland and Norway, along with a range of European partners, across a variety of areas, including those relating to the economy. At the 11th summit of the British Irish Council in September 2008, for example, the First Minister, the Taoiseach and other participants discussed the global economic crisis amongst other issues. The outcome of these discussions is recorded in the communiqu© of the summit which was placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 46719). On 12 October 2008 the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism visited Norway for talks on energy matters.

The Scottish Government is committed to doing everything within its power to encourage investment in and development of the Scottish economy and help businesses and individuals. We are taking forward an extensive package of measures through the Scottish Economic Recovery plan, and will continue to review our actions and spending in light of this plan.

No specific assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the cross-border transfer of organs for transplantation. This is because the allocation of organs is based on a UK-wide system which does not take specific account of the boundaries between countries. The arrangements are based on the principle of finding the best possible match for patients in order to achieve the optimal clinical outcome.

Information on the number of repeat discharges is currently unavailable for the calendar year 2007. Table 1 provides the percentages of repeat discharges with an alcohol-related diagnosis from general acute hospitals in the financial years 2005-06 and 2006-07. Information is based on discharge records rather than admissions.

Table 1. Number of Discharges¹ and Percentage of Repeat Discharges from General Acute Hospitals² with an Alcohol-Related Diagnosis; Scotland 2005-06 to 2006-07

	2005-06	2006-07
Total number of Discharges	40,626	42,262
Readmissions (%)	30	31

Notes

1. A repeat discharge is defined as a discharge with an alcohol-related diagnosis for a patient who has previously been discharged from hospital with such a diagnosis earlier in the same year. The total includes multiple repeat discharges for patients with more than two discharges in one year.

2. Caution is necessary when interpreting these figures. The recording of alcohol misuse may vary from hospital to hospital. Where alcohol misuse is suspected but unconfirmed it may not be recorded by the hospital.

3. Excludes psychiatric hospitals and maternity hospitals. Transfers are also excluded. Includes Scottish residents only.

Ministers receive as a matter or course, a wealth of representations relating to denominational schools in the public and private sectors, expressing a range of opinions. Ultimately, under the terms of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, the responsibility for the provision of publicly funded schools is for local authorities. It is for them to determine the type of schools they provide which should reflect local circumstances and demand.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S3W-15898 to S3W-15908 on 5 November 2008. All 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 arrangements for Scottish patients requiring access to specialised medical treatment which is only available in England are managed on behalf of NHSScotland by National Services Division (NSD). Specialised services provided in England are funded through two distinct funding streams:

For a designated UK national specialist service, NSD commissions the service through the National Commissioning Group in England to ensure that Scottish residents have the same access as those from England. These arrangement cover services for very rare conditions which are only available at a few sites in the UK.

A national financial risk sharing scheme is in place for ad hoc referrals to other specialised services in England which are not nationally designated. Currently, 35 services are included in the specialised services definitions set. These services are not commissioned by NSD, rather funded through NSD on behalf of NHS boards. Referrals to specialist services in England are made by secondary or tertiary hospital specialists in appropriate disciplines. It is the responsibility of the Director of Public Health of the NHS board of the patient''s residence to approve all such referrals.

The following table gives the number of new names added to the NHS organ donor register in Scotland and in the UK as a whole in each month since March 2008:

Month (2008)	Scotland	UK
March	54*	80,804
April	49*	122,963
May	39*	104,205
June	48,019*	105,221
July	10,423	97,331
August	11,849	101,664
September	12,551	96,838
October	10,633	72,615
Total	93,617	781,641

Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

Note: *Between March and May 2008 there was a delay between people in Scotland signing up to the register and their details being added, due to a hitch, which has now been rectified, in the process of adding the Community Health Index number to each registration.

I announced further appointments to the board of the Scottish Futures Trust on Friday 7 November.

Civil Service pension arrangements involve employer contributions to the pensions of all directly employed staff. These vary between 17.1% and 25.5% of salary. For the Permanent Secretary and the six Directors General the percentages of individual salary represented by employer''s contributions range between 18.7% and 25.5%, at an average cost of £2,796 per month.