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The balance of £139 million represents the remuneration paid to dispensers for all pharmaceutical services, including the provision of dispensing services.

The courts at Cumnock and Girvan sit as district courts under the administration of the local authority. In June 2008 the former district courts at Banff and Elgin were established as Justice of the Peace Courts administered by the Scottish Court Service. The figures for Banff and Elgin include the cases dealt with by them as District and Justice of the Peace Courts.

Develop a national drug dictionary.

Roll out of the Emergency Care Summary for use by accident and emergency hospital staff dealing with emergency patients.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium should continue to develop its work on estimating the budget impact of new medicines so that NHS boards are provided with information on all anticipated costs and savings to allow them to estimate the local financial impact of new medicines.

NHS boards should ensure that the horizon scanning information and monitoring information on the use of medicines is used to inform budgets for medicines.

NHS boards should ensure that pharmacy is represented at the senior levels of decision-making in the NHS boards and operating divisions.

NHS boards should develop joint formularies and treatment protocols that promote cost-effective prescribing and monitor their use.

NHS boards should develop antibiotic strategies and put in place mechanisms to support these strategies, including education, clinical audit and feedback to staff.

In addition to the above, there are developments at UK level which address key recommendations in relation to the pharmacy workforce. Importantly, the Healthcare and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments and Practitioner Psychologists) Order 2009 extends the statutory regulation of pharmacy technicians to Scotland. Once pharmacy technicians are registered and trained they will be able to undertake extended roles thus releasing capacity elsewhere. At this time, the Scottish Government is also scoping the potential for a new role of the assistant pharmacist practitioner. These, together with the Action Plan for Pharmacy and Medicines, which is currently being developed, will allow key recommendations relating to the pharmacy workforce, including the use of automation, to be fully addressed.

The key recommendation relating to the review of education in medicines and prescribing for medical students is being taken forward on a UK basis through the General Medical Council''s review of Tomorrow''s Doctors, which includes representation from the Scottish Government.

Recommendations relating to the development and implementation of a national hospital, electronic prescribing and medicines administration system will be an option as part of a Patient Management System. Procurement of such a system is underway and award of contract stage is expected by autumn 2009. Other national information systems, the use of the Community Health Index number in the hospital sector and the national Hospital Medicines Utilisation database, are expected to be completed by end 2009 and 2010 respectively.

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) is currently examining how their clinical guidelines and technology appraisal processes can include cost implications to inform the NHS budget planning. NHS QIS is also examining the feasibility of developing a national incident reporting approach so that any safety learned can be shared throughout the NHS.

We would hope to communicate this by, for example:

Promoting video and tele “ conferencing;

Promoting travel by rail and bus on longer distance journeys;

Encourage walking, taxi sharing, cycling and bus travel over short to medium distance journeys, and

Encourage the use of low emission pool cars for medium distance trips where there is no practical alternative.

The design capacity of all Scottish prisons since May 2007 has increased as follows:

The number of community service orders in each year from 2003-04 to 2007-08 are published in the Scottish Government statistical bulletin Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics 2007-08 (Table 1.1). This can be accessed through the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/09091001/14.

Figures are collected from local authorities on a financial year basis and the figures for 2008-09 will be published toward the end of 2009.

In addition, NES is progressing the development of a National Educational Framework for Pharmacy Support Staff, jointly funded by the Scottish Government. This involves the implementation of training for community and hospital registered pharmacy technicians across Scotland. NES will also support educational development work around the role of Pharmacist Assistant within Scotland.

With other parties, NES have also been involved in developing national occupational standards for pharmacy technicians and support staff and reviewing the current SVQ Pharmacy Service level 2 & 3 qualifications.