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The Police Information and Communicationsbudget funds the development and maintenance of both Scottish and UK-wide informationand communication technology (ICT) systems to support operational policing in Scotland.The budget covers the Scottish contribution to UK wide systems including the frameworkcontract for the Airwave radio system, the Police National Computer and joint developmentof other national systems to enable police forces to share information and intelligenceacross the UK. The development and maintenance of Scottish systemsincludes the Criminal History System, custody management systems and the AutomaticNumber-plate Recognition System.

This budget funds a wide rangeof police services, including those provided by the Scottish Police Services Authority,which directly support or complement front line policing. These services includethe Scottish Crime and Drug enforcement agency, other specialist policing activitiessuch as national support for Scotland’s counter-terrorism capability, forensic science services,police training and development, criminal records and international policing.

The £2 million of savings I announcedin October 2007 will be achieved by a number of measures.

The Scottish Government willreview how we produce and distribute our publications. Reducing the number of documentswe print, producing smaller print runs and encouraging greater use of web-only publicationswill help reduce cost and environmental impact.

Initial distribution of publicationswill continue to be free of charge to our key stakeholders and other interestedparties. Additional requested copies will be subject to a nominal postage and packagingcharge from 1 April 2008.

We already make all of our printedpublications available online. Our aim is to increase our web-only publicationsby up to 20 per cent (around 250) by the end of this financial year. This approachto more web-only publications will reduce the need for large amounts of printedcopies, and will help us become more environmentally-friendly.

From June 2008, we will stopproducing large reprints of publications, except in exceptional circumstances. Accessto any publication can continue to be made free of charge via our website. Wheredemand is substantial and continuous, we will carry out a reprint but any reprintedcopies will carry a cover price to reflect the cost of the reprint.

Additionally, we are introducinga print on demand service which will allow anyone to request a copy of an out ofprint publication. This will allow one or more copies to be printed, the cost ofwhich will depend on the size and the number requested.

We will further review theseproposals to assess their impact over the next two years. At that time, we may alsoconsider the introduction of cover prices for some publications as long as thisit does not prevent people accessing important information.

All documents will still be availableto download free of charge from the Scottish Government website.

The eHealth budget funds a numberof key national systems supporting the operation of NHS Scotland, such as ScreeningProgrammes, General Practice IT systems and the communications infrastructure. Inaddition, it supports boards in making the changes to IT which will underpin thewider improvements signalled in Better Health, Better Care; such as 18 weeks andimprovements to the management of long-term conditions. The priorities for futureimprovement will be set out in a new eHealth Strategy scheduled for the spring of2008.

A reduction of £12.5 millionper annum, unless the shortfall was made up by NHS boards from their general allocations,would mean a reduction in existing services and commitments in both 2008-09 and2009-10. In 2010-11 it would reduce the scope for the new eHealth Strategy to enablethe improvements in patient care to which we are committed.

All NHS/localauthority partnerships have submitted joint action plans detailing initiativesto eliminate delayed discharges over the agreed six week discharge planningperiod and all delays in short-stay specialties by April 2008. £30 million isbeing allocated to partnerships this year to achieve this.

Great progresshas been made in reducing the number of people inappropriately delayed inhospital. The latest census, taken in July shows a reduction of 80% in thenumber of delays over six weeks, since these figures peaked in October 2001.

The following tableshows the numbers of patients ready for discharge in NHS Tayside at April ofeach year.

NHS - PatientsReady for Discharge - Number Reported by NHS Tayside at each April Census(April 2004 to April 2007) by Local Authority Area¹

Local Authority	April 2004		April 2005		April 2006		April 2007
	Total2	Over 6 weeks3	Total	Over 6 weeks	Total	Over 6 weeks	Total	Over 6 weeks
Total	133	72	99	37	77	25	48	9
Angus	19	5	17	4	13	2	7	1
Dundee City	67	38	46	22	46	20	20	6
Fife	-	-	8	1	1	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross	46	28	28	10	17	3	21	2
Local Authority not identified	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-

Notes:

1. Local authority is based on those patientsresident in each local authority area. This will include patients who were notconsidered to have social work involvement in their discharge planning processor in their post-hospital care arrangements. A patient ready for discharge isnot considered to have social work involvement in their discharge planningprocess if the principal reason for delay is in the Healthcare groups; orprincipal reason for delay is in the Patient/Carer/Family - related categoriesand a date of referral for social care assessment has not been recorded.

2. Number ofpatients ready for discharge in all specialties.

3. Number ofpatients ready for discharge with a duration of over six weeks (43 days ormore), i.e. the common period for local discharge planning agreement timescaleacross Scotland.

The following tableshows the numbers of patients ready for discharge at April of each year and thetotal shown as a percentage of the total number of average available staffedbeds.

NHS- Patients Ready For Discharge - Numbers by NHS Board Area of Treatment at eachApril Census (2004 to 2007)

NHS Board Area of Treatment	April 2004		April 2005		April 2006		April 2007
	Total1	Total Delays as a % of Staffed Beds2	Total	Total Delays as a % of Staffed Beds	Total	Total Delays as a % of Staffed Beds	Total	Total Delays as a % of Staffed Beds
Scotland	1,747	5.8	1,332	4.6	1,046	3.7	755	2.8
Ayrshire and Arran	139	6.7	108	5.3	94	4.9	66	3.5
Borders	36	5.5	26	4.2	18	2.8	25	4.0
Dumfries and Galloway	8	1.0	6	0.7	4	0.5	1	0.1
Fife	121	6.8	92	5.4	74	4.4	61	3.7
Forth Valley	98	7.1	78	5.9	68	5.4	47	3.6
Grampian	214	7.1	194	6.6	156	5.5	102	3.6
Greater Glasgow	458	5.5	326	4.1	252	3.2	219	2.9
Highland	101	5.8	82	4.8	73	4.3	44	2.7
Lanarkshire	121	4.0	81	2.8	65	2.5	41	1.8
Lothian	304	7.1	225	5.5	142	3.4	89	2.2
Orkney	3	3.2	3	3.2	8	11.7	3	3.9
Shetland	-	-	-	-	5	5.0	6	6.3
Tayside	133	5.4	99	4.3	77	3.4	48	2.2
Western Isles	11	4.8	12	5.2	10	5.0	3	1.9

Notes:

1. Number ofpatients ready for discharge, in all specialties, reported at each April census(2004 - 2007).

2. Source: ISD(S1) average available staffed beds as at each quarter ending 31 March in eachyear.

The issues are underconsideration and the government will consult shortly on extending permitted developmentrights to micro-renewable equipment.

I received the finalreport of the NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) from the Chair, DrKaren Facey, on 4 September 2007. I am currently studying the report and itsrecommendations carefully, and am sending it to the Convener of the Health and SportCommittee and asking that committee to let me have its views by the end of November.I am also sending the report to the chairs and chief executives of healthboards.

If it is subsequentlydecided to make any adjustments in health boards’ relative funding these would bephased in over a number of years as has been the practice under both the SHARE andArbuthnott formulae and no health board would receive less funding than it doesat present.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3O-707 on 27 September 2007. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growthhas written to Treasury to establish whether there are any circumstances other thantransfer, where funding to redeem council housing debt could be made available.The answer is availableby accessing the following link; http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-07/sor0927-02.htm#Col2212.