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The target of achieving a10% increase in the number of new clients attending drug treatment services ismonitored through returns to the Scottish Drug Misuse Database and figures arepublished annually by financial years.

Data for 2003-04 will not beavailable until the autumn.

The information requestedhas been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 31311).

Availability Status Codes (ASCs) are not mandatory data items on the in-patient and day case discharge record. For this reason the in-patient/day case table in the answer to S2W-4807 includes all cases, and does not exclude cases with an ASC.

On the out-patient record, Availability Status Codes (ASCs) can be identified. The table provides information on the median and mean waiting times for new out-patients without an ASC and new outpatients with an ASC. The mean and median wait data for new outpatients without an ASC was previously included in the answer to S2W-4807.

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/webapp/search_wa.

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Ìý	Difference in Median Wait and Mean Wait (days) for New Outpatient Appointments
Quarter Ended	Excludes ASCs			Ìý	Only ASCs
Ìý	Median	Mean	Difference	Ìý	Median	Mean	Difference
30-Jun-1997	41	54.9	-13.9	Ìý	81	105.3	-24.3
30-Sep-1997	45	60.5	-15.5	Ìý	83	101.1	-18.1
31-Dec-1997	44	61.7	-17.7	Ìý	87	108.6	-21.6
31-Mar-1998	43	60.7	-17.7	Ìý	84	106.6	-22.6
30-Jun-1998	43	59.3	-16.3	Ìý	73	97.5	-24.5
30-Sep-1998	48	64.0	-16.0	Ìý	79	98.2	-19.2
31-Dec-1998	48	64.8	-16.8	Ìý	83	102.7	-19.7
31-Mar-1999	47	66.2	-19.2	Ìý	84	104.4	-20.4
30-Jun-1999	46	64.3	-18.3	Ìý	75	98.0	-23.0
30-Sep-1999	51	69.2	-18.2	Ìý	78	99.0	-21.0
31-Dec-1999	50	69.6	-19.6	Ìý	82	104.3	-22.3
31-Mar-2000	48	68.7	-20.7	Ìý	87	109.2	-22.2
30-Jun-2000	47	65.0	-18.0	Ìý	80	107.7	-27.7
30-Sep-2000	50	68.3	-18.3	Ìý	84	108.0	-24.0
31-Dec-2000	50	71.9	-21.9	Ìý	87	113.1	-26.1
31-Mar-2001	51	78.0	-27.0	Ìý	91	116.7	-25.7
30-Jun-2001	50	73.4	-23.4	Ìý	90	119.5	-29.5
30-Sep-2001	56	77.2	-21.2	Ìý	91	117.5	-26.5
31-Dec-2001	55	79.9	-24.9	Ìý	98	125.2	-27.2
31-Mar-2002	56	83.3	-27.3	Ìý	102	130.0	-28.0
30-Jun-2002	54	84.1	-30.1	Ìý	91	125.6	-34.6
30-Sep-2002	57	87.5	-30.5	Ìý	93	124.0	-31.0
31-Dec-2002	57	90.8	-33.8	Ìý	91	123.4	-32.4
31-Mar-2003	56	91.8	-35.8	Ìý	95	129.9	-34.9
30-Jun-2003	51	84.9	-33.9	Ìý	88	129.9	-41.9
30-Sep-2003	55	86.9	-31.9	Ìý	92	131.0	-39.0

Source: Out-patient data issourced from the SMR00 dataset, and covers referrals from a GMP/GDP to a consultantled out-patient clinic.

Note: Data for the mostrecent quarters should be considered provisional

The same as you? recommended in May 2000 that all long stay hospitalsfor people with learning disabilities should close by 2005. Six have closedsince May 2000, with seven remaining for closure by 2005. On 12 January Thesame as you? national implementation group published the Home at Last?report on progress with hospital closures and service reprovision, a copy of whichis available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 31309). It setsout a number of action points that aim to assist local authorities and NHS boardsin meeting the 2005 target, including a programme of work by NHS QualityImprovement Scotland (NHSQIS) to monitor the hospital closure programme in therun up to 2005. NHSQIS has set up a project group to work with all partners todeliver the closure of all long stay hospitals for people with learningdisabilities by 2005.

The following table provides information on the number of clients receiving direct payments, by local authority, for the years ending 31 March 2001, 2002 and 2003.

This information was not collected prior to the year 2000-01.

Information on eligibility is not available.

Number of Direct Payments by Local Authority

Local Authority	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Aberdeen City	4	4	11
Aberdeenshire	8	6	11
Angus	4	23	30
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	1	4	18
Dumfries and Galloway	7	25	27
Dundee City	0	0	0
East Ayrshire	0	0	17
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0
East Lothian	5	7	7
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0
Edinburgh, City of	67	49	89
Eilean Siar	0	3	5
Falkirk	0	0	0
Fife	30	64	120
Glasgow City	17	16	15
Highland	14	23	43
Inverclyde	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	0	0
Moray	0	5	7
North Ayrshire	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	3	10	11
Orkney Islands	0	0	1
Perth and Kinross	4	4	19
Renfrewshire	3	3	3
Scottish Borders	12	20	50
Shetland Islands	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	22	18	31
South Lanarkshire	0	0	0
Stirling	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0
West Lothian	6	8	19
Scotland	207	292	534

Source: SEHD – F1 Return.

Staff who comeon to the register in phase one will have until the end of the first period ofregistration (a further three years) to achieve the necessary qualifications. Thenumbers of staff who will not achieve the required qualifications willtherefore be determined by employers as the registration process proceeds.

The Food Standards Agencyhas informed me that the European Commission is reviewing the nutritionlabelling rules and preliminary papers suggest that the issue of labelling oftrans fatty acid content may be discussed.

In terms of the hospital andcommunity dental services, as at 30 September 2003, there were fiveconsultant vacancies out of an establishment of 115. Three of the five postshad been vacant for six months or more.

The number of dentist postsvacant in the general dental service (high street dentistry) is not held centrally.

The Food Standards Agencyhas not carried out, and is not currently funding, any research investigatingthe links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heartdisease.

Hydrogenation is a processof turning liquid oil into solid fat. During this process, a type of trans fatmay be formed that raises cholesterol levels in the blood. This increases therisk of coronary heart disease. The Food Standards Agency does therefore advisethat as part of a healthy diet, we should try to reduce the amount of saturatedfats and trans fats we eat and replace them with unsaturated fats.

We expectall schools to end the active promotion or advertising of fizzy, sugary softdrinks and snacks high in fat and salt. Where vending machines are present theyshould promote healthier options/brands such as water and fruit juices ratherthan high sugar soft drinks.