Scottish Parliament e-Brief

Issue 31, 21^st August 2000

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

Parliament is in recess

SECTION 2 - NEWS

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE TO PROVIDE HELP TO AILSA TROON WORKERS

The Scottish Executive will do all it can to help workers made redundant at Ailsa Troon shipyard, Minister for Enterprise, Henry McLeish, announced on Friday.

Mr McLeish said:

"I am disappointed at company's decision to close the yard and start redundancies.

"The Scottish Executive has been in close contact with the company and has offered all possible assistance. The company has expressed its gratitude for this, but after very careful consideration Cathelco, Ailsa's parent company, can see no prospect of being able to continue with shipbuilding on the site beyond their current contracts.

"I understand that Cathelco has given an undertaking to give full support to those affected by this decision and that there will be a meeting next week with all relevant parties to discuss the way forward. The Executive will play a full part in these discussions.

"As part of the Executive's PACE initiative to give quick and effective help to companies in difficulty, the local agencies, including the local enterprise company and local council, will make full support available for those affected by the redundancies.

"I have also spoken to the local MSP and MP to notify them of the situation."

DEACON ANNOUNCES PRIORITIES FOR £26 MILLION HEALTH IMPROVEMENT DRIVE

Better child health will spearhead the drive to rid Scotland of its 'sick man of Europe' tag, Scottish Health Minister Susan Deacon announced today.

Smoking, diet, dental health, support for mothers and babies, and better screening and immunisation all feature in the £26 million package.

The £26 million health improvement fund is funded from the entire Scottish allocation of extra tobacco tax revenues - and represents the biggest ever drive to improve Scotland's unenviable health record.

Outlining the priorities for investment, Ms Deacon said:

"A really effective health policy is not just one that gets better at treating more sick people in hospital. It is one that gets better at enabling more people to stay well and to stay out of hospital. Our aim is to build a healthier Scotland, not a more hospitalised Scotland.

"Too many people suffer poor health, and too many people die young. To change that, we must start with our youngest citizens. We need to sow the seeds for a healthier life in the early years, not allow habits and influences to set in which can blight and shorten lives in the long run.

"Individual communities all have different needs. It will be for local Health Boards working with others to meet those local needs."

A total of £26 million will be invested in the programme this year, with equivalent sums set aside for each of the next three financial years until 2003-04.

The priorities for funding have been decided after widespread consultation. Over the next four years an average of £17 million per annum will be channelled through Health Boards. The remaining £9 million will be invested through national initiatives, including a boost of nearly £3 million per annum for the Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS).

Early Life

Initiatives include:

• Fresh fruit for infants to improve their diet, delivered in every Health Board area in Scotland through local playgroups and other day care services;
• Free toothpaste and toothbrushes for 100,000 Scots children by 2001 (every child up to the age of 1, and toddlers in deprived communities);
• A new educational media campaign to promote better child and family health, and the expansion of the health service support offered through Sure Start Scotland;

School Age & Young People

Initiatives include:

• Major expansion of school breakfast clubs, beginning with those schools in deprived areas and spreading across the country;
• The introduction of fruit and salad bars as an alternative to the traditional 'tuck shop', building on work already started in New Community schools;
• Measures to reduce the toll of the near 300 young men who commit suicide each year in Scotland, including piloting a confidential helpline;
• A major media campaign and multi-agency health promotion drive to cut teenage smoking, targeted at girls who smoke and young people in deprived communities.

Working Age

Initiatives include:

• A doubling of investment to £2 million a year for the NHS to help more people quit smoking, targeted at those living on low incomes;
• A major new role for the NHS in improving occupational health in the workplace;
• Piloting new advances in cervical screening techniques which will reduce by half the number of women making stressful repeat visits due to inadequate or borderline smears;

Older People

Initiatives include:

• An ambitious flu immunisation campaign extended this winter to include 780,000 Scots aged 65 and over, together with a national media campaign to increase uptake levels to their highest ever;
• Taking forward detailed plans for the extension of breast screening to older women up to the age of 70, bringing a further 79,000 women into the system;

Futher Support

• The establishment of Scotland's first Public Health Institute in Glasgow, with a radical remit to increase our knowledge of the impact of genetic and environmental factors on individual health;
• Extra resources for every Health Board to support innovative local measures and community initiatives, in partnership with other health-promoting bodies such as local authorities.

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S DEBATES

Parliament is in recess

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