The information requestedfor 2002 is given in table 5.2 of Civil Judicial Statistics 2002, which canbe found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/02/18897/33079.

The Debt Arrangementand Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 replaced poindings and warrant saleswith the new diligence of attachment on 30 December 2002.

The information requestedfor 2002 is given in table 5.1 of Civil Judicial Statistics 2002, which canbe found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/02/18897/33079.

The number of applicationsfor extension of time to pay debts made, by type of order, in the sheriff courts,2003 to 2006, is provided in the following table.

Nature of application	2003	2004	2005	2006
Time to pay order  (non summary cause)	160	113	194	165
Time to pay order (summary cause)	174	151	270	148

Notes:

1. The data are managementinformation statistics which have not been subjected to the same quality assurancestandards as statistics produced by the Government Statistical Service. In addition,there are general concerns surrounding the accuracy of some of the civil judicialstatistics collected by the Scottish Government. Therefore, the data should be usedwith caution and it should be appreciated that firm conclusions cannot be drawnfrom the data provided.

2. Action is beingtaken to improve the accuracy and reliability of the civil judicial statistics collectedby the Scottish Government.

Based on current financialplans it is not expected that transitional funding will be required beyond 2009-10.We will continue to work closely with both NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Highland on all aspects of financialplanning.

The Arbuthnott Formulais the result of multiplying a series of indices, and as such there is no specificshare of the budget allocated for deprivation. The formula includes adjustmentsfor the “needs” of the population - based on indices for the age-sex profile andmorbidity and life circumstances of the health boards population. The resultingindex is used along with an index of unavoidable excess costs of delivering servicesto remote and rural areas to determine how much more (or less) resource eachboard requires compared with its basic population share.

The report raisessome very important issues which must be considered within the context of the currentSpending Review. I am currently studying the report and its recommendations carefully,and have sent it to the Convener of the Health and Sport Committee asking that committeeto let me have its views by the end of November. I have also sent the report tothe chairs and chief executives of health boards.

If any adjustmentsare made in health boards’ relative funding based on National Resource Allocation Committee’s (NRAC) report, I have confirmed that noboard would receive less funding than it does at present and any changes would bephased in over a number of years as has been the practice under both the previousSHARE and Arbuthnott formulae.

The earliest any proposedrevisions to the formula could be implemented is 2009-10.

The details of NRAC’sassessment of the impact of moving from Arbuthnott to NRAC are set out in table7.8 on page 85 of chapter 7 of the NRAC Final Report, a copy of which is availablein the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43807). If all NRAC’sproposed changes to the Formula were implemented then this would result in the redistributionof £81.9 million (or 1.2%) of the total HCHS budget. This relatively small percentagefigure includes some significant changes for individual health boards.

The Arbuthnott Formulais the result of multiplying a series of indices together, and as such there isno specific share of the budget allocated for rurality. The formula includes anadjustment for the unavoidable excess costs of delivering services to remote andrural areas. This resulting index is used along with indices for the age-sex profileand morbidity and life circumstances of the health boards’ populations to determinehow much more (or less) resource each board requires compared with its basic populationshare.

Currently the fundingfor Hospital and Community Health Services and GP Prescribing is distributed viathe Arbuthnott Formula. The formula assesses each health board’s relative need forfunding, using information about its population size and characteristics that influencethe need for health care, and costs of delivery, in terms of hospital services,community services and GP prescribing. The main drivers of the formula are:

share of the Scottishpopulation living in the board area;

age structure of thepopulation and relative number of males and females;

morbidity and lifecircumstances (MLC), and

unavoidable excesscosts of delivering health care in different geographical areas.

An index is calculatedfor each element of the formula for each care programme in such a way that it compareseach board’s position with the national average. By calculating each index in thisway, the values can then be multiplied by the population share to determine howmuch more (or less) resource each board requires compared with its basic populationshare due to age-sex, MLC and unavoidable excess costs.

In terms of disadvantagedcommunities, the MLC index is used alongside the age sex index to determine thehealth care “needs” of a health board’s population. The MLC index directs resourcestowards health boards with higher premature death rates and greater socio-economicdeprivation.

The excess costs indextakes account of the costs of supplying health services in remote and rural areasby giving greater weight to those health boards with more sparsely distributed populations.

The running costsof the community midwifery units at these three hospitals is not held centrally.Information in the Scottish Health Service Costs publication does not explicitlyidentify the costs associated with community midwifery at hospital level.

Information on thecosts of specific clinical procedures is not available centrally.