Cancer is one of the three clinical priorities for the NHS in Scotland. Reducing waiting times for investigation and treatment are a high priority within the Scottish Cancer Group's work programme.

Initial treatment for cancer can take place in either an outpatient or inpatient setting. Information on waiting times for cases where treatment starts in an outpatient setting is not held centrally.

Information on the time from a patient being placed on the waiting list for treatment of cancer and their admission to hospital is available centrally. The median waiting times for the four main cancers and all other cancers, in the year ending 31 March 2000, by Health Board of residence, is given in the table.

The Scottish Executive is providing additional funding to support the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. I recently announced a rolling modernisation programme which will provide new linear accelerators and treatment planning simulators in all cancer centres, new and replacement MRI scanners, and imaging equipment to help further speed up diagnosis.

NHS In Scotland: Median Waiting Time For Hospital Admission For Treatment For The Main Four Cancers And All Other Cancers: 31 March 2000^p

Health Board	Colorectal Cancer	Lung Cancer	Breast Cancer	Ovarian Cancer	All Other Cancers
	Median Wait (Days)	Median Wait (Days)	Median Wait (Days)	Median Wait (Days)	Median Wait (Days)
Argyll and Clyde	6	7	5	3	11
Ayrshire and Arran	9	5	7	6	15
Borders	7	6	7	9	14
Dumfries and Galloway	14	7	15	14	17
Fife	10	4	14	11	17
Forth Valley	9	6	7	3	12
Grampian	7	5	7	18	10
Greater Glasgow	4	7	7	5	11
Highland	9	4	12	9	10
Lanarkshire	8	5	6	3	12
Lothian	13	11	14	11	18
Orkney	8	7	11	18	7
Shetland	8	6	8	19	12
Tayside	19	9	16	14	24
Western Isles	7	5	12	7	10
Scotland	8	7	8	8	13

p Provisional

Source: ISD Scotland

The need for management measures for west of Scotland cod will be considered in the light of scientific advice from the Advisory Committee on Fishery Management (ACFM). We expect this advice by November 2000. If the nature of the advice suggests that new management measures are required then I will discuss the available options with the Scottish fishing industry.

Information is only available for the four years during which the water authorities have been in existence. The figures represent the provision for bad debt as charged in the accounts.

£ million
1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000
21.26	23.84	28.82	34.28

Ministers have already acted to safeguard NHS services this winter. £10 million has been made available to local authorities primarily to tackle problems arising from delays in discharging patients and a further £60 million has gone to the NHS mainly to target waiting lists and times, winter peaks and discharging delays. The detailed measures taken in Grampian are a matter for the health board and Trusts but I expect NHS planning for this winter to take into account the sound, practical recommendations of the Winter Performance Group to improve services. To ensure effective implementation, this planning should be undertaken jointly with Social Work Departments, Local Health Care Co-operatives and relevant voluntary bodies.

Local authorities are responsible for the collection of water charges on behalf of the water authorities. A variety of payment methods are offered by local authorities to enable customers to pay their accounts.

Information regarding those numbers of households whom are unable to pay the water charges is not available.

Questions which relate purely to operational matters for SQA have been passed to the Chairman for reply. Replies to other questions have drawn upon factual information supplied by the SQA as necessary. Other than this they have no role in drafting answers to parliamentary questions.

The climate change levy will not affect fuel for fishing vessels. Fish processors are subject to the levy but are eligible for 80% rebates available under the Food and Drink Federation's Climate Change Levy Discount Scheme. The Sea Fish Industry Authority has written to fish processors to make them aware of the rebate arrangements and will be carrying out further work to investigate the economic impact of the levy. Further information on the levy is available from www.energy-efficiency.org/climate.

There is no comprehensive information available about the amount of fuel used by Scottish fishing vessels. A survey of costs and earnings of UK fishing vessels was undertaken by the Sea Fish Industry Authority in 1997-98. The Fishermen's Handbook, which is available from the SFIA, contains estimated fuel costs for vessels that were sampled. However, the information is not wholly representative because many vessel owners were unwilling to co-operate with the survey.

I refer to the answer I gave to question S1W-9808.

Fuel duty and taxes are reserved matters and the Scottish Executive has kept in close dialogue with the UK Government on the effects of rising fuel costs on the industry. The UK fishing industry is already exempted from fuel duty payments, so taxation is not a factor in the increase in fuel costs for fishing vessels.

Direct subsidies to the industry would almost certainly fall foul of EU state aid regulations. However, we are willing to consider whether fisheries structural funds could provide any longer-term incentives to switch to more energy-efficient fishing within the overall package of resources available to the industry.

UK Fisheries Departments have offered to undertake an examination of fuel use by the UK fishing industry and we will be involved in this work.