§ Mr. Alasdair MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the degree of preparedness for the Year 2000 and the millennium bug of the pharmacy practice division of the Common Services Agency of the Scottish Health Service. [84867]
§ Mr. MacdonaldThe Common Services Agency has an extensive programme for Year 2000 preparedness. In the case of the Pharmacy Practice Division, the decision was taken to replace the existing old and largely manual system with a completely new system which incorporates high speed Intelligent Character Recognition. I am advised by the General Manager of the CSA that best current estimates from the suppliers indicate that the new
AIDS cases not known to be dead as at 31 December of selected years by health board of AIDS registration, and for Scotland, as at 31 March 1999 Health Board 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1998 1999 Argylle & Clyde 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 3 3 Ayrshire & Arran 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 Borders 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dumfries & Galloway 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fife 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 15 15 Forth Valley 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Grampian 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 7 7 Greater Glasgow 0 0 0 1 3 1 10 13 77 78 Highland 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 2 Lanarkshire 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 Lothian 0 0 0 2 3 6 15 25 106 110 Orkney 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Shetland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tayside 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 26 24 Western Isles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Scotland 0 0 0 3 7 9 29 46 243 246 Note:
This table is based on year of AIDS diagnosis.
Source:
The Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health AIDS/HIV Register
130Wsystem will complete testing and come into operation before the end of this calendar year, and that robust contingency plans are being developed to ensure continuity of payments to pharmacy contractors.
From 1 July 1999, this will be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.