To ask the Scottish Executive how many government-funded needle exchange programmes operate in pharmacies compared with September 2008.

On 30 June 2009, the Information Services Division of NHS Scotland published its report Provision of Injecting Equipment in Scotland 2007-08, which detailed the findings of a survey of injecting equipment provision in Scotland in 2007-08. This survey, which was commissioned as part of the Hepatitis C Phase 2 Action Plan, found that there was a total of 169 pharmacy-based injecting equipment provision services across Scotland in 2007-08. However, this figure reflects only those pharmacies that responded to the survey, and gaps in the data does exist. Therefore, the actual number of pharmacy-based injecting equipment provision services may be higher.

The information from 2007-08 survey provides a baseline of injecting equipment provision in Scotland at the start of the Hepatitis C Phase 2 Action Plan. A follow-up survey covering the period 2008-09 is planned to run in February 2010, with the results being published in November 2010.