To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on trust status for the hospital service in Edinburgh.

NHS trust status with its emphasis on the delegation of responsibility to locally run trust boards provides considerable potential for improved patient care within the national health service and with services continuing to be free at the point of delivery as at present. All hospitals and units in Scotland have been invited to consider their potential for trust status. So far one hospital in Edinburgh, the Princess Margaret Rose, plus the Lothian college of nursing and midwives have expressed an interest. Others, I am confident, will follow.