- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 19 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with VisitScotland and the Scottish Borders Tourist Board in respect of boosting tourism in the Borders.
Answer
Boostingtourism in the Borders is a matter for VisitScotland and the Scottish BordersTourist Board. They have developed a range of initiatives aimed at increasingthe volume and value of tourism to the Borders area. There is clear evidencethat tourism in the Borders area has increased as a result of the initiativesand strategies that have been put in place. In 2002 there were 560,000 visitsmade to the area with a value of £91 million; this compares with 440,000 and£49 million respectively in 1999.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-16722 by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 July 2001, what progress has been made in the introduction of neonatal hearing screening in light of research showing that if children are identified as deaf before six months of age they are likely to develop language at the same or similar rate to a hearing child, as referred to in the National Deaf Children's Society's Annual Review 2003 Making Dreams Real.
Answer
The introduction of newbornhearing screening is a commitment in the partnership agreement and is beingtaken forward in two steps. The first step which involved the establishment oftwo screening pathfinder sites in Tayside and Lothian NHS boards is in placeand screening of newborn babies in these areas began in January and March 2003respectively. There is also a three-year newborn hearing screening pilot inHighland and Western Isles NHS boards which is due to be completed in March2004. The remaining boards are in the process of developing business cases andtaking forward the arrangements to support the introduction of newborn hearingscreening, which is expected to be in place by April 2005. In addition all NHSboards have agreed through their regional planning groups to purchase the sameinformation management system which will ensure easier tracking and monitoringof babies.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 18 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the distribution of money from the Rural Transport Fund has been in each year since 2001-02 and what the indicative allocation figures are for 2004-05 and 2005-06.
Answer
Rural Transport Fund moniessince 2001-02 have been allocated as follows:
| | Rural Public Passenger Transport Grant (£ million) | Rural Community Transport Initiative (£ million) | Rural Petrol Stations Grant (£ million) |
| 2001-02 | 4.3 | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| 2002-03 | 4.7 | 0.9 | 0.4 |
| 2003-04 | 5.1 | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| 2004-05 | 5.8 | 1.3 | 0.4 |
| 2005-06 | 6.1 | 1.5 | 0.4 |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 18 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money, in cash terms, has been available to Scottish Borders Council from the Rural Transport Fund for each year since 1999-2000 and how much will be made available for 2004-05 and any future years for which figures are available.
Answer
Scottish Borders Council hasbeen allocated the following amounts of grant under the Rural Transport PublicPassenger Transport Grant Scheme, which is part of the Rural Transport Fund:
| Year | Amount (£ Million) |
| 1999-2000 | 0.158 |
| 2000-01 | 0.167 |
| 2001-02 | 0.193 |
| 2002-03 | 0.212 |
| 2003-04 | 0.230 |
| 2004-05 | 0.262 |
| 2005-06 | 0.276 |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Your Local Care: A survey of diabetes services in primary care organisations, what steps will be taken to increase the number of NHS boards establishing a strategy for early identification of diabetes from 25% to over 50%.
Answer
I refer to the answer whichwas given to S2W-3995 on 24 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at
http://scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to extend the Positive Mental Well-Being project for schoolchildren who are deaf.
Answer
Under the National Programmefor Mental Health and Well-being, there are plans already in place to include amember of the National Deaf Children’s Society (Scotland) (NDCS) within thepilot of the mental health first aid initiative. Following this, arepresentative from NDCS aims to promote positive mental well-being to youngdeaf people and to campaign for emotional literacy to be part of the school’scurriculum, through work on the peer education/befriending project.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to assess the cost of production of hospital meals to enable controls, including a set daily food allowance, to be introduced, as referred to in Audit Scotland's report Catering for Patients.
Answer
The cost of the productionof hospital meals is a matter for NHS boards and trusts to decide.
The important issue is thathigh quality nutritional care is provided for all patients in hospital. NHSQuality Improvement Scotland issued new clinical standards for Food, Fluid andNutritional Care in Hospitals on 19 September 2003. The standards requirethat each NHS board has a policy, and a strategic and co-ordinated approach, toensure that all patients in hospitals receive high quality nutritional care.NHSScotland’s performance against these standards will be monitored by NHSQISand reports will be published in due course.
The Health Department willwrite to NHS boards and trusts requesting them to respond positively to therecommendations of the Audit Scotland report.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources have been allocated for acceleration of colposcopies following detection of cancerous cells following a smear test.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-4707 on 16 December 2003. All answers to written are available on the Parliament's website, thesearch facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the target time is from detection of cancerous cells by smear test to colposcopy.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-4707 on 16 December 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the waiting times have been from detection of cancerous cells by smear test to colposcopy in each year since 1999-2000, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
A cervical smear is not atest for cancer but is aimed at detecting abnormal cells which, if leftuntreated, could develop into cervical cancer. Information about waiting times forcolposcopy investigation following a cervical smear is not collected centrally.
One of the criteria in theNHS Quality Improvement Scotland report on cervical screening, which wasreleased on 24 November, is that a minimum of 90% of all referrals for anabnormal smear should be given an appointment within 40 working days and 90% ofreferrals with a moderate or severe abnormal smear within 20 working days of the referral being received. The report noted that this target was not beingmet by the majority of NHS boards.
The Health Department willbe considering with the National Services and Information and StatisticsDivisions, Common Services Agency the development of appropriate IT systemenhancements to allow this data to be more easily accessible in the futurewhich will assist boards to monitor their performance and take appropriateaction to meet the standards.
Resources for colposcopyservices are a matter for NHS boards.
