- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 20 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering extending community right to buy to urban areas.
Answer
There are no plansat present to do so.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers the use of the free androgen index to establish hormone health in men to be reliable.
Answer
Scientific evidencesuggests that the free androgen index is not a reliable indicator of hormone healthin men.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the male population suffers from testosterone deficiency.
Answer
This informationis not held centrally.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any research suggesting that lower than normal levels of testosterone can cause type 2 diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, ischemic heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and osteoporosis in men.
Answer
We are aware thatthere is substantial evidence of an association between lower levels of testosteroneand some of these conditions. There is no scientific evidence to suggest whetherthis is a cause and effect relationship.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will improve understanding of testosterone deficiency and its treatment.
Answer
The understandingof testosterone deficiency and its treatment is under active consideration bythe scientific community and professional bodies.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any assessment of the report in 2002 by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists on adult male hypogonadism.
Answer
We are aware of thisreport which deals with particular approaches regarding the diagnosis and managementof those who may benefit from treatment with testosterone. NHS boards are responsiblefor the planning and provision of NHS services and for ensuring the treatments providedare safe and effective.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any assessment has been made of the possible benefit of using testosterone therapy when treating co-morbid patients.
Answer
Scientificevidence suggests that in men with specific causes of testosterone deficiency(such as trauma) testosterone therapy can be helpful as opposed to men withrelative testosterone deficiency where the benefits of treatment have a weakerevidence base. As with all treatments there are risks and the diagnosis andmanagement of individuals is a matter of clinical judgement.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 18 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether guidance is made available to NHS boards on the diagnosis and treatment of testosterone deficiency.
Answer
The ScottishGovernment has not issued specific guidance to NHS boards on the diagnosis andtreatment of testosterone deficiency. The Scottish Medicines Consortium issuedguidance in 2004 on testosterone replacement therapies for men with primary orsecondary hypogonadism.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 14 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether registered social landlords (RSL) may designate certain properties or property types as suitable for tenants with particular needs, such as elderly or disabled people, and whether such designation can exempt these properties from being (a) allocated through the RSL's general housing list and (b) required to be offered to homeless applicants referred to RSLs from local authorities under section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.
Answer
Registered sociallandlords (RSL) can exempt from the general housing needs list properties whichhave been designed or substantially adapted for occupation by persons of a particularage group, or properties allocated to persons who are, or are to be, in receiptof housing support services (within the meaning of section 91 of the 2001 act),for persons of a particular age group.
Statutory guidance on section 5 referrals statesthat where the only accommodation
an RSL has available is of a particular nature(for example, sheltered housing for
older people, specialist supported accommodationetc) and it is not appropriate for
the applicant, then the RSL has good reasonfor not complying with a request from a
local authority tohouse a homeless applicant under a section 5 referral.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 13 September 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was provided to agencies in Dumfries and Galloway from the Rural Service Priority Area Programme in 2006-07.
Answer
Dumfries and Galloway received a total of £500,000 in 2006-07. This represented £100,000 for eachof the five Rural Service Priority Areas identified in the area under the previousadministration’s Closing the Opportunity Gap initiative.
