Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-05326

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how it recognises the additional cost of providing health services for people from (a) disadvantaged communities and (b) rural areas.

Currently the fundingfor Hospital and Community Health Services and GP Prescribing is distributed viathe Arbuthnott Formula. The formula assesses each health board’s relative need forfunding, using information about its population size and characteristics that influencethe need for health care, and costs of delivery, in terms of hospital services,community services and GP prescribing. The main drivers of the formula are:

share of the Scottishpopulation living in the board area;

age structure of thepopulation and relative number of males and females;

morbidity and lifecircumstances (MLC), and

unavoidable excesscosts of delivering health care in different geographical areas.

An index is calculatedfor each element of the formula for each care programme in such a way that it compareseach board’s position with the national average. By calculating each index in thisway, the values can then be multiplied by the population share to determine howmuch more (or less) resource each board requires compared with its basic populationshare due to age-sex, MLC and unavoidable excess costs.

In terms of disadvantagedcommunities, the MLC index is used alongside the age sex index to determine thehealth care “needs” of a health board’s population. The MLC index directs resourcestowards health boards with higher premature death rates and greater socio-economicdeprivation.

The excess costs indextakes account of the costs of supplying health services in remote and rural areasby giving greater weight to those health boards with more sparsely distributed populations.

Question reference: S3W-04991

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 18 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost is of births by (a) caesarean section and (b) natural delivery.

Question reference: S3W-04990

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 18 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the running costs are of the community midwife unit at (a) the Vale of Leven Hospital, (b) Inverclyde Hospital and (c) the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Question reference: S3W-04995

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fines have been issued by the police in relation to the abuse of disabled parking bays since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-04996

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fines have been issued by local authorities in relation to the abuse of disabled parking bays since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-04989

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 16 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Cabinet Secretary or minister would be prepared to certify the provisions of the draft Referendum (Scotland) Bill to be within the legislative competence of the Parliament as required by section 31 (1) of the Scotland Act 1998 and, if so, which Cabinet Secretary or minister.

Question reference: S3W-04828

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-29 by John Swinney on 30 May 2007, whether a special adviser is leading on dealings with the Council of Economic Advisers and whether this is considered to be good practice.

Question reference: S3W-04825

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-29 by John Swinney on 30 May 2007, whether it will clarify the length of the short-term contract under which Jennifer Erickson was appointed to establish the Council of Economic Advisers.

Jennifer Ericksonhas been engaged on a contractual basis since 1 June as a self-employed consultant.Her remit is:

1. Working to the First Minister and the CabinetSecretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, and in collaboration with the Director-GeneralEconomy, to be responsible for developing the concept of the Council of EconomicAdvisers, for developing the role of the council, for making recommendations onthe potential membership of the council, including approaching individuals informallyto ascertain their interest and suitability, for advising on the launch of thecouncil and on its proposed working arrangements and programme of work.

2. To provide such other advice on economicand other matters as the First Minister requests, in collaboration with colleagues.

Ms Erickson is beingpaid a daily rate (based on 7.5 hour days). As of 15 October 2007 she has worked 97 days. Her contract expires on 31 October2007.

Question reference: S3W-04827

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-29 by John Swinney on 30 May 2007, whether Jennifer Erickson is employed on a full-time basis and how many hours she works.

Question reference: S3W-04826

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-29 by John Swinney on 30 May 2007, whether it will provide details of the status, responsibilities and contract terms of Jennifer Erickson.