- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 16 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28666 by Mr Andy Kerr on 24 October 2006, whether it will consider publishing the report of the review of hospital car parking charges, in light of the First Minister’s recent comments to nurses that NHS boards should deal more reasonably with charges or face intervention from the Executive.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-32181 on 16 March 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it agrees with Glasgow Housing Association’s (GHA) position that it is legally obliged by registered charity law to recover the costs of renovation works carried out on the homes of owner-occupiers that it factors within 12 months and, if not, whether it has plans to investigate the matter.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:
This is a matter for GlasgowHousing Association (GHA) as an independent housing association. GHA is a registeredcharity and is obliged to abide by charitable law. Such bodies are expected to seekand act on their own legal advice in relation to specific issues, and I understandthat GHA has done that in relation to the period of time it can allow owners torepay costs without jeopardising its charitable status.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to investigate the charging of VAT at 17.5% for insulated wall rendering and roofing works carried out on the homes of owner-occupiers factored by Glasgow Housing Association.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:
This is a matter for Her Majesty’sRevenue and Customs to pursue with Glasgow Housing Association and we await theoutcome of their discussions. The Scottish Executive has made clear its interestin this matter to both parties.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it contacted Castle Craig hospital requesting the information asked for in parliamentary questions S2W-31662 and S2W-31663.
Answer
Scottish Executive officials contacted Castle Craig hospitalwith regard to these parliamentary questions and were advised that it was notpossible for hospital staff to provide the information requested within thenecessary timescales.
No information relating to these questions was received bymy officials from Castle Craig hospital, prior to information being circulatedto members by the hospital on 6 March 2007.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 15 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 951 drug-related deaths involving methadone recorded since 1990 were the subject of a fatal accident inquiry.
Answer
The information requested isnot held centrally.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 15 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many fatal accident inquiries have been reopened since 1999 and, of these, how many upheld the objections to the original findings.
Answer
While my department does notkeep records which would record this information I have been advised that therehave been no instances, so far as my officials are aware, where a Fatal AccidentInquiry (FAI) has been reopened.
There have been cases where anFAI has been the subject of judicial review on the grounds that the sheriff’s findingswere unreasonable. My department does not hold a record of the numbers of such casesbut they are believed to be small. I am only aware of one such case since 1999 andin that case the court did not accept the arguement that the sheriff’s findingswere unreasonable and should therefore be set aside.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 15 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29476 by George Lyon on 15 November 2006, from where the figures on methadone-related deaths for the years since 1990 were derived.
Answer
The figures were compiled bythe General Register Office for Scotland(GROS) from death registrations and associated returns from procurators fiscal andforensic pathologists.
Further information is givenin the annual GROS paper on drug-related deaths. The most recent paper may be foundat:
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/drug-related-deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland-in-2005/index.html.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 15 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 951 methadone-related deaths since 1990 were recorded as accidental.
Answer
Seventy-one were recorded asaccidental poisoning and a further 113 were recorded as poisoning of undeterminedintent because it was not possible to determine whether or not the poisoning wasaccidental.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how it records the number of methadone prescriptions that are issued.
Answer
Prescription data iscollected centrally by ISDScotland which is a business operating unit of NHS NationalServices Scotland
The Prescribing Team within ISDmaintains a detailed database of all NHS prescriptions dispensed in the communityin Scotland. The information is supplied to ISD by Practitioner ServicesDivision (PSD) who are responsible for the processing and pricing of all prescriptionsdispensed in Scotland.
These data are augmented withinformation on prescriptions written in Scotland that were dispensed elsewhere in the United Kingdom.All these prescriptions are dispensed by community pharmacies, dispensing doctorsand a small number of specialist appliance suppliers. They also include prescriptionswritten in hospitals that are dispensed in the community, but exclude drugs dispensedwithin hospitals themselves.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 13 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering issuing guidance to accompany Scottish Ministers’ Code of Practice on the Discharge of Functions by Public Authorities Under the Freedom of Information Act 2002, in light of comments by the Scottish Information Commissioner in Decision 149/2006 that the Executive’s interpretation of the words in a freedom of information request were “unreasonable and even perverse”.
Answer
The commissioner did not requirethe Executive to take any action in light of the decision. However, we have writtento the commissioner to advise that we do not accept the comments made in the decision,and believe they were neither justified nor appropriate.
