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: S1W-34467

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2003
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 14 March 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #250 million for free personal care has been allocated to each local authority.

The overall allocation was £107 million for 1 July 2002 to 31 March 2003 and £143 million for 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004. The table shows the breakdown for individual authorities.Free Personal Care Allocations

Local Authority	Starting 1 July 2002(£000)	Starting 1 April 2003(£000)
Aberdeen City	4,243	5,669
Aberdeenshire	4,950	6,684
Angus	3,466	4,667
Argyll and Bute	2,655	3,547
Clackmananshire	661	871
Dumfries and Galloway	3,744	5,037
Dundee City	3,018	3,997
East Ayrshire	2,649	3,548
East Dunbartonshire	2,255	3,060
East Lothian	1,868	2,500
East Renfrewshire	2,210	2,990
Edinburgh City	12,170	16,310
Eilean Siar	454	589
Falkirk	2,195	2,921
Fife	7,504	10,067
Glasgow City	10,763	14,019
Highland	4,106	5,513
Inverclyde	1,941	2,577
Midlothian	1,326	1,785
Moray	1,869	2,516
North Ayrshire	3,226	4,327
North Lanarkshire	4,232	5,617
Orkney	255	340
Perth and Kinross	4,517	6,098
Renfrewshire	3,082	4,126
Scottish Borders	2,651	3,552
Shetland	248	325
South Ayrshire	3,221	4,329
South Lanarkshire	5,920	7,936
Stirling	2,175	2,926
West Dunbartonshire	1,591	2,101
West Lothian	1,835	2,455
Total	107,000	143,000

Question reference: S1O-06463

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 20 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made towards introducing a licensing scheme for the vendors of fireworks.

I met Melanie Johnson, Consumer Protection Minister at the Department of Trade and Industry, at the end of last year to discuss the irresponsible sale and use of fireworks. Further to this I have had discussions with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) to determine their views. I will be writing to councils drawing their attention to the good practice for local authorities identified in COSLA's report on fireworks. The Scottish Executive has welcomed the introduction of Bill Tynan's Private Member's Bill at Westminster which contains a range of new powers to control fireworks sale and use. The bill is expected to receive its second reading on 28 February. The UK Government is supporting the bill, and I am in close contact with them, and Bill Tynan, about the application of the bill's provisions to Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-33996

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 19 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Broughty Ferry beach is the best candidate for becoming a new designated bathing beach.

Question reference: S1W-33997

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 19 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it will give to assist Broughty Ferry beach in securing yellow flag status this year and what bearing being designated an officially designated bathing beach would have on securing such status.

Scottish Water has recently invested £100 million in upgrading the sewage treatment works for Dundee, which has resulted in much cleaner waters at Broughty Ferry. This may help Broughty Ferry achieve yellow flag status.The yellow flag is a Seaside Award which is given to beaches that are clean, safe, well-managed and comply with all appropriate legislation (including the standards of the Bathing Water Directive). Being an officially designated bathing water will have no impact on whether a beach is awarded yellow flag status.

Question reference: S1W-33994

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 19 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will wait until the implementation of the new EU bathing water directive in 2006 before it designates any further beaches as official bathing beaches.

Question reference: S1W-33995

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 19 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to reconvene the Bathing Waters Review Panel to designate further beaches as official bathing beaches and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

There are, at present, no plans to reconvene the Bathing Waters Review Panel. While discussions continue at a European level about the revision of the Bathing Water Directive, it makes sense to work closely with our partners to ensure that we have the right information on which to take future decisions. The Scottish Executive participates in the Clean Coast Scotland Initiative and is actively involved in discussing policy development on bathing and recreational waters within this forum.

Question reference: S1W-33383

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 14 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will have any input into the House of Commons European Standing Committee C's inquiry into the proposed EU regulations on official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption (COM (2002) 377); whether the scope of the proposed regulations falls within the Executive's responsibilities, and, if so, whether it will lay the proposed regulations before the Parliament for scrutiny and, if so, when it will do so.

Food safety is a devolved matter and Scottish ministers are advised on this issue by the Food Standards Agency. If asked by the committee, Scottish ministers - advised by the agency - would be pleased to provide evidence to the House of Commons European Standing Committee C's inquiry into the proposed EU Regulation on official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption.The European Committee of the Scottish Parliament considers EU legislation and proposals. The committee was sent an Explanatory Memorandum (EM) for the proposed EU Regulation on 19 August 2002 which was produced in consultation with devolved administrations. When the EU Regulation is finally agreed, Scottish ministers will be responsible for bringing forward any transposing legislation that may be needed to ensure it is given full effect in Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-33666

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many medical procedures have been (a) cancelled in advance and (b) aborted unexpectedly due to problems with the sterilisation of clinical equipment in each year since 2001, broken down by NHS trust.

Question reference: S1W-33664

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive which specialities in each NHS trust are currently using disposable clinical equipment in order to comply with the technical requirements on decontamination processes set out in the Glennie framework on decontamination services and provision.

The Glennie framework looked at and built upon the best practice standards that exist for the decontamination of re-usable medical devices. As such no technical requirements have been set which stipulate the use of disposable clinical equipment.However, in a move to further reduce the theoretical risk of variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease infection from hospital procedures, the department, at the beginning of 2001, introduced single use instruments for tonsillectomies.

Question reference: S1W-33665

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the recommendations made in the Glennie framework on decontamination services and provision that the cleaning of hospital equipment should be moved to central sterile service departments.