- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 25 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time taken by each health board to fill nursing vacancies was in each year from 1990 to the current year.
Answer
The information requested is not available centrally, but can be obtained from individual health boards and Trusts. The names and addresses of all health boards and Trusts are available on the Scottish Health on the Web website at
www.show.scot.nhs.uk.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 9 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Health and Community Care will reply to my letter of 28 December 1999 regarding the financial position of Tayside health services.
Answer
Despite an exhaustive search, I regret that there is no record of the receipt of the letter.
Tayside's financial position has been the subject of widespread publicity and debate. I expect the NHS in Tayside to keep local MSPs informed of developments.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 4 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to make additional funding available to local authorities and schools to meet the costs of providing English language support to refugee and asylum seeking children.
Answer
We have no firm plans to do so at this point, but will look further into this issue in the light of experience of the dispersal arrangements for the children concerned.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 4 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the per capita level of support being made available for the educational requirements of refugee and asylum seeking children is in (a) this financial year and (b) the next financial year and how these figures compare with the equivalent figures for England and Wales.
Answer
Local authorities receive general financial support for the education of all children regardless of their status through the annual local government finance settlement. Support for local authority education services is not expressed on a per capita basis and the information requested is not, therefore, available in the form requested.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 30 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that appropriate care and support is available to people diagnosed with mesothelioma.
Answer
Cancer is one of three national clinical priorities for the NHS in Scotland.
Mesothelioma is a particularly distressing disease, for which the treatment options are the same as for all cancers i.e. chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. Decisions on treatment options are reached in agreement between clinicians and their patients.
Similarly, a wide range of support services are available for everyone with cancer. Referral to the appropriate services would normally be made by medical staff after discussion and agreement with patients.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 27 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the anti-cancer drugs Taxol and Taxotere will be available to all patients who require them.
Answer
The drugs Taxol and Taxotere are available on the NHS. The use of these drugs in the treatment of patients depends on the clinical judgement of the clinicians concerned.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 23 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to overcome any current shortage of wheelchairs available from the NHS in Scotland.
Answer
Funding for wheelchairs is included in the revenue allocation to health boards. The Rehabilitation Technology Information Service (ReTIS) has been established to provide health boards with evidence-based information to assist in taking decisions on the provision of rehabilitation technology, including wheelchairs. This service will collect and analyse benchmarking information and will provide a framework against which best practice delivery of these services can be measured.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Sunday, 12 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional preparations are being made by the NHS to cope with winter pressures.
Answer
Winter always brings additional pressures on the NHS through for example seasonal increases in flu and respiratory diseases. This year, we are already seeing a marked rise in GP consultations arising from flu and flu-like illnesses. The NHS is making additional preparations through planning for extra staff, more beds, increased critical care capacity, additional nursing home places, and continued co‑ordinated action on delayed discharge. This is supported by significant extra investment with health spending set to increase on average by more than £630 million each year from 2003-04 to 2005-06, of which £30 million has been allocated this year specifically to address delayed discharges from hospitals.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 13 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review what information should be made publicly available by the Procurator Fiscal's office regarding any decision it has taken.
Answer
The nature and type of information which can be made available to victims regarding Crown decision-making is being reviewed by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal service as part of the planning process for the Victim and Witness Assistance Service. There are no plans to review the policy for making information publicly available regarding any individual decision.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 November 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many requests for information were received from members of the public by means of its website in each week from 1 August 2000 to date, what the average response time was in each week and whether it is its practice to issue holding replies to such requests.
Answer
There are a number of options on the Scottish Executive website through which members of the public can send in email correspondence. The table below shows the main mailboxes on the website and the number of e-mails received through these since 1 August 2000. We do not hold statistics on the proportion of email correspondence which includes a request for information.
Mailbox | Emails since 1 August 2000 |
Scottish Ministers | 451 |
Central Enquiry Unit | 931 |
Webmaster | 147 |
Press Office | 50 |
Consultations and questionnaires published on the website may also contain an email address but we do not hold statistics centrally on the number of emails sent to these individual addresses.
Our practice is only to send a holding reply to correspondence when we cannot provide a substantive answer quickly.
