- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that the block contract between NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Greater Glasgow for the referral of patients from the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth area to Glasgow hospitals is secured for the long term.
Answer
NHS Greater Glasgow and NHS Lanarkshirecontinue to work together to ensure that patients in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth canbe referred by their GPs to Greater Glasgow hospitals where this is clinically appropriateand matches the personal choice of the patient.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how often administrative staff in NHS Lanarkshire left their employment and were not replaced with a full-time equivalent in each year since 1999 and what positions it estimates will be vacated and not replaced in each of the next three years.
Answer
The specific information requestedis not held centrally.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) district nurses, (b) health visitors, (c) treatment room nurses, (d) midwives and (e) speech language therapists were employed by NHS Lanarkshire to work in the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth area in each of the last five years and how many it estimates will be employed in each of the next five years.
Answer
Information on staff employednow and in the future by NHS Lanarkshire to work specifically in the Cumbernauldand Kilsyth area is not available centrally.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how often primary care staff in NHS Lanarkshire left their employment and were not replaced with a full-time equivalent in each year since 1999 and how many positions it estimates will be vacated and not replaced in each of the next three years.
Answer
The specific informationrequested is not held centrally. Currentdata on NHS staff collected by ISD does not allow the explicit identification ofstaff working in primary care settings. Information on most staff groups is availableby specialty and work area, rather than by health care setting.
Information on staff employedin NHS Scotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what checks are now made on fingerprint evidence prepared by the Scottish Criminal Record Office prior to it being submitted for actual or potential use in (a) a police investigation or (b) court.
Answer
Fingerprint identifications by the Scottish Fingerprint Service, which is part of the Scottish Criminal Record Office, are undertaken using robust verification procedures. The processes used are subject to internal quality assurance and to external independent auditing under the ISO9001: 2000 Certificate which the Scottish Fingerprint Service is accredited to.
When a match is made by a fingerprint officer the comparison is subject to separate verification by two further fingerprint officers. Only after the verification procedure is complete will an identification be intimated to the police investigating officer and the Procurator Fiscal Service for their consideration in any court proceedings.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 20 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the consequential funding under the Barnett formula of the decision announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget 2005 to abolish charges to pensioners while in hospital for each of the next three financial years.
Answer
The 2003 Budget announced that all pensioners in hospital would continue to receive their state pension entitlement for stays of up to 52 weeks. Budget 2005 announced that this will now be extended so that all those entering hospital from April 2005 will continue to receive their full state pension and their full entitlement to Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance and Income Support for the entire duration of their stay in hospital from April 2006. Those already in hospital will have their benefits increased from April 2006, if they have then been in hospital for 52 weeks or more. This is in recognition of the fact that pensioners have many on-going fixed commitments such as housing costs and utility bills while they are in hospital.
Because these measures are administered through the Benefits System, all Scottish pensioners will benefit and there are no consequential changes to the Executive’s Budget.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions took place between it and the UK Government prior to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget 2005 announcement that the Insolvency Service Agency and the Department of Trade and Industry's company investigations branch are to be merged to form a new insolvency agency; which ministers participated in any discussions; whether it will place the minutes of any discussions in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre; whether the new agency will have offices in Scotland; how it will report to the Executive and the Parliament; what impact the agency will have on the provisions of the draft Bankruptcy and Diligence Bill; who will appoint its board; what role the Executive will have in such appointments, and how much of the agency's budget will be for devolved functions.
Answer
Corporate insolvency is a reserved area and the Insolvency Service has UK wide responsibility for it.
Operational questions regarding the setting up of the new agency in Scotland are a matter for the Insolvency Service. The agency will deal with corporate insolvency and will therefore have no direct impact on the Bankruptcy and Diligence Bill, which deals with personal debt only.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions took place between it and the UK Government prior to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget 2005 announcement that the Office of Fair Trading, the Hearing Aid Council, the British Hallmarking Council and the National Weights and Measures Laboratory are to be merged to form the new Consumer and Trading Standards Agency; which ministers participated in any discussions; whether it will place the minutes of any discussions in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre; whether the new agency will have offices in Scotland; how it will report to the Executive and the Parliament; who will appoint its board; what role the Executive will have in such appointments, and how much of the agency's budget will be for devolved functions.
Answer
The Hampton Review is a UK-wide initiative to co-ordinate regulators across a number of agencies. The Chancellor of the Exchequer asked Philip Hampton (June 2004) to examine the scope for promoting more efficient approaches to regulatory inspection and enforcement. Hampton asked businesses what they think about inspection and enforcement regimes - with a view to making improvements. The Executive maintains close contact with the UK Government and officials also met the Hampton Team on several occasions.
The Report largely relates to UK reserved areas or to England. It is not anticipated that the proposed Consumer Protection and Trading Standards Agency will have any devolved functions and therefore no part of its budget is for devolved functions. Some of the reserved issues are however of vital importance to Scottish businesses. All studies show that the vast majority of red tape burden on Scottish businesses falls in areas which have an EU or UK legislative base, therefore we warmly welcome measures which help business in these areas. We will work closely with Whitehall colleagues to ensure Scottish business needs are reflected as these proposals are worked through.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 20 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of land is made up of (a) motorways, (b) A class roads and (c) B class roads.
Answer
The Department of Transport (DfT) produces estimates of the total land area that is covered by all roads in Great Britain. DfT estimates that motorways accounted for 0.02% of the area of Scotland in 2001, and that A roads accounted for 0.20%. DfT's calculations do not distinguish between the different types of minor road (B, C and unclassified). However, using information provided by DfT, it is estimated that B roads accounted for 0.07% of the area of Scotland in 2001. In total motorways, A class roads and B class roads form an estimated 0.29% of land in Scotland.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 19 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions took place between it and the UK Government prior to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget 2005 announcement that the role of the Food Standards Agency will be expanded; which ministers participated in any discussions; whether it will place the minutes of any discussions in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre; whether the new expanded agency will have offices in Scotland; how it will report to the Executive and the Parliament; who will appoint its board; what role the Executive will have in such appointments, and how much of the agency's budget will be for devolved functions.
Answer
In relation to the Food Standards Agency there were several meetings and exchanges of correspondence between the chairman of the Food Standards Agency and Philip Hampton, who led the review, and between their officials. These culminated in the response from the FSA to the proposals in Philip Hampton's interim report. This response is being published on the FSA website. All these changes were sensitive to the geographical remit of the Hampton review, and the FSA's status as a UK-wide non-ministerial department operating in a largely devolved area.
There will be no change to the agency’s operations in Scotland. Any considerations arising from the Hampton report as far as they affect the devolved functions of the agency are being considered.
