- Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many events have been held at Bute House in each year since 1999; on what date each event was held; who attended each event; what the purpose was of each event, and what the total costs were of each event, broken down into (a) staff, (b) alcohol, (c) food, (d) travel and (e) entertainment costs.
Answer
Many official and private events are held each year in Bute House. Information on these events is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 3 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Fife Council about the nursery nurses dispute.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with FifeCouncil on a range of issues.
I ampleased that nursery nurses in Fife returnedto work last week and the children returned to their classes on Monday.
- Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with parties interested in establishing new ferry routes between Rosyth and mainland Europe.
Answer
No organisations have approachedthe Scottish Executive indicating any interest in establishing new ferry routes.If they were to do so, we would consider with them what support we might be ableto offer. While European State aid rules restrict the range of support we can offer,we would consider all possible means of encouraging new developments, includingthe possibility of a freight facilities grant, where it can be demonstrated thata new service would reduce lorry miles in Scotland.
- Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 6 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what its most recent information is regarding a company occupying the Motorola plant at Halbeath, Fife.
Answer
The facility at Halbeath remains in the ownership of Motorola, which is in the process of spinning out its semiconductor interests into a new company to be known as Freescale. Decisions on the future of the facility will, in the first instance, be a matter for its owners but Scottish Development International continues to engage with Motorola and its semiconductor division to explore opportunities.
- Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland, when the National Public Mental Health Resource Service was established and what its key objectives are.
Answer
The National Public Mental HealthResource was launched in December 2002 (at the same time as Choose Life) by theHealth Education Board for Scotland (HEBS). The key objectives are to collect anddisseminate up to date evidence and good practice in relation to suicide preventionand other areas of work. The resource can be found at
www.hebs.com/suicideprevention.
- Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what local alliances have been established, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland
Answer
All 32 local areas have established local multi-agency Choose Life suicide prevention alliances as part of their Community Planning Partnership Structure.
- Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out on suicide prevention and what research has been published, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland.
Answer
The Mental Health Research Teamin the Health Department Analytical Services Division is developing a research andevaluation strategy to support the National Programme. A major part of this workis focused on the actions laid out in
Choose Life – a National Strategy and ActionPlan. The first version of the strategy was published on “Well on the Web” inJanuary 2004, and will be updated regularly.
A three-stage process has beenadopted by the team to ensure that the evidence base relating to suicide and suicidalbehaviour is reliable, comprehensive and able to inform practice at national andlocal levels. A scoping exercise was commissioned in January (stage 1) to explorethe interests and areas of expertise of those centres and individuals focusing onsuicide-related research (nationally and internationally). Respondents are invitedto contribute to establishing the territory and focus of a series of reviews tocollate the existing evidence base on research relating to suicide and suicidalbehaviour, and to identify gaps (stage 2). The scoping exercise will be completedin June and the report will be published by September 2004. The reviews will becommissioned later in the year. Once reliable evidence to suggest gaps in informationhas been established, primary research will be commissioned (stage 3).
- Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance on priority groups has been published and on what dates, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland.
Answer
Guidance was issued to all localauthorities and their Community Planning Partners in June 2003 on the implementationof Choose Life.
Guidance on priority groups wasprepared for consideration at the first National Support Network meeting in November2003. Since then, further work has been undertaken on the guidance material to producea toolkit resource, for use nationally and locally. This toolkit will help provideguidance on priority groups, in particular children and young people.
In addition to this, Cruse BereavementCare are being funded by the National Programme for Improving Mental Health andWell-Being to produce a video called “Living with Suicide” and supporting resourcematerials, on coping with bereavement following a suicide. These will be launchedlater in the year.
- Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland, how many national suicide prevention summits have been held and what issues have been discussed.
Answer
The first National Support Networkmeeting on 7 November 2003 also served as a National Suicide Prevention summit.Representatives of key National agencies along with local representatives met todiscuss the first phase of the implementation of Choose Life and to consider themost effective way of developing and informing the implementation work nationally.
- Asked by: Bruce Crawford, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland, how many events the National Support Network has organised and what local agencies have taken part.
Answer
The first meeting of the NationalSupport Network was held on 7 November 2003 in Edinburgh. The Network draws together representatives from eachof the 32 Community Planning Partnerships. The majority of the 32 local areas wererepresented at this summit.
Key national statutory agencieswere also present, including:
- NHS Health Scotland;
- Scottish Prison Service;
- Scottish Ambulance Service;
- Scottish Police Service, and
- NHS 24
Plus key voluntary organisations,including:
- Samaritans;
- Cruse Bereavement Care;
- Depression Alliance (Scotland);
- Penumbra, and
- Scottish Association for Mental Health
The National Support Networkaims to meet on an annual basis. Over the next two months, three regional meetingsof members of the National Support Network are also being held, to focus more closelyon regional issues.
