- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2013
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2013
To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs last met the chief executive of Creative Scotland and what issues were discussed.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2013
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 September 2013
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the effectiveness of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing's letter of 22 February 2013 to NHS boards encouraging them to support a culture of openness among staff.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2013
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 10 September 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in developing national cancer quality performance indicators for melanoma services and when these will be published.
Answer
Under the auspices of the Scottish Cancer Taskforce, National Cancer Quality Performance Indicators (QPIs) are being developed to drive continuous quality improvement in cancer care across NHSScotland. An ambitious programme of work has been agreed, which will see QPIs developed for all main cancers by 2014.
The Melanoma QPI development group initially met in May 2013 and identified key areas for inclusion in the draft Melanoma QPIs. A set of draft indicators are being developed and they will be discussed further at the National Cancer Quality Steering Group meeting in September 2013. Public engagement on the draft indicators is scheduled to commence in January 2014.
Once completed the Melanoma QPIs will be made available on Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s website at:
http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/programmes/cancer_care_improvement/cancer_qpis.aspx.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 4 September 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what GP referral guidelines for melanoma services there are and when these were last updated.
Answer
To support GPs in Scotland to refer patients with suspected cancer as early as possible, the Scottish Government published referral guidance in 2007 Scottish Executive Health Department Letter (2007) 9: Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer.
This guidance includes referral for suspected melanoma. In early 2009, the guidelines were shortened into a user-friendly version for quick reference. All GPs across NHS Scotland were sent a copy of this guidance, which is also available on the Scottish Government website:
www.scotland.gov.uk/quickreferenceguide/suspectedcancer
The guidance is currently being refreshed as part of the Detect Cancer Early Programme.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 September 2013
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its paper on pensions in an independent Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government will in due course publish a paper on pensions in an independent Scotland covering the future of the State pension, private pensions and public sector pensions.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 September 2013
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4F-01345 by Alex Salmond on 2 May 2013 (Official Report, c. 19317), whether it remains Scottish Government policy that it would not seek an opt-out from EU pensions regulations in an independent Scotland.
Answer
Scottish Government policy is as set out by the First Minister. We agree with the assessment by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland that discussions on this issue between the Scottish Government, the UK Government and the EU should start as soon as possible.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 September 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the European Commission regarding an opt-out from pensions regulations for an independent Scotland.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-16616 on 2 September 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 September 2013
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comments by the First Minister reported in The Sunday Post on 4 August 2013 that the way to deal with pension fund deficits is to “get a derogation so nobody is forced into a more accelerated settlement of the pension deficit”, whether it considers that an opt-out from pensions regulations is required.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-16616 on 2 September 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 August 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 September 2013
To ask the Scottish Government how it would split pension schemes between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-16616 on 2 September 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 August 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 2 September 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the awarding of bonuses to private companies for meeting the standards required of franchises.
Answer
Transport Scotland’s well established Service Quality Incentive Regime provides incentives to the franchisee (First ScotRail) for above “benchmark” performance and penalties for areas that fall below. This covers 36 different areas which affect rail passengers experience.
Over the period of the current franchise, ScotRail has never received an overall annual incentive payment for SQUIRE. Penalties have reduced year on year since the regime was rolled out to all Scottish stations and trains. Annual figures have reduced from £938,959 (before RPI) in 2009 to £133,126 (before RPI ) in 2013. This indicates that performance has improved without the Scottish Government providing additional payments.