- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 15 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to encourage a greater number of tourist visits to Glasgow.
Answer
The Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley Tourist Board has recently announced that hotels in the City enjoyed a 10% increase in occupancy in the first five months of this year compared with the same period in 1998. The new strategy which we are preparing will contain actions designed to boost the performance of the industry across Scotland.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 15 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for the completion of the M77 and M74, the envisaged timescale, and how these plans will be funded.
Answer
The M77 (Fenwick to Malletsheugh) and the M74 Northern Extension are 2 of the 17 schemes under consideration in the Strategic Roads Review. I plan to report to Parliament on the Review shortly.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 14 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance it will give to former World War Two prisoners of war residing in Scotland and claiming compensation from Her Majesty's Government for suffering endured whilst captives of the Japanese.
Answer
These are matters reserved to the UK Government. They are included in the Scottish Government's continuing liaison with the UK Government on all relevant matters.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 14 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government requesting that internet websites which encourage suicide be prohibited, given the increased incidence of suicide among young people in Scotland in recent years.
Answer
We have no plans to do so. A wide range of social, cultural, psychological, economic and other factors contribute to suicide rates, including accessibility to the means of suicide. The regulation of internet services is a reserved matter.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 13 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to develop nutritional education in schools.
Answer
Responsibility for the delivery and management of the curriculum rests with education authorities and school managers. Advice is provided by the Scottish Executive which seeks to ensure that health education, including nutritional education, has a secure place within the curriculum and is included in all schools.HMI monitor school and pre-school provision and their published reports cover health education as well as various aspects of health promotion within the school. The report Drug and Nutrition Education A Study of Provision in Schools and Community Education published in January 1999 identifies good practice and areas where action is needed.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 13 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to maximise the take-up of free school meals.
Answer
Maximising the take up of free school meals by entitled children is for each local authority to pursue in the light of local needs and circumstances.There may be a variety of reasons why entitled children do not take up the free meal offered. Each local authority or the schools themselves are best placed to investigate and rectify problems within their area.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 13 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure minimum nutritional standards for school meals.
Answer
Each education authority is responsible for the nutritional standards in the school meal service which they administer.The Scottish Diet Action Plan Eating for Health made a large number of recommendations and included nutritional guidelines for catering specifications for the public sector, targeted primarily at pre-school and school age children. The Scottish Executive has initiated discussions with Directors of Education and progress in this area is being monitored through inspections by HM Inspectors of Schools. We will be considering the need for any further action in the light of inspection reports.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 10 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used in deciding the future of the Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Service in Scotland; who will be advising it on this issue; with whom consultation on this issue has taken or will take place, and when a final decision on the Service's future will be made.
Answer
The main criterion is to reach the decision which produces the highest quality of service for those children who require cardiac surgery. The other factors which we shall want to take into account are the effect of the decision on the range of other services currently provided at each hospital, as well as on the pattern of tertiary paediatric services in Scotland as a whole.
Advice on the issue is being formulated by the Chief Executive of the NHS in Scotland and the Chief Medical Officer, based on work already carried out by National Services Division of the Common Services Agency and jointly by Greater Glasgow and Lothian Health Boards. The NSD work canvassed a broad range of opinion, including users of the service. To ensure that their advice is based on the clearest possible understanding of all the issues, the Chief Executive and CMO have recently met senior representatives of both Trusts and the Medical Schools in Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as the 2 Health Boards.I expect to receive a report on this matter shortly and will announce my decision at that time.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 9 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to use its planning powers to introduce a national moratorium on the erection of mobile telecommunication masts on school grounds and within densely populated areas such as multi-storey flats in line with the policy of "prudent avoidance" as recommended by Friends of the Earth.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no such planning powers.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 9 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to use its planning powers to introduce a national moratorium on the erection of mobile telecommunication masts on school grounds and within densely populated areas such as multi-storey flats in line with the policy of "prudent avoidance" as recommended by Friends of the Earth.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no such planning powers.
