- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been, or are being, taken to rejuvenate town and village centres that have been adversely affected by out-of-town retail developments.
Answer
National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 8: Town Centres and Retailing, provides guidance to local authorities encouraging the retention and development of local facilities in town and village centres. The Executive has also issued a Planning Advice Note (PAN) 59 to authorities on improving town centres.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what legal advice it has had on whether it is legally competent for local authorities to attach planning conditions to planning applications from supermarkets which require the supermarket to source a certain amount of its supplies locally.
Answer
The Executive's policy on the use of planning conditions is as set out in Circular 4/1998. This requires that conditions should be necessary, relevant to planning, enforceable, effective, precise and reasonable in all other respects. It is, of course, for individual local authorities to apply planning conditions in specific cases, however, National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 8: Town Centres and Retailing requires that conditions should not seek to control details of particular products but apply only to the main ranges of goods.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-23950 by Mr Jim Wallace on 3 April 2002, whether any direct representations have been made in Europe about the establishment of European Agencies in Scotland.
Answer
I have nothing further to add to my previous answer given to question S1W-23950 on 3 April 2002.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been, or are being, taken to rejuvenate village and town high streets in rural areas.
Answer
Land use planning contributes to sustainable rural development, which is a key priority for the Executive. The Executive has issued National Planning Policy Guidelines and Planning Advice Notes encouraging the retention of and development of local facilities in town and village centres. Local authorities are encouraged to adopt their own approaches to town and village rejuvenation, which reflect local circumstances.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many health service posts in each health trust are currently funded by charities and how many were in each of the last three years, expressed also as a percentage of the overall number of posts in each trust.
Answer
Information on positions funded by charities in each health trust is not held centrally but can be obtained by contacting local NHS management. Contact details for NHS management are available on:www.show.scot.nhs.uk.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the delay in the publication of the EU's reform proposals for the Common Fisheries Policy.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is disappointed that the European Commission proposals on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy have so far failed to emerge. We are keen to begin negotiations. However, the Commission is responsible for handling its own work programme and we must wait for them to complete their internal deliberations.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Simpson on 1 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many consultant psychiatrists dealing with substance misuse are (a) currently employed and (b) were employed in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area and expressed (i) per capita and (ii) as a ratio of the number of consultants to the number of registered drug misusers.
Answer
Information held centrally on consultant psychiatrists does not specify the number that deal with substance misuse. The former index of registered drug addicts has been discontinued, so the term "registered drug misuser" is no longer used.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Simpson on 1 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting times were for (a) high-risk and (b) low-risk drug misusers who were referred to local NHS substance misuse services by (i) GPs and (ii) any other route in (1) the current year and (2) each of the last three years.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.Waiting time information for drug misuse treatment is not held consistently by drug services across Scotland. We do regard waiting times to treatment as important and so we are currently seeking from Drug Action Teams some local information on waiting times for drug services, as part of the annual corporate planning arrangements.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Simpson on 1 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many community psychiatric nurses dealing with the misuse of drugs are (a) currently employed and (b) were employed in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area and expressed (i) per capita and (ii) as a ratio of the number of posts to the number of registered drug misusers.
Answer
Information held centrally on community psychiatric nurses does not specify the number dealing with the misuse of drugs. The former index of registered drug addicts has been discontinued, so the term "registered drug misuser" is no longer used.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Simpson on 1 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of GP referrals to local substance misuse services is in (a) the current year and (b) each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
Information on the average number of GP referrals to local substance misuse services is not held centrally. However, the following table provides information on the source of referral recorded by new individual patients attending specialist drug services and reported to the Scottish Drug Misuse Database during 1998-99 to 2000-01. Information for 2001-02 is not yet available.Source of Referrals to Specialist Drug Services
1,2,3.Years Ending 31 March.New Individual Patients/Clients Only.
| 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 |
| Number of Referrals | % of Referrals | Number of Referrals | % of Referrals | Number of Referrals | % of Referrals |
| Scotland | 7,413 | 100 | 8,930 | 100 | 9,170 | 100 |
| Self | 2,514 | 34 | 2,844 | 32 | 2,944 | 32 |
| GP | 3,207 | 43 | 4,045 | 45 | 3,902 | 43 |
| Other4 | 1,692 | 23 | 2,041 | 23 | 2,324 | 25 |
Notes:1. Reports to the Scottish Drug Misuse Database, relating to new patients. "New" is defined as (a) the person is attending the particular service for the first time ever or (b) the person has attended before but not within the previous six months.2. All figures in this table exclude penal establishment inmates and information received from needle exchanges.3. Specialist Drug Services includes statutory and non-statutory services, specialist social work teams and residential rehabilitation services.4. Other includes family, friends, specialist drug services and non-specialist services.
