- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 October 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many working days were lost in the NHS due to staff illness in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2007-08, (c) 2008-09 and (d) 2009-10 in hospitals administered by NHS (i) Borders, (ii) Dumfries and Galloway, (iii) Lothian, (iv) Ayrshire and Arran and (v) Lanarkshire and how many were attributed to infections that resulted in the closure of wards.
Answer
Information on working days lost due to staff illness in hospitals administered by the NHS is not centrally collected. However, information on hours lost due to sickness absence by NHS board is collected. Relevant details are presented in the following table:
Sickness Absence Hours Lost by Selected NHS Board: Year Ending 31 March
| Hours lost | |
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
Borders | 242259.9 | 251650.5 | 250586.1 | 244021.0 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 322110.4 | 363970.8 | 325336.9 | 324456.6 |
Lothian | 1792335.2 | 1797734.7 | 1700165.5 | 1689524.0 |
Ayrshire and Arran | 951889.8 | 945862.6 | 958661.5 | 849519.4 |
Lanarkshire | 1183500.5 | 1125863.0 | 975881.2 | 895184.5 |
Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS)
Information about how many days lost were attributed to infections that resulted in the closure of wards is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 October 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many hours of specialist cleft lip and palate care is provided to babies and young children on a weekly basis by clinical nurse specialists in NHS (a) Greater Glasgow and Clyde and (b) Lothian, also expressed as a percentage of their working week.
Answer
In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, three clinical nurse specialists provide 51 hours of specialist cleft lip and palate care per week. This represents 100% of their working week.
In NHS Lothian, two clinical nurse specialists provide 56.25 hours of specialist cleft lip and palate care per week. This represents 100% of their working week.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 October 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the clinical nurse specialists for cleft lip and palate care in NHS (a) Greater Glasgow and Clyde and (b) Lothian have been withdrawn from 20% of their specialist hours to cover general duties at the children’s wards of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in (i) Glasgow and (ii) Edinburgh respectively.
Answer
Clinical nurse specialists for cleft lip and palate care in NHS Lothian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have not been withdrawn to cover general nursing duties.
Over the last six months the two clinical nurse specialists for cleft lip and palate care in NHS Lothian have worked a total of 12 hours in theatre recovery at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh. This time has been used to refresh their skills and, more importantly, to facilitate education for non-specialist staff on the post-operative care of children with cleft lip and palate conditions. This latter element is a key component of the role of the clinical nurse specialist and entirely in keeping with our plans for continuous improvement of the quality of care for all patients. In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde the hours and working patterns of the clinical nurse specialists in the cleft lip and palate service remain unaltered.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 October 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 October 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with organisations and representatives from the business community following the business rates revaluation that came into effect in April 2010.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3O-11646 on 7 October 2010 which is available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 October 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 7 October 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with organisations and representatives from the business community following the business rates revaluation that came into effect in April 2010.
Answer
Throughout the revaluation process ministers and officials have taken a number of actions to communicate with the business community. This includes meeting, corresponding and listening to representations from a number of individual ratepayers and business organisations.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 7 October 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support is being made available to each local authority in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12, in addition to the local government settlement, to achieve the objectives of the Zero Waste Plan.
Answer
The information in respect to (a) is as shown in the following table, which shows Zero Waste Fund (ZWF) monies distributed to local authorities. In accordance with the concordat, neither capital or revenue funding is ring fenced, as it is each local authority''s responsibility to allocate funding as they see fit, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government''s key strategic objectives. For (b), the Scottish Government is unable to offer any commitment to funding until after the Spending Review on 20 October 2010.
(£ Million Rounded)
Council | Capital Share of ZWF 2010-11 | Operating Share of ZWF 2010-11 | Operating Share of Former SWF Top Up¹ | Total Share of ZWF 2010-11 |
Aberdeen City | 0.219 | 1.025 | | 1.244 |
Aberdeenshire | 0.228 | 1.080 | | 1.308 |
Angus | 0.107 | 0.505 | | 0.612 |
Argyll and Bute | 0.101 | 0.480 | 0.005 | 0.586 |
Clackmannanshire | 0.047 | 0.224 | | 0.271 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 0.149 | 0.703 | 0.173 | 1.025 |
Dundee City | 0.143 | 0.672 | | 0.815 |
East Ayrshire | 0.116 | 0.547 | 0.011 | 0.674 |
East Dunbartonshire | 0.102 | 0.479 | 0.125 | 0.706 |
East Lothian | 0.091 | 0.430 | | 0.521 |
East Renfrewshire | 0.086 | 0.406 | | 0.492 |
Edinburgh (City of) | 0.493 | 2.339 | | 2.832 |
Eilean Siar | 0.027 | 0.127 | 0.044 | 0.198 |
Falkirk | 0.145 | 0.689 | 0.045 | 0.879 |
Fife | 0.349 | 1.657 | | 2.006 |
Glasgow City | 0.609 | 2.872 | 0.056 | 3.537 |
Highland | 0.235 | 1.112 | 0.027 | 1.374 |
Inverclyde | 0.079 | 0.371 | | 0.450 |
Midlothian | 0.077 | 0.362 | | 0.439 |
Moray | 0.085 | 0.403 | | 0.488 |
North Ayrshire | 0.133 | 0.629 | | 0.762 |
North Lanarkshire | 0.313 | 1.479 | | 1.792 |
Orkney Islands | 0.020 | 0.097 | | 0.117 |
Perth and Kinross | 0.143 | 0.681 | 0.045 | 0.869 |
Renfrewshire | 0.167 | 0.785 | | 0.952 |
Scottish Borders | 0.109 | 0.516 | | 0.625 |
Shetland Islands | 0.021 | 0.100 | | 0.121 |
South Ayrshire | 0.114 | 0.541 | | 0.655 |
South Lanarkshire | 0.298 | 1.412 | | 1.710 |
Stirling | 0.092 | 0.437 | | 0.529 |
West Dunbartonshire | 0.089 | 0.417 | | 0.506 |
West Lothian | 0.163 | 0.773 | 0.004 | 0.940 |
Scotland | 5.150 | 24.350 | 0.535 | 30.035 |
Notes:
1. These sums are the former SWF projects that were in the pipeline and not concluded at the time of SR2007.
Zero Waste Fund apportioned on the basis of waste disposal formula as agreed with COSLA.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive with which local authorities it has discussed local food procurement in 2010.
Answer
Discussions on sustainable public sector food and drink procurement have been undertaken with the following local authorities in 2010:
Tayside Contracts (as the Catering and Procurement provider for Perth and Kinross), City of Dundee and Angus Councils, Glasgow City Council (Cordia LLP), Scotland Excel (as the procurement organisation for food and drink for Scotland''s local authorities), Falkirk Council, Aberdeenshire Council and South Lanarkshire Council.
Discussions have also been held at the ASSIST conference attended by senior officers responsible for catering in Scotland''s 32 local authorities and at the Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE; the organisation that represents managers in Scotland''s local authorities).
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times it discussed local food procurement with local authorities in 2009.
Answer
Sustainable public sector procurement of food and drink has been discussed with a wide range of Local Authorities on 7 occasions in 2009 as well as a wide range of NHS boards and other bodies. These are summarised in the report
Walking the Talk - Getting Government Right - Procurement of Food by Public Sector http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/11/12111724/0.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will put in place to control the North American crayfish population in the South of Scotland.
Answer
The Invasive Non-Native Species Strategy for Great Britain provides a comprehensive policy framework to guide management response to invasive non-native species. This is based on the approach advocated by the Convention on Biological Diversity, which prioritises prevention. Once invasive non-native species are well established, complete eradication is rarely viable.
Whilst the Scottish Government will continue to seek to prevent the spread of North American crayfish in Scotland, it has no current plans for central government action to eradicate established populations. The Minister for Environment will shortly be meeting representatives from Dumfries and Galloway Council and other local interests to discuss the situation in Loch Ken with regard to North American Signal Crayfish.
- Asked by: Jim Hume, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 September 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive with what bodies it has discussed local food procurement in 2010.
Answer
Discussions on sustainable public sector food and drink procurement have been held with a wide range of bodies during 2010, including:
APUC, Scotland Excel, Public Procurement Reform Board, European Commission, COSLA, NHS National Procurement, NHS Facilities Scotland, NHS Public Health and Well being, NFUS, Food Standards Agency Scotland, SAOS, Scotland Food and Drink, Scottish Food and Drink Federation, Sodexo, Brakes Foodservice, Campbell''s Meat, 2014 Commonwealth Games Business Gateway, QMS, Scottish Enterprise and the Cross Party Group on Food.