Parliamentary questions
Christine Grahame
3,532 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
8 Jun 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its recommended funding levels for roads maintenance have been, broken down by local authority, in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02, (d) 2002-03 and (e) 2003-04.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive does not recommend funding levels for local roads maintenance, it provides local authorities with Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) allocations. GAEs allocations are not funding as such. They form part of a more complex formula used to calc…
7 Jun 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish a draft bill in respect of the conversion of long leases.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The Scottish Law Commission hopes to publish its report on this subject by the end of 2004. It will include a draft bill.</p>
7 Jun 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received a report from the Scottish Law Commission in respect of proposed legislation on the conversion of long leases.
Answer · Hugh Henry: We expect to receive a report by the end of 2004, as explained at page 15 of the <i>Scottish Law Commission’s Annual Report for 2003 </i>(Scot Law Com No 194) published by The Stationery Office in 2004, a copy of which is available in the Parliament’s Referen…
7 Jun 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many long leases there are, broken down by registration county.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The most up to date information on the number of long leases for the counties of Ayr, Clackmannan, Lanark and Renfrew is given in Appendix A of the Scottish Law Commission’s Discussion Paper on the Conversion of Long Leases (No. 112) at page 79, published by …
7 Jun 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set in respect of the number of public health consultants and specialists per head of population and what steps it is taking to ensure that such targets are met, in light of recent news reports regarding a possible shortage of public health specialists.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information held by ISD Scotland shows that 96 public health consultants were in post at September 2003 from a total establishment of 104, a vacancy rate of 7.7%. </p><p>The route to consultant posts is through specialist registrar training. We have increased…
3 Jun 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-2516 by Malcolm Chisholm of 3 June 2004, whether it will commission research into the incidence of road traffic accidents in which sleepiness was a contributory factor.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive’s transport research programme for 2004-05 does not include research on sleep-related road accidents. </p><p>The UK Government has been conducting research into sleep related road accidents for over 10 years and has published reports on…
3 Jun 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what safety requirements for children are placed on primary schools once the school day ends from when they are waiting for school transport until delivery to agreed pick-up point.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Education authorities have a legal duty to take reasonable care of the safety of pupils when under their charge. Scottish Executive guidance to authorities on school transport matters includes a focus on the safety of pupils.</p>
3 Jun 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are statutory limits on the time that children can be away from home in order to attend school.
Answer · Peter Peacock: There are no statutory limits on the time that children can be away from home in order to attend school.</p>
26 May 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to secure the delivery of textile courses at Heriot-Watt University's Borders Campus.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Ministers areprecluded by legislation from becoming involved in decisions which highereducation institutions make concerning course provision, and by extension from decisionsabout where courses are taught. I am fully aware, however, of concernssurrounding Her…
26 May 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has with regard to the impact of sleep disorders on accidents at work and on roads.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: We do nothold any specific data on the contribution made by sleep disorders to accidentsin Scotland. However, it is well known thattiredness, whether induced by sleep disorders or other causes, can be asignificant factor in accidents.</p>
24 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7076 by Nicol Stephen on 2 April 2004, when the consultation paper on concessionary travel, due to be published in April, will be published.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The consultation paper on concessionarytravel will be issued soon.</p>
20 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive with reference to the article “Screening Saves Lives” in the May edition of Health Quarterly, Holyrood Policy Journal, what plans are in place to implement (a) a national colorectal screening programme following the successful pilot schemes in Grampian, Tayside and Fife and (b) …
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Following the positive evaluationof the UK Colorectal Cancer Screening Pilot the Executive has re-affirmed the commitmentgiven in <i>Cancer in Scotland </i>to introduce a national bowel cancer screeningprogramme. The planning process, which will take around f…
20 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what weighting will be given to social inclusion criteria in deciding whether or not there should be a stop at Stow on the Borders railway.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The specification for the proposedBorders Railway – including the location of stations along its route – is the responsibilityof the Waverley Railway Partnership. The Scottish Executive requires that our ScottishTransport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) is applied …
19 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, regarding the 2930 parliamentary questions to date that received the answer that the information requested was not held centrally, in how many cases the information requested is now available and what measures are being put in place to hold information sought by MSPs centrally.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: When replying to parliamentaryquestions, the Executive strives to provide the member with as much informationas is available at the time. On some occasions the information sought will not beheld centrally and this will be reflected in the answer.</p><p>It wou…
19 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, of the 337 parliamentary questions that have been answered to date where the question addressed a health issue and the answer stated that the information requested was not held centrally, in how many cases the information is now available centrally.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: I refer the member to the answer I gave to S2W-8363 on 9 June 2004. All answers to which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa">http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa</a>.</p>
19 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many rapes have been reported in each police force area in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02, (d) 2002-03, (e) 2003-04 and (f) 2004-05 to date and, of these, how many have been successfully prosecuted in each year.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information on crimes of rape which were recorded by the police, and on persons with a charge proved in court where rape was the main offence, is given in the following tables.</p><p>Crimes of Rape Recorded by the Police by Police Force Area, Sc…
19 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the revised business case for the Borders railway and when it will be published.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive received the revised and final outline business case for the Borders railway on 9 June 2004. The business case is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/com-wav-bill/docs/wr04-bc-00.h…
19 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8226 by Susan Deacon on 18 January 2001, what information and publicity materials are given to young people to alert them to the dangers of drug-assisted sexual assault and rape and where such material is made publicly available.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The Executive is currently running an awareness campaign on Drug Assisted Sexual Assault through its Know the Score communications strategy. The campaign is supported by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland.</p><p>This campaign – <i>Who’s Keep…
19 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1F-1882 by Mr Jack McConnell on 9 May 2002, how often guidance to police forces is updated on (a) any innovations in detection and identification of date rape drugs and (b) best practice in dealing with victims of drug rape in order to maximise the abil…
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: In 2002 the Association of ChiefPolice Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) issued Drug Assisted Sexual Assault - Guidefor Investigators to Scottish Police Forces. The guide is subject to annual review.In addition, advice on new and emerging trends concerning Drug As…
19 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of research published in the British Medical Journal concerning the widespread prevalence of prescribing errors caused by computer systems in use at GP surgeries, what steps will be taken to (a) identify which GP practices are affected by prescription errors due to the use of th…
Answer · Tom McCabe: The clinical responsibility toprescribe appropriately lies with individual GPs but the IT system support availableto them must underpin safe and efficient prescribing behaviour.</p><p>Whilst the <i>British MedicalJournal</i> report referred to focused on GP I…
17 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to implement the recommendations in the report by RNID, A Simple Cure - A national report into deaf and hard of hearing people's experiences of the National Health Service, that all “front-line” staff undertake deaf and disability awareness training and …
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: NHS Education Scotland is workingwith the Scottish Council on Deafness and a number of other organisations representingthe deaf community in Scotland, to produce deaf awareness training. Representativesfrom the deaf community have provided essential informati…
17 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to implement the recommendation in the report by RNID, A Simple Cure - A national report into deaf and hard of hearing people's experiences of the National Health Service, that an update of the NHS Disability Access Audit which includes the needs of deaf and hard …
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Health Department carriedout a survey to monitor the progress of NHSScotland bodies with disability accessaudits early in 2003. The survey results were published with<b> </b>NHS HDL(2003)31<b></b>(<a href="http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/mels/HDL2003_31.…
17 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to investigate the introduction of communication support resources, such as video telephones, loop systems for hearing aid users, visual displays and trained lip readers in GP surgeries and other health care facilities in light of the report by RNID, A Simple Cure…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: NHS boards and independent contractorshave been advised to conduct audits of their premises to ensure that they have consideredwhat reasonable adjustments may be appropriate to the way they deliver servicesfor disabled people. This may involve the provision o…
17 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that the NHS becomes fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in respect of the requirements of deaf and hard of hearing people, given the report by RNID, A Simple Cure - A national report into deaf and hard of hearing people's exper…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer you to my answers toparliamentary questions S2W-6895 on 29 March 2004, S2W-7379, S2W-7380 andS2W-7381 on 28 April 2004, S2W-8279, S2W-8280 and S2W-8281 on 26 April 2004. Allanswer to written answer to parliamentary questions are available on the Parli…
17 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-1605 by Ms Margaret Curran on 18 March 2004, what action is being taken to increase access to funding and training in British Sign Language for health care providers.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive is taking forward initiatives to improve the accessibility of healthcare provision for British Sign Language users.</p><p>The health department iscurrently developing an Equality and Diversity Strategy for the NHS and hasentered into a …
11 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of GP practices in each NHS board area prescribe methadone.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The table shows the number and percentage of all GP Practices, by NHS bard, that prescribed methadone (all formulations) in December 2003.</p><p>Number and Percentage of GP Practices Prescribing Methadone</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead…
11 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has that services to methadone patients, particularly in Glasgow and Edinburgh, may be withdrawn partly or wholly due to a dispute by GPs over payments for such treatment and what action it will take to address any such concerns.
Answer · Hugh Henry: Negotiations are taking placeacross Scotland between NHS boards and GPs on the provision and fundingof enhanced services (including services for drug misusers) under the new GeneralMedical Services contract. We are monitoring the position, but we do not belie…
11 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-6845 by Allan Wilson on 29 April 2004, whether it will review the eligibility criteria for the exemption scheme in respect of circumstances where an applicant is debarred from the scheme unless the premises had relief from water charges as at 31 Marc…
Answer · Ross Finnie: The exemption scheme was createdto assist organisations that had been in receipt of discretionary relief on theirwater and sewerage charges and were likely to be most affected by the withdrawalof that relief. As the criteria for the scheme reflect this object…
11 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3112 by Ms Margaret Curran on 21 October 2003, how the #57 million for rural affordable housing was distributed, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>In 2003-04, the planned investment for rural affordable housing by local authority was broken down as follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=…
11 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1778 by Ms Margaret Curran on 19 August 2003, what Communities Scotland's investment in real terms will be in 2004-05 and what investment is projected for 2005-06.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>The amount of planned investment by Communities Scotland in 2004-05 will be £264 million, with £182 million invested in urban housing, £65 mill…