Parliamentary questions
Helen Eadie
919 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
19 Oct 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that there are sufficient appropriate sites for the gypsy/traveller community.
Answer · Jackie Baillie: Over the past 30 years, grants were made available to local authorities to provide sites for travellers. Pitch targets were also set to encourage councils to take advantage of the grant scheme. This has led to the provision of over 30 sites for travellers. Th…
20 Jun 2001 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what factors led to the recently announced increase in core funding for ChildLine Scotland.
Answer · Jack McConnell: The extra funding was to support ChildLine in their valuable work in providing a free confidential telephone counselling service for children in trouble or danger. It took account of the significant increase in the volume of calls to ChildLine.
28 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make money from the learning disability services change fund available directly to voluntary organisations rather than via local authorities.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Funds have already been distributed to local authorities.<P>The funds are provided as revenue grant, and local authorities have been advised that they can agree the flexible use of the funds with their partners locally.
28 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that money allocated to local authorities from the learning disability services change fund is spent on implementing the recommendations of The same as you? A review of services for people with learning disabilities.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The resources for 2001-02 were distributed through the Grant Aided Expenditure for services for people with disabilities. The GAE <I>Green Book</I>, setting out the elements for each authority, is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. no. 12261…
23 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to conduct research into why many children do not take up their entitlement to free school meals.
Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-14438.
23 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to conduct research into best practice in the provision of free school meals in other countries.
Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-14438.
23 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can provide examples of local authority best and worst practice in the provision of free school meals, with particular regard to ensuring the anonymity of pupils receiving free school meals.
Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-14438.
23 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had or is planning to have regarding extending entitlement to free school meals to school children whose parents receive Working Families Tax Credit or Disabled Persons Tax Credit.
Answer · Jack McConnell: An amendment proposing an extension of entitlement to free school meals to schoolchildren whose parents receive Working Families Tax Credit or Disabled Person's Tax Credit was considered and rejected during the passage of the Standards in Scotland's Schools e…
21 Feb 2001 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take action to ensure that every person in Scotland has equal access to medical services.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change</I>, published on 14 December 2000, sets out a wide range of measures to improve access to NHS services and to improve greater equity of access across Scotland.
29 Jan 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to prepare guidelines for health boards on policies on charging for access to medical records in order to ensure patients' ease of access to their records.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Management Executive Letter 2000(17), which was issued by the Scottish Executive Health Department on 14 April 2000, draws the attention of boards and Trusts to the coming into force of the Data Protection Act 1998. The letter is available on SHOW. Amongst ot…
6 Dec 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure that specialist nurses are appointed to all hospitals.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The recruitment of nursing staff is primarily a matter for individual NHS Trusts but the Scottish Executive has funded an additional 210 nurses for specialist training in priority areas this winter.
4 Dec 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many allergy clinics there are in Scotland and whether there is any shortage of allergists.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Information on the total number of allergy clinics across Scotland is not collected centrally. However, specialist allergy services are available in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">On 13 November 2000, I announced publication of a m…
29 Nov 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider publishing the results from the Home Energy Conservation Act reports collected this year from local authorities in a more accessible, league table, format, showing improvements to date and average carbon dioxide output in the residential sector, per capita and per…
Answer · Jackie Baillie: Local authorities are required to publish their reports under the Home Energy Conservation Act. We will be publishing a report on their progress generally in working towards their HECA targets under a range of headings including those described. The report wi…
28 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to make resources available to implement the Scottish Partnership on Domestic Abuse's National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland.
Answer · Jackie Baillie: A very significant funding package has been put together to implement the Partnership's recommendations. The details are as follows:<P>£10 million over three years from April 2001 for refuge development. This money 	has been added to the Scottish Homes' bu…
23 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the report of the Scottish Partnership on Domestic Abuse and the National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland and when the Parliament will have the opportunity to debate the Partnership's recommendations.
Answer · Jackie Baillie: The report of the Scottish Partnership on Domestic Abuse and the National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland are being published today. The First Minister will launch both documents in St Andrew's House on Wednesday 29 November 2000. Copies of the…
6 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take regarding Fife Health Board's refusal to provide digital hearing aids, with particular reference to young children with special educational needs.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Digital hearing aids are not suitable for all types of hearing loss. It is for the clinician in charge of a patient's care to decide which hearing aid best meets their clinical needs and it would not be appropriate for the Executive to intervene.<P ALIGN="JUS…
30 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the fourth Annual Report and Accounts for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will be published.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has published its fourth Annual Report and Accounts today. The report contains details of the progress made by SEPA during the period 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000, the agency's fourth year of operation. A copy of th…
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take in response to the call by the RAC Foundation for Motoring Ltd for a high profile television campaign warning of the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The GB road safety strategy, <I>Tomorrow's</I> <I>Roads</I> - <I>Safer</I> <I>for</I> <I>Everyone</I>, published on 1 March, confirms that there is a need for targeted public information advertising to highlight the risks of driving under the influence of dru…
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been advised by Her Majesty's Government's drugs tsar that cannabis is alleged to be 50 times more carcinogenic than tobacco and, if so, whether it accepts this information as scientifically accurate.
Answer · Iain Gray: The Executive has received no such advice from Keith Hellawell, the United Kingdom Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator ("drugs tsar").
26 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the NHSiS has received from the Ministry of Defence any guidance, information or advice regarding Her Majesty's Government's response to the House of Commons Committee report on gulf veterans' illnesses.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Ministry of Defence has produced an information pack for health professionals dealing with patients who are Gulf veterans. It has also made available helpline numbers for the Gulf Veterans' Illnesses Unit in the MoD and the Gulf Veterans' Medical Assessme…
9 Jun 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to require NHS Trusts to contribute a percentage of their budgets to the Joint Investment Fund and to design services in a collaborative manner.
Answer · Susan Deacon: JIF is simply the mechanism for redesigning services to meet patient need and to ensure that resources move with any service change; this may involve resource transfer between Trusts. JIF projects are determined locally and reflected in the Health Improvement…
9 Jun 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made with the report of the Joint Investment Fund Working Party from last year.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The final report by the JIF Support Group was presented to Health Boards and Trusts at regional meetings in late 1999. It made a number of recommendations which are currently being considered as part of the Scottish Executive's programme of work on the modern…
9 Jun 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Joint Investment Fund projects between new acute and primary care NHS Trusts are currently under way.
Answer · Susan Deacon: A recent review of initiatives involving service redesign projects between acute and primary care NHS trusts showed there are around 100 such ventures underway in Scotland; just under a quarter of these are JIF projects. Some of the areas covered include:<UL>…
30 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what legal protection is available to consumers purchasing new houses in Scotland.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Protection is available from a variety of sources. Firstly, consumers may seek legal advice on the terms under which they agree to purchase a property. They are protected in their purchase by consumer legislation (which is a reserved matter) and by the common…
15 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce its decision on the application submitted by Fife Electric for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to construct and operate a 400MW integrated cycle gas-fired power station at Westfield, Fife.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The Scottish Ministers have decided to refuse consent for Fife Electric's application. This decision has been taken after careful consideration of the Report of the public local inquiry into the application. It is founded on the Reporters' recommendation that…
15 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make a statement on the outcome of this week's EC Council of Agriculture Ministers meeting.
Answer · Ross Finnie: I attended the Council of Agriculture Ministers in Brussels on 14 December as part of the United Kingdom delegation. The Council discussed a number of issues of significance to the Scottish agriculture industry.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>The Council decided…
15 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the advice from the Statutory Advisory Committees on the implications of the report on organophosphates by the Committee on Toxicity will be published.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The advice which we received from the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC), the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) on the regulatory implications of the report on organophosphates (OPs) by the Committee on Tox…
9 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether universities in Scotland have developed links with universities in other parts of the world in order to share knowledge and experience on Co-operative Development
Answer · Henry McLeish: Universities in Scotland have a wide variety of links with universities in other parts of the world. We are not aware of formal university links for this particular purpose, but understand that some university staff do have specific overseas links in the are…
9 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to incorporate work on co-operative enterprise development as part of its approach to Social Inclusion
Answer · Wendy Alexander: I refer to the answer given to question S1W-01475.
9 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans for contact with or visits to Credit Unions in Ireland to learn from examples of best practice.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Not at present.