Parliamentary questions
Jackie Baillie
9,397 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
22 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will extend the free concessionary travel scheme to include all demand-responsive community transport.
Answer · Keith Brown: Earlier this year, we extended the scope of demand-responsive community transport services included in the scheme. Those available to the general public and registered as local bus services were already eligible. This provision was extended from 1 April 2012 …
21 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Minister for Housing and Welfare will give evidence to the Welfare Reform Committee on the draft budget 2013-14.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities will give evidence on the draft budget 2013-14 to the Welfare Reform Committee on 23 October.
21 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has established a defence policy unit and, if so, when it was established; how many civil servants are involved at what cost; to which minister it reports, and what its work programme is.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Dedicated Scottish Government teams focussing on defence matters were established in 2008, to support armed forces personnel and veterans in Scotland; and in 2010, to co-ordinate Scotland's response to the impacts of the UK Strategic Defence and Security Revi…
21 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many times the joint ministerial group on public sector pensions has met; which (a) ministers and (b) trade unions attended each meeting and what issues have been (i) discussed and (ii) agreed.
Answer · John Swinney: In August 2011, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth convened a short-term, high-level group of Scottish ministers, trade union and employers’ representatives to consider the UK Government’s policy of increasing employee contri…
20 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of welfare reform on its plans for preventative spending.
Answer · John Swinney: We continue to work with our stakeholders to pursue a distinctive approach to preventative spend, an approach recently reinforced in the draft budget for 2013-14 which I presented to the Parliament on 20 September.
20 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much preventative spending will be allocated to the voluntary sector.
Answer · John Swinney: It is for each Partnership to decide how it wants to disburse Early Years and Reshaping Care for Older People Change Fund resources locally. Allocations from the Reducing Reoffending Change Fund are still to be made but it will provide funding for partnership…
20 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that single outcome agreements have a focus on preventative spending.
Answer · Derek Mackay: Community planning partnerships (CPPs) are already expected to ensure that a decisive shift to a preventative approach is embedded in the single outcome agreements (SOAs) that they agree with the Scottish Government. This expectation was reaffirmed and streng…
20 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how the £20 million contingency budget dealing with welfare reform will be allocated.
Answer · John Swinney: The £20 million contingency budget dealing with welfare reform has been allocated to local government in 2013-14. I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-06790 on 27 April 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Par…
20 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what risk assessments have been carried out by each cabinet secretary on the possible impact of welfare reform on areas within their portfolio.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government continually considers risks from changes in reserved policy when carrying out its devolved responsibilities. While the UK Government has begun to provide a greater level of detail on its welfare reforms there are still significant gap…
19 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much each NHS board has spent sending patients for chronic pain treatment in Bath and how many patients each has sent, in each year since 2007-08.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Tables setting out the number of patients and costs, by NHS board, who were referred to the pain management centre at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, in Bath, in 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and in 2012-13 (up to 21 September 2012) are availa…
19 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many private ambulances have been used by the Scottish Ambulance Service since September 2011 and at what cost.
Answer · Alex Neil: The Scottish Ambulance Service has advised that it does not use private ambulances in Scotland.
19 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints have been made to the Scottish Ambulance Service since September 2011 and how this compares with the previous 12-month period.
Answer · Alex Neil: The information requested is not held centrally. However, the latest annual national NHS complaints statistics (covering the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012) were published last month by the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services S…
19 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many ambulance vehicles are on call on night shift serving the Vale of Leven Hospital.
Answer · Alex Neil: The information requested is not held centrally, this is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service.
19 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) urgent tier and (b) other ambulance shifts have been dropped in the Vale of Leven since 1 June 2012, and what this equates to in personnel hours.
Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-09728 on 3 October 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybu…
19 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on increasing the number of paramedics.
Answer · Alex Neil: It is for the Scottish Ambulance Service to recruit and train staff to meet service needs and to ensure that an appropriate mix of paramedics and ambulance technicians is in place to provide front line services. The Scottish Government has committed to provid…
19 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many ambulance shifts have been dropped in each month since September 2011.
Answer · Alex Neil: Information on the numbers of emergency ambulance rostered shifts which are not filled because of sickness or other absence is not held centrally. This is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service. When a potential gap on a roster appears Scot…
19 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many ambulances have been single crewed in each month since September 2011.
Answer · Alex Neil: The Scottish Government is clear that the single crewing of traditional double crewed emergency ambulances should only happen in exceptional circumstances, such as short notice sickness absence when cover cannot be secured. The Scottish Ambulance Service is w…
17 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it measures asbestos levels in (a) schools and (b) hospitals and, if so, whether it will publish the results.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2012 places a duty on the relevant authorities, in this case local authorities and NHS boards, to keep up to date records on the location and condition of asbestos-containing materials in their premises. This inform…
17 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to remove asbestos from (a) schools and (b) hospitals.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Occupational health and matters relating to health and safety at work, including the removal of asbestos from buildings, are reserved and subject to Health and Safety Regulations. The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/632) places a duty on…
17 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce legislation to clarify time limits regarding cases involving asbestos-related diseases.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The law requires that any action for damages arising from a personal injury – including asbestos-related diseases - should be made within a three-year period. The Scottish Government is committed to modernising the law on damages for personal injury and inte…
17 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether clinicians must formally advise patients with pleural plaques of their diagnosis and, if so, whether it will issue formal guidance to clinicians on this.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The regulatory body of the doctors, the General Medical Council (GMC) states that “for a relationship between a doctor and patient to be effective, it should be a partnership based on openness, trust and good communication.” The Scottish Government is commit…
6 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will have an independent review mechanism for community care grants and crisis loans from April 2013.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-09435 on 19 September 2012. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentar…
6 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to put in place a social fund commissioner for Scotland.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: We are still considering our options to provide review arrangements for the Social Fund successor scheme.
6 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) full- and (b) part-time inflammatory bowel disease specialist nurses there are, broken down by (i) hospital and (ii) NHS board.
Answer · Alex Neil: We do not hold data on Gastro-Intestinal Clinical Nurse Specialists for individual hospitals, but we do hold information on the number (whole-time equivalent and headcount) at NHS board level on the workforce statistics via the Information Services Division (…
3 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much each territorial and special NHS board has spent on legal fees in relation to compromise agreements and how many such agreements each board has reached.
Answer · Alex Neil: This is a matter for NHS boards. The information sought is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
31 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recent figures published by the Office of National Statistics recording that, since 2007, the number of children living in workless households in Scotland has increased by 21,000 and that this represents a higher proportion of such children than that for the r…
Answer · Aileen Campbell: This government firmly believes that children in Scotland deserve the best possible start in life and we do not want to see any child being born into or condemned to live a life of poverty. It is simply morally unacceptable that 17% of our children still live…
28 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the benchmarking audit of pain services, which was due to be published in June 2012, has been delayed.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The change of publishing date is due to additional factual accuracy checks being undertaken. This is important to ensure the report is accurate and can be used to inform planning.
28 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the benchmarking audit of pain services (a) was carried out and (b) will be published.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Dr. Gilbert, our National Lead Clinician for Chronic Pain and the project management team in Healthcare Improvement Scotland conducted an audit of Pain Management Services and the numbers of patients seen by these services for the period 1 April 2010 to March…
27 Jun 2012 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has allocated to West Dunbartonshire Council from its youth unemployment fund.
21 Jun 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide thalidomide survivors with a permanent financial contribution of at least the same annual rate as in the pilot health grant scheme for the rest of their lives.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Officials from the four administrations are currently jointly discussing future funding options with the Thalidomide Trust and National Advisory Council. A meeting between officials and the Trust is scheduled for 17 July. We also await the evaluation of the …