Parliamentary questions
Jackie Baillie
9,397 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
29 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy will meet private healthcare providers that have used PIP breast implants.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I have no meetings scheduled with private healthcare providers about PIP silicone breast implants, although I continue to consider circumstances in which such meetings might be appropriate.
29 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what it considers would be a reasonable condition to be applied to treatment of people with PIP breast implants by private providers.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: That is a matter for the private healthcare provider and patient to agree.
29 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether every person with a PIP breast implant is entitled to have any required procedure done by the NHS.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: NHSScotland will provide a clinically appropriate package of care to patients where the private healthcare provider which provided the PIP silicone breast implant is no longer in operation or is unwilling to provide a package of care appropriate to the needs …
22 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-05382 by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 February 2012, when it expects to receive the report of Sir Ian Kennedy’s review of paediatric cardiac surgery at Yorkhill Hospital.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I expect to receive a final report from Sir Ian Kennedy as soon as this becomes available.
22 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is standard practice for care home residents who are compulsorily rehoused into supported accommodation following the closure of their care home to have to provide their own furniture.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The provision of resettlement services (including assistance with furniture) for people moving into supported accommodation is a matter for the discretion of local authorities and landlords (as appropriate to the accommodation), taking account of the needs an…
22 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had discussions with COSLA regarding the harmonisation of social care charging systems throughout Scotland and, if so, with what outcome.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: In December 2011 COSLA agreed a National Strategy and Guidance for Charges applying to Non-residential Social Care Services 2012-13. This will be published in early March, and includes a chapter on achieving greater consistency. The working group which was e…
22 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made by the COSLA short-life working group set up to take forward work on developing new guidance for social care charging with a view to implementation by spring 2012.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: COSLA recently issued it’s National Strategy and Guidance for Charges applying to Non-residential Social Care Services 2012-13 to all local authorities. The guidance will be made public on the COSLA website early in March.
22 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities are budgeting to increase the income that they receive from social care charging in 2012-13.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Provisional Outturns for 2011-12 and Budget Estimates for 2012-13 will be submitted shortly by councils in their POBE 2012 return. However, this statistical return only collects net expenditure, not projected income from service charges. The only statistical…
22 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what requirements are placed on local authorities to report how many visits to welfare guardians they have carried out each year.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: There is no specific statutory requirement for local authorities to report how many visits to welfare guardians they have carried out each year. The local authority’s responsibilities to supervise welfare guardians are set out in The Adults with Incapacity (…
22 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what requirements are placed on local authorities to report how many welfare guardianships they have monitored each year.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: There is no specific statutory requirement for local authorities to report on how many welfare guardianships they have monitored each year. The local authority’s responsibilities to supervise welfare guardians are set out in The Adults with Incapacity (Super…
22 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what body monitors how effectively local authorities monitor welfare guardianships.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The primary responsibility for ensuring that a local authority monitors welfare guardianships effectively lies within the authority itself. Under the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 a local authority is required to do various tasks including superv…
22 Feb 2012 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the latest statistical bulletin shows that the Scottish Government is meeting its 2012 homelessness target.
10 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any NHS employee is exempt from a pay freeze.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The policy adopted in NHSScotland for 2011-12, which mirrored the Scottish Government’s public sector pay policy, saw pay frozen for all staff earning over £21,000 per annum. Staff earning below £21,000 received a £250 flat rate uplift, and those on point 1 o…
10 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual salary is of an NHS employee in the lowest pay band.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The lowest annual salary currently available for NHSScotland staff is £14,258.
10 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether (a) the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy and (b) the board of Healthcare Improvement Scotland are aware of negotiations with the health directorate about the salary of the chief executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: There are no negotiations with the Health directorates on the salary of the Chief Executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
10 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the salary was for the chief executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland when the post was advertised in September 2010.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The salary for the Chief Executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland advertised in August 2010 was in the range approved by Ministers for Executive Grade F (£84,411 - £115,046).
10 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the current chief executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland was appointed.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Healthcare Improvement Scotland was established on 1 April 2011. The interim Chief Executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland took up her role on that date.
10 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the current chief executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland was seconded to the post and, if so, from where.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answers to questions S4W-05615 and S4W-05614 on 9 March 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/…
10 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the current chief executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland was appointed on a temporary basis.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The role of Healthcare Improvement Scotland Chief Executive is being filled on an interim basis through a secondment of the former Medical Director of NHS Fife.
10 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the current salary is of the chief executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The salary for the Chief Executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland is in the range approved by Ministers for Executive Grade F (£84,411 - £115,046). The post is currently filled on an interim basis through a secondment of the former Medical Director of NHS…
9 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost would be of providing council tax benefit and the successor arrangements for (a) community care grants and (b) crisis loans if the claimant count was to remain the same as in 2010-11.
Answer · John Swinney: Council tax benefit payments for 2010-11 in Scotland totalled £387.4 million with entitlement depending on a variety of circumstances, including unemployment. Council tax benefit is also paid to pensioners, those on low pay and those unable to work because of…
9 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how the £20 million contingency fund for welfare reform will be allocated across the spending review period.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has held back the allocation of around £20 million of Resource DEL consequentials available in 2012-13 because of a number of risks presented by the current economic and financial climate including, in particular, those presented by UK…
9 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide funding from the Bellwin scheme to West Dunbartonshire Council to help pay for recent storm damage and, if so, how much.
Answer · John Swinney: Following the severe storm on 3 January, and as a result of representations from West Dunbartonshire and South Lanarkshire Councils, I confirmed that the Bellwin scheme had been triggered on 16 January. Now that the Scheme has been triggered all local authori…
9 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether women with PIP breast implants have been turned away from giving blood.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: On current evidence, the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) considers women with Poly Implant Prothese (PiP) silicone breast implants to be eligible to donate blood, provided that they meet all of SNBTS’s donor selection criteria.
9 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the minimum unit price for alcohol.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: As I indicated to the Health and Sport Committee on 31 January, I hope to indicate a preferred minimum price per unit of alcohol at Stage 2, but certainly before Stage 3 of the Bill process.
9 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is the member state that should notify the European Commission about the proposal for minimum unit pricing for alcohol.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Where a proposal made by the Scottish Government requires it, the Member State notifies the European Commission of its terms.
9 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive who accompanied the Cabinet Secretary of Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy to her meeting with EU commissioners on 7 February 2012.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05564 on 6 March 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/parliamentarybusi…
9 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the formal advice that the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy received from the European Commission about the legality of minimum unit pricing of alcohol in the context of EU law.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The discussions I have had with relevant contacts in the European Commission as regards the Scottish Government’s proposal to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol were very constructive and positive. I have written to the Convenor of the Health and S…
9 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will formally notify the European Commission about introducing legislation on minimum unit pricing of alcohol.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The European Commission has confirmed that it is for Member States to decide if and at what stage to notify their proposals. We are clear that the bill itself does not require to be notified, and we are currently considering whether the subordinate legislatio…
9 Feb 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which EU commissioners the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy met on 7 February 2012 to discuss minimum unit pricing of alcohol.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05564 on 6 March 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…