Parliamentary questions
Jackie Baillie
9,397 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff have been recruited to new posts created by the Reshaping Care Change Fund.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Decisions on staff recruitment are a local matter for individual partnerships and this information is not centrally collected or monitored by the Scottish Government.
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected underspend is in the Reshaping Care Change Fund.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: In September 2011, partnerships were projecting to spend £58.3 million of the £70 million allocation in year 2011-12, with an overall forecast underspend for that year of £11.7 million. This position is likely to change as we progress towards year-end and is …
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the Reshaping Care Change Fund is used for non-recruiting revenue costs.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Change Funds should not be used as a substitute for revenue resource or to plug gaps in existing services, but to help rebalance local care, support and service provision towards anticipatory care and preventative services that will support older people to st…
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has issued guidance on the Reshaping Care Change Fund.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Scottish Government guidance on the Reshaping Care for Older People Change Fund for 2011-12 was issued on 23 December 2010. Further guidance covering the Change Fund for 2012-13 will be issued to all 32 partnerships and other interested parties later in 2011.…
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the Reshaping Care Change Fund had been spent by the end of September 2011.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: A mid-year progress report on the implementation of the Change Fund was considered by the Health and Community Care Delivery Group on 6 September 2011. The report identified that by the end of September 2011, Partnerships planned to spend £10.6 million, and a…
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that 20% of the Reshaping Care Change Fund is allocated to carer support.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Scottish Government guidance on the Reshaping Care Change Fund for 2012-13, to be issued later in 2011, will require Partnerships to say what constitutes support to carers locally so they can clearly demonstrate that at least 20% of their Change Fund is dedic…
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how the (a) voluntary and (b) private sector are involved in developing and delivering the Reshaping Care Change Fund.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon : Scottish Government Change Fund guidance for 2011-12, issued on 23 December 2010, made clear that Change Plans needed to be prepared, agreed and signed off by NHS boards, local authorities and the third and independent sectors. Guidance for 2012-13, planned …
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many employees of NHS boards earn over £100,000 per annum broken down by (a) clinical and (b) non-clinical staff.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-35975 on 23 September 2010, which stated that individual salary information for NHS staff is not held centrally. However, tables showing the numbers of staff earning £50,000 and over (in bands of £10,000) is av…
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on Sir Ian Kennedy’s recommendation for paediatric cardiac surgery that a minimum of four surgeons carrying out 400-500 operations per year is required to ensure safety and sustainability.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The quality of service and outcomes achieved by the paediatric cardiac surgery service in Glasgow are carefully monitored and benchmarked against other UK centres and are already well recognised as being good. While it is desirable to demonstrate this in the…
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review paediatric cardiac surgery at Yorkhill Hospital and, if so, when this will be carried out and by whom.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: To provide external and independent assurance of the recognised high quality of the paediatric cardiac surgery services provided by Yorkhill Hospital, I announced in June 2011 that a review of the service would be undertaken by the Safe and Sustainable Progra…
19 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any underspend of the Reshaping Care Change Fund will be (a) carried forward to 2012-13 or (b) returned for other health spending.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: It is for partnerships to agree locally how to deal with underspend or slippage in 2011-12, the initial year of the Change Fund’s operation, as long as this meets the objectives of their Change Plans. Any agreed underspends will be carried forward to 2012-13 …
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether paediatric cardiac surgery standards in Scotland are the same as those in England and Wales and what action it will take to secure the future of paediatric cardiac surgery at Yorkhill Hospital.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: As part of the Safe and Sustainable Programme in England, service standards for Children's Congenital Cardiac Services have been developed. The standards against which English paediatric cardiac centres have been assessed require a minimum of 400 operations p…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will protect the current entitlement to council tax benefit when this is devolved.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-03465 on 1 November 2011. 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…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many single person households underoccupy their property where the landlord is a (a) housing association and (b) local authority.
Answer · Keith Brown: We estimate that a total of 59,000 single person households of working age in the social rented sector in receipt of housing benefit under-occupy their property. Of these (a) 24,000 live in a housing association property and (b) 35,000 live in a local authori…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many households in Scotland will receive a reduction in housing benefit as a result of the proposals in the Welfare Reform Bill and what the average weekly reduction will be.
Answer · Keith Brown: We estimate that approximately 94,100 households of working age in the social rented sector will receive a reduction in housing benefit, specifically as a result of the under occupation penalties contained within the Welfare Reform Bill. It is not possible t…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when its Housing Benefit Reform Group was established; who the members are; how often it has met, and whether its meeting papers are published.
Answer · Keith Brown: The Housing Benefit Reform Stakeholder Advisory Group was established in November 2010. Since then it has met seven times. The following organisations are members of the group: Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers Chartered Institute of H…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when its Welfare Reform Group was established; who the members are; how often it has met, and whether its meeting papers are published.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Welfare Reform Scrutiny Group was established in January 2011. The group is made up of representatives from: Scottish Government, COSLA, One Parent Families Scotland, Child Poverty Action Group, Citizens Advice Scotland, Independent Living in Scotland, S…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will report on its consultation on community care grants and crisis loans.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The timetable will depend on the number of responses we receive and the range of views they express. We currently expect to publish the analysis of responses early in 2012.
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its negotiating position is on the aspects of the Welfare Reform Bill that have a direct impact on areas of devolved responsibility.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government has set out its position on the impact on devolved services of the UK Government’s Welfare Reform Bill in the Supplementary Legislative Consent Memorandum lodged on 1 November 2011. http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusin…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will pass on the UK Government's proposed 10% reduction in council tax benefit to local authorities when that benefit is devolved.
Answer · John Swinney: Subsequent to my answers to questions S4W-02669 on 23 September 2011 and S4W-03105 on 13 October 2011, the UK Government has confirmed its intention to abolish rather than devolve council tax benefit. The Scottish Government is working with COSLA to identify …
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many one-bedroom properties in Scotland would be required to house single people as a result of the proposed changes to housing benefit in the Welfare Reform Bill.
Answer · Keith Brown: It is not possible to estimate the number of one-bedroom properties required as a result of the proposed changes to housing benefit in the UK Government’s Welfare Reform Bill. We estimate that of around 111,000 single person households of working age in the …
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on providing additional childcare to support employability to counter reductions in childcare support that might arise from proposals in the Welfare Reform Bill.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government want childcare services in Scotland that are high quality, affordable, and flexible, supporting parents to remain in, or enter employment. We are committed to expanding the range, capacity and flexibility of early learning and childcar…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase access to out-of-school care places for those on the lowest incomes.
Answer · Angela Constance: All parents should have the choice of a range of high quality and affordable childcare and we are working with all sectors and partners to increase the capacity, range and flexibility of childcare services. The majority of out of school care places are provi…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much council tax derives from benefits recipients.
Answer · John Swinney: Statistics published by the UK Department of Work and Pensions show expenditure on council tax benefit in Scotland totalled £387.4 million in 2010-11.
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact of the proposed housing benefit changes in the Welfare Reform Bill on households in Scotland.
Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government has published a range of information on the impacts of housing benefit reforms including a Scottish Impact Assessment. This work can be found on the following section of the Scottish Government website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topic…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of radiographers is qualified to undertake plain film reporting, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The following table sets out the number of Radiographers qualified to undertake plain film reporting, broken down by NHS boards: NHS Board Number of Radiographers at appropriate banding level Number of Radiographers at appropriate banding level qualified t…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of radiographers undertakes plain film reporting, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The following table sets out the number of Radiographers that are undertaking plain film reporting, broken down by NHS boards: NHS Board Number of Radiographers at appropriate banding level Number of Radiographers at appropriate banding level qualified to …
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether every NHS board provides radiotherapy services.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Radiotherapy services (treatment) are provided in each of Scotland’s five cancer centres. These are located in NHS Lothian, NHS Tayside, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. As a result of the stringent safety measures required to su…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to increase access to new, more targeted radiotherapy techniques, such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all radiotherapy equipment, newly procured for use in Scotland, will be capable of delivering intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Radiotherapy equipment in Scotland is procured by way of the radiotherapy capital…
18 Oct 2011 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered the benefit of training radiographers to undertake plain film reporting and what this would save to the NHS.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Radiography reporting of plain films or other modalities has been supported by the Scottish Government over the last 10 years and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and the Diagnostic Collaborative continue to support this in practice. Most recently, a Radiolo…