Parliamentary questions

Karen Gillon

705 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional investment will be provided to South Lanarkshire Council to improve the fabric of council housing stock.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: South Lanarkshire Council’sapproach to improving the fabric of its housing stock is set out in itsstandard delivery plan for achieving the Scottish Housing Quality Standard(SHQS). The SHQS was introduced in 2004 and it has always been for Councils todetermine…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation will take place with the public and health officials in Clydesdale on the future shape of health services in Lanarkshire following the decision to retain full accident and emergency services at Monklands Hospital.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I expect NHS Lanarkshireto take account of the views of local clinicians and staff in revising the serviceproposals which will then be subject to independent scrutiny.I will look to theIndependent Scrutiny Panel to ensure that the views of local people…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing will direct NHS Lanarkshire to deliver a new community hospital in Clydesdale, as detailed in A Picture of Health.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to thequestion S3W-1728 answered on 23 July 2007. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website the search facility forwhich can be found at:<ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing will direct NHS Lanarkshire to deliver a community casualty unit in Lanark, as detailed in A Picture of Health.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: As I outlined in mystatement in the Chamber on 6 June 2007, I am clear that, as far as possible within theresources available to the board, I want them to retain their primary care andcommunity development programmes.It is now a matter for the boardto …

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional investment will be made available to NHS Lanarkshire to enable the retention of full accident and emergency services at Monklands Hospital.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: As I outlined in mystatement in the Chamber on 6 June 2007, it is a matter for the board to determine how bestto deliver accident and emergency services at Monklands Hospital withinthe resources available to them.

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are unemployed in South Lanarkshire, broken down by council ward.

Answer · John Swinney: The Claimant Countgives the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits and is producedby the Office for National Statistics.The following tableshows the number of unemployed people claiming unemployment related benefits ineach ward in Sout…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend the provision of free fruit and water to secondary school pupils.

Answer · Adam Ingram: The majority of secondary schoolsalready provide free drinking water. The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition)(Scotland) Act 2007 gives Scottishministers the power to specify in regulations nutritional requirements for foodand drinks in schools, and we ar…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to support the development of disability sport.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: Sportscotland provides supportto Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) to assist in the implementation of its developmentplan. Over the period 2005-06 to 2007-08 core funding has increased by 28%. Sportscotlandcurrently invests both Exchequer and Lottery funds on b…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many probationary teachers it estimates will not have a permanent teaching post in August 2007.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Executiveundertakes an annual teacher workforce planning exercise with the aim broadly tobalance supply and demand at a national level and produce sufficient teachers tofill vacancies, not only at the start of term in August but also those emergi…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will meet COSLA to discuss the role, terms and conditions of classroom assistants.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The terms and conditionsof service of Classroom Assistants are matters for local authorities as employers.Ministers are carefully considering the issues raised in the Equal OpportunitiesCommission Scotland’s report Valuable Assets – a general formal invest…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will establish a free national proof-of-age scheme.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-1112 on 20 June 2007. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the searchfacility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.se…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional investment will be made available to Transport Scotland to enable the delivery of route improvements on roads such as the A702.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Our current programmeof investment in the trunk road network is available on the Transport Scotland websiteat:<ahref="http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/uploads/documents/Scottish-Motorways-Trunk-Road-Programme-June2007-final.pdf">http://www.transport…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children in Clydesdale do not receive 38 weeks of nursery provision in their pre-school year.

Answer · Adam Ingram: According to figures providedby South Lanarkshire Council, it is estimated that, from August 2007, 174 childrenwill attend pre-school education in partner provider centres based in the Clydesdalearea. Of these 106 will be in their pre-school year. These child…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that mental health services in Lanarkshire are developed in line with the principles detailed in A Picture of Health.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This is a matter for NHSLanarkshire.

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will support communities in tackling antisocial behaviour.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: We plan to take a fresh lookat the national antisocial behaviour strategy to see where it can bestrengthened and improved and to ensure greater community involvement. We alsoplan to streamline the relationship between central government and localagencies to h…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to increase the availability of infertility treatment.

Answer · Shona Robison: The interim response to theReview of Infertility Services in Scotland published in March 2007 documentedthe action taken to increase the availability of fertility treatment specifically:Increasingthe upper age limit for access to NHS funded leve…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional investment will be made available to local authorities to develop local sports facilities.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: We will be considering what additionalinvestment may be made available for local facility development as part of the forthcomingspending review process.

8 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-22271 by George Lyon on 13 January 2006, whether it will exempt people living in very sheltered accommodation in the Clydesdale parliamentary constituency and elsewhere from full council tax liability.

Answer · George Lyon: I am pleased to inform the Parliamentthat legislation before the Parliament will ensure residents in receipt of a housingsupport service living in certain defined accommodation will be exempt from localtaxation altogether. This will include water and sewerage…

1 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding railway maintenance following the Cumbria rail crash.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Transport Scotlandofficials have been involved in various rail safety related discussions with officialsof the Department for Transport following the publication of the interim reportinto the Cumbria rail incident by the Rail Accident InvestigationBranch.

1 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many sets of railway points in Scotland have been re-inspected since the Cumbria rail crash.

Answer · Tavish Scott: I refer the member to the answer to question S2F-2760 on 1 March 2007. All answers to oral parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/index.htm">http://www.scottish.pa…

1 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Network Rail regarding the maintenance programme for points on the west and east coast main lines.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Responsibility for monitoringNetwork Rail’s maintenance performance, including safety matters, rests with theOffice of Rail Regulation (ORR). Her Majesty’s Rail Inspectorate is a part of theORR.Transport Scotland officialsanalyse monthly reports publis…

28 Feb 2007 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional investment has been made in education in the Clydesdale constituency since 2003.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The Executive allocates resourcesto local authorities, and as such I cannot provide information about Clydesdale.However, total spending on educationin South Lanarkshire has risen from £194 million in school year 2002-03 to£239 million in school year 2…

26 Jan 2007 · Written Question

Answer · Allan Wilson: The number of modern apprentices(MAs) broken down by parliamentary constituency and by year is an operational matterfor Scottish Enterprise. This information is not held centrally.However, Scottish Enterprisehave published these figures for 2005 and ar…

26 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many disabled people in Clydesdale receive free concessionary bus travel.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Statistics are only availableby local authority area and cannot be broken down to reflect the number of cardholderswithin particular parliamentary constituencies.However, at 31 January 2007 thenumber of national entitlement cards, which give an entitle…

26 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many 16 to 18-year-olds will be eligible for a concessionary travel card.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Approximately 200,000 16 to 18-year-oldswill be eligible for the Scotland-wide concessionary travel scheme for young people.

26 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pensioners in Clydesdale receive free concessionary bus travel.

26 Jan 2007 · Written Question

Answer · Robert Brown: Information on the number ofregistrations for pre-school education is provided in the following table.<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td valign=top>   </td> <td valign=top> 3 -Year-Olds</p…

26 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to encourage young people to live and work in Clydesdale.

Answer · Allan Wilson: We place great importance onensuring that all our young people have the necessary skills and opportunities tomake Scotland, including Clydesdale, a positive location in which tochoose to live and work.Ourkey strategies, which include; Determined to Suc…

26 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to encourage retailers in Clydesdale to promote healthy food options.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish GrocersFederation Healthyliving Programme is funded by the Scottish Executive toincrease the availability and improve the quality of healthy foods in localneighbourhood shops, especially in low income communities. Phase 3 of the programme,launche…

26 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people living in the (a) ML8, (b) ML9, (c) ML10, (d) ML11 and (e) ML12 postcode areas have benefited from the central heating programme and the Warm Deal.

Answer · Des McNulty: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is asfollows:Information about privatesector installations is held by main postcode area. In the ML postcode area atotal of 2,874 households in the private …