Mrs Margaret Ewing

23 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take in support of the international campaign on epilepsy "Out of the Shadows".

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive is not planning any action directly related to "Out of the Shadows", though we provide grant funding to Epilepsy Action Scotland (EAS), which plays an active role in the campaign. <P>We recently sponsored an EAS Symposium on Managed Clinical Net…

23 Jan 2002 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are used by teacher training institutions to determine whether epilepsy awareness training is included in their course programmes.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: No information is held centrally on what criteria are used by teacher education institutions (TEIs) to determine whether epilepsy awareness training is included in their course programmes. This is a matter for TEIs and I refer the member to the answer I gave …

16 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it anticipates issuing a final consultation document on the boundaries of the proposed Cairngorms National Park, how long any proposed consultation will last, and when it expects to reach a final decision on the matter.

Answer · Allan Wilson: We have still to complete our consideration of the Scottish Natural Heritage consultation report on proposals for a Cairngorms National Park. It is our intention, however, to initiate consultation on a draft Designation Order for the Cairngorms National Park …

11 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of potential fraud in connection with individual learning accounts are being investigated and who is carrying out the investigations.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The scale of potential fraud is being assessed through the validation currently under way, as well as retrospective auditing of claims already paid under the scheme. The investigations are being undertaken by KPMG and Scottish Enterprise staff.

11 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how long it anticipates that investigations will last into the validity of claims for payment of individual learning accounts before 20 December 2001 and for which learning will have commenced by 31 January 2002, and whether there will be any priority given to small businesses whose futur…

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Claims for payment of ILA-supported learning commenced before 31 January 2002, for which the learner enrolled before 20 December 2001, are currently being accepted. Validation of all outstanding claims is on-going.

11 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 245,000 individual learning account (ILA) holders will not be in a position to start a course due to the closure of the ILA scheme.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Learners who enrolled in learning before the scheme's closure will be able to proceed if their learning starts before the end of this month. Letters have gone to all account holders explaining the reasons for the closure and providing them with details of a d…

10 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on vaccination or immunisation requirements for the purposes of nursery and primary school admissions.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: There are at present no vaccination or immunisation requirements for the purposes of nursery and primary school admissions. The Executive has no plans to change that policy.

10 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which learning providers based in Moray were recipients of Individual Learning Account payments in each of the last two years.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The following learner providers received Individual Learning Account payments from Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey Enterprise in the last two years:<U><P>2000-01</U><P>Moray Academy of Transport Training<P>Moray College<P><U><P>2001-02</U><P>Academy of Crystal…

19 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local government councillors' seats are currently vacant and for how long these vacancies have existed, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The information requested is not held centrally.

5 Dec 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government regarding the lifting of the 20 day movement ban on cows and sheep imposed as a result of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The operation of the 20 day movement restriction in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Executive and was introduced on veterinary advice as a necessary part of our foot-and-mouth disease control strategy. The Executive is currently reviewing this measure i…

28 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the reports by the Performance Audit Group, referred to in Annex E of the Report by the Auditor General for Scotland, The New Trunk Road Contract: An Examination of the Competition for the Maintenance and Management of the Trunk Road Network, will be made publicly available and pl…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: No. I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-20533 on 29 November 2001.

20 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority charges for a market operator's licence and for how long the licence is valid in each case.

Answer · Peter Peacock: This information is not available centrally. In setting fees for market operators, and certain other licensing activities contained in the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, local authorities are required from time to time to ensure that the total fees rec…

20 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost is of performance audit services provided by Halcrow Group Ltd in respect of BEAR Scotland Ltd's management and maintenance of trunk roads.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The estimated outturn cost of the Performance Audit Group (PAG), consisting of the Halcrow Group Ltd in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers, for 2001-02 is £1.8 million.<P>It is not possible to break this down between individual contractors or contracts b…

20 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give details of (a) each individual allocation of money that it has made to Moray Council in the current financial year and (b) the purpose of each such allocation.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Allocations made to date are listed in the following table. However, further allocations are likely to be made in this financial year.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=609><TR><TD WIDTH="68%" VALIGN="TOP"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P ALIGN="JUST…

15 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new salaried dentist posts it has approved in the Grampian Health Board area since May 1999.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Three full-time and one part-time salaried dentist posts have been approved.

15 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have taken legal action under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 or the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 to address specific problems relating to giant hogweed in each of the past three years.

Answer · Allan Wilson: This is a matter for individual local authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.

15 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any representations have been made to it on funding a 50 metre swimming pool in either Aberdeen or Dundee and, if so, what response it has given, or plans to give, to such representations.

Answer · Mike Watson: The City of Aberdeen and Dundee City Councils held preliminary discussions with <B>sport</B>scotland and Scottish Swimming about 50 metre swimming pools. <B>sport</B>scotland has not received any funding applications for any such proposals.

15 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what recommendations it has made to health boards regarding the provision through the NHS of ferrels for crutches.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive has not made any specific recommendations to NHS Boards regarding the provision through the NHS of ferrels for crutches.<P>NHS Trusts have a general duty to ensure that all crutches are fitted with ferrels that are in a good state of re…

15 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which members representing Scottish interests are on the GB-wide review of non-native species; what information it has on the complete membership of this review group, and what the remit of the group is.

Answer · Allan Wilson: The remit of the Non-Native Species Policy Group is to offer advice to ministers of the UK Government, National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Executive on the effectiveness of current statutory and non-statutory procedures for dealing with the introduct…

7 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which further or higher education institutions offering teacher training courses include epilepsy awareness and epilepsy first aid training as a part of the curriculum.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The information is not available in the form requested. Each individual training course develops its own particular programme of study in line with the <I>Guidelines for Initial Teacher Education in Scotland</I>. These guidelines require that teachers are pre…

25 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cardiology consultants there currently are in each health board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Cardiology services are in many situations provided by general physicians with a particular specialist interest in cardiology, who will be recorded for statistical purposes under general medicine. For this reason, although the following table shows those iden…

25 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average lengths of waiting lists for angiograms currently are in each health board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the number of patients waiting for angiograms is not available centrally. Information on the number of patients waiting for in-patient or day case treatment is collected centrally at specialty level only.<P>The number of patients waiting for in…

24 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations have been made by it or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to the European Commission regarding the conclusions of the report by the Spey Research Trust, The Effect of Distillery Cooling Water Discharge on Adult Salmon Run Time in the River Fiddich.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: None.

26 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made to date towards achieving its objective of improving 100,000 houses suffering from dampness and condensation by 2003 through the Healthy Homes Initiative, as outlined in Working together for Scotland: A Programme for Government.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: Over 96,000 homes were insulated in Scotland between 1 April 1999 and 31 March 2001. We expect to substantially exceed our <I>Programme for Government</I> commitment to insulate 100,000 houses, and so tackle condensation and dampness, during the lifetime of t…

26 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive Scottish Executive on what basis officials of BEAR Scotland Ltd advise MSPs who contact them directly that they are under an obligation not to communicate directly with MSPs on any matters relating to trunk road maintenance contracts.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The contract requires correspondence, sent directly to the Operating Companies by members of Parliament and members of the Scottish Parliament, to be referred in writing to the Scottish Executive and for the originator to be informed. The previous contracts c…

25 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #350 million announced for the central heating programme has been spent to date, what criteria have been used in allocating the investment and what plans it has for the programme over the next two years.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: Resources for the central heating programme have been allocated to ensure steady progress across all sectors of the stock. A total of £26 million has been allocated for 2001-02; £30 million has been allocated for 2002-03 and £40 million for 2003-04. Further r…

25 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-1270 by Mr Frank McAveety on 2 March 2001, how much of the Warm Deal budget has been spent to date.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: Local authorities spent almost £700,000 in Quarter 1 of the current financial year. Figures for Quarter 2 are not yet available. Eaga spent over £4 million up to 21 September 2001.

25 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11123 by Jackie Baillie on 23 November 2000, what progress has been made in relieving households of fuel poverty in each local authority area.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: This information is not held centrally. The 2002 Scottish House Condition Survey will produce an estimate of the number of households in fuel poverty across Scotland.

11 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what recent meetings it has had with Her Majesty's Government regarding flights between London hub airports and Inverness and which Scottish and UK ministers attended any such meetings.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Scottish ministers, and officials meet with their counterparts in the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions on a regular basis about a wide range of matters, including the issue of access into main hub airports for regional air services.

11 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government in connection with the imposition of a public services obligation in respect of air routes between Inverness and (a) Gatwick and (b) Heathrow.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government about a wide range of matters, including the issue of access into the main hub airports for regional air services. The Executive is working with Highland Council and Highlands and Islands Ent…