Parliamentary questions
Margaret Smith
931 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
23 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to instruct the Scottish Ambulance Service to move to a priority dispatch system.
Answer · Susan Deacon: One of the main recommendations of the National Audit Office in its recent report <I>The Scottish Ambulance Service: A Service for Life</I> is that the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Ambulance Service should consider and should decide on whether to intro…
9 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to reduce and improve the use of bank and agency nurses in light of the Accounts Commission for Scotland's report Temporary Measures.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I am determined that there will be a further reduction in the use of bank and agency nurses. I welcome the Accounts Commission report as it provides us with clear data on this issue, as well as many examples of good practice.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>Those…
8 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its targets are for responding to letters to Scottish Ministers from members of the public and to provide details, broken down by department, of its performance in meeting these targets for the period from 1 October 1999 until 31 January 2000.
Answer · Donald Dewar: The information requested in relation to the target of 20 working days for the period 1 October 1999 to 31 January 2000 is detailed in the table below.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=585><TR><TD WIDTH="34%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Department </TD><TD …
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3571 by Susan Deacon on 27 January 2000, whether it plans to audit the number of attacks on NHS staff centrally in order to monitor whether its Occupational Health and Safety Service strategy is succeeding in preventing violent attacks in the work pl…
Answer · Susan Deacon: A working group is being set up to identify the minimum datasets relating to staff health and safety which should be established at Trust/practice level that will directly inform management and organisations of the service both at local and national level.
26 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3451 by Susan Deacon on 10 January 2000, whether it has any plans to establish a national rate for caesarean sections, bearing in mind the World Health Organisation recognised rate of 10-15%.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive has no plans to do so.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The World Health Organisation does not make specific recommendations about the rate of caesarean delivery. They do advise that rates lower than 5% should alert health planners and managers to the…
20 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money is being spent on caesarean sections, over and above the World Health Organisation recognised rate of 10-15% as being medically necessary, and whether this money could be spent on providing improved continuity of care in labour.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not available.
20 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the difference in costs and rates between caesarean section delivery and normal vaginal delivery, broken down by health board over the last five years.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The table below shows the caesarean section rate by health board in Scotland over the period 1995 to 1999. Information on the costs of caesarean sections compared with normal vaginal delivery is not available.<B><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"></B><TABLE BORDER CELLSPACIN…
20 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why there are differences in the caesarean section rates between comparable units, for example 25.7% at the Royal Alexandria in Paisley and 13.5% at Falkirk Royal Infirmary.
Answer · Susan Deacon: There is no evidence or scientific basis to suggest that there is a correct rate of caesarean section. A decision on the way a baby is to be delivered will be taken by the doctors and midwives involved on the basis of a number of factors. These will include w…
16 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to modify the papilloma virus screening programme so as to increase detection rates for cervical diseases and whether it plans to introduce liquid based cytology as a method for testing.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The UK National Screening Committee (NSC) which was established in 1996 advises Health Ministers about the modification or extension of existing screening programmes. I understand that the NSC are considering the possibility of including human papilloma virus…
16 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to extend the cervical cancer screening programme to women over the age of 60 and to reduce the number of deaths from cervical cancer through such routine screening.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Cervical cancer screening has been well established in Scotland since the late 1980s and eligible women aged 20-60 are routinely invited for a cervical smear at least once every five years. Women may be offered a smear test outwith the age range if clinically…
16 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to encourage home 'ones initiatives.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I announced at the Home Zones Conference in Stirling on 29 November my intention to commission research to monitor a number of pilot Home Zone Schemes in Scotland.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>The purpose of the research will be to assess the range of techniqu…
16 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to encourage safe routes to school initiatives.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Last December the Scottish Executive issued guidance on <I>How to Run Safer Routes to School</I> to each local authority and all schools in Scotland. The guidance provides practical advice to all those involved in the journey to school and will help enable sa…
16 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost is in real terms to the national health service and the economy, through sick leave, benefits etc of the condition myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Information on the costs of this condition to the National Health Service and to the economy is not available centrally.
15 Nov 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, if there are trunk roads or motorways on either side of a bridge, responsibility for the bridge must rest with central government rather than a bridge board.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The legislation relating to roads and bridges imposes no such requirement.
15 Nov 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why improvement to the A8000 was not included in the Strategic Roads Review, given its potential cost benefit ratio in relation to some of the schemes included.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The A8000 is a local road. Given the pressures on the trunk road budget, I concluded that it would not be appropriate to expand the trunk road network. This approach has been applied consistently e.g. to the extension to the M74, the other local authority pro…
15 Nov 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what options will be investigated in relation to the upgrading of the A8000 and in particular whether these options will include (a) increased tolls on the Forth Road Bridge, (b) tolls on the road itself, (c) joint management and operation of the Forth and Kincardine crossings and relevan…
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The A8000 is a local road and responsibility for its upgrading therefore rests with the City of Edinburgh Council. I recently met representatives of the City of Edinburgh Council and others with a direct interest in transport across the Forth estuary to discu…
10 Nov 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients in each local authority in Scotland were transferred from hospital directly into home care, residential care and nursing homes in each year from 1993-4 to present.
Answer · Iain Gray: The available information is shown in the tables. Information on previous years is not available in the format requested. Prior to 1 April 1997, the information recorded did not distinguish between discharge destinations.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Table 1<FONT FACE="…
28 Oct 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to make adequate resources available to promote the use of self-treatment programmes for people with asthma, in the light of evidence that self-treatment plans reduce the need for invasive and costly medical intervention.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive is very much in favour of people with asthma being fully informed about their treatment and as far as possible taking an active role in the management of their condition. The Health Department, at the request of the National Asthma Camp…
28 Oct 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a strategy is currently in place to address the health needs of the 310,000 people in Scotland currently receiving treatment for asthma.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive Health Department maintains contact with the National Asthma Campaign (Scotland), which receives grant support under Section 16B of the NHS (Scotland) Act 1978, and from time to time issues general guidance on the treatment of asthma. S…
21 Oct 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the increase in money for education that will be available in 2000-01 to City of Edinburgh and West Lothian councils as a consequence of the #80 million extra spending for education announced by the Finance Minister on 6 October.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The additional money for education announced by Jack McConnell on 6 October has been widely welcomed. Detailed allocations of education resources for Councils will be made as part of the local government finance settlement towards the end of the year.
20 Oct 1999 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the increase in money for education that will be available in 2000/2001 to City of Edinburgh and West Lothian councils as a consequence of the #80 million extra spending for education announced by the Finance Minister on 6 October.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The additional money for education announced by Jack McConnell on 6 October has been widely welcomed. Detailed allocations of education resources for Councils will be made as part of the local government finance settlement towards the end of the year.
30 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many completion notices have been served by local authorities on developers on an annual basis, for the last ten years.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The number of valid completion notices served by local authorities on developers in each of the last 10 years is as shown in the table. All 6 such notices were confirmed by the Scottish Ministers (previously the Secretary of State).<TABLE BORDER CEL…
10 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to publish a summary of the responses to the 1997 Consultation Paper Land Use Planning Under a Scottish Parliament.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The consultation paper was published in January 1999 and comments were sought by 31 March 1999. Some 130 responses were received. I expect to publish a summary of the responses by the end of October.
10 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it intends to take to introduce measures to amend current Town and Country Planning legislation, in light of the recent successful appeal of developers against the refusal of planning permission to build on Corstorphine Hill, Edinburgh.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has no current plans to amend Town and Country Planning legislation in light of the recent appeal against the refusal of planning permission for development of the Craigcrook Road site on Corstorphine Hill.
9 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when a decision will be made on reconstructing the A8000 between the Forth Road Bridge and the Humbie roundabout as a dual carriageway.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I refer Mrs Smith to the answer I gave to Lord James Douglas-Hamilton on 31 August (S1W-991).
8 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to revise planning law to remove the loophole of duplicate planning applications.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The submission of duplicate applications does not disadvantage objectors to particular development proposals but, at the same time, can be advantageous to potential developers.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>The Scottish Executive has no current plans to revise …
8 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to revise planning law to tighten up the definition of work on site before renewal of outline consent can be granted.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Generally, both outline and full planning permissions lapse unless development is begun within 5 years. Section 27(4) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 specifies what operations constitute a development having begun.<FONT FACE="Ar…
8 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to revise planning law to remove the possibility of renewal of outline planning permission outwith a specific time limit, for example a ten year period.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Generally, planning permissions lapse if development is not begun within 5 years. Once development is underway it is open to the relevant planning authority to serve a completion notice on the developer if they are of the opinion that the development wil…
8 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-741 by the Minister for Rural Affairs on 7 September 1999, what safeguards are in place to ensure that genetically modified crops are 'quarantined' so that they cannot affect more traditional crops, whether by cross-pollination or any other means.
Answer · Ross Finnie: All releases for experimental purposes are subjected to specific risk management procedures under the regulatory arrangements designed to reduce the likelihood of spread of the GM plants or pollen from the test site. The independent statutory Advisory Committ…
15 Jun 1999 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to grant powers to local authorities to introduce 20mph speed limits and when it intends that these powers will come into force.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The United Kingdom Government have removed the statutory requirement for local authorities to obtain the Secretary of State's consent before making 20 mph speed limit orders. The new arrangements came into force on 16 June. Local Authorities now have freedom …