Margo MacDonald

14 Feb 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will make available to MSPs the building programme/schedule for the Holyrood Project.

Answer · David Steel: The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will report to MSPs at the end of February. The report will include the latest position on programme.

14 Feb 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will make available to MSPs the latest drawings for the Holyrood Project.

Answer · David Steel: The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will report to MSPs at the end of February. The report will include suitable visual material.

4 Feb 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer by how many weeks the making of concrete moulds and pouring of concrete foundations in the Holyrood Project are behind schedule.

Answer · David Steel: The work package, which includes the fabrication of concrete moulds and pouring of concrete foundations, is 12 weeks in delay. This is primarily to prevent nugatory expenditure while the feasibility of meeting the Parliament's extra accommodation requirements…

4 Feb 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer when the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body expects the Holyrood Project to be in a state of readiness for business and when it expects the Project to be finally completed.

Answer · David Steel: We are awaiting the outcome of the Design Team's feasibility work on our requirements for additional space. It would be inappropriate to speculate on expected completion dates until the result of this work is known. The SPCB's Report to MSPs of 1 December 199…

4 Feb 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how many times the Royal Fine Art Commission has re-considered the plans for the Holyrood Project.

Answer · David Steel: There has been a continuing dialogue between the Design Team and the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland, and one meeting with the SPCB, about the plans from initial concept through to detailed design. Further meetings will be held as required.

4 Feb 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will confirm that Queensberry House will not be demolished as part of the Holyrood Project and give a detailed account of what restoration, refurbishment and use is planned for the building, and the costs of this work.

Answer · David Steel: I refer Ms MacDonald to my answer of 10 December 1999 to her question S1W-3026. The SPCB will shortly report to MSPs as appropriate about progress on the Holyrood Project including aspects of Queensberry House.

4 Feb 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will arrange for Enric Miralles to provide a report to and answer questions from MSPs on the progress and costs of the Holyrood Project on his next visit to Edinburgh.

Answer · David Steel: Not at present. The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is the formal client responsible for the project. We have issued three reports to MSP's and a fourth is in preparation and will be available at the end of the month. I am considering how best MSP's mig…

26 Jan 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how its financial forward planning has been affected by the latest cost estimates for the Holyrood project.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The costs of the Holyrood project fall largely to be met from the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body's budget.<FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica" SIZE=2><P>It is a matter for the SPCB to determine its budget requirements.

26 Jan 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to receive an invitation to the official opening of the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

Answer · Iain Gray: There are, as yet, no plans for an official opening of the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. The Infirmary will open in two phases, with the first phase scheduled for occupation in October 2001, and the second in February 2003.

25 Jan 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to examine, qualify and register persons working in private and local authority owned fitness centres and gymnasia or as personal trainers in their clients' own homes.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: With financial assistance from sportscotland, Fitness Scotland has set up the National Exercise and Fitness Register which vets, registers and monitors the qualifications of exercise and fitness professionals. The public can therefore check that they are rece…

21 Jan 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will fund a Lothian and Borders Community Policing Team to undertake similar capital city policing duties for Edinburgh as are undertaken by the Metropolitan Police in London.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The responsibilities of the Metropolitan Police and Lothian and Borders Police are not directly comparable since the Met carry out a range of duties, including protecting the Royal Family, protecting embassies and counter-terrorism activities, on a UK basis. …

5 Jan 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consult the Scottish Ambulance Service, the relevant trade unions and other appropriate medical specialists with a view to extending the categories of health professionals qualified to administer the drug Naloxone/Nacran, the antidote for heroin and methadone, to include a…

Answer · Susan Deacon: Medicines Control is a reserved matter dealt with on a UK-wide basis by the Medicines Control Agency.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>The Scottish Executive does not, therefore, intend to consult separately on changes to the Prescription Only Medicines (Human Use…

5 Jan 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, given the almost 50% increase in bed usage in the Lothian Universities Hospital Trust for the first week of January, whether it will confirm that all hospital trusts in Scotland will be able to engage extra staff and to utilise whatever facilities are required to cope with the possible i…

Answer · Susan Deacon: Although all NHS Trusts in Scotland are currently under severe pressure, they have all planned for winter pressures and are coping. Trust plans have included the reduction of non-emergency admissions, creation of additional capacity for short-term peaks and t…

7 Dec 1999 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer whether, in view of the possible fundamental alteration to the Holyrood project represented by any proposal to demolish Queensberry House, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will initiate immediate and full re-evaluation of the feasibility and cost of the project.

Answer · David Steel: My report to MSPs of 1 December 1999 noted that preliminary work on Queensberry House has revealed it to be in a poorer condition than expected. The SPCB is awaiting the results of detailed specialist investigations and the associated cost estimates of remed…

29 Oct 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the announcement by the Prime Minister on 25 October 1999 that the function of issuing warrants for the interception of communications or interference with property for national security purposes is to be transferred from the Secretary of State for Scotland to the Home Secreta…

Answer · Jim Wallace: Under the Scotland Act 1998, national security, interception of communications and the functions of the security and intelligence agencies are reserved matters. In recent years, the Secretary of State for Scotland has issued national security warrants for int…

28 Oct 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many entrants there are in the current academic year for the Scottish Universities' Speech and Language Therapy degree courses.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: In the current academic year, 1999-2000, there is a total of 77 entrants studying Speech and Language Therapy at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh and Strathclyde University, Glasgow.

27 Oct 1999 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many entrants there are in the current academic year for the Scottish Universities' Speech and Language Therapy degree courses.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: In the current academic year, 1999-2000, there is a total of 77 entrants studying Speech and Language Therapy at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh and Strathclyde University, Glasgow.

4 Oct 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that staff, trade unions, and people living in the vicinity of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital are consulted before any changes are made in the criteria for the assessment and admission of patients to the new medium security unit.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The Royal Edinburgh Hospital provides highly specialised care and treatment for people with a range of problems related to mental illness and learning disabilities. The replacement forensic psychiatry unit currently being developed at the Hospital will contin…

4 Oct 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS nurses have suffered nervous breakdowns or have been on extended absence due to mental illness in the past five years.

Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer to the answer to S1W-1813 relating to teachers.

4 Oct 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many social workers have suffered nervous breakdowns or have been on extended absence due to mental illness in the past five years.

Answer · Iain Gray: I refer to the answer to S1W-1813 relating to teachers<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=4>.

4 Oct 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many primary and secondary school teachers have suffered nervous breakdowns or have been on extended absence due to mental illness in the past five years.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: Information on the prevalence of mental illness within the various client groups is not held centrally. However, Local Authorities as employers are sensitive to the importance of recognising and supporting employees who may suffer from mental illness<FONT SIZ…

16 Sep 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will guarantee the continuance of intensive care facilities at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh.

Answer · Susan Deacon: I fully appreciate concerns about the effect the withdrawal of paediatric cardiac surgery might have on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh. Work is underway to ensure the Unit's continuing viability. As a fir…

3 Sep 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive to specify, in terms of the expected job losses, the "difficulties" at Babcock's yard, Rosyth referred to by its spokesperson as quoted in The Herald on 3 September.

Answer · Henry McLeish: I refer Ms MacDonald to the answer I gave to question S1W-1384.

3 Sep 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures have been taken since January 1997 to pre-empt and alleviate the "difficulties" at Babcock's yard, Rosyth referred to by its spokesperson as quoted in The Herald on 3 September.

Answer · Henry McLeish: I have written to Ms MacDonald and a copy of the letter has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

29 Jul 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to publish an annual self-assessment of its administrative record and, if so, how such a report would be distributed.

Answer · Donald Dewar: The Executive has set out to the Parliament and to the people of Scotland its legislative programme, its programme for government and its expenditure plans. The Executive will report regularly on its record in delivering on these plans. Its reports will be ma…

21 Jul 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the number of jobs currently occupied at Kvaerner shipyard, Govan, the estimated number of jobs saved by its intervention, and whether there will be a net loss of jobs.

Answer · Henry McLeish: Kvaerner Govan currently directly employs 780 people at the Govan shipyard and a further 200 people are employed on site by sub-contractors.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>The number of direct jobs at the shipyard will be determined by the new owners, GEC Marcon…

21 Jul 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Glasgow Development Agency or Scottish Enterprise have been required to enter into any aid or guarantee package as part of the outcome of negotiations with Kvaerner.

Answer · Henry McLeish: Neither Glasgow Development Agency nor Scottish Enterprise have entered into any aid or guarantee package following these negotiations. GEC Marconi may be eligible for support from these agencies towards its future investment projects.

21 Jul 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what role it played in recent negotiations regarding the future of Kvaerner shipyard, Govan; what categories of aid it offered to each of the private sector companies involved in the negotiations, and what commitments it has entered into concerning future liabilities under any guarantees …

Answer · Henry McLeish: The Scottish Executive was fully involved in latest negotiations. No aid has been offered to either company but GEC Marconi may, like any other company, be eligible for Regional Selective Assistance in respect of any further capital investment in the yard. …

6 Jul 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the value of the increase in land and property prices in Edinburgh between 1996 and 1998 compared to the Retail Price Index (RPI); what the value of this difference was to the company contracted to build the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh; and why the value of the contract awarded t…

Answer · Susan Deacon: The Retail Price Index increased by 6.9% from 1996 to 1998. There is no generally accepted authoritative index for the movement in land prices in Edinburgh or nationally. The movement in residential property prices is monitored by various bodies but normall…

2 Jul 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the complement of specialist teachers of physical education and music in primary and secondary schools.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: We work closely with education authorities and other bodies to ensure that there is an adequate supply of teachers to meet the needs of schools in Scotland. The deployment of teachers within schools is a matter for education authorities.