Parliamentary questions

Mary Scanlon

4,514 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

14 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to encourage employers to eliminate any discrimination in the workplace against people with mental illness.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The New Deal for Disabled People will be extended nationally from July 2001 to all people claiming incapacity benefits which will offer new opportunities for people with mental health problems.The Disability Discrimination Act already protects people disab…

12 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that all Local Health Care Co-operatives have dedicated public health support.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive is creating the new role of Public Health Practitioner in each Local Health Care Co-operative and in the Island Health Boards. The development of these new practitioners is being overseen by the Public Health Institute for Scotland as p…

12 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the optimum si'e is for a Local Health Care Co-operative board and whether any existing boards are too large to work effectively.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Local Health Care Co-operatives (LHCCs) are established on a voluntary basis and their size reflects the perceived boundaries of their local community. We do not think there is a "right size". The guiding principle is whether LHCCs are able to devel…

12 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why there is a variation from #70 to #140 per head of population in the prescribing budget available to each Local Health Care Co-operative and how this variation, as reported in the Audit Scotland Local Health Care Co-operatives Bulletin May 2001, affects the health of patients.

Answer · Susan Deacon: It is for health boards/Primary Care Trusts to set, from their Unified Budget, prescribing budgets for Local Health Care Co-operatives on the basis of the need they identify in the local population. There is no evidence to suggest that differences in prescrib…

12 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will support Local Health Care Co-operatives in increasing the provision of directly managed services such as learning disabilities services, drug and alcohol services and community mental health teams.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Local Health Care Co-operatives have a vital role in working in partnership with other agencies and with patients/local communities to plan and deliver service improvements at a local level, and we will announce shortly proposals for strengthening the role of…

12 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will address any inconsistencies in charges for non-residential care across local authorities.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: We have recently sought views on our proposals to address this issue in our consultation paper Better Care for all our futures, available from the Parliament's Reference Centre and the Scottish Executive website.

31 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to conduct a clinical audit to assess the performance of health boards and Trusts with regard to smoking cessation treatment.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Clinical Research and Audit Group (CRAG) are not currently funding any audit work looking at smoking cessation and there are no plans for CRAG to conduct a clinical audit. However, health boards are required to monitor and evaluate the success of their sm…

31 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that all food used for school dinners is free from contamination.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1O-03551 on 6 June 2001.

31 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many instances of illegal importation of meat have been reported by local authority food enforcement officers and subsequently upheld in court and what fines were imposed, in each of the past five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information provided by Local Authorities on prosecutions has not previously identified separately specific action taken on illegal meat importation.As a result of the Food-and-Mouth Disease outbreak new arrangements on the sharing of such information betw…

31 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all pig meat sold in Scotland is clean and free from disease and infection.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that pig meat sold in Scotland will have been produced in accordance with the stringent provisions laid down in EU and domestic legislation intended to safeguard human health. These provisions demand veterinary inspec…

31 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any infectious diseases carried by pigs which can cross the species barrier into humans.

Answer · Ross Finnie: There is a wide range of diseases carried by pigs which can be passed on to humans. Similarly, the effect on humans varies widely according to the nature of the disease and the susceptibility of the individual.

31 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to ensure that farm workers and abattoir staff are not at risk from "pig meningitis".

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Occupational Zoonoses, published by the Health and Safety Executive, gives guidance on the prevention of this infection.

31 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether humans can be infected by "pig meningitis" and, if so, how many have been infected in Scotland in the past five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Meningitis in pigs can occasionally infect people and, since 1991, the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) has received reports of four such cases.

29 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13949 by Susan Deacon on 23 May 2001, whether it will list the projected year-end overspends of the 13 NHS Trusts to which the answer refers.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The information provided in the answer to question S1W-13949 was based on information available as at 31 December 2000.Provisional end-year figures indicate that the net overspend of all the NHS Trusts in Scotland taken together as at 31 Ma…

28 May 2001 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister how the tourism industry is overcoming the adverse effects of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

Answer · Henry McLeish: Tourism businesses have already received substantial aid from the £13.5 million package of emergency relief announced on 28 March, and the additional £5 million made available to Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway on 10 May.Executive officials are n…

24 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place or are proposed to ensure compliance with the guidelines issued by the Committee on Safety of Medicines in 1988 on the time period for prescribing ben'odia'epines such as Valium, Tema'epan and Mogadon so that people do not become addicted to such drugs.

Answer · Susan Deacon: There are a number of measures in place to ensure that, where clinically possible, GPs comply with the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) guidelines. Benzodiazepine prescribing by GPs is an area that is regularly reviewed by Health Board/Primary Care Trus…

24 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether sufficient staff training and resources are in place to reverse the increase in methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus infections since 1997 as identified in the weekly report (16 of 2001) published by the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Tackling methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and other kinds of healthcare-related infections, is an important task for the NHS in Scotland. The Scottish Executive has produced comprehensive guidance in support of the NHS. A joint Healt…

24 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will request to make a ministerial statement to the Parliament on the implications for people in Scotland of the English court ruling on compensation for people who contracted hepatitis C through blood transfusions on the NHS.

Answer · Susan Deacon: As indicated by the Deputy Minister for Health & Community Care during the parliamentary debate on 26 April and again during my appearance before the Health and Community Care Committee on 23 May, the Executive is considering constructively the implicatio…

24 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people contracted hepatitis C through a blood transfusion during routine NHS surgery.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The number of cases of infection with hepatitis C where the suspected risk factor of blood transfusion or tissue transfer reported to the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) and shown in the figures published at the beginning of May…

24 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what response it has given to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and its campaign to discourage young children from consuming milk.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive was not asked for a view on this campaign which I regard as being ill-informed and irresponsible.

24 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to publicise the health benefits of drinking milk in relation to the provision of essential nutrients and the prevention of osteoporosis.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Milk, particularly skimmed and semi-skimmed milk, is promoted as making an important contribution as part of a healthy balanced diet.

23 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which vaccines used in Scotland over the last 10 years contained the preservative Thimerosal.

Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-14694.

23 May 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all possible action is being taken to prevent imported meat products infected with the foot-and-mouth virus entering the food chain.

Answer · Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15399 on 10 May 2001.We have now introduced amendments to our import controls which will facilitate the seizure of products where there is suspicion that they do not meet our import requirements.