Maureen Watt

23 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered introducing a waiting time standard for people who have suffered their first seizure, given that there are no neurology standards to prevent individuals with suspected epilepsy waiting for more than six months for intervention and treatment.

Answer · Andy Kerr: All patients are seen andtreated on the basis of clinical priority. The Executive has set nationalmaximum waiting times for first out-patient appointments and for hospital in-patientand day case treatment. These apply to patients waiting to be seen or treated…

8 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are on NHS dental waiting lists in each local authority area.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: This information is not heldcentrally. The overall responsibility for provision of NHS dental servicesrests with NHS boards, whom we encourage to maintain lists of patients who wishto have access to NHS primary care dental services.</p>

8 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists there are in deprived areas in each local authority area.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The following table shows thenumber of NHS general dental practitioners in each local authority area, brokendown by deprivation category of dental practice. Information on NHS dentists workingin the Hospital and Community Dental Services is not available by l…

8 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists there are per head of population in each local authority area.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The following table shows thenumber of NHS general dental practitioners per 100,000 population in each localauthority area at 30 September 2005. Information on NHS dentists working in Hospital andCommunity Dental Services is not available by local authority a…

8 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists there are in each local authority area.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The following table shows thenumber of NHS general dental practitioners in Scotland by local authority areaat 30 September 2005. Information on the number of NHS general dental practitionersin each local authority area at 31 March 2006 will be published by IS…

4 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil servants are working on the development of the national languages strategy.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-27710 on 28 August 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…

4 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil servants are working on the development of policies to promote and develop the Scots language.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The principal responsibilityfor Scots language issues, as well as for co-ordinating the development of the widerNational Language Strategy, rests with the Cultural Policy Division of the ScottishExecutive’s Education Department. Five civil servants are direct…

4 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its timetable is for the development of a national languages strategy and whether it will explain any delay in meeting its earlier targets for the development of such a strategy.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-27704 on 28 August 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

4 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to take on board the views of organisations representing the regional dialects of Scots when it formulates policies designed to promote and develop the Scots language.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-27707 on 28 August 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

4 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take steps to set up a Scots language advisory group with responsibility for assisting it with the development of appropriate policies to support the Scots language.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Executive’s consultationon the <i>National Language Strategy</i> will provide the opportunity for organisationsrepresenting the regional forms of Scots to submit their views to the Scottish Executive.Following Scottish ministers’ consideration of…

4 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the discussions with Scots organisations, designed to promote and develop the Scots language, referred to in Scotland’s Culture, have taken place.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-27704 on 28 August 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

4 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how often it plans to meet Scots language organisations to assist in the process of developing its national languages strategy.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-27704 on 28 August 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

4 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings have taken place between civil servants and Scots language organisations in connection with the development of the national languages strategy, since February 2006.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Scottish ministers intend toissue the National Language Strategy for consultation later this year and to haveit finalised within the life of this Parliament. This timetable is consistent withthe Executive’s commitments set out in the <i>Partnership Agreement …

3 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many radiographers have been employed in each of the last five years in each NHS board, also showing year-on-year percentage changes.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested isgiven in the following table.</p><p class=xl31>Table 1 NHS Scotland Workforce Statistics,Radiographers by NHS Board and Year-on-Year Percentage Change</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td nowrap rowsp…

26 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what targets have been set to ensure that people having seizures will not have to wait more than six months for intervention and treatment after seeing an epilepsy specialist.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: There are no waiting time targetsspecific to epilepsy, including the management of people with epilepsy who haveseen a specialist. The Executive recognises the importance of prompt access tofurther intervention and treatment, especially when additional specia…

19 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much student loan debt has been collected by debt collection agencies on behalf of the Student Loans Company in each of the last five years.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The following table showsthe total Scottish debt collected by the Student Loans Company, Honours TrusteesLimited and Finance for Higher Education over the past five years. </p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=151 valign=…

19 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been of using debt collection agencies for the purpose of collecting student loan debt on behalf of the Student Loans Company in each of the last five years.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The following table showsthe approximate cost to the Student Loans Company, Honours Trustees Limited andFinance for Higher Education for the collection of Scottish debt</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=189 valign=top>…

19 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many debt collection agencies are approved for the purpose of collecting student loan debt on behalf of the Student Loans Company.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: There are currently 11 DebtCollection Agencies on The Student Loans Company panel of agents.</p>

19 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the use of debt collection agencies for the purpose of collecting student loan debt on behalf of the Student Loans Company

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Student Loans Companyonly instruct Debt Collection Agencies where all internal collection strategieshave failed to yield a payment arrangement and/or a fully completed defermentapplication form.</p>

16 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated for the purpose of eradicating deprivation in each local authority area in each year since 1999, also showing year-on-year percentage changes.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested hasbeen placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39934) andcovers allocations for the main funding programmes targeted specifically at eradicatingdeprivation since 1999, namely the Social Inclusion Partnershi…

12 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to increase the Mental Health Specific Grant annually in line with inflation.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-26758 on 19 June 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.…

12 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to increase the Mental Health Specific Grant.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: We increased the grant from £19million to £20 million a year in 2003-04. The level of grant for future years willbe considered, along with all other Scottish Executive expenditure, in the nextpublic spending review.</p>

12 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated from the Mental Health Specific Grant to each local authority in each year since 1999.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The allocations made by the ScottishExecutive, to which local authorities also add their own resources, are shownin the following table:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=149 valign=top> <p align=center>Council</p> …

1 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many incidences of violence against passengers in Scotland have been recorded by British Transport Police in each year since 1999.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Information on incidences ofviolence on the rail network in Scotland is available on the British Transport Police (BTP) website.The BTP statistical bulletins can be accessed at <a href="http://www.btp.police.uk/publications.htm">http://www.btp.police.uk/publi…

31 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-25904 by  Ross Finnie on 23 May 2006,  how many people wishing to enter agriculture have contacted, and been helped by, each local enterprise company since 1999 and what steps are taken to publicise the services of the enterprise network to those who…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: This is an operational matterfor the enterprise networks.</p>

24 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what energy efficiency measures each of departments has undertaken in each year since 1999.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Given the distribution of staffacross the Executive’s estate, it is not possible to breakdown the measures takenby department. The Executive publishes an annual report on the environmental performanceof its estate which details, among other things, actions ta…

24 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools require high-priority maintenance or major work, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The overall management of theirschool estate is a matter for individual education authorities. The Scottish Executivedoes not collect detailed information about their assessments of school buildingmaintenance requirements or the relative priority of such work…

23 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding per head of population has been provided for the dental health service in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Each NHS board receives allthe funds it needs to meet the cost of providing NHS dental treatment to itsresidents. This funding is mainly reimbursement for expenditure by generaldental practitioners who treat patients under the NHS.</p><p>Thevast majority of e…

22 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of computers in schools were at least five years old in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Peter Peacock: This information is not heldcentrally.</p><p>Percentage of Computers Olderthan Four Years, by School Sector</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td nowrap valign=top> <p> </p> </td> <td nowrap valign=top> <p align=center>P…

22 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have entered teacher training courses in each year since 1999 and, of these, how many successfully completed courses, broken down by subject area.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The following tables show anindicative number of entrants to the four year Batchelor of Education (BEd) coursein each year since 1999 and graduates in the related period to those entering thecourse 1999-2000 to 2001-02, by main subject:</p><p>Entrants to BEd …