Parliamentary questions
Pauline McNeill
2,367 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
3 Nov 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether payments from the Irish Government for ECMO treatment carried out at Yorkhill Children's Hospital will now come directly to Greater Glasgow Health Board, rather than being retained by the Department of Health.
Answer · Susan Deacon: This is a reserved matter. Payments made by overseas Governments in this regard are paid direct to the Westminster Consolidated Fund.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>The cost to each health board area of care provided under the negotiated reciprocal health care a…
21 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance, financial or otherwise, it currently gives to the Scottish music industry.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: As this information is rather lengthy, I shall write to the Member and arrange for the information to be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).
21 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many women have been detained in Cornton Vale prison for non payment of fines.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Provisional figures indicate that there were 512 receptions to Cornton Vale prison for non payment of fines in the calendar year to 31 December 1998 and 148 to 31 August 1999.
14 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what community service provision there currently is for female offenders, and whether it has any specific plans to reduce the female prison population.
Answer · Jim Wallace: All local authority criminal justice social work departments in Scotland provide Community Service Schemes. Authorities are required to ensure that schemes for unpaid work in the community offer a sufficient range of placements to be able to accommodate offe…
14 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Association for Children with Heart Disorders, Glasgow Branch, the largest user group of children's cardiac services in Scotland, has been asked to contribute to the ongoing review of the future of the Paediatric Surgery Service in Scotland and, if not, why not.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The views of the Glasgow Branch of the Association for Children with Heart Disorders were canvassed on the future of paediatric cardiac surgery in Scotland, and they also made representations on the issue.
9 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make a decision on the future of cardiac surgery at Glasgow Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Today I announced my decision on the future of the paediatric cardiac surgery service in Scotland. The Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill is to become Scotland's single centre for children's heart surgery.
8 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been any estimate of the impact on other services provided by Yorkhill NHS Trust should children's cardiac services be resited in Edinburgh.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the Member to the answer given to S1W-1613.
8 Sep 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used to decide on the location of the centralised children's cardiac service.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-1613.
8 Sep 1999 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make a decision on the future of cardiac surgery at Glasgow Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Today I announced my decision on the future of the paediatric cardiac surgery service in Scotland. The Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill is to become Scotland's single centre for children's heart surgery.
24 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to fund an equivalent Scottish audit to the Department of Health funded National Sentinel Audit into epilepsy-related deaths in England.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive are proposing to fund a bid by the charity Epilepsy Bereaved to extend the national sentinel audit they are undertaking into epilepsy deaths in England, to cover cases of epilepsy-related deaths in Scotland.
24 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to encourage other bus companies to follow the "overground" initiative announced by the First Bus Group in Glasgow this week.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Initiatives such as "Overground", based upon co-operation and partnership, are key to the delivery of better bus services. We shall bringing forward, later this session, legislation to encourage development of more Quality Partnerships. We want loca…
24 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is an intention to increase the number of civilians working in the police force in the future.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The recruitment, direction and monitoring of civilian support staff in Scottish police forces is a matter for chief constables. There are presently 4725 civilian support staff employed by the eight forces. This is a 36% increase since 1992 and support staff n…
24 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how rising crime will be managed following the reported shortfall in the number of police officers employed in Scotland.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The recruitment and deployment of police officers is a matter for chief constables to control from within their GAE provision. For the current year police authorities and joint police boards have set budgets totalling £711.9m, which represents an increase of …
16 Aug 1999 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer to provide a list of the schools which participated in the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament.
Answer · David Steel: The participation of young people on 1 July was the responsibility of Unique Events, working under contract to the Scottish Office. The request for an escort of young people to the civic procession was made late in the day. The Scottish School of Music and Dr…
16 Aug 1999 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer whether any special schools were invited to participate in the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament.
Answer · David Steel: The participation of young people on 1 July was the responsibility of Unique Events, working under contract to the Scottish Office. The request for an escort of young people to the civic procession was made late in the day. The Scottish School of Music and D…
16 Aug 1999 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer what criteria were used to select schools invited to participate in the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament.
Answer · David Steel: The participation of young people on 1 July was the responsibility of Unique Events, working under contract to the Scottish Office. The request for an escort of young people to the civic procession was made late in the day. The Scottish School of Music and Dr…
12 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to cover the on-going workload of the High Court judges who will be absent for the duration of the Lockerbie trial, in particular whether it plans to replace the High Court judges involved.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Lord President has responsibility for the programme of the work of the Supreme Courts and is currently considering the implications, for criminal and civil business, of losing 4 Judges to serve at the Lockerbie trial in Holland. I shall discuss these…
12 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will act on the Scottish Office proposals in "Improving Scottish Family Law" (March 1999) on co-habitation, and, if so, whether it plans to act on any of the recommendations to give single sex couples equal rights of succession and property.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The consultation paper <B><I>Improving Scottish Family Law</B></I> issued by The Scottish Office in March of this year encouraged a wide range of responses to the proposals, including those relating to the law on cohabitation. The responses are now being cons…
12 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of cases reported to the Procurator Fiscal are marked "no proceedings".
Answer · Andrew Hardie: During the most recent year for which the requested information is available (April 1998 - March 1999) 13.8 per cent of the total reports received by Procurators Fiscal were marked "no proceedings".
12 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is an existing policy allowing the Procurator Fiscal to accept fines as an alternative to trial.
Answer · Andrew Hardie: Procurators Fiscal are authorised by Section 302 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 to issue conditional offers of a fixed penalty (commonly referred to as "fiscal fines") as an alternative to prosecution in relation to certain offences. In additio…
12 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are quotas for the number of temporary Sheriffs in Scotland and when permanent positions will be filled.
Answer · Jim Wallace: There is no fixed complement of temporary Sheriffs and numbers are kept under regular review. Vacancies for permanent Sheriffs are advertised and filled from the field who apply. The numbers of Permanent Sheriffs are also kept under review in consultation wit…
12 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take to improve public information on bus timetables and routes.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive will bring forward to the Scottish Parliament, later this session, a Transport Bill proposing changes to the way bus services are organised. We wish to provide local authorities with powers and duties to ensure that proper timetable inf…
12 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review the pricing policy in respect of public transport.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Transport White Paper gave a commitment to ensure that our transport policies fit with our priorities in combating social exclusion. A number of public transport operators already offer discounted travel for participants in the New Deal programme…
12 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it plans to encourage the availability of park and ride initiatives.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Government's Preliminary Guidance on Local Transport Strategies encouraged local authorities to set out their plans for park and ride in their interim strategies which were due to be submitted in July 1999. The Scottish Executive's Public Transport Fund e…
1 Jul 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make a statement about future arrangements for joint working with Her Majesty's Government.
Answer · Donald Dewar: I expect to receive soon from the UK Government drafts of a memorandum of understanding and certain supporting concordats. These documents, which will be administrative rather than statutory agreements, are intended to set out the ground rules which will gov…
1 Jul 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive Scottish Executive whether any local authority is likely to be capped this year.
Answer · Jack McConnell: No. Local authorities were issued with indicative expenditure guidelines this year. Most authorities have exercised their own discretion sensibly. Eight authorities have set budgets in excess of the guidelines, but in the case of five authorities only by a s…
30 Jun 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to implement the provisions in the Water Industry Act 1999 establishing a new regime for regulating the Scottish water authorities.
Answer · Ross Finnie: We believe that the new regulatory regime set out in the Water Industry Act will best serve the interests of water customers. The Act provides for a Water Industry Commissioner with the statutory function to promote the interests of customers. The Commissio…