Parliamentary questions
Shona Robison
1,014 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
24 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) number and (b) whole-time equivalent number of dentists has been per head of the prison population in each year since 1999, broken down by prison.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6411 on 9 march 2004. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on…
24 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) headcount and (b) whole-time equivalent number of dentists working with the prison population has been in each year since 1999, broken down by prison.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>About 14 dentists currentlyprovide 33.5 sessions of dental care per week.</p><p>This equates to about 3.35 wholetime equivalents.</p><p>Infor…
24 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4807 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, whether it holds the same information on median and mean waiting times for (a) in-patients and day cases and (b) out-patients, stating availability status codes.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Availability Status Codes (ASCs) are not mandatory data items on the in-patient and day case discharge record. For this reason the in-patient/day case table in the answer to S2W-4807 includes all cases, and does not exclude cases with an ASC.</p><p>On the out…
24 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4807 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, what the difference was in median wait and mean wait, broken down by NHS board and speciality in each quarter.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requestedhas been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 31311).</p>
19 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken by the Scottish Football Partnership to assist in the development of football.
Answer · Frank McAveety: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6333 on 15 March 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/weba…
19 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #6 million fund operated by the Scottish Football Partnership has been distributed.
Answer · Frank McAveety: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-6333 on 15 March 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/weba…
19 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money has been distributed in grant aid by the Scottish Football Partnership and to which organisations.
Answer · Frank McAveety: The Scottish Football Partnership is not in a position to begin supporting the development of Scottish football until the legal complications affecting the transfer of funds from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund have been resolved.</p>
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the labelling of food to include trans fat content in light of scientific information highlighted by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States of America.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Food Standards Agencyhas informed me that the European Commission is reviewing the nutritionlabelling rules and preliminary papers suggest that the issue of labelling oftrans<i> </i>fatty acid content may be discussed.</p>
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on whether food labels should include trans fat content.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Food Standards Agencyhas informed me that declaration of the trans fatty acid content is mandatoryonly for foods bearing a nutrition claim about it, such as “low in trans fattyacids”. The European Commission is reviewing the nutrition labelling rules andp…
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the scientific information highlighted by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States of America with regard to links between trans fats and hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heart disease.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive’s position is in line with the Food Standards Agency advice that, aspart of a healthy diet, individuals should try to reduce total fat intake andin particular reduce the amount of saturated fats and trans fats eaten andreplace them with…
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out by the Food Standards Agency into any links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heart disease.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Food Standards Agencyhas not carried out, and is not currently funding, any research investigatingthe links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heartdisease.</p><p>Hydrogenation is a processof turning liquid oil into solid fat. …
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend the eligibility criteria for the access grant for dentists establishing new dental practices to include those purchasing existing practices.
Answer · Tom McCabe: We are currently looking atthe eligibility criteria for grant under the Scottish dental access initiativewith a view to making these more flexible.</p>
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance is available for dentists wishing to purchase an existing practice.
Answer · Tom McCabe: There is currently noassistance available for dentists wishing to purchase an existing practice.</p>
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures there are to track those dentists who qualify in Scotland but do not apply for an NHS list number.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Since 1994-95,data has been collected by the Education, Transport and Lifelong LearningDepartment on the number of dentistry graduates in Scotland in each year. This is brokendown to identify the domicile of the graduates and the first destination of dentistr…
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentist posts are vacant.
Answer · Tom McCabe: In terms of the hospital andcommunity dental services, as at 30 September 2003, there were fiveconsultant vacancies out of an establishment of 115. Three of the five postshad been vacant for six months or more.</p><p>The number of dentist postsvacant in the g…
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many approved salaried dentist posts there are.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Approval has been grantedfor 113 salaried dentist posts. Not all of these posts are full-time. Theyrange from 0.1 whole time equivalent to 1 whole time equivalent.</p>
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists who finished their vocational training last year applied for an NHS list number in Scotland.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Fifty-seven of the dentists who finished their vocational training in July 2003 had receivedan NHS list number in Scotland by 31 January 2004.</p>
10 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists finished their vocational training last year.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The number ofdentists who finished their vocational training in July 2003 was 92.</p>
5 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding has been made available to NHS Counter Fraud Services (CFS) to tackle fraud in the NHS; how such additional funding has been utilised, and how many investigations into CFS has carried out since it received additional funding.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Funding of £1.1 million tosupport the expanded remit of NHSScotland (CFS) will be made available in thenext financial year. In November, I approved the recommended option of a ShortLife Working Group set up to prepare an options paper in respect of theextensi…
29 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5323 on 27 January 2004 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, what the population of each deprivation quintile, based on the Carstairs index of deprivation, was in each NHS board area, expressed as a percentage of total board area population, in th…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Populations for each deprivation quintile based on the Carstairs Index of Deprivation relating to 1991 are provided in the following table.</p><p>Census populations by Carstairs Deprivation Quintile and Health Board</p><p>Carstairs Deprivation Quintiles : Pop…
29 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to S2W-5332 by Nicol Stephen on 26 January 2004, what criteria will be used to decide how the #0.5 million per annum to pilot urban community transport/demand responsive transport between 2004 and 2006 will be distributed.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: We wish to spend the budgetin some of the more socially disadvantaged urban areas between February 2004and March 2006. City Councils were invited to bid for funds to support pilotprojects which would help to regenerate areas by providing improved access toemp…
23 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5333 by Ross Finnie on 19 January 2004, when its assessment of the impact of ending the current Water and Sewage Charges Reduction Scheme will be completed; what this assessment entails, and what consultation is taking place in respect of the assessm…
Answer · Allan Wilson: The assessment of the impactof ending the scheme has now been completed.</p><p>The assessment entailed astatistical analysis of the impact that ending the scheme would have on thoseaffected by it.</p><p>In light of the assessment,the Executive has announced t…
22 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) treatments and (b) drugs are available for people with severe Al'heimer's disease.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Individual care programmes,including psychological interventions, are a matter for clinicians inconsultation with the relevant professional staff/multi-disciplinary andmulti-agency team. Care and support in each case should always be based onindividually asse…
16 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding will be required by each NHS board area to meet the costs of the backdated payments to April 2003 as a result of the new consultants' contract.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The level of funding required by each NHS board area will be determined by the job plans agreed between individual consultants and their managers over the next few months.</p>
16 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional funding will be made available to NHS boards to meet the costs of the backdated payments to April 2003 as a result of the new consultants' contract.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Funding has already beenmade available in NHS boards’ allocations for the cost of paying arrears toconsultants from April 2003.</p><p>I also recently issued an additional£30 million to NHSScotland to help free up resources for direct patient care.</p>
16 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding has been made available to NHS boards to meet the costs of backdated payments to April 2003 as a result of the new consultants' contract.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The cost of the consultants’contract will be met through NHS boards’ general allocations. Boards havereceived record funding in this spending round and the allocations to boardsfor 2003-04 reflect an average 7.8% increase – in total £370 million more thanthe…
15 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for a Nurse Executive not being appointed as a representative of the nursing profession to the board of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, given the commitment by the Minister for Health and Community Care at the RCN Scotland Conference that nurses should be represente…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have been given assurancesthat the appointment of a Nurse Director to NHS Quality Improvement is apriority for them, however delays in the implementation of their new structure,of which this post is a part, has delayed this appointment. The Nurse Directorof…
14 Jan 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it intends to take in response to concerns raised in the new report from the NHS Information and Statistics Division, Increasing emergency admissions among older people in Scotland.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The reportin question is a working paper commissioned some time ago from Information andStatistics Division by the Health Department. The department is reviewing theinformation presented in the paper. A number of actions to address the issueshighlighted are a…
8 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual (a) actual and (b) additional cost would be of providing free prescriptions to (i) the whole population and (ii) those people who are currently not eligible and who have (1) a terminal illness and (2) long-term health problems.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: It is not possible toproduce firm estimates of the actual or additional costs to the NHS ofproviding free prescriptions for the whole population of Scotland orfor the patient groups specified.</p><p>The NHS currently receivesaround £47 million per year from p…
7 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend the transitional relief scheme for water rates beyond March 2004.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Executive is assessingthe impact that ending the current Water and Sewerage Charges Reduction Schemewill have in light of harmonisation of charges. A decision on whether anyfurther action is required will be made in light of this assessment.</p>