Tricia Marwick

12 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding it plans to provide to local authorities in 2002-03 to deal with any additional costs incurred by them as a result of the introduction of the Aggregates Tax.

Answer · Peter Peacock: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-18791 on 22 October 2001.

7 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on the publication and launch of documents on a Sunday.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Decisions on the timing of publications are taken on a case-by-case basis but Sunday publications would be extremely rare.

4 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review the screening process for hepatitis B for NHS staff.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Advisory Group on Hepatitis, which provides the UK Health Departments with expert advice on the prevention and control of viral hepatitis, is to review the recent incident in Fife, and current guidelines. The Executive will take any appropriate action in …

27 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what restrictions are placed on convicted prisoners communicating by letter or telephone from prisons.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:<P>All prisoners have the right to send and receive mail and to use telephones. That right is subject to the provisions of Part 7 of the Prisoners…

22 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any involvement or discussions with the Stay Warm energy supply company concerning pensioners' heating payments.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: The Scottish Executive has received information about the Staywarm product, but has not had any discussions with the company in relation to the product or pensioners' heating payments.

22 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding will be made available to groups such as the Fife Alcohol Advisory Service as a result of the new Plan for Action on alcohol misuse.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive is currently considering the Plan for Action on alcohol misuse in the light of the views expressed during consultation earlier this year. As part of work towards the plan, we are developing a framework for alcohol misuse services which will assi…

17 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities it has consulted or sought advice from in relation to implementation of a national scheme for free local bus travel for elderly and disabled people.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) has signalled Scottish local authorities' agreement to enhance existing discretionary concessionary travel schemes to provide free local bus travel within existing scheme boundaries for journeys outwith the…

17 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have implemented a free local bus travel scheme for elderly and disabled people.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Local authorities have discretionary powers to establish concessionary travel schemes for their areas, or jointly with other local authorities. I understand that Fife Council, Clackmannanshire Council and Dumfries and Galloway Council have established travel …

14 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it proposes to take regarding creation of a rail station at Edinburgh Park and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W-16289.

12 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15595 by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 June 2001, how many people with learning disabilities it estimates will be transferred from long-stay hospitals to the community in the current financial year and in each of the following two years and how many people …

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-15528 on 16 May 2001.

12 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15595 by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 June 2001, what methodology and calculations were used to determine the level at which change funds were set in order to make a significant impact over the first three years of implementing the recommendations of the d…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The change funds of £36 million for learning disability services were obtained as an outcome of the Spending Review 2000. The increase of £16 million in the third year is a significant increase on local authority current spending of around £160 million a year…

12 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15595 by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 June 2001, whether it will detail the actual or estimated cost to each local authority of transferring patients from long-stay hospital accommodation to community care and the amount of Revenue Support Grant allocated …

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The cost to local authorities of patients transferring to community care depends on the needs of the individuals concerned, the cost of services provided or purchased by the authority, whether a resource transfer is involved and, if so, how much, the individu…

17 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3323 by Susan Deacon on 18 January 2000, how much of the #4.2 million made available for ending mixed sex hospital wards has been spent in each health board to date.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Allocations totalling £4,787,880 have been made to NHS Trusts, the State Hospital and Island health boards to eliminate mixed sex hospital wards. This sum includes almost £600,000 from the NHSScotland capital pool in addition to the £4.2 million previously an…

17 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13520 by Susan Deacon on 12 March 2001, how many hospital wards are (a) mixed sex and (b) single sex, in each health board area.

Answer · Susan Deacon: One third of NHS bodies have achieved full compliance with guidance on single sex accommodation and the remainder have plans to do so. As compliant wards can contain separate accommodation for both sexes, the information requested is not available.

3 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14328 by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 April 2001, what criteria it used to determine the amount of change funding that would be made available to local authorities to help them implement the recommendations of The Same As You? a review of services for peopl…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Change funds were set at a level which would make a significant impact over the first three years of a 10-year implementation programme. These funds are only one of the resources available to local authorities to implement the recommendations of the Learning …

2 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to introduce personal life plans for all people with learning disabilities who want them, as recommended in The same as you? A review of services for people with learning disabilities; if so, what progress has been made in relation to this recommendation and what additi…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Local area co-ordinators will be responsible for making sure that each person who wants to has the opportunity to develop a life plan. Guidance issued on 26 March to local authorities and health boards stating that the appointment of local area co-ordinators …

2 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in relation to the long-term programme to promote public awareness about learning disabilities, in particular an awareness programme in schools, recommended in The same as you? A review of services for people with learning disabilities and what financial resour…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This will be taken forward mainly by the new Scottish centre for learning disabilities. We announced in March a grant of £1.5 million to a consortium led by ENABLE to establish the new centre. One of the key elements in its remit is to promote public awarenes…

2 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place a copy of the guidance on the preparation of Partnership in Practice agreements in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This issued as Circular CCD 3/2001 <I>Implementing &quot;The Same As You?&quot;: Partnership In Practice Agreements (Pips) And Change Funds, </I>which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. no. 12320).

2 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with learning disabilities it estimates will leave long-stay hospital care in each of the next three years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: <I><FONT FACE="Arial">The Same as You?: A review of services for people with learning disabilities</I> recommended that services in the community for people with learning disabilities should be developed to allow the remaining long-stay hospitals to close by …

2 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with learning disabilities are currently in long-stay hospitals.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: At 31 March 2000, there were 1,818 people with learning disabilities in long-stay hospitals.

2 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to commission research into the number of people with learning disabilities who are in prison or secure accommodation and, if so, when the research findings can be expected and what resources will be allocated to the research.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Executive has no plans at present to commission formal research into the incidence of people with learning disabilities within the prison population or secure accommodation. The presence of a learning disability is taken into account when planning activit…

1 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12650 by Susan Deacon on 30 March 2001, how many nursing vacancies there were in each health board area on (a) 31 March 1999, (b) 31 March 1998 and (c) 31 March 1997, specifying in each case the number which had been vacant for three or more months.

Answer · Susan Deacon: There are more than 500 fewer nurse vacancies now in Scotland than in 1997. The figures show that overall just 0.6% of Scotland's total NHS nursing posts are vacant for longer than three months. However, we recognise that there are long-term problems of recru…

27 Apr 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14855 by Angus MacKay on 26 April 2001, whether population density per hectare was the only criterion used to determine in which local authorities small businesses would be eligible for 95% of the cost of funding hardship relief related to the foot-a…

Answer · Angus MacKay: It was decided that the support would be most effective if targeted at rural local authority areas where the viability of businesses was threatened as a direct result of the outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease, and population density per hectare was the me…

27 Apr 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15122 by Susan Deacon on 26 April 2001, why the information specified on people requiring prescription of beta interferon is not available centrally and whether it plans to hold this information centrally.

Answer · Susan Deacon: There are no plans to do so. Only certain patients with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis are likely to benefit from the use of beta interferon and patients' eligibility for this treatment depends on the clinical judgement of the clinicians concerned. Clinica…

17 Apr 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in each health board area have been clinically assessed as requiring beta interferon but have not been so prescribed.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not available centrally.

5 Apr 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used to determine the local authorities which will be included in the rates relief scheme to assist businesses during the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

Answer · Angus MacKay: All local authorities will be entitled to be reimbursed by the Scottish Executive to the extent of 75% of the cost of granting relief to businesses suffering hardship as a result of the foot and mouth outbreak.<P>We will meet 95% of the cost of funding such h…

21 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will consult local authorities who are not members of CoSLA regarding the development and implementation of policy.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The Executive will continue to deal with CoSLA on matters of collective importance to councils and to speak to individual councils on matters of local significance, as it has done in the past.

21 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how local authorities who are not members of CoSLA are to be represented in the new Scottish negotiating committee for teachers.

Answer · Jack McConnell: he constitution for the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers formed part of the agreement on teachers' conditions of service (which was endorsed by representatives of all local authorities on 26 January). The constitution states that the Committee will…

21 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13899 by Jackie Baillie on 19 March 2001, what methodology was used to arrive at its estimate that 85,000 local authority tenants lack central heating.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: The information was taken from the Scottish House Condition Survey 1996 which showed that 100,000 local authority dwellings lacked any form of central heating. We estimated that installation rates since then will have taken the figure down to about 85,000.

21 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13898 by Jackie Baillie on 19 March 2001, what studies it has undertaken, or proposes to undertake, to establish how many homes in the socially rented sector have outdated, inefficient or uneconomic central heating systems.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: The Scottish Executive wrote to local authorities on 26 February to seek a range of estimates for the Central Heating Programme, including information on the number of central heating systems which require to be upgraded or replaced.