Parliamentary questions
Brian Adam
1,580 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
8 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it or NHS boards have set service targets for salaried dentists.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Salaried general dental practitionersare employees of NHS boards and it is for boards to set any targets. Work is currentlyunder way with a view to establishing guidelines to boards as to appropriate targets.</p>
8 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding is in place for salaried dentists to be employed by NHS boards beyond 2008.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Yes, non-capital costs, includingsalaries, will continue to be chargeable to the General Dental Services budget.</p>
8 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications are of the recent decision by the Scottish Parking Appeals Service to uphold an appeal against a parking fine levied under the Road Traffic (Permitted Parking Area and Special Parking Area) (Aberdeen City Council) Designation Order 2003.
Answer · Tavish Scott: This is a matter for theappellant to take up with Aberdeen City Council.</p>
8 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice on the legal basis on which to issue fines for breaching parking regulations in car parks it has given to local authorities that have chosen to appoint their own parking warden services.
Answer · Tavish Scott: The interpretation oflegislation is a matter for the individual local authority. However, guidanceis contained in <i>Local Authority Circular 1/95 – Guidance on DecriminalisedParking Outside London</i> which has been adopted by all local authorities introduci…
8 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive on what legal basis Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Perth and Kinross, Glasgow and South Lanarkshire councils collect fines from motorists who breach parking regulations in car parks.
Answer · Tavish Scott: Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Glasgow and South Lanarkshire Councils have powers under theRoad Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and the Road Traffic Act 1991, as amended to imposepenalty charge notices on motorists who breach parking regulations in localaut…
6 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to standard or enhanced disclosure requests, whether it will consider placing a duty on bodies, to whom information is disclosed, to justify the action they take following receipt of information that does not relate to a conviction.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Non-conviction information isonly available with the enhanced disclosure for posts such as those involving workwith children or adults at risk, and it is for the employer to decide how informationprovided by Disclosure Scotland is used.</p><p>We have issued a…
6 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider placing a requirement on the police to give reasons for the retention of information or intelligence which might be disclosed through standard or enhanced disclosure requests.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The police hold information forthe purposes of preventing or detecting crime. Information that is held by themfor any period of time is subject to regular review and reassessment which can leadto it being removed or retained.</p>
6 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to ensure that information or intelligence held by the police, which might be disclosed through a standard or enhanced disclosure request, has not been maliciously supplied.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Only the enhanced disclosurecan include non-conviction information.</p><p>The Association of Chief PoliceOfficers in Scotland (ACPOS), in liaison with their counterparts in England and Wales, has publisheda <i>Code of Practice and National Manual for the Reco…
6 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the introduction of disclosure and enhanced disclosure searches has had on the selection of foster carers.
Answer · Robert Brown: This information is not heldcentrally.</p>
6 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications to become foster carers were refused on the basis of standard or enhanced disclosures in each year since 1999.
Answer · Robert Brown: This information is not heldcentrally.</p>
6 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications to become foster carers have been made in each year since 1999.
Answer · Robert Brown: This information is not heldcentrally.</p>
6 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many citizens have information held about them by police that may be made available through disclosure or enhanced disclosure requests.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: On 31 October 2006 the Scottish Criminal Record Office Criminal History System (CHS) included 1,019,600nominal records.</p><p>This includes details ofcriminal convictions in Scotland and flags alerting Disclosure Scotland and otherusers to non-conviction info…
6 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new midwifery graduates found employment in the NHS in each of the last three years.
Answer · Andy Kerr: This information is not heldcentrally. The Scottish Executive has a Partnership Agreement commitment to ensurethat every newly qualified nurse and midwife who wishes to work in NHS Scotlandreceives a one year guarantee of employment if they are unable to find…
6 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many midwifery graduates there have been in each of the last three years, broken down by university.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The number of graduates fromHealth Department funded pre-registration midwifery programmes is given in the followingtable.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=230 valign=top> <p align=center>Educational Institution</p>…
3 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the age has been of each drug user who has come into contact with drug treatment services in each local authority area since 1997.
Answer · Johann Lamont: The number of new clients reportingto the Scottish Drug Misuse Database, broken down by age group and council areaof residence from 1997-2008 to 2004-05 has been placed in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 40882).</p>
2 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many methadone-related deaths there have been in each year since 1990, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · George Lyon: The information requested isgiven in the following table. The increase in numbers observed in 1994 was, at leastin part, due to enhanced data collection methods introduced at that time.</p><p>Drug-Related DeathsInvolving Methadone, 1990-2005</p><table border=…
2 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS (a) beds and (b) places on treatment programmes are available for the treatment of alcohol addiction.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: This information is includedin annual Corporate Action Plans which are produced by the 22 alcohol and drugsactions teams in Scotland. This information can be found at: <ahref="http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/dat/cap/0607.htm">http://www.drugmisuse.isdsc…
30 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what access employers are given to patients’ medical records, including those held on national databases, and at whose discretion.
Answer · Andy Kerr: <a name="se_IndexHeading"></a>Health Department</p><p><b> Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): </b>To ask the Scottish Executive <a name=QuestionText>whataccess employers are given to patients’ medical records, including those held onnational databases, and at …
30 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what access insurance companies are given to patients’ medical records, including those held on national databases, and at whose discretion.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Patients’ medical informationis protected by the common law duty of confidentiality and the Data Protection Act1998. Insurance companies have no right of access to patients medical records heldon national or local databases and no power of discretion exists t…
30 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what rights patients will have to limit access to their medical records stored on the NHS national database of patient details.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Personal health information isprotected by the common law duty of confidentiality and the Data Protection Act1998. Under that legal framework patients have the right to choose whether informationabout an episode of care can be disclosed to other clinical staf…
30 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what safeguards there will be in the NHS national database of patient details to ensure appropriate patient confidentiality.
Answer · Andy Kerr: National electronic databasescontaining patient details are protected by a range of safeguards to ensure appropriatepatient confidentiality. Staff access is governed by their contractual duty of confidentiality,backed by training and a specific protocol for e…
30 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made towards the establishment of an NHS national database of patient details to include patients’ medical history.
Answer · Andy Kerr: An important outcome of <i>Deliveringfor Health</i> is to be a comprehensive health information system built around anElectronic Health Record. Deployment of such a system is expected to be completedin 2010.</p><p>The precise content of the nationalElectronic…
27 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what support it provides to organisations offering unpaid work placements to graduates to enable them to gain the necessary experience to find full-time employment.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Executive does notdirectly support organisations offering unpaid work placements to graduates. Thereare however other opportunities available to such organisations which the Executive indirectly supports. ScottishEnterprise and Highlands and Islands Enter…
25 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new physiotherapy graduates found employment in the NHS in Scotland in each of the last three years.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Workforce statistics indicatethat since 2003 there has been an increase of (10.7%) 202.1 whole-timeequivalent qualified physiotherapists in post in NHSScotland. These statistics includesall physiotherapy staff and do not relate specifically to new graduates</…
25 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many physiotherapy graduates there have been from each of Scotland's universities in each of the last three years.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The following table containsthe information you requested.</p><p>Graduates in Physiotherapy fromScottish Higher Education Institutions Academic Years 2002-03 to 2004-05</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=76 nowrap rowsp…
19 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and which, tenants’ organisations have sought whole or partial council house stock transfer ballots since 1999.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This is a matter between landlordsand their tenant organisations and the information is not held by the Executive.It is for councils, as owners of the housing stock, to apply for the consent ofScottish ministers before transferring ownership of their housing …
19 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive who paid for the preparatory work and ballot costs for each ballot on local authority housing whole stock transfer since 1999.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-29167 on 17 November 2006.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/webapp…
19 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the preparatory work and ballot costs were for each ballot on local authority housing whole stock transfer since 1999.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executiveprovides councils and RSLs with a grant to meet transfer support costs,including the costs associated with tenant consultation, conducting a ballot,conveyancing, etc. Since 2004, the level of financial assistance available to councilsjoi…
19 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all ballots on local authority housing whole stock transfer that have taken place since 1999, giving the outcome in each.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The ballots and results are asfollows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=160 valign=top> <p>Council</p> </td> <td width=321 valign=top> <p align=center>Ballot Result</p> </td> </tr> </thead> <tr> <td width=1…
19 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact delays in the ScotlandsPeople construction works has had on (a) visitor numbers, (b) visitor access to the records and (c) staff recruitment efforts.
Answer · George Lyon: There has not been a noticeabledecrease in the number of visitors. No records have been removed from access andthe impact on visitors to the records has been limited by the use of a temporary search room to replace all but 10 of the places lostwith the closur…