Parliamentary questions
Brian Adam
1,580 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
26 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much each NHS board has spent from capital in order to balance its budget in each of the last three financial years.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The following boards transferred an element of their capital allocation as follows:</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>NHS Board</p></td> <td> <p>2002-03</p> <p>(£ Million)</p></td> <td> <p>2…
26 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much each NHS board has spent on non-recurring expenditure in order to balance its budget in each of the last three financial years.
Answer · Andy Kerr: This information is not presently held centrally by the Executive. However, the Executive have revised and redesigned the format of the current financial returns which are submitted to the department to facilitate the gathering of such information.</p>
26 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected overspend is of each NHS board for the current financial year.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Only four of 23 health boards are projecting cumulative overspends. These are:</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>NHS Boards</p></td> <td> <p align=center>Projected 2005-06 Outturn</p> <p align=cent…
26 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the activity levels of each NHS board were expressed (a) in per capita spend and (b) by population share in each year since the introduction of the Arbuthnott formula.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested is provided in the following tables. The data has been extracted from the Scottish Health Service Cost Book, Expenditure on Health Services, Reports 200 to 280. This includes health care commissioned expenditure on: acute services; m…
26 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average gross remuneration of consultants in the NHS was in each of the last three years.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Information on the average gross remuneration of consultants in the NHS in the last three years is given in the table. Latest available data is at 31 March 2005.</p> <p>Average Gross Remuneration (£) of Consultants in NHS Scotland</p><table border=1 cellspac…
26 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average gross remuneration of non-medical staff in the NHS was in each of the last three years.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Information on the average gross remuneration of non-medical staff in the NHS for the last three years is given in the following table. Latest available data is at 31 March 2005.</p> <p>Average Gross Remuneration (£) of Non-Medical Staff in NHSScotland</p><ta…
26 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average gross remuneration of GPs in the NHS was in each of the last three years.
Answer · Andy Kerr: This information is not available as the distribution of practice income between General Practices and their staff is a matter for each practice.</p> <p>The table illustrates average gross payments to practices per GP whole-time equivalent collected by Practi…
17 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider giving revenue and capital support, either directly or indirectly, to the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive has no current plans to provide revenue or capital support to the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.</p>
17 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which exhibition and conference centres have received revenue support from it or any of its agencies in the last three financial years and how much each has received.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive has not provided revenue support to Scotland’s exhibition and conference centres. I understand that such support has been provided by Scottish Enterprise, details of such support are a matter for the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterpri…
17 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which exhibition and conference centres have received capital support and how much each has received.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive has not provided capital support to Scotland’s exhibition and conference centres. I understand that support has been provided by Scottish Enterprise, details of such support are a matter for the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise.</…
17 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients, addicted to heroin and treated with methadone, have successfully had their methadone prescriptions reduced to zero in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Hugh Henry: This information is not held centrally.</p> <p>The redesigned Scottish Drug Misuse Database will enable collection nationally of information about patients receiving methadone as well as other types of treatment.</p>
16 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered the implications for local authorities and their budgets of the recent rulings on equal pay in England.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Although the Scottish Executive provides financial support for salaries and wages in the grant provided to local authorities, it is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate its financial resources to reflect local needs and priorities. In accord…
16 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to discuss the implementation of "single status" schemes with (a) individual local authorities such as Aberdeen City Council or Moray Council or (b) COSLA.
Answer · Tom McCabe: We have no plans to meet with either COSLA or individual local authorities to discuss the implementation of the Single Status Pay Agreement.</p>
16 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions about tourism challenge funding for golf cruises.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: VisitScotland has no record of any application for Challenge Funding for golf cruises.</p>
16 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when Cruise Scotland last published its accounts.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Cruise Scotland last published its accounts on 19 March 2004 for the period 1 March 2002 to 28 February 2003.</p>
16 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met Cruise Scotland and what issues were discussed.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Executive has not met with Cruise Scotland.</p>
16 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to monitor cross-border flows in respect of the uptake of free personal care.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive does not monitor cross-border flows in respect of the uptake of free personalcare.</p>
16 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of graduate endowment funding it expects to recover.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive expects recovery of all graduate endowment due.</p>
16 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total amount of money is that ministers have billed university and college graduates for in respect of the graduate endowment.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: As at 1 April 2005, £3,820,000 has been billed to university and college graduates in respect of their possible Graduate Endowment liability.</p>
16 Aug 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many letters to university and college graduates have been issued in respect of the graduate endowment.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: Forty-five thousand, four hundred and fifty-eight letters have been issued to university and college graduates in respect of the graduate endowment.</p>
29 Jul 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered the possibility of purchasing and managing a fleet of ferries for the provision of lifeline ferry services to the northern islands since the last changes in maritime regulations relating to the safety design of ferries took place in 2002 and, if not, what the rea…
Answer · Tavish Scott: The fleet of three ferries owned by Royal Bank Leasing Ltd and currently leased to NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd for the provision of the Northern Isles lifeline services were purpose built for the routes after the award of the 2002-07 subsidy con…
25 Jul 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much more money it expects to provide as a subsidy to NorthLink Ferries for providing the ferry services to Orkney and Shetland from August 2005 to the end of the current contract in April 2006.
Answer · Tavish Scott: The subsidy currently being paid to NorthLink reflects an agreed budget covering the period 1 June to 30 November 2005. This budget envisages subsidy of £11.4 million being payable over that period. However, the actual subsidy payable will depend on trading p…
25 Jul 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures will be put in place in the new contract between it and the future provider of lifeline ferry services to Orkney and Shetland from April 2006 in order to avoid any increase in the agreed subsidy, as was the case with the NorthLink Ferries contract.
Answer · Tavish Scott: The new Northern Isles FerryServices contract will include a grant agreement between the Executive and thenext operator. The draft grant agreement provides that adjustments to the grantmay be made where this is justified on the basis of the costs of running t…
25 Jul 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the subsidy to NorthLink Ferries for providing ferry services to Orkney and Shetland increasing from the planned £29.7m to the actual £63.3m between 2002 and 2005.
Answer · Tavish Scott: There are several reasons. The grant agreement of December 2000 between the Scottish ministers and NorthLink provided that NorthLink would receive a Base Annual Grant for each year of the contract towards the provision of the approved services. Those Base Ann…
18 Jul 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it or any of its agencies purchases any services from the Met Office.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Over the past threefinancial years the Scottish Executive have made the following payments to theMet Office:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Year</p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Payments</p> </td> </tr> </the…
18 Jul 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it or any of its agencies contributes directly or indirectly to the Met Office’s budget.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executivetransferred the sum of £1.112 million to the Met Office for the provision ofsevere weather warnings for the emergency services in the 2004-05 autumn budgetrevision. A similar sum will automatically be transferred each year for thispurpos…
12 Jul 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the numbers of specialist nursing posts for colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The planning of the workforce, including specialist colitis and Crohns Disease nurses, is primarily a matter for individual NHS boards.</p>
12 Jul 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many specialist nursing posts for colitis and Crohn’s disease there are, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Centrally held information does not explicitly identify specialist nursing posts for colitis and Crohn’s disease. However a number of nurse specialists, including gastro intestinal and stoma nurses, may be included in the care of patients presenting with coli…
12 Jul 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms exist for articulation from further education colleges to degree level courses for cadets in the merchant navy in Scotland.
Answer · Allan Wilson: In line with ScottishExecutive policy, colleges and universities are committed to encouraginglearners to reach their full potential. An important factor in the delivery ofthat commitment are the arrangements between many colleges and universitieswhich are des…
12 Jul 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what support is available for students taking courses in nautical studies in Scotland.
Answer · Allan Wilson: Students taking FurtherEducation (FE) courses in nautical studies in Scotland may apply for thestandard range of bursaries, allowances and fee waivers generally applicable toFE studies, subject to meeting residence requirements and any other applicableeligibi…