Parliamentary questions
Brian Adam
1,580 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
7 Apr 2000 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer what the cost is of the Holyrood project team, and whether this cost is included in the budget of #195 million.
Answer · David Steel: In financial year 1999-2000, the Holyrood Project Team costs totalled £434,090 which comprised £401,422 staff costs and £32,668 non-staff costs. The costs are included in the Parliament's annual budget and therefore not included in the budget of £195 million.
6 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all ancillary activities to the Holyrood Parliament Building that are being funded by other public bodies, including landscaping and road realignment, and the costs of each of these activities.
Answer · Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive intends to fund landscaping and road activities adjacent to the Holyrood Parliament building site, and this work will mainly be undertaken through Historic Scotland. Firm cost estimates for these activities are not yet available, and wi…
3 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government with regard to exempting Aberdeen Airport from air passenger duty.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: No. The Highlands and Islands' exemption was based on a sparsity of population criterion as a definition of peripherality. This also recognises the Highlands and Islands' reliance on air services for essential transport links. The north-east of Scotland, incl…
27 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will commission an independent inquiry into hepatitis C and other infections contracted from contaminated blood products in Scotland.
Answer · Susan Deacon: A fact-finding exercise into specific aspects of this issue has been underway for some months now. I met with the Haemophilia Society in September 1999 to discuss their concerns first hand and thereafter tasked my officials with ascertaining the facts surroun…
27 Mar 2000 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister how many full time equivalent nurses and doctors were employed in the NHS in Scotland in each of the last three years.
Answer · Donald Dewar: There were 630 more doctors working in the NHS in Scotland last year than in 1997. And there were 300 more nurses. We said we would increase the numbers of doctors and nurses and we have done.
22 Mar 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce its decision on the future of Boharm School.
Answer · Peter Peacock: We shall announce our decision as soon as possible after we have completed the careful consideration which any proposal to close a school requires.
21 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will conduct a feasibility study into the viability of a rail loop from Dyce to Dyce airport via the industrial estate, and whether such a study will include consultation with all interested parties.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has no plans to conduct a feasibility study into the viability of a rail loop from Dyce to Dyce Airport.
21 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider directly funding community-based and voluntary sector drugs projects such as the Grampian Addiction Problem Service.
Answer · Angus MacKay: Scottish Executive policy and practice is that local groups should be supported locally. This allows for the operation of local democracy, and ensures local accountability and involvement. It is for the statutory agencies such as health boards and local autho…
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will direct the Strategic Rail Authority to include in the franchise for the East Coast Rail Line a requirement for electrification from Edinburgh to Aberdeen during the lifetime of the franchise.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I refer the member to my answer to question S1W-3618.
6 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any information from Moray Council regarding the current and projected rolls for Boharm School since the previous figures were circulated and, if so, what the updated figures are.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Moray Council's proposal to close Boharm Primary School requires the consent of the Scottish Ministers. The council's application has been received. We are aware that there have been some variations in current rolls and in projections. We shall take all relev…
1 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authority access to European grants such as the new INTERREG III programme and European structural funds could be constrained by the issue of additionality.
Answer · Jack McConnell: No. As Commissioner Barnier confirmed recently in the European Parliament, the United Kingdom meets its obligations, and ensures that Structural Funds are additional.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>The requirement to provide match funding is the responsibility o…
25 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review council tax banding and whether it will consider adding a separate band for residential caravans and mobile homes.
Answer · Jack McConnell: We have no current plans to review council tax banding.
24 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to provide funding for the Scottish Youth Parliament.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive made available £25,000 to the Scottish Youth Parliament in the current financial year in part to assist with the costs of its inaugural event in June 1999 and to secure support to enable it to finalise its draft funding strategy and see…
18 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to implement an alternative policy of exemption for patients who seek legal aid to oppose a detention order under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 but who have more than #1,000 in savings as presently set out in the Scottish Legal Aid Board's Keycard policy.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Applications for legal aid from people with mental health difficulties are assessed against the same statutory tests as applications from any other person. In assessing whether or not an applicant satisfies the financial eligibility test, consideration is giv…
18 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any default notices have been issued to Mouchel and, if so, how many.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive do not release commercially sensitive information relating to contractual arrangements with Management Agents or Operating Companies.
18 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how often the Performance Audit Group reports to it and whether these reports will be made available to the Parliament.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Performance Audit Group reports regularly to the Road Network Management and Maintenance Division of the Scottish Executive on a range of quality, technical and financial matters. These commercially sensitive reports are not released.
18 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what priorities and timescales are allocated to the repairs in street lighting identified by regular night inspections by Mouchel on trunk roads throughout Scotland.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive gives the identification and repair of street lighting faults a high priority. Street lighting defects which are identified within the North East area by the Management Agent, Mouchel Scotland Ltd which are an immediate or imminent haza…
18 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4052 by Susan Deacon on 11 February 2000, how many nurses completed training in the last three years and how many found posts in the NHS in the same period.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The numbers of nurses and midwives completing training in the last three financial years were as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=252><TR><TD WIDTH="51%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">1996-97</TD><TD WIDTH="49%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN=…
18 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4053 by Susan Deacon on 11 February 2000, how many new nurses joined the NHS in the last three years and how many nurses rejoined the NHS in the same period.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The latest available information is as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=616><TR><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"> </TD><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">New Joiners</TD><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Re-j…
16 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will assure the Parliament that no NHS laboratory tests in Scotland are being performed by unqualified (non-state registered) staff, as alleged by the Institute of Biomedical Sciences.
Answer · Susan Deacon: There is no data held either centrally or by Clinical Pathology Accreditation, the main body that accredits laboratories throughout the UK, to indicate inappropriate use of unqualified laboratory staff in Scotland. The Scottish Executive is, however, aware of…
9 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to reconsider the role of health boards in Scotland.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The role of health boards is evolving and developing in line with the wider policy agenda of the executive. That role will remain a central one in shaping and delivering the strategic agenda for the NHS in Scotland and in securing improvements to the health o…
9 Feb 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the future of the NHS Management Executive Group.
Answer · Susan Deacon: As part of my programme for improving health services and increasing accountability, I have made it clear I want a new relationship between the Scottish Executive Health Department, the NHS and all those concerned with health in Scotland. The NHS Management E…
3 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many residential/nursing homes each local authority operates, how much it will cost each local authority to bring their residential/nursing homes up to registration standards by next year and how much money it is giving each local authority to assist them to achieve this goal.
Answer · Iain Gray: The table outlines details of residential homes operated by local authorities. Nursing homes are not operated by local authorities.<P>At present, local authority residential homes are expected to operate to the registration standards set by that local authori…
3 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would have cost to fund free prescriptions for those suffering from manic depression if the illness had been designated as life threatening in the years 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000.
Answer · Susan Deacon: It is not possible to identify separately prescriptions used to treat people suffering from manic depression.
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide an answer to question S1W-11706, lodged on 4 December 2000.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The question was answered on 8 February.
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been a significant rise in the number of patients from the north and north east of Scotland using the cardiac defibrillator clinic at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I understand from North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust, which has management responsibility for Glasgow Royal Infirmary, that there has been no notable increase in the number of patients from the North and North-East of Scotland attending the Infirmar…
31 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to address the financial situation at Aberdeenshire Council.
Answer · Jack McConnell: I have announced my decision to offer Aberdeenshire Council further flexibility by allowing them to return their budget to guideline within two years instead one. This will go a considerable way to easing their budget problems and help them deliver the high q…
28 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are in place to educate and assist bee keepers in dealing with the effects of the varroa jacobsonic mite and of other bee ailments and whether it has any plans to appoint a bee officer or equivalent in Scotland.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Advice by means of illustrated leaflets is already available to assist beekeepers in Scotland in dealing with the varroa jacobsoni mite and the other notifiable bee diseases notably European Foul Brood and American Foul Brood. Beekeepers can also obtain free …
28 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many doctors left the NHS in Scotland in the last three years.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The latest available information is shown in the following table: <P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><P ALIGN="CENTER"><CENTER><TABLE CELLSPACING=0 BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=636><TR><TD WIDTH="14%" VALIGN="TOP"> </TD><TD WIDTH="43%" VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN=2><P ALIGN="C…
28 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many medical students commenced training in the last three academic years 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The table below shows the number of entrants to medicine courses in Higher Education Institutions in Scotland. It is split into students domiciled in Scotland and those domiciled outwith Scotland:<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Entrants to Medicine High…