Bruce Crawford

26 May 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Fife Council about the nursery nurses dispute.

Answer · Euan Robson: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with FifeCouncil on a range of issues.</p><p>I ampleased that nursery nurses in Fife returnedto work last week and the children returned to their classes on Monday.</p>

25 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many events have been held at Bute House in each year since 1999; on what date each event was held; who attended each event; what the purpose was of each event, and what the total costs were of each event, broken down into (a) staff, (b) alcohol, (c) food, (d) travel and (e) entertai…

Answer · Andy Kerr: Many official and private events are held each year in Bute House. Information on these events is not held centrally.</p>

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local training programmes have been developed, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Guidance to local areas, whichwas issued in June 2003, identified the development of local multi-agency trainingas a priority area. Each local area action plan addresses how local training isto be taken forward.</p><p>In addition to local trainingwork, a nati…

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local self-help groups have been established, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: It is not possible to identifywhich, nor how many, local self-help groups have been established as a result ofChoose Life. Each local action plan addresses support for local self-help groups.Guidance to local areas, which was issued in June 2003, made clear t…

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local action plans have been established and when, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: All 32 local action plans werereceived by the end of January 2004.</p>

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what local alliances have been established, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: All 32 local areas have established local multi-agency Choose Life suicide prevention alliances as part of their Community Planning Partnership Structure.</p>

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland, what performance management arrangements have been established to monitor the impact of the strategy and action plan on service provision.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Guidance was issued to each localarea in June 2003. This set out the requirements on local areas to produce a localsuicide prevention action plan by the end of December 2003. All local action planshave now been submitted, and have since been assessed by the H…

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out on suicide prevention and what research has been published, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Mental Health Research Teamin the Health Department Analytical Services Division is developing a research andevaluation strategy to support the National Programme. A major part of this workis focused on the actions laid out in <i>Choose Life – a National …

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when a national capacity for collection of data on suicide was established, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The establishment of a nationalcapacity for collection of data on suicide will be a key task for the National InformationManager for Choose Life. This post is one of the Choose Life National ImplementationSupport Team posts to be recruited shortly, and to whi…

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when guidelines for the media were published, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The National Programme for ImprovingMental Health and Well-Being is working with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ)in Scotland to provide guidance for people working in the media onthe reporting and representation of mental health and suicide. The NUJ pl…

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance on priority groups has been published and on what dates, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Guidance was issued to all localauthorities and their Community Planning Partners in June 2003 on the implementationof Choose Life.</p><p>Guidance on priority groups wasprepared for consideration at the first National Support Network meeting in November2003. …

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland, when the National Public Mental Health Resource Service was established and what its key objectives are.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The National Public Mental HealthResource was launched in December 2002 (at the same time as Choose Life) by theHealth Education Board for Scotland (HEBS). The key objectives are to collect anddisseminate up to date evidence and good practice in relation to s…

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland, how many national suicide prevention summits have been held and what issues have been discussed.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The first National Support Networkmeeting on 7 November 2003 also served as a National Suicide Prevention summit.Representatives of key National agencies along with local representatives met todiscuss the first phase of the implementation of Choose Life and t…

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland, how many events the National Support Network has organised and what local agencies have taken part.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The first meeting of the NationalSupport Network was held on 7 November 2003 in Edinburgh. The Network draws together representatives from eachof the 32 Community Planning Partnerships. The majority of the 32 local areas wererepresented at this summit.</p><p>…

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the National Implementation Support Team, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland, first met; on how many occasions it has met, and what issues were on its agenda.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Following a national recruitmentprocess in 2003, the Head of Implementation for Choose Life, Caroline Farquhar,took up post in January 2004. Arrangements are in hand to recruit three additionalmembers to the National Implementation Support Team.</p>

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to ensure that reducing the rate of suicide is clearly on its agenda and that of its departments, as referred to in Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answergiven to S2W-7696 on 5 May 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa…

22 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what links have been developed between its strategy and action plan, Choose Life - A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland, and its other policies and initiatives and what objectives have been achieved as a result.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: A key objective of the firstphase of the Choose Life Implementation work (up until 2006) is to ensure that suicideprevention is on the agenda of Scottish Executive Departments and reflected in relevantpolicies. This is a key task for the Head of Implementatio…

14 Apr 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the right to buy legislation for local authority housing.

Answer · Margaret Curran: There are no plans to review the Right to Buy legislation. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 requires Scottish ministers to publish a report on the effects of the Right to Buy by September 2006.</p>

2 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government in respect of how clause 76(5) of the UK Energy Bill provides for a transfer of functions in relation to "areas outside the territorial sea", in light of section 63 of the Scotland Act 1998 which enables transfer of functions "i…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive maintains regular contact with Her Majesty's Government in respect of matters of mutual interest including the UK Energy Bill. The potential exercise of the powers that would be conferred by virtue of clause 85(5) of the bill - formerly…

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it next intends to meet NHS Forth Valley to discuss how it will deal with financial pressures in 2004-05.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I met with the Chair and Chief Executive of NHS Forth Valley on 2 April and was briefed on their financialposition. </p><p>“Staff in the Performance Managementand Accounting Division of The Scottish Executive Health Department meet regularlywith all NHS board…

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with NHS Fife with regard to its expected deficit for the financial year ending on 31 March 2004.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Staff in the Performance Managementand Accounting Division of The Scottish Executive Health Department meet regularly with all NHS boardsto discuss their financial position. The last meeting with NHS Fife took place on16 March 2004. The forecast financial pos…

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make a decision about the future of Holy Trinity Primary School in Stirling.

Answer · Peter Peacock: We expect to reach a decisionshortly.</p>

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with parties interested in establishing new ferry routes between Rosyth and mainland Europe.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: No organisations have approachedthe Scottish Executive indicating any interest in establishing new ferry routes.If they were to do so, we would consider with them what support we might be ableto offer. While European State aid rules restrict the range of supp…

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its most recent information is regarding a company occupying the Motorola plant at Halbeath, Fife.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The facility at Halbeath remains in the ownership of Motorola, which is in the process of spinning out its semiconductor interests into a new company to be known as Freescale. Decisions on the future of the facility will, in the first instance, be a matter fo…

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to examine what lessons can be learned from other countries in relation to how they deal with combating suicide.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Choose Life has commissionedresearch into suicide prevention and intervention from leading researchers throughoutthe world. Responses to date have come from 14 countries. We are also exchanginggood practice and information with colleagues in Ireland, Slovenia…

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what further measures it will take to combat suicide other than the work undertaken by the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: As part of the Choose Life NationalStrategy and Action Plan, the Choose Life National Implementation Support Team iscurrently engaging with all Scottish Executive Departments, to ensure that suicide prevention is a focusnot only of the mental health agenda bu…

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the possibility of setting up an emergency contact number for those contemplating suicide under the current 999 system.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Ambulance Servicecurrently operates a system which specifically provides support for people threateningsuicide. The service prioritises all calls it receives via the 999 system to ensurethat a person’s clinical condition receives the most appropr…

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what new research has been commissioned in the last 12 months regarding suicide.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: In January 2004, the Mental HealthResearch Team commissioned a scoping exercise on behalf of Choose Life.  The project,which will report to the Executive in June 2004, aims to explore the interests andareas of expertise of centres and individuals focusing on …

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3845 by Malcolm Chisholm on 18 November 2003, what progress has been made on the co-ordination of available evidence relating to suicide in Scotland and elsewhere.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: As part of our work on ChooseLife, we commissioned work in February to begin establishing the territory for aseries of research reviews. The first phase of this is to explore the views of local,national and international researchers in the field of suicide an…

16 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what date the new Chair of NHS Fife will be in post.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Interviews are scheduled for6 April and shortly after this date we will liaise with the board to agree astart date for the new Chair.</p>