Parliamentary questions

Mr David Davidson

1,095 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

17 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with the applicants for the ScotRail franchise and Aberdeenshire Council regarding reopening Laurencekirk Station and, if so, what the outcomes of any such discussions were.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Proposals to re-open a particular station are a local transport matter and as such are the responsibility of the relevant local transport authority or transport partnership to take forward. Aberdeenshire Council, in conjunction with ScotRail and Network Rail,…

17 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive where the proposal for intermediate technology institutes originated.

Answer · Iain Gray: Based on the principles outlined in Smart, Successful Scotland, Scottish Enterprise identified a need to stimulate the emergence of more high-growth technology companies in Scotland. This required the commissioning of research to develop intellectual p…

17 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists will retire in each of the next five years; how many dental practices have given notice of closure, and whether it will provide information on dental practitioner shortages, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The actual number of NHS general dental practitioners who intend to retire in the next five years is not available centrally. The following table shows the number of NHS general dental practitioners who will be aged 65 in this period. Number of NHS General…

17 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support is available to NHS boards to attract foreign dental practitioners to any dental vacancies and whether such support includes subsistence payments for such practitioners awaiting formal registration with the General Dental Council.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: NHS boards are able to use their normal financial allocations to advertise for and attract dentists to their region, including from overseas. As dentists working in the UK must be registered by the General Dental Council, it would not be appropriate to provid…

17 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support is available to dental practices that seek the services of foreign-qualified dentists and need to support them through their pre-registration training prior to acceptance by the General Dental Council allowing them to practice; how many dental practices have (a) sou…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: There are no schemes directly designed to facilitate foreign-qualified dentists entering dental practice in Scotland.Vocational training is available to both Scottish and EC graduates on a competitive basis for which appropriate funding and support is give…

12 Feb 2003 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer what minimum notice periods must be complied with prior to surrendering the leases for the Church of Scotland Assembly Hall and other buildings in the parliamentary estate.

Answer · David Steel: The Parliament's lease of the Assembly Hall may be surrendered on provision of six months' written notice. No notice is required where the lease is surrendered at the end of the period of lease.There are no notice periods stipulated by our current arrangem…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether fare paying bus passengers should be allowed to access school bus services if the local authority does not provide a chaperon to accompany the children.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: While the law does not allow fare-paying adults to access services that operate exclusively as school buses, they may use joint local bus/school bus services. In such circumstances, in meeting their statutory obligations to provide free transport to schools f…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why private school bus operators in Aberdeenshire were required to purchase fare recording systems when the local authority did not own any of the necessary reading equipment and where this equipment is not required on buses that accept passengers on demand.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I understand this is a matter for Aberdeenshire Council. Electronic ticketing machines are not required on school transport services which are contracted only to carry entitled pupils.

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why concessionary bus pass holders cannot travel into another local authority area using their pass without making a further payment.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The conditions of carriage for concessionary fares schemes, including rules on cross-boundary travel, are subject to contractual arrangements between transport authorities and bus operators. Certain schemes permit cross-boundary travel to a limited number of …

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to expand the Essential Small Pharmacies Scheme.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: We have no current plans to do so.

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS prescription services that are only available from supermarkets and large town centre multiple pharmacies could deliver proper pharmaceutical care to people regardless of where they live.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: In general there is a good distribution of community pharmacies throughout Scotland, and through The Right Medicine: A Strategy for Pharmaceutical Care in Scotland the Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring that patients continue to have access to a mode…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many community pharmacies will close in rural and suburban areas if the planned pharmacy contract approach does not proceed in the light of the report by the Office of Fair Trading, The control of entry regulations and retail pharmacy services in the UK.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-33733 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <A HREF="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/searc…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will not implement the recommendations in the report by the Office of Fair Trading, The control of entry regulations and retail pharmacy services in the UK, on community pharmacy contracts and proceed with its own plans for the development of community pharmacy services.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive is currently considering the Office of Fair Trading report in detail and consulting widely with all key stakeholders. It is committed to the principles and objectives of its strategy for pharmacy services, The Right Medicine, including …

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will facilitate the establishment of a postgraduate dental teaching institute in the Grampian NHS Board area to attract pre-registration dentists.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: Grampian is already in the process of improving its provision of postgraduate dental teaching facilities with the development of space within the Westburn Centre as a postgraduate dental centre for Grampian. The Scottish Executive, through NHS Education Sc…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it has offered to Grampian NHS Board to attract dentists to take up community practice in the board's area.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: The Scottish Executive has introduced a number of measures to recruit and retain dentists within NHS general dental services. These include the availability of grants under the Scottish Dental Access Initiative for dentists wishing to set up or expand NHS pra…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding support it will give to Aberdeenshire Council to assist with the raising of the B974 road level at Strachan to minimise the risk of road closures caused by flooding.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Local roads, such as the B974 at Strachan, are the responsibility of Aberdeenshire Council as the local roads authority for the area.On 31 January, we announced additional funding to help all councils in Scotland carry out works to local roads and bridges.…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what road safety measures it plans to put in place at accident spots on the A90 in Aberdeenshire in the next three years.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive's annual Accident Investigation and Prevention (AIP) programme will investigate the following sites on the A90 in Aberdeenshire during 2003-04.A90/B9120 junction at Laurencekirk;Bridge of Muchalls;Schoolhill Junction at Portlet…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the junctions on the A90 at Laurencekirk will have street lighting installed.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: There are no plans to install street lighting on the A90 in the vicinity of the junctions at Laurencekirk.

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will establish a task force to consider any difficulties facing the economies of Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Macduff.

Answer · Iain Gray: No. The Executive believe that the identification of local priorities for economic development and the delivery of co-ordinated economic development activities is dealt with most effectively by partnerships of local organisations and agencies. The Aberdeen an…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the additional #3 million package of support for peripheral fishing communities will be allocated and whether there will be any restrictions on how it can be applied.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The £3.2 million package announced on 3 February (Scottish Executive Press Release SEen317/2003) represented the latest round of awards from the Scottish Executive under the EU Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) structural fund programmes, whi…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether road tolls will not be included in its funding package for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive will fund the strategic elements of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (WPR). We have no plans to include road user charging in our funding package for the WPR.

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the specifications in the trunk road maintenance contract with BEAR Scotland in the north east were adequate to anticipate the current weather conditions and whether the contract will be re-specified.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The specifications in the contract are closely monitored by the independent Performance Audit Group. To date there is no evidence to suggest that the current winter specifications are inadequate.

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what directions it has given Aberdeenshire Council regarding its share of the #15 million awarded to local authorities for local roads maintenance.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: None. The additional funding which we announced for all councils on 31 January, to carry out works to local roads will form part of the overall local government settlement. Full details of the settlement will be notified to local authorities in the near futur…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what dedicated NHS facilities exist for patients with an eating disorder.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Ayrshire and Arran, Grampian, Highland, Lanarkshire and Lothian NHS Boards provide a community-based specialist out-patient service. The remaining NHS boards provide treatment and support through their generic mental health services. Where in-patient care is …

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which private facilities are used by the NHS to provide residential care to patients with an eating disorder.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: These are operational matters for NHS boards about which information is not held centrally.

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of time is for a patient with an eating disorder to receive (a) an initial assessment, (b) an admission to residential care and (c) care support in each NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-33721 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <A HREF="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/searc…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients (a) under 21 years, (b) from 21 to 40 years and (c) over 40 years died as a result of an eating disorder in each NHS board area in each of the last five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The table shows the number of deaths from anorexia nervosa. No deaths were recorded from bulimia nervosa during the period. Given the small numbers involved the information has not been provided by NHS board area. <TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=3 WID…

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional staff are required in each NHS board area, and at what level, to provide day care support to patients with an eating disorder.

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce dedicated residential units for patients with an eating disorder in each NHS board or local authority area.

4 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when each NHS board will be able to offer patients with an eating disorder an initial assessment within two weeks of referral.