Parliamentary questions

Ian McKee

93 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

28 Mar 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which diving pool meeting the standards for international competition will be the nearest available to people living in Aberdeen when the Royal Commonwealth Pool is closed for refurbishment.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-11426 on 21 April 2008. 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/webap…

28 Mar 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which diving pool meeting the standards for international competition will be the nearest available to people living in the west central belt of Scotland when the Royal Commonwealth Pool is closed for refurbishment.

28 Mar 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which diving pool meeting the standards for international competition will be the nearest available to people living in the east central belt of Scotland when the Royal Commonwealth Pool is closed for refurbishment.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: The nearest diving pool which meets the standards for international competition is the Sunderland Aquatic Centre. However, there are a number of diving facilities across Scotland suitable for training purposes.

28 Mar 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many diving pools meeting the standards for international competition there will be in Scotland when the Royal Commonwealth Pool is closed for refurbishment.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: Following the temporary closure of the Royal Commonwealth Pool for refurbishment, there will be no diving pools in Scotland that meet standards for international competition. However, there are a number of diving facilities across Scotland suitable f…

11 Mar 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider removing listed building status from the Royal Commonwealth Pool on the grounds that it is no longer fit for purpose as a venue for international swimming competitions, nor is it possible for it to be upgraded to be fit for that purpose.

Answer · Linda Fabiani: Listing is intended to identify a building''s special interest to inform the management of future change such as this. A listing is only removed from a building when it fails to meet the criteria as a building of special architectural or historic interest. Th…

11 Mar 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times in the last five years a building listed by Historic Scotland has been de-listed and what the reason was in each case.

Answer · Linda Fabiani: In the last five years 354 buildings have been removed from the Scottish ministers lists of buildings of special architectural or historic interest. Two hundred of these have been removed because they no longer met the criteria for listing. Ninety-six had bee…

16 Jan 2008 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on the use of telephone numbers with the prefix 0845 by public agencies.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is guidedin its use of 0845 numbers by best practice as recommended by OFCOM. The ScottishGovernment does use some 0845 numbers, but their continued use will be reviewedwhen OFCOM have completed their on-going review of Number Translat…

9 Jan 2008 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is with regard to the incidence of unplanned teenage pregnancies.

Answer · Shona Robison: Respect and Responsibility, Scotland’snational sexual health strategy, set’s out the government’s commitment to reducingthe number of unintended teenage pregnancies.The strategy, through increasingthe provision of services and the level of sex and rela…

22 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many general medical practitioners are serving on alcohol and drugs action teams.

Answer · Shona Robison: The alcohol anddrug action team corporate action plans (CAPs) contain information on membership.Based on information in the 2007-08 CAPs, there are two general medical practitionerson alcohol and drug action teams. The CAPS can be accessed at:<ahref="h…

22 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on newspaper advertising in the most recent year for which figures are available, broken down by title of publication.

Answer · John Swinney: The information requestedis not held centrally by the Scottish Government, however, our current media buyingagency has provided this information at no cost to the government. The followingtable details newspaper advertising spend for the financial year 2006-0…

31 Oct 2007 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources have been allocated to the budget for Education and Lifelong Learning since May 2007.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Since May 2007 I haveactively redeployed resources already allocated to the budget for Education andLifelong Learning in order to both align expenditure with the government’s prioritiesand to better serve the people of Scotland. Examples include funding for a…

26 Sep 2007 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that it delivers on its responsibilities under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN World Programme for Human Rights Education to teach children about the human rights of themselves and others.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Governmentsupports the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and theWorld Programme and is committed to giving children knowledge and understandingof their rights and those of others.Citizenship, includingthe rights an…

25 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was to the NHS of homeopathic services in the most recent year for which figures are available, broken down also by NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: Information on the costs of in-patient, day case and out-patient activity is not held centrally. However the following table shows the gross ingredient cost for homeopathic medicines prescribed in the community in Scotland, broken down by NHS board, for the f…

12 Sep 2007 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to support and invest in Edinburgh¿s status and responsibilities as a capital city and one of Europe¿s leading financial, academic and tourist centres.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Governmentis committed to supporting and investing in Edinburgh and recognises its status and responsibilities as our capital city.Our overall purposeis to focus the government and public services on creating a more successful country,with…

4 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken under the Weeds Act 1959 or other legislation to control the spread of ragwort, Japanese knotweed and other injurious weeds.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Weeds Act1959 empowers ministers to serve a notice requiring the occupier of land tocontrol the spread of five injurious weeds: common ragwort, broad-leaved dock,curled dock, creeping thistle and spear thistle.Local officers of the Scottish Governm…

30 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected (a) health, (b) economic and (c) wider societal costs are arising from the treatment of chronic illness and disability due to (i) diabetes, (ii) heart disease, (c) arthritis and (d) other obesity-related conditions in each year until 2010, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The data needed tocalculate these costs are not held centrally.

30 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the (a) health, (b) economic and (c) wider societal costs arising from the increase in the number of people who are (i) overweight and (ii) obese through their impact on the burden of chronic illness and disability due to (A) diabetes, (B) heart disease, (…

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Governmenthas not made any assessment of the health, economic and wider societal costs arisingfrom the increase in people who are overweight and obese through the impact on theburden of chronic disease and disability. However, we are aware of ana…

30 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected increase is in the number of (a) women, (b) men, (c) children and (d) adolescents who will be (i) overweight and (ii) obese in each year until 2010, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Shona Robison: Projections in levelsof overweight and obesity have not been calculated for Scotland to date. This type of analysis requires extensive trend data on which tobase projections, and currently there is not sufficient trend data available forScotland. However, fro…

30 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence was of (a) women, (b) men, (c) children and (d) adolescents who were (i) overweight and (ii) obese in each year since 2003, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Shona Robison: Obesity statisticsare available from the Scottish Health Survey. The most recent survey was run in2003. Statistics for adults are available by NHS board area (groupedfor the island boards because of the relatively smal…

17 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider introducing a financial inducement scheme for people who have successful eagle and harrier nests on their land.

Answer · Michael Russell: Scottish Natural Heritagehas given consideration to the possibility of providing financial incentives basedon hen harrier breeding success but has concluded that the incentives availablethrough its Natural Care upland and moorland management schemes represent…

1 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the expected economic impact in Scotland would be of the UK Government’s proposal to allow fathers to take up to 10 months’ paternity leave

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-2789 on 23 August 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.…

27 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it makes available to cities, towns and communities that are considering entering into twinning arrangements with similar communities in other countries.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-2546 on 14 August 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.…

27 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cities, towns and communities in Scotland have twinning arrangements with similar communities in other countries.

Answer · John Swinney: The Executive hasno role or locus on twinning arrangements and keeps no records of these. Decisionson setting up and supporting twinning links are matters for individual local authoritiesand communities to consider and implement as they see fit. The Conventio…

24 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Figures for thosenewly diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Scotland are notavailable centrally.Anestimate based on those seen for the condition in general practices participatingin Practice Team Information sugges…

24 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in what proportion of people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder the condition is wholly or partially attributable to service in the armed forces.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This informationis not centrally held. We continue our discussions with the Ministry of Defenceand NHS boards on improvingstructured care and support for serving and former service personnel whosemental health is assessed to have suffered as a result of their…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what new or refurbished primary care premises are planned for each NHS board area in the next five years.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Decisions on Primary Carepremises provision are devolved to NHS boards and individual contractors; listsof projects are not maintained centrally. A copy of a consolidated list of themost recent advice provided by individual NHS boards has, however, been place…

13 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individual caller contacts were received by NHS 24 between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm on weekdays in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Answer · Shona Robison: In addition to providingits core service and other support services during the in-hours period of 8am to 6pm, NHS 24 provides cover when GP surgeries are closed duringthis time to enable doctors to have protected learning time. In addition to handlingcalls, t…

13 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total staff costs were of operating NHS 24 between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm on weekdays in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Answer · Shona Robison: During the hours 8am to 6pm on weekdays, there are a number of frontline staff workingwithin NHS 24 such as nurse advisors, call handlers, team leaders and health informationadvisors.The total frontlinestaff costs for these hours for the financial year…

13 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many nursing hours were worked in NHS 24 between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm on weekdays in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Answer · Shona Robison: During the hours 8am to 6pm on weekdays, the total number of nursing hours workedwas 17,554 hours compared to total nursing hours for the whole year of 266,216 hours(or 6.6% of the total). There are other frontline staff who also work within thesehours on wee…

13 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Government has further plans to encourage rail use in Scotland.

Answer · Michael Russell: No. It is my understandingthat careful consideration was given that the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 was compliant with the European Conventionon Human Rights (ECHR) before, and after its passage through the Parliament. Wehave no reason to consider that it…