Parliamentary questions

Ken Macintosh

1,334 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

16 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the last valuation of the Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme took place.

Answer · John Swinney: The last completed valuation of the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme was published in 2008 and covered the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2005.

16 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will establish a cost ceiling for the Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government requested confirmation from the UK Government of the cost ceiling for the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme on 22 December 2011. A response has still to be received.

16 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to increase teachers’ contributions to the Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government intend to introduce a tiered member contribution structure with effect from 1 April 2012 by means of a Scottish Statutory Instrument which will be laid in Parliament on 2 March 2012. The Scottish Government share public sector workers’…

16 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it expects the health benefits from its proposed public health levy to arise as a consequence of the manner in which (a) the levy will be raised or (b) funds will be allocated.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-03546 on 8 November 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentaryb…

16 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it will make of the impact of its proposed public health levy on health and how it plans to report this to the Parliament.

Answer · John Swinney: The additional income raised from the public health supplement will contribute to the decisive shift to preventative spend measures. The government will include in future draft budgets an assessment of the progress being made towards a more preventative appro…

15 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions or engagement it has had with trade unions and employers on pension reform.

Answer · John Swinney: A series of discussions have taken place with employers, trade unions and staff associations on pension reforms since the current administration came to power in May 2011.

15 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to await the outcome of negotiations between the UK Government and teaching unions on the Teachers' Pension Scheme before meeting the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and others to discuss the Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme.

Answer · John Swinney: The outcome of negotiations between the UK Government and the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme for England and Wales have still to be finalised. However, Scottish Ministers will shortly begin negotiations with trade union and employer representatives on long term re…

15 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will accept a request from the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) to engage with teachers on a possible redesign of the Scottish Teachers' Superannuation Scheme.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government will shortly begin negotiations with trade union and employer representatives on long-term reforms of the Scottish Teachers’ Superannuation Scheme. The Scottish Government place considerable importance on partnership working and want t…

13 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it helps the victims of human trafficking in Scotland.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05784 on 29 February 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentary…

13 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to raise awareness of human trafficking ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05783 on 29 February 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentary…

13 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-03297 by Lesley Thomson on 2 November 2011, whether it has carried out a comparison between the number of successful convictions for human trafficking in Scotland and the rest of the UK since 2007 and, if so, what the outcome was.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: No such comparison exercise has been carried out by the Scottish Government.

13 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the extent of human trafficking in Scotland.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Under the DETECT strand of Scotland's Serious Organised Crime Strategy, "Letting Our Communities Flourish" the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency SCDEA have produced a National Strategic Intelligence Assessment in relation to all forms of human traffi…

8 Feb 2012 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to review the effectiveness of the NHS Individual Patient Treatment Request process.

6 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the drug, ipilimumab, has been made available for patients requesting it through the Individual Patient Treatment Request (IPTR) system and, if not, (a) for what reason the requests were unsuccessful and (b) in light of the drug being available to patients in England, whether it w…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Information on the numbers of applications to NHS boards for the drug ipilimumab through the Individual Patient Treatment Request (IPTR) arrangements is not held centrally. Scotland’s robust, independent arrangements for the appraisal of newly licensed medic…

1 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many empty or underutilised buildings it owns and where they are located.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Ministers have one owned property empty: Jeanfield House, 4 Jeanfield Road, Perth. Underutilisation fluctuates across the estate as business changes. With the contraction in staff numbers currently underway, and changing working practices, the Sc…

1 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make empty or underutilised buildings that it owns available to small businesses.

Answer · John Swinney: When an owned property is empty and declared surplus the Scottish Government puts it on the open market so that any potential bidder including businesses, small businesses, community groups or individuals may bid for it. Where a leased property is empty and…

1 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had discussions with the UK Government about making UK Government-owned empty or underutilised buildings available to small businesses in Scotland.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government’s Property Advice Division liaise with the UK Government’s Government Procurement Unit who operate the Electronic Property Information Mapping System. The e-PIMS system is used to identify vacant space records for both the UK Governmen…

20 Jan 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to assess the impact of the public health levy once it has been introduced.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05106 on 26 January 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business…

20 Jan 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the proposed public health levy will not negatively affect stores' staff (a) numbers, (b) recruitment and (c) working hours.

Answer · John Swinney: Retailers decisions on staff numbers, recruitment and working hours will depend on a wide range of internal and external factors. The Scottish Government engages regularly with all sectors of the business community, including the small number of retailers wh…

18 Jan 2012 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the effects of the proposed public health levy on retail employment.

Answer · John Swinney: Retailers’ decisions on employment levels will depend on a wide range of internal and external factors. The Scottish Government continues to engage regularly with all sectors of the business community, including the small number of retailers which will pay t…

16 Jan 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it met its target to reduce the number of Scottish public bodies by 25% by 2011.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-05037 on 23 January 2012. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentar…

16 Jan 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the indicator to reduce the number of Scottish public bodies by 25% by 2011 was removed from the National Performance Framework.

Answer · John Swinney: The number of devolved public bodies was reduced from a baseline of 199 in October 2007 to 144 by December 2011, and will reduce further to around 112 when the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 is fully implemented later this year. The original commitm…

9 Jan 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of difficulties experienced by older people in accessing or receiving mental health services provided by the voluntary sector.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government sets national policy direction for mental health and provides funding to NHS boards and local authorities to support implementation of policy. The management of local actions in implementing national policy, and decisions on local serv…

9 Jan 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) work is being done and (b) action it is taking to ensure that people over 65 are not excluded from receiving mental health services provided by the voluntary sector.

14 Nov 2011 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on the Educational Institute of Scotland's call for a ballot on industrial action about proposed changes to the McCrone agreement.

9 Nov 2011 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact its proposed reductions to college budgets will have on widening access to education.

28 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional funding will be provided to assist NHS boards to implement the Scottish Service Standards for Neonatal Care when they are published.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Neonatal Expert Advisory Group, regional planning groups, the Managed Clinical Networks for neonatal services and NHS boards are currently looking at the possible implications, including resource implications, of implementing the standards framework for n…

24 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for patients with scoliosis between seeing a consultant and having surgery.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not available centrally as waiting time information is collected at specialty level only.

24 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether children with scoliosis wait longer than adults between seeing their consultant and having surgery.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02932 on 13 October 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentaryb…

24 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether children and young people are waiting longer for spinal surgery in 2011-12 than they did in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not available centrally as waiting time information is collected at specialty level only.