Kenneth Gibson

23 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what practical steps it will take to regenerate the centres of small towns.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: One of our central prioritiesis to support Scotland’s economic growth. We have already made clear that oneof the ways in which we will do so is by removing or reducing the burden of businessrates for small businesses, many of which are located in traditional …

23 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to legislate to ban the use of snares.

Answer · Michael Russell: The Scottish Executive recentlycarried out a public consultation exercise on whether or not snaring should be bannedin Scotland. Analysis of the responses is currently underway andI expect to make an announcement to Parliament after summer recess.</p><p>The n…

23 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of increased health risk there would be from the transport and installation of a replacement system for Trident.

Answer · Shona Robison: Public health risks associatedwith the transport and handling of Defence Nuclear Materials are addressed by provisionscurrently in place.</p><p>TheMOD maintains contingency plans to deal with accidents and conducts regular nuclearaccident response exercises d…

23 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it will make to Her Majesty’s Government regarding the transport and storage of nuclear weapons.

Answer · Bruce Crawford: The majority of Scotssupport the Scottish Government’s view that nuclear weapons have no place in amodern Scotland. We plan to bring together key stakeholders fromacross Scottish civic life in an alliance of people who are opposed to thedeployment of nuclear …

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what it considers to be the reason that applications to fill vacant head teacher posts have declined in recent years and what action it will take to encourage more applications for such vacancies.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The recruitment of head teachers is a matter for local authorities asemployers, however the changing demographics of the teaching profession and thesocietal expectations of public sector leaders will both have been contributoryfactors in changing levels of ap…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to phase out Standard Grade examinations, in line with action taken in East Renfrewshire and the private sector.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: As part of our manifesto commitmentto provide leadership in promoting the Curriculum for Excellence agenda, we willconsider how the future qualifications system should be structured to best meetthe needs of all Scottish students. This will include considerati…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact its policy of inclusion is having on mainstream pupils and whether it will undertake a re-assessment of its policy and, if so, when.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Executivecommissioned the Scottish Centre for Research in Education to evaluate theimpact of the legislation. Their report, which was published in 2006, found noevidence that mainstreaming has a negative effect on pupil attainment and that,with p…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of eligible cancer patients in the west of Scotland are being treated with Herceptin; how this compares with other regions of Scotland, and what steps it will take to (a) end any area-based disparity and (b) monitor the outcome of any such action.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Information on the use of specificdrugs in individual patients or patient groups is not held centrally.</p>

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to direct monies saved by any generic substitution of branded drugs into the provision of drugs for the treatment of cancer, such as Herceptin.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS boards are able to deploytheir overall revenue allocations to the best advantage of their local population.This includes any savings resulting from generic prescribing.</p>

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many special advisers it appointed in each of the first two sessions of the Parliament; what their specific responsibilities were, and what the total annual costs were of the posts.

Answer · John Swinney: At the end of the first Parliament there were nine special advisers in post at an annual salary cost of £602,449 and at the end of the second Parliament there were 12 special advisers in post at an annual salary cost of £854,376. Both cost figures include ERN…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which executive agencies and quangos it established during each of the first two sessions of the Parliament, also showing the remits of each body.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-134 on 5 June 2007. Information on the remits of non-domestic publicbodies is provided in the directory of Scottish public bodies on the Scottish Executivewebsite at:</p><p><ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/To…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which executive agencies and quangos it abolished or changed during each of the first two sessions of the Parliament.

Answer · John Swinney: The information requested isgiven in <i>Changes in the Agency and NDPB Landscape 1999 – 2007 </i>a copy of whichhas been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 42836).</p>

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether patients undergoing major surgery are routinely assessed to identify their risk of developing blood clots.

Answer · Shona Robison: <strong>ScottishIntercollegiate Guidelines Network</strong> (SIGN) <i>Guideline 62 on Prophylaxis of Venous Thromboembolism</i> (VTE)states that all patients admitted to hospital for major trauma, major surgery oracute medical illness should be assessed indiv…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have died in hospital in each of the last three years and, of these, how many died as a result of venous thromboembolism.

Answer · Jim Mather: The information requested isgiven in the following table. The table also presents data on deaths from pulmonaryembolism as the overwhelming majority of these are likely to be the consequenceof venous thromboembolism.</p><p>Deaths in Hospital bySelected Cause,…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers are receiving treatment for psychological disorders resulting from work-related stress in the (a) primary and (b) secondary sector.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: This information is not heldcentrally.</p>

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children under the age of 16 ran away from home and (a) were missing for more than 24 hours, (b) were believed to have been physically or sexually abused while away from home, (c) remained missing after seven days and (d) were never found in each of the last five years for which…

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: This information is not heldcentrally.</p>

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government about of raising the classification to 18 of any film which shows people smoking and has an under-18 viewing certificate.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Executive recognisesthat images of smokers featured in films, TV and magazines may influence young peopleto smoke. In developing our longer term national smoking prevention strategy, therefore,we will work with the UK Government and other devolve…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure that newly qualified teachers find permanent employment following completion of their probationary year.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The employment of teachers, includingthe type of contract offered, is a matter for local authorities. However, teacherworkforce planning is designed so that new teachers are completing their inductionyear at the volume needed to achieve a broad balance betwee…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reverse the position of the previous administration no to maintain its commitment to maximum sizes of 20 for mathematics and English classes in S1 and S2.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Funding for the previous administration’scommitment to reduce S1/S2 maths and English classes to a maximum of 20 is alreadyin place. We have no plans to reverse this commitment.</p>

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which schools have an acting head teacher who has been in post for more than six months.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The information requested innot held centrally.</p>

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to introduce a 24-hour suicide prevention helpline.

Answer · Shona Robison: A 24-hour helpline for peoplein emotional crisis is already well established through Samaritans. The ScottishGovernment supports Samaritans’ work in Scotland through core grant funding. Inaddition Choose Life (the implementationteam for the government’s strat…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people committed suicide in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by (a) gender and (b) age.

Answer · Jim Mather: In presenting statistics onsuicides it is conventional to combine deaths classified as intentionalself-harm (suicides) with those classified as events of undetermined intent.This is because the majority of the latter are likely to have been suicides.The follo…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much NHS Scotland has spent on branded drugs for which there is a generic equivalent in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Answer · Shona Robison: Where clinically possible, cliniciansare encouraged to prescribe generically. In2006, the cost of prescribed branded drugs for which a generic equivalent was usuallyavailable was £10,843,438. This figure does not include the cost of modified releasepreparatio…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been prosecuted under the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003 in each year since its enactment.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The available information onthe number of persons proceeded against for dog fouling is given in the followingtable.</p><p>Persons Proceededagainst in Scottish Courts for Offences Under the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003¹, 2002-03 to 2005-06</p><ta…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offenders have been prosecuted under the Litter Act 1958 in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The Litter Act 1958 was repealedby the Litter Act 1983. Prosecutions for littering offences are generally underthe Environmental Protection Act 1990. The available information for persons proceededagainst for littering offences under the 1990 act is given in …

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources have been allocated to local authorities in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07 and (d) 2007-08 to address homelessness among migrants from the 12 most recent EU accession states.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: Annual funding is allocated tolocal authorities to address homelessness in each local authority area and allocationshave increased in these years. Funding is not linked to specified categories ofhomeless persons.</p>

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many migrants from the 12 most recent EU accession states are currently homeless.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: The information requested isnot held centrally at this time. Changes to the homelessness statistics data collectionsystem, introduced from April 2007, allow councils to identify applicants from themost recent EU accession states. The first annual statistics o…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources have been provided to the police to detect and deter migrant criminals from entering Scotland following the enlargement of the European Union in 2007.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The police budget for2007-08 is over £1 billion. Chief constablesare responsible for planning the use of the resources available to them to deliver the full range of policingactivities including dealing with the detection and deterrence of migrantcriminals fr…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken, in co-operation with Her Majesty's Government, to ensure that organised criminal gangs from Bulgaria and Romania do not enter Scotland following the accession of those states to the European Union.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Our aim is to ensure that Scotland isan unattractive place for any organised crime gangs to do business. We haveworked with the UK Government on a number of measures including a joint ScottishExecutive and Home Office Action Plan on Human Trafficking. Law enf…

22 May 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have escaped or absconded from prison in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by prison, and, of these, how man, remain at large.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The number of absconds and escapes for the period requested can be obtained from the Scottish Prison Service annual reports published at:</p> <p ><a href="http://www.sps.gov.uk/default.aspx?documentid=67e156ce-a4c9-49f5-a526-0dab421427f6">http://www.sps.gov…