Parliamentary questions
Mike Rumbles
1,089 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
13 Mar 2001 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to reduce instances of cryptosporidiosis.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Cryptosporidiosis can be passed on by person to person contact, direct contact with animals, or in water, if treatment is inadequate or compromised.<P>In addition to the issue of general advice on hygiene matters, the Executive issued the Cryptosporidium Dire…
7 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding it has allocated to the implementation of the recommendations made in the report The Same As You?.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: We announced in September that change funds of £8 million, £12 million and £16 million would be provided to local authorities over the next three years to assist with implementing the review's recommendations.<P>I can announce today that a grant of £1.5 milli…
7 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the recommendations made in the report The Same As You? have been implemented.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: <I><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2>The same as you?</I> sets out a programme of change for the next 10 years.<P>Guidance on the preparation of Partnership in Practice agreements was issued to local authorities and health boards on 19 March.<P>I can announce today t…
7 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in establishing a Scottish centre for people with learning disabilities.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I can announce today that the grant to establish the Scottish Centre for Learning Disabilities has been awarded to a Consortium of 13 organisations led by ENABLE.
7 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the pay and conditions of service of qualified nursery nurses.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1O-3109 on 15 March 2001.
7 Mar 2001 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will collect information detailing which health boards have issued digital hearing aids.
Answer · Susan Deacon: There are no plans for this information to be collected centrally.
1 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what specific progress it is making in getting more dentists into the Grampian Health Board area from Dundee Dental School.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive, in liaison with representatives from Grampian Health Board, Grampian Primary Care Trust, Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education and Dundee Dental School, are continuing to encourage dental practitioners into Gra…
1 Mar 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in establishing a dental training link between Dundee Dental School and the Grampian Health Board area.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Outreach dental student education from Dundee Dental School has been established as a pilot in Tayside. Once the success of this pilot has been confirmed this initiative will be extended to Grampian and Highland.
28 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking in order to make the current system of funding for area tourist boards more effective.
Answer · Alasdair Morrison: We have ensured that the core funding that visitscotland provides to ATBs is guaranteed for a three-year-period. We are monitoring closely local authority funding decisions as we promised to do in <I>A New Strategy for Scottish Tourism</I> published in Februa…
27 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it provides members of the press with the text of minister's opening answers to oral parliamentary questions and, if so, at what time these are made available.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Copies of Ministers' proposed opening answers are made available to media representatives in the gallery, to facilitate their reporting of proceedings, once Question Time has begun. However, the Executive is open to suggestions and comments on this process, w…
14 Feb 2001 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to establish an independent body to deal with complaints against solicitors as recommended in the January 1999 report of the Scottish Consumer Council.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Executive has no such plans at present.
13 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10021 by Susan Deacon on 5 October 2000, how many digital hearing aids were provided by the NHSiS in each health board area in each of the last three years.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-13069 on 19 December 2001.
13 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whom commercial bus operators are required to consult before making changes to their bus service operations.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive fully recognises the importance of stability of bus service provision, and of proper consultation when changes are being proposed. I plan to bring regulations forward to require local bus operators to consult local authorities 14 days b…
13 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Stagecoach-Bluebird regarding the reduction in the level of bus services serving Kemnay, Portlethen, Johnshaven and Ballater in Aberdeenshire.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The provision of local bus services is a matter for the commercial judgement of bus operators. However, local authorities have the power to subsidise local bus services if they cannot be run on a commercial basis and if the services meet an identifiable socia…
13 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has commissioned any research into the abuse of adults with learning difficulties.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive has not commissioned research specifically into the abuse of adults with learning difficulties. As part of the review of services for people with learning disabilities, <I>The same as you?</I>, the Scottish Executive carried out the fol…
13 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any farmers who have been financially disadvantaged as a result of delays in receiving payments under agricultural support schemes which it administers have any right of compensation for those losses.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Executive's commitment to farmers and crofters is to pay valid Countryside Premium Scheme management claims within six weeks of receipt. This is not a statutory obligation and there is no provision for compensation should payment take longer.
13 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for considering complaints against Scottish Enterprise and its associated local enterprise companies.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Scottish Enterprise has an External Complaints Adjudicator who investigates complaints against Scottish Enterprise and its Local Enterprise Companies, once their own internal complaints procedures have been exhausted.
13 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects all payments due to farmers under the Countryside Premium Scheme for 2000-01 to have been made.
Answer · Ross Finnie: It is anticipated that payment of all eligible CPS management claims submitted on time will be made by 16 March 2001.
13 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the (a) adult and (b) child population suffered from tuberculosis in each of the last 20 years.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-13298.
13 Feb 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of tuberculosis were recorded in the (a) adult and (b) child population in each of the last 20 years.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information is set out in the table:<P>Tuberculosis notifications: numbers and percentage of population, by age<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=427><TR><TD WIDTH="12%" VALIGN="TOP" HEIGHT=17><P></TD><TD WIDTH="44%" VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN=2 HE…
19 Jan 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding Scottish Homes has made available for the construction of new, affordable rural houses for (a) rent and (b) purchase in each year since 1994.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The information requested is set out in the following table. The funding includes the support provided both for construction and improvement of houses: <TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=531><TR><TD WIDTH="16%" VALIGN="TOP" HEIGHT=34><FONT FACE="…
19 Jan 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new, affordable houses for (a) rent and (b) purchase have been constructed with assistance from Scottish Homes in each local authority area since 1996.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The number of new, affordable houses for rent and purchase that have been constructed with assistance from Scottish Homes in each local authority area from April 1996 to March 2000 is as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 BORDERCOLOR="#000000" CELLPADDING=2 …
18 Jan 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to offer Capecitabine in tablet form for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer on the NHS.
Answer · Susan Deacon: On 19 October 2000, The Committee on Proprietary Medicinal Products, part of the European Medicines Evaluation Agency, recommended that Capecitabine be granted a marketing authorisation for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. This recommendation ha…
17 Jan 2001 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-2595 by Susan Deacon on 30 November 2000, whether it is yet able to give a date for the recommencement of the BCG vaccination programme in schools.
Answer · Susan Deacon: No. Discussions are currently taking place at a UK-level to establish the most effective way of ensuring regular supply of BCG vaccine in the UK in the future.
20 Dec 2000 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body receives detailed audited accounts of the office of the Scottish Parliament Commissioner for Administration and, if so, whether these will be published on an annual basis.
Answer · David Steel: The SPCB does not receive detailed audited accounts of the Scottish Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioners produces an annual gross Appr…
14 Dec 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has undertaken to determine the reasons for the decline in salmon and sea-trout stocks in Scotland's rivers and whether any such research considered whether the reasons for the decline in sea-trout were different from the reasons for the decline in salmon.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: Research programmes undertaken by scientists at Fisheries Research Services have been developed to identify the degree to which salmon and sea trout numbers have declined. These programmes include research cruises to determine the migration, feeding, growth a…
14 Dec 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people (a) were diagnosed with and (b) died from bowel cancer in each of the last five years in each health board area.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The numbers of incident cases registered and number of deaths, by health board residence for the period 1993-97 (the most recent year for which completed information is available) are as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=616><TR><TD WIDT…
14 Dec 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the recommended ratio is of bowel cancer consultants to head of population.
Answer · Susan Deacon: It is a matter for health boards and NHS Trusts to assess and provide for local needs and to determine the staffing levels required for effective service delivery to their local population.
14 Dec 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the ratio of bowel cancer consultants to head of population is in each health board area.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not available centrally. Consultants treating patients will bowel cancer will be included under the specialty of general surgery.
14 Dec 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many bowel cancer consultants there are in each health board area.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not available centrally. Consultants treating patients with bowel cancer will be included under the specialty of general surgery.