Richard Lochhead

13 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what research was undertaken and is planned in relation to identifying and addressing the occurrence of serious adverse healthcare events in the NHSiS.

Answer · Susan Deacon: No research has been undertaken centrally.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Risk assessment procedures and lessons from adverse health care events should be considered as part of NHS Trust clinical governance arrangements.

13 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the direct and indirect costs to the NHSiS of adverse healthcare events were in each of the last three years.

Answer · Susan Deacon: This information is not held centrally.

13 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many adverse health care events occurred in the NHSiS in each of the last three years and what percentage of these events had as one of their underlying causes a shortcoming in the provision of modern equipment.

Answer · Susan Deacon: This information is not held centrally.

13 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of their annual capital depreciation each NHS Trust's formula capital allocation for the financial year ended 31 March 2000 represents.

Answer · Susan Deacon: A Trust's annual capital depreciation charge is calculated on the estimated working lives of assets and formula capital allocation is only part of a Trust's potential capital investment, as a result, it is not possible to draw a meaningful comparison between …

13 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS Trusts received a formula capital allocation from it which was equal to or in excess of their annual capital depreciation in any of the last three financial years.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Given that each Trust has a formula capital allocation which forms only part of their annual capital spend and that depreciation is calculated over the estimated working life of an asset, it is not possible to produce meaningful comparisons between depreciati…

13 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the clinical or non-clinical mishaps or accidents in respect of which claims were made against NHS Trusts in the last five years the NHS Management Executive considers to have been avoidable; what type of interventions would have prevented these incidents, and what plan…

Answer · Susan Deacon: This information is not held centrally.

13 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many claims there were against the NHS Trusts in each health board area in respect of (a) clinical mishaps or accidents, (b) non-clinical mishaps or accidents in each of the last five years and what the total cost of these types of claims in each health board area was in terms of (i) …

Answer · Susan Deacon: Until 1 April 2000 health boards and Trusts were responsible for arranging their own cover for non-clinical incidents. As a result there is no central system that records non-clinical claims. This information can however be obtained directly from health board…

13 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the environment budget was not utilised in 1999-2000; how much of the end-year balance was originally allocated to water industry funding and how this end-year balance will be utilised in 2000-01.

Answer · Jack McConnell: A total of £4.685 million, excluding environment related expenditure by Local Authorities, was not utilised in 1999-2000. £4.4 million relates to the water industry funding and has been allocated in full to the water programme for the current year. Of the rem…

12 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give an interim estimate of any funding lost to Scotland due to the impact of currency fluctuations on the aggregate sterling value of EU funded programmes for each year since 1994 for which figures are available.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The aggregate sterling value of individual programmes can only be calculated when all projects are completed, and EU funding drawn down from the European Commission. These figures will not be available for the 1994-99 programmes until 2002. We estimate, howev…

12 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) public and (b) private owners of fishing rights derive income from angling.

Answer · John Home Robertson: This information is not held centrally. Salmon Fisheries Boards raise their income on the basis of the valuation of salmon fishing rights in their areas but such valuations do not necessarily reflect the value, or even the existence, of commercial lettings.

12 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) public and (b) private owners of fishing rights there are and where this information is publicly available.

Answer · John Home Robertson: This information is not publicly available.

12 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) public and (b) private proprietors of rivers there are and where this information is publicly available.

Answer · John Home Robertson: Information about the heritable property, including salmon fisheries, is held by the Registers of Scotland, but an analysis in the form requested is not available.

12 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) marine laboratories and (b) laboratories engaged in fishing research there are in Scotland, who owns each such laboratory and how each is funded.

Answer · John Home Robertson: There are five marine laboratories in Scotland as follows:<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Fisheries Research Services (FRS) Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, an Agency of the Scottish Executive (FRS also comprises the Freshwater Fisheries Laboratory at Faskally).<P ALIGN="JUST…

4 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-1926 by Mr Jack McConnell on 15 June 2000, whether the date for the next meeting of the British-Irish Council has now been set and when the decision on its location will be made.

Answer · Jim Wallace: As announced by the British and Irish Governments on 28 July, the Irish Government will host the next Summit meeting of the British-Irish Council in Dublin on Tuesday 31 October 2000.

4 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4815 by Mr Tom McCabe on 14 March 2000, on how many occasions since February 2000 it has asked back-bench MSPs to lodge parliamentary questions in order to enable it to make an announcement; whether it will provide a list of such questions, including…

Answer · Tom McCabe: It has been possible to identify the following 68 written parliamentary questions lodged between 29 February and 10 July as being inspired by the Executive, using the same methodology as set out in my answer to question S1W-5379 on 23 March 2000.<P ALIGN="JUS…

4 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings have been requested with it by members of the UK Parliament who are not members of the Scottish Parliament and how many of these meetings have taken place.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally.

4 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which Ministers have had meetings with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss the impact of fuel prices in Scotland, when any such meetings took place and what response was received.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Scottish Ministers are in regular contact with UK Ministers on a range of issues, including fuel prices.

4 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial assistance is available to fishery boards and other relevant bodies to improve river habitats with a view to encouraging an increase in wild fish stocks and whether it will detail any such awards and their recipients over the last three years for which figures are available.

Answer · John Home Robertson: Scottish Natural Heritage provides funding to fisheries boards, trusts and other fishery and angling bodies for a range of habitat improvement projects. Details of award during the last three financial years are provided below: Awards to other bodies are also…

4 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to extend the powers of fishery boards and if so, when and what the details of its plans are.

Answer · John Home Robertson: A consultation paper outlining proposals for possible legislation to enhance conservation of salmon was issued on 5 June. Against the background of worrying stock declines, the proposals envisage the extension of the management powers of District Salmon Fishe…

4 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to restrict the further sale of any land purchased under its proposed community right to buy legislation.

Answer · Angus MacKay: We have considered this matter which will be addressed in our draft Land Reform Bill.

4 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting times are for cancer treatment by cancer type, broken down by health board.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Cancer is one of the three clinical priorities for the NHS in Scotland. Reducing waiting times for investigation and treatment are a high priority within the Scottish Cancer Group's work programme.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Initial treatment for cancer can take place…

4 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to increase the number of linear accelerators to deliver radiotherapy for cancer treatment and, if so, what will be the number, costs and locations of the accelerators.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Cancer is one of three clinical priorities for the NHS in Scotland. We have already committed £13.2 million from the NHS Capital Modernisation Fund to provide state of the art linear accelerators and treatment planning computers for the delivery of radiothera…

4 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether charity shops are allowed to sell new goods and who is responsible for their regulation.

Answer · Angus MacKay: Yes, charity shops are allowed to sell new goods. In order to qualify for rates relief, charity shops must be wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes. To satisfy this condition the shop must be used wholly or mainly for the sale of goods donated to the …

21 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1652 by Henry McLeish on 11 May 2000, how many new posts are due to be created in the Department of Trade and Industry's Oil and Gas Directorate offices in (a) Aberdeen, (b) Glasgow and (c) elsewhere; how many of these posts are brand new jobs; where…

Answer · Henry McLeish: The precise nature of these posts is a matter for DTI.

20 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average age is of Scottish fishing vessels and how this compares with the average age of fishing vessels in other EU member states.

Answer · John Home Robertson: Data on the ages of active, Scottish-based fishing vessels are set out in Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics (table 5 and Annex A), the latest version of which was published in September 1999. Copies are available in SPICe and the Scottish Executive website.<P…

20 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent the eco-system influences the framing of sea fisheries management policy by the Executive and in Europe; whether any developments are likely in this regard, and whether it is aware of any relevant research being undertaken on the link between sea fisheries management and th…

Answer · John Home Robertson: The integration of fisheries and environment policies is being actively pursued within the European Union and the general principle of applying the Ecosystem approach to fisheries management is now widely accepted. The Scottish Executive supports moves to saf…

20 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made with the "Paths for All" initiative.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Paths for All Partnership was set up by Scottish Natural Heritage with the aim of achieving a significant increase in well-managed access provision close to where people live. An independent evaluation carried out last year of the first three years of the…

20 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment there has been of the impact of fuel costs on the fishing industry.

Answer · John Home Robertson: The Scottish Executive has carried out no such assessment.

15 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road accidents have occurred in the last five years on the Balmedie to Tipperty stretch of the A90.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: In the last five years (1995-99), 54 injury accidents have occurred on the A90 trunk road between Balmedie and Tipperty, details of which are given in the table below.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=595><TR><TD WIDTH="19%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIG…

15 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who the new chief executives of the water authorities are, what the current value is of their individual salaries and benefit packages and what the last place of employment and former job title was of each.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: All three chief executive appointments were made following open competition. Two new chief executives were appointed by the North and East of Scotland Water Authorities and will take up post in July 2000. West of Scotland Water Authority re-appointed their in…