Tommy Sheridan

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it would be required to pay the Inland Revenue as a collecting agent if the Parliament decides to use its tax-varying powers.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Yes.</p>

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the annual (a) gross and (b) net revenue that would be generated if the Parliament used its power to increase general taxation by (i) one pence, (ii) two pence and (iii) three pence in the pound and what the estimated annual cost of applying such a tax increase wou…

Answer · Andy Kerr: Asthe Executive has made it clear that is has no plans to use the power to varythe rate of income tax in either the last or this Parliament, we have notcommissioned our own estimates. </p><p>HM Treasury publish anannual estimate as part of the <i>Financial St…

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the take-up for the MMR triple vaccine has been in Glasgow for each of the last five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: In each of the last five yearsMMR uptake figures in the area served by NHS Greater Glasgow were:</p><table class=MsoTableGrid border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Year</p> </td> <td> <p>% Uptake of One Dose of MMR at Age Two…

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the trend for road traffic offences to increase and what action it is taking to address this issue.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The overall number of road trafficoffences recorded by the police in Scotland is lower in 2002 than in each of the previous three years.Between 1999 and 2002, the number of offences fell by 3%. There were decreases incareless driving offences, speeding offenc…

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider offering single vaccination clinics to parents as an alternative to the MMR triple vaccine in light of the reduction in triple vaccine take-up over the last five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2W-989 on 14 July 2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/…

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information is available regarding waiting times for a first out-patient appointment with a consultant following a referral.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information on recorded waitingtimes for a first out-patient appointment with a Consultant, following referralby a general medical or dental practitioner, is collected centrally andpublished quarterly by ISD Scotland on the NHSScotland Acute Activity, Waiting…

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated annual cost would be of providing a dedicated physical and recreational educational instructor in every primary school and whether it will promote the provision of 60 minutes of physical and recreational education a day within each primary school.

Answer · Peter Peacock: In order to teach in educationauthority primary schools, it is necessary to hold a teaching qualification andbe registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Basedon the final point of the unpromoted teachers scale, the annual salary costs associ…

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to establish an independent review into local government finance; whether the remit of such a review will include looking at various methods of raising revenue to pay for local government jobs and services; how long it envisages such an independent review will take to comp…

Answer · Andy Kerr: We are discussing the independentreview into local government finance with COSLA. The timing, remit and format of the review will be decided in the light of those discussions.</p>

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have served prison sentences related to illegal drugs use or supply in each of the last four years, broken down by the specific drug involved

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>We do not collect informationon the specific drug involved in any drug offence. We also do not have any informationavailable on the number …

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prison officers have been employed in each prison in each of the last four years, broken down into (a) part-time and (b) full-time staff, and whether there are recommended numbers of officers for each prison, based on health and safely requirements and prisoner numbers, and, if s…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is contained inthe following table:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td rowspan="2"> <p> </p> </td> <td colspan="3"> <p>…

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have been held in each of Scotland's prisons in each of the last four years, broken down into remand and convicted prisoners.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>The requested informationhas been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number: 29263).</p>

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners had to "slop out" in each of the last four years, and in which institutions "slopping out" has taken place over this period.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The number of prisoners is notrecorded. The establishments that have required prisoners to “slop out” in the lastfour years are: all of HM …

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the capacity of each of Scotland's prisons is, specifying how much of this capacity is for single cell and multiple occupancy cell use.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The figures in the followingtable are for the period ending 31 March 2003. </p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpaddi…

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an assessment of existing roads which (a) require urgent upgrade and improvements and (b) would significantly benefit from upgrades and improvement and how demand for funding for such upgrade and improvement has related to available funding for each of the last fo…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The condition of the trunk roadnetwork is assessed annually by manual road condition surveys. The current conditionof the network is shown in table 5.5 of <i>Scottish Transport Statistics</i>, No.22, 2003 Edition. The targets for the condition of the network …

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to invest public money to facilitate new and regular ferry links from Scotland to Europe; whether any such investment is affected by European Union state aid rules, and whether it has investigated the potential boost to the tourist industry and improvements in cultural a…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: We recognise the benefits thatmay result from additional ferry links to mainland Europe and weare committed under the Partnership Agreement to improving those links. Any additionalservices would have to be commercially viable and we could not, under European …

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide encouragement and funding to local authorities to fund people who provide foster care for their grandchildren and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Answer · Euan Robson: I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2O-221 on 19 June2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/sch/sear…

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to establish a commission to investigate an opt-out system for organ retention to replace the current system and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Transplant Groupconsidered the possibility of an opt-out system for organ donation when developingits <i>Organ Donation Strategy for Scotland</i>. The group concluded, however, thatthere is no strong evidence that a system of opting out leads to …

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the number of lives lost through the unavailability of organs for transplant over the last five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested isset out in the following table. The figures relate to Scottish patients on the waitinglists for all organs.</p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>1998</p> </td> <td> <p…

12 Sep 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many citi'ens were registered as waiting for organ transplants, broken down by organ, in each of the last five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information, which relatesto the transplant units in Scotland, is set out in the following table. The figures do notinclude Scottish residents waiting for a lung or heart-lung transplant, as theyare included on the Newcastle waiting list.</p><table class=…

20 Jun 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs it funds directly and indirectly; of these, how many jobs were in non-departmental public bodies, specifying which bodies, and how many, and which, jobs attracted an annual salary of (a) #50,000-100,000, (b) #100,001-150,000, (c) #150,001-200,000 and (d) over #200,000.

Answer · Tavish Scott: At 1 July 2003, the Scottish Executive, its agencies and associated departments employed 15,632 full-time equivalent permanent staff. Information on numbers of jobs and salary structures for non-departmental public bodies (NDPB) is primarily a matter for indi…

19 Jun 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pensioners have (a) had a central heating system installed under its Central Heating Installation Programme, (b) qualified for a central heating system under the programme and are awaiting its installation and (c) been refused a central heating system under the programme because …

Answer · Mary Mulligan: There are three parts to the Scottish Executive Central Heating Installation Programme. The programme for the over 60s who own their own homes or rent in the private sector which is managed by Eaga, the local authority programme which is managed by individual…

19 Jun 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people suffer from dementia; what early intervention services are available across Scotland; how much money has been allocated to dealing with diagnosis, treatment and research into dementia in each of the last three years, and how much has been allocated for each of the next two…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested on the prevalence of dementia is not held centrally. However, it is estimated that there are 60-70,000 people with dementia in Scotland and information collected routinely by Information and Statistics Division of NHSScotland showed …

12 Jun 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) women between the ages of 50 and 60 and (b) men between the ages of 50 and 65 are currently not in full-time employment.

Answer · Jim Wallace: In Scotland, there are 231,000 women between the ages of 50 and 60 not working in full-time employment and 199,000 men between the ages of 50 and 65 not working in full-time employment.

12 Jun 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many people between the age of 16 to 65 are currently in receipt of incapacity and disability payments.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The provision of disability and invalidity benefits is a reserved matter and is for the Department of Work and Pensions. The Executive has no functions in relation to the provision of benefits and holds no information on the numbers of people in receipt of th…

12 Jun 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current rate is of unemployment.

Answer · Jim Wallace: According to the Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate for Scotland was 5.8% for the three months up to April 2003.

14 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fire service staff have (a) been recruited and (b) retired in each of the last four years, broken down by fire brigade, and how many full-time equivalent vacancies there are in each brigade.

Answer · Hugh Henry: Statistics are obtained on an annual basis and have yet to be collated for 2002-03. The following table relates to full-time firefighters over the period 1998-2002.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=612><TR><TD WIDTH="12%" VALIGN="TOP" ROWSPAN=2>…

14 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the Fire Brigades Union in Strathclyde's statement in its letter of 12 March 2003 to all MSPs that a reduction in crew levels would be a danger to the public and front-line firefighters.

Answer · Hugh Henry: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-34694 today. 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/webapp/searc…

14 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for any reductions in crew levels of front line appliances attending fire call-outs in the Strathclyde Fire Brigade area.

Answer · Hugh Henry: This is primarily an operational matter for the Firemaster in consultation with his Fire Authority. The nationally recommended standard is five crew on the first pumping appliance and four crew on any subsequent pumping appliance. There are agreed risk assess…

12 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS trusts have a shortfall between the number of employees and the actual full-time establishment in both nursing and ancillary areas and what any such shortfalls are, broken down by trust.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: Information on the number of employees and the full-time establishment for nursing in each NHS trust is available in table E17 on the ISD website:<P><A HREF="http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/NHSiS_resource/Workforce/workforce_statistics.htm">http://www.show.sc…

12 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS trusts do not make any allowances in their staffing establishments for sickness and absence levels.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: The information requested is not held centrally.