Tommy Sheridan

20 Apr 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of public funds allocated to finance foster care placements has been spent on (a) local authority and (b) independent or private sector placements in each of the last five years.

Answer · Robert Brown: This information is not heldcentrally.</p>

22 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive to what groups of patients dentists are obliged to provide NHS treatment and whether this includes patients over 65.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Dentists are obliged to provideNHS dental treatment to patients they have registered under NHS arrangements. Generaldental practitioners who are independent contractors are not obliged to registerany patients or patient groups under NHS arrangements.</p>

22 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are on waiting lists, held by the dental access centres in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy, for registration with an NHS dentist in Fife.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The dental access centres inDunfermline and Kirkcaldy provide a range of treatments tounregistered patients. They do not register patients, and therefore have nowaiting lists for registration.</p>

22 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what basis grants and allowances for dentists to help with practice costs and improvements for the purpose of encouraging dentists to work for the NHS are allocated.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The conditions for payment differdepending on the type of grant or allowance. The various conditions are set downin the relevant Determination contained within the <i>Statement of Dental Remuneration</i>,a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament…

22 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23689 by Lewis Macdonald on 14 March 2006, within which NHS board areas the two further groups of Polish dentists will be placed.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: To date the NHS boards whichhave indicated that they would like to recruit dentists from Poland in the nexttwo phases are NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Borders, NHS Dumfries andGalloway, NHS Fife, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Lothian, NHS Orkney, NHS …

17 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to evaluate Sure Start Scotland.

Answer · Robert Brown: The Scottish Executive is currentlyseeking to learn transferable lessons from the evaluation of Sure Start in England priorto any formal evaluation of Sure Start in Scotland. A robust mapping exercise, published in December 2005,provided a detailed picture of…

17 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the purpose is of the Changing Children’s Services Fund and what sort of social work services it (a) funds and (b) does not fund.

Answer · Robert Brown: The Changing Children’sServices Fund was established to help local authorities and their partners, includingNHS boards and the voluntary sector, deliver better outcomes for children andyoung people through improving the integration and effectiveness of locals…

17 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the purpose is of Sure Start funding and what sort of social work services it (a) funds and (b) does not fund.

Answer · Robert Brown: The purpose of Sure Start Scotland fundingis to give children the best possible start in life through the improvement of theirsocial and emotional development, health and ability to learn, and through the strengtheningof their families and communities.</p><p>…

17 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how Grant Aided Expenditure has grown to accommodate the (a) rise in demand, (b) rise in costs and (c) addition of new responsibilities in children’s social work services.

Answer · Robert Brown: The total Grant Aided Expenditure(GAE) is £8.7 billion in 2005-06 and will be £9 billion in 2006-07, and £9.2 billionin 2007-08.</p><p>The GAE figures are used to distributegrant to local authorities on the basis of need.</p><p>Comparison between GAE for chil…

17 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what children’s social work services are funded by Grant Aided Expenditure.

Answer · Robert Brown: Details of the Grant Aided Expenditure(GAE) assessments for Children’s Social Work Services are set out in Grant AidedExpenditure (the <i>Green Book</i>) for each financial year and these are availablein the Scottish Parliament Information Centre  (Bib. numbe…

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households are currently in fuel poverty and how many it estimates will be in fuel poverty in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not available.The most up-to-date estimates of fuel poverty available are for 2003-04. These willbe published on 31 March 2006.</p>

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish citizens currently study full time in (a) higher education institutions and (b) further education colleges; how many in each category receive student grants, and what the average level is of these grants.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Student support administeredby the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) is available to Scottish studentsstudying at higher education (HE) level in higher education institutions or colleges.The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) administers bursaries to Scot…

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what average debt burden is borne by graduating students in Scotland and whether it holds this information broken down by specific degree categories.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: This information is containedin the survey report <i>Higher and Further Education Students’ Income, Expenditureand Debt 2004-05</i>, published by the Scottish Executive in November 2005.</p><p>The average debt on graduationof Scottish undergraduate students e…

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many social workers are employed by each local authority; what full-time equivalent shortages exist in each local authority; how many social workers are due to retire in the next five years; how many individuals are currently training to become social workers, and what action the Exec…

Answer · Robert Brown: The number of social workersemployed by local authorities and the number of vacancies as at January 2006 isavailable at <ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/06165620/0">http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/06165620/0</a>.It is no…

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost is to (a) local authorities and (b) socially registered landlords of building an average three-bedroom house with an appropriate garden space.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not heldcentrally.</p>

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what Glasgow Housing Association’s current level of debt is and what its projected debt levels are for each of the next five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>GHA currently has no loan debt.Based on GHA’s 2006-07 Business Plan the projected debt levels for each of the nextfive years are as follows:</…

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average rent level is in the (a) social rented and (b) local authority sector and what the average monthly mortgage payment is in (i) Glasgow and (ii) Scotland.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: In 2004-05 the average weeklysecure rent of registered social landlords was £48.54 in Scotland and£50.19 in Glasgow. The average local authority rent for Scotland was£42.64.</p><p>The median monthly mortgage paymentof the 6,871 respondents to the Scottish Hou…

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new homes will be built in the (a) social rented and (b) local authority sector in each of the next five years and how many were built in each sector in each year since 1997.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive does notproduce projections of new build. Over the current three year investment period(2005-08) the Executive is committed to funding the provision of 21,500 affordablehomes, just over 16,500 of which will be for social rent.</p><p>Fig…

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many homes in Glasgow are (a) privately owned, (b) privately rented and (c) rented within the housing association sector and how many individuals and/or families are currently (i) registered as homeless and (ii) on housing association and/or council house waiting lists in (1) Glasgow …

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: As at 31 March 2005, therewere an estimated 293,900 dwellings in Glasgow of which 120,195 were housing association dwellings inGlasgow. The Scottish Executive does not hold sufficient information to providereliable estimates of the number of privately rented …

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was available to Glasgow City Council to spend on council housing in each of the five years before wholescale housing stock transfer; what level of funding has been available to the Glasgow Housing Association since stock transfer, and what proportion of the budget of each organi…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: It is not possible toquantify the total amount available for investment in the housing stock as bothGlasgow City Council and the Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) have used rentalincome to part fund their capital programmes.</p><p>Since the housing stocktrans…

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much (a) was spent on repairing, renovating, building and otherwise improving Glasgow City Council’s housing stock in each of the five financial years before wholescale housing stock transfer and (b) has been spent by Glasgow Housing Association in each year since transfer expressed i…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Direct comparisons cannot alwaysbe made between Glasgow City Council (GCC) and the Glasgow Housing Association(GHA) with regard to specific items of expenditure (see footnote to the followingtable).</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=579> <…

9 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many homes in the (a) local authority, (b) social rented and (c) private rented sector fail to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard and what action is being taken, and within what timescale, to bring these homes up to the Scottish Housing Quality Standard.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>The most reliable source of figurescurrently available for the Scottish Housing Quality Standard is the 2002 ScottishHouse Condition Survey. I…

6 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to change the recording of certain drugs-related deaths to culpable homicide.

Answer · Hugh Henry: There are no plans to changethe recording of drug-related deaths to culpable homicide. The investigation andcharging of individuals connected to a drugs-related death is a matter for the policeand the Procurator Fiscal Service.</p>

3 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many drug-related deaths in the last five years have been recorded as culpable homicide.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The available information isgiven in the table.</p><p>Victims in Homicide Cases Currently¹Recorded as Culpable Homicide²:</p><p>Number Recorded as Being onDrugs, 2000-01 to 2004-05</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <tr> <t…

3 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the definition of culpable homicide is within Scots Law.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Under the existing common law,an individual can be found guilty of the crime of culpable homicide in a varietyof circumstances and, consequently, there is no single, all-encompassing definitionof this crime. However, generally speaking, there are two forms of…

3 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether deaths recorded as a result of drug overdose or misuse are legally registered as drug-related.

Answer · George Lyon: The General Register Office forScotland (GROS) classifies all deaths registered in Scotland usingthe Tenth Revision of the World Health Organisation’s International StatisticalClassification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD10). This classification…

3 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths have been recorded as a result of drug overdose or misuse in each of the last five years.

Answer · George Lyon: The information requested isgiven in the following table.</p><p>Deaths Resulting from DrugOverdose or Misuse, Scotland</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td nowrap valign=bottom> <p align=right>2000</p> </td> <td nowrap val…

2 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has evaluated the Youthstart employment scheme for young people leaving care operated in South Lanarkshire and whether it considers that such schemes should be promoted and adopted across all local authorities.

Answer · Allan Wilson: I am aware of the excellent workcarried out by the Youthstart employment initiative in South Lanarkshire. It was previously a successful New Futures Fund (NFF) project that SouthLanarkshire Council agreed to fund from April 2005. Although the Executive has no…

2 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many employment quota schemes designed to create job opportunities for young people leaving care are operated by local authorities and whether the Executive specifically encourages, endorses or finances such schemes.

Answer · Allan Wilson: We do not hold information centrallyabout these schemes. Whilst not specifically endorsing “employment quota schemes”,the Executive has funded a number of supported employment pilots, delivered by CareersScotland. These have been targeted at young people not …

1 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Health and Safety Executive on whetherovercrowding on FirstScotrail trains is a breach of health and safety regulations.

Answer · Tavish Scott: No formal discussions have takenplace between the Scottish Executive and the Health and Safety Executive on thistopic as First ScotRail are not considered to be in breach of health and safetyregulations on this issue.</p>