Jackson Carlaw

28 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions in the last year ferries between Ardrossan and Brodick were (a) cancelled but excluded from the route’s reliability figures, (b) cancelled and included in the route’s reliability figures, (c) delayed but excluded from the route’s punctuality figures and (d) delayed a…

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: CalMac FerriesLtd has provided the following figures relating to the year ending 31 August2007:</p><p>(a) sailingscancelled but excluded from the route’s reliability figures – 113</p><p>(b) sailingscancelled and included in the route’s reliability figures – 2…

28 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances it will allow cancelled or delayed Caledonian MacBrayne ferries to be excluded from reliability and punctuality figures.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Public ServiceContract between the Scottish ministers and CalMac Ferries Ltd for the deliveryof the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services includes a PerformanceRegime which penalises the operator if it does not operate services to the prescribedtimetables. Ho…

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when people whose jobs or community services rely on the Community Regeneration Fund will be advised about its future.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-4721 on 22 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an assurance that the Community Regeneration Fund will not be cancelled or have its budget cut.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: Decisions about theCommunity Regeneration Fund will be taken by ministers in the context of the imminentStrategic Spending Review. An announcement about the Spending Review will be madein due course.</p>

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to increase the availability of residential care for people suffering from acute dementia.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Governmenthas identified the needs of people with dementia as a priority. We are discussingwith key stakeholders how we respond in a co-ordinated way to the needs of the growingnumbers of people with dementia.</p><p>It is the responsibilityof loc…

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps is it taking to increase the support available to people suffering from dementia.

Answer · Shona Robison: Improvingservices for those with dementia and their carers is a priority for the Scottish Government and further options for change and improvement are beingexplored through the <i>Better Health, Better Care</i> consultation which runsto 12 November 2007. The…

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which categories of people qualify for concessionary travel on Caledonian MacBrayne ferries.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The categories ofpeople who qualify for concessionary travel on CalMac Ferries Limited’sservices are as follows:</p><p>blind people;</p><p>children, and</p><p>disabled people.</p><p>people holding:</p><p>Some categories of British Rail Identity andTravel Faci…

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average class size has been in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Information onaverage primary class size is collected and published each year in “Pupils in Scotland” and, prior to 2003, in the “Summary Results of theSchool Census”. These are available in the Scottish Parliament InformationCentre (Bib. numbers 20194, 20197…

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers there have been in each year since 1979, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The available informationis given in the following table. The figures show the number of police officerswithin each police force on a headcount basis from 1979 to 1999, and on a wholetime equivalent basis from 2000 onwards.</p><p>Number of PoliceOfficers by F…

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of childhood obesity has been in each year since 1987, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Shona Robison: The specific informationrequested is not centrally available.</p><p>However, estimatesof childhood obesity derived from a sample of children aged two to 15 years, areavailable at Scotland level for the years 1998 and 2003 from the Scottish Health Survey 2003 …

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many births were recorded in each year since 1987, broken down by maternity unit.

Answer · Jim Mather: The information requested is given in the table <i>Births by maternity unit, Scotland, 1987 –2006</i> a copy of which is availablein the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43824).</p>

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been adopted at birth in each year since 1987, expressed also as a percentage of total births for each year.

Answer · Jim Mather: Adoption “at birth”is impossible, because an adoption order can only be granted by a court after acomplex assessment process, and the mother’s agreement to offer a child for adoptionis not valid if given less than six weeks after the child’s birth. It is rare…

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of sexually transmitted infections there have been in each year since 1967, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Shona Robison: The specific datarequested is not available at local authority level as there is insufficient postcodedetail recorded. However, diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) fromScottish Genito-Urinary Medicine (GUM) clinics are available at Scotland le…

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teenage pregnancies there have been in each year since 1967, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Shona Robison: The specific datarequested are not available from 1967 at local authority level as there is insufficientpostcode detail recorded in the earlier years. However, teenage pregnancy data areavailable from 1983 by council area. This information can be found in the…

27 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many abortions have been carried out in each year since 1967, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Shona Robison: The specific datarequested is not available from 1967 at local authority level as there is insufficientpostcode detail recorded in the earlier years. However, abortion data is availablefrom 1983 by local council area. This information is available in the Scot…

20 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken, or intends to take, to encourage the greater use of biodiesel.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Biodiesel as a blendedtransport fuel with standard fossil and mineral diesel is already sold in outletsacross the UK without the need for separate labelling orpumps. The biofuel component of blended fuels will increase to 5% as part of theRenewable Transport …

19 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has given to NHS boards on whether it is acceptable to fine outpatients whose hospital car parking tickets have expired as a result of treatment taking longer than anticipated or appointments being delayed.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The ScottishGovernment has issued no guidance to NHS boards on the issuing of fines to out-patientsor any other hospital car park user. The management of hospital car parks is alocal matter for NHS boards, in line with current guidance issued by theprevious a…

19 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that cancer patients and others who receive regular treatment in NHS hospitals are exempt from hospital car parking charges.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The currentguidance to NHS boards on hospital car park charging states that boards mustprovide free parking to certain categories of patients, such as those on longerterm treatments including radiotherapy and chemotherapy.</p><p>The management ofhospital car …

19 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact of hospital car parking charges on people attending casualty units at short notice to be with friends or family suffering from life-threatening conditions resulting from acute illness or involvement in serious accidents.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: By introducinghospital car park charges, NHS boards can better manage car parks and greatlyimprove the availability of parking spaces for patients, visitors and carersattending hospitals.</p><p>The currentguidance on hospital car park charging states that boa…

19 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact of hospital car parking charges on residents living near hospitals where charges have been introduced.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Noassessment has been made by the Scottish Government on the impact of hospitalcar parking charges on residents living near hospitals. The introduction of car parking charges, orthe revision of existing arrangements, is a matter for NHS boards in light ofloca…

12 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of all its funded public relations and marketing campaigns in each year since 1999, also showing how much of each campaign’s annual spend was paid to external public relations and marketing agencies.

Answer · John Swinney: the Scottish Executive put in place a framework contract for Public Relations (PR)on the 1 August 2004. Prior to this, all PR workwas sub-contracted by the creative advertising agencies on the ScottishGovernment contract. Since the 1 August 2004 the following…

12 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many drug deaths there have been since 1997, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The figures in thefollowing table on the numbers of drug-related deaths in Scotland since 1997 were compiled by the General Register Officefor Scotland (GROS).</p><p>Information on theproportion that led to a custodial sentence is not available as court proce…

12 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority has spent on communications to residents in each year since 1999 in (a) cash and (b) real terms.

Answer · John Swinney: The information requestedis not held centrally. Information on the expenditure of local authorities is collectedannually via Local Financial Returns (LFRs). However, the LFR returns do not collectinformation at the level of detail requested.</p>

12 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes and offences have been committed in each year since 1992 and, of these, what proportion led to a custodial sentence (a) nationally and (b) broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The number of crimesand offences recorded by the police are shown in the following tables. The statisticsdealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable asa person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more t…

12 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prison places have been available in each Scottish parliamentary region or equivalent in each year since 1979.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked MikeEwart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>A table showingthe average annual prisoner population across all sites since 1979 has beenplaced in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre…

12 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have absconded while under escort in each year since 1987.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked MikeEwart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The following tableillustrates the number of incidents recorded where a prisoner has escaped whilebeing escorted from an SPS establishme…

12 Sep 2007 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it appropriate for staff working in the NHS to pay car parking charges at their places of work.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The introductionof car park charging for staff, patients, visitors and carers is a local matterfor NHS boards.</p><p>On Friday 14 September 2007, I announced that the Scottish Governmentwould be reviewing hospital car parking charges. The review group will re…

7 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost of governing Scotland has been in each year from 1979 to 2007 in (a) cash and (b) real terms.

Answer · John Swinney: Since Devolution,the cost of governing Scotland could be deemed to comprise a number ofdifferent elements, including: the cost of running the Scottish Parliament(further information can be found within the Scottish Parliamentary CorporateBody’s accounts); a p…

7 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the recent outbreak of E. coli O157 in Paisley, what plans it has to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents of food poisoning across Scotland.

Answer · Shona Robison: An expert group,under the Chairmanship of Professor Hugh Pennington, was established inDecember 1996 to examine the circumstances which led to the e.coli outbreak incentral Scotland and to advise on the implications for food safety and lessonsto be learned. T…

7 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken, or plans to take, as a result of the BBC's Whistleblower programme on 22 May 2007 which highlighted health and safety concerns relating to supermarkets selling food products beyond their sell-by date.

Answer · Shona Robison: I have beenadvised by the Food Standards Agency that the supermarkets concerned in the BBCprogramme were not based in Scotland and therefore were not under the directresponsibility of any Scottish local authority environmental health department.</p><p>It is t…