Parliamentary questions
Stewart Maxwell
854 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
30 Jan 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money EventScotland secured in sponsorship from the private sector in each of the last three financial years.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Private sector sponsorshipfor events supported by EventScotland has provided welcome support to manyevents in the past three years. However, this support is often provided on avalue-in-kind basis or the level of sponsorship is not made available toEventScotla…
30 Jan 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the EventScotland budget was in each of the last three years.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The budget available to EventScotlandin each of the last three years was £3 million in 2004-05, rising to £5 millionin both 2005-06 and 2006-07.</p>
30 Jan 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which projects received funding from EventScotland and how much each received from (a) EventScotland, (b) other public sector agencies and (c) the private sector in each of the last three financial years.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: EventScotland has provided informationon awards they have made to events and also by partners. This information hasbeen placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 41886).</p><p>Private sector support,however, is often provided on a valu…
11 Jan 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what total health expenditure was in purchasing power parities per capita in each year since 1999, expressed in US dollars and calculated on the same basis as the World Health Organization’s European health for all database.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The Information Services Division(ISD) have been working on producing Scottish data which are equivalent to thatpresented in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) European Health for All database.The current version covers around 80% of the indicators include…
3 Jan 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29249 by Hugh Henry on 7 November 2006, what expertise is required to be a proficient person under the terms of Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Care Homes and how the circumstances under which a greater level of knowledge and expertise is required…
Answer · Johann Lamont: Anyone with any degree ofcontrol over premises covered by the new fire safety regime (as introduced on 1October 2006 by Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended, and theFire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006) must, to the extent of that control,ass…
12 Dec 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the General Register Office for Scotland will publish the number of Scottish Parliament electors on the Electoral Register at 1 December 2006, listed by Scottish parliamentary (a) constituency and (b) region, also showing the number of relevant electors broken down by (i) UK parli…
Answer · George Lyon: Statistics on the number of UKParliament electors by UK parliamentary constituency and local government electorsby local government area will be published on 22 February 2007. The GeneralRegister Office for Scotland are currently collating information on the …
3 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assurances will be in place to ensure that programmes arising from its new digital inclusion strategy are targeted towards those groups most socially excluded, such as elderly people, disabled people and people on low and fixed incomes, to enable them to benefit from the programmes.
Answer · George Lyon: In developing the revised digitalinclusion strategy, the Scottish Executive will take on board the findings fromthe review of the initiatives implemented under the previous strategy, which confirmedthe earlier identified target groups were still relevant in r…
3 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its new digital inclusion strategy.
Answer · George Lyon: The new strategy is being developedfollowing a wide ranging consultation with practitioners, citizens and policy makersand is on track to be finalised at the end of 2006. The strategy will include anaction plan which will seek to address the issues from the c…
26 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the findings of the review of Sport 21, the national strategy for sport, will be made available to the public.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: I expect a new sports strategyfor Scotland to be published early in the New Year.</p>
24 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what qualifications are required for someone to be considered to be a proficient person under the terms of Practical Fire Safety Guidance for Care Homes.
Answer · Hugh Henry: <i>Practical Fire Safety Guidancefor Care Homes</i> is the first in a seriesof fire safety guides being produced by the Scottish Executive to assist those withresponsibilities under Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, as amended.Part 3 introduced a new fi…
18 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to promote Scotland's music industry at home and abroad.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: A very wide variety of ways areused to promote Scotland’s music industry at home and abroad by the Scottish Executiveand its agencies. Examples include:</p><p>Scottish Enterprise: theMusicwise project, in partnership with the Musicians Union, helps musicians …
18 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which ministerial portfolio Creative Scotland will come under.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Creative Scotland, likeits predecessors, the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen will form part of the responsibilities of the Tourism, Culture and Sport portfolio.</p>
10 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the report on General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS) commissioned by the e-Health strategy group which was due to report in June 2006 will be published.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The consultants gave an initialreport on their emerging findings to the eHealth Strategy Board on 28 June. Theboard asked for further work and consultation, which will be completed shortly.The final report will be available when that work is complete.</p>
10 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the scheduled General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS) releases for the next six months.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The releases scheduled with datesat current time are as follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=249 valign=top> <p align=center>Release</p> </td> <td width=110 valign=top> <p align=center>Due Date</p> </td>…
10 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the new clinical domains in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) introduced in the GP contract for 2006-07, also indicating which required additional data capture on the General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS) and the date on which this additio…
Answer · Andy Kerr: The new clinical domains inthe Quality and Outcomes Framework for 2006-07 are atrial fibrillation, chronickidney disease, dementia, depression, mental health and palliative care. </p><p>All of these new domainsrequired additional data capture functionality.</…
10 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which of the four Directed Enhanced Services (DES) to be provided by GPs in the 2006-07 contract require additional data entry capture on the General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS) and on which date this additional functionality was implemented for each DES.
Answer · Andy Kerr: IT functionality is requiredfor three of the four enhanced services rolled-out in 2006-07. Specificallythese services are (a) CVD risk register (b) people with learning disabilitiesand (c) carers. </p><p>The following table shows ITimplementation dates for ea…
10 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive on how many and what percentage of hours between 8 am and 6 pm on Mondays through to Fridays in the last two years the General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS) has been “down” and therefore unavailable to GPs.
Answer · Andy Kerr: GPASS does not manage local GPASSservers and hence details of down-time are not recorded by the supplier GPASS. However,over the past two years there have been 441 calls to helpdesk noting local serversystem down. This represents less than one incident per pr…
10 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list any known faults with the General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS), broken down by GPASS version, and indicate which of these faults could compromise patient (a) safety and (b) confidentiality.
Answer · Andy Kerr: There are no known faults inGPASS version 5.7, the latest version of the software, which could affect patientsafety or confidentiality. Version 5.4 had a known fault which could affect patientsafety of clinical notes in certain rare circumstances but this has…
10 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many GP practices have the (a) latest version and (b) earlier versions of the General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS), broken down by GPASS version.
Answer · Andy Kerr: According to GPASS records, of the 857 GP practices in Scotland using GPASS, 818 use the latest version 5.7, 38 use version5.6, zero use 5.5 and 1 uses version 5.4.</p>
10 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of GP practices use the General Practice Administration System for Scotland (GPASS).
Answer · Andy Kerr: The number of GP practices usingthe GPASS system stands at 857, which represents 83% of Scottish practices.</p>
3 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in order to inform its policy on smoking, it holds information on the amount of nicotine contained in each of the 10 leading brands of cigarettes and, if so, what that amount is and whether the amount in any of those brands has increased in the last five years.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Executive does not collectinformation on the amount of nicotine contained in cigarettes. Responsibility forcollecting and testing tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yields in cigarettes underArticle 5 of the Tobacco Products (Manufacture, Presentation and …
12 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to S2W-27685 by Mr Tom McCabe on 7 September 2006, what additional controls and reporting mechanisms were put in place to compensate for the lack of a designated budget against which to monitor project spending in respect of the criminal history system replacement p…
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: When the Scottish Executivebecame aware that the replacement system would not be delivered by March 2004 anumber of steps were taken to improve management of the project.</p><p>Firstly, Scottish Police InformationStrategy (SPIS) was brought within the governa…
12 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to S2W-27685 by Mr Tom McCabe on 7 September 2006, who made the decision that the criminal history system replacement project could proceed beyond the planning stage without a budget being set.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-28313 on 26 September 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliaments website, the search facility forwhich can be found at: <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/…
12 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to S2W-27685 by Mr Tom McCabe on 7 September 2006, why no budget was set for the criminal history system replacement project, given that it followed the Prince methodology.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: At that time the CriminalHistory System Replacement Project Board was responsible for the management of the Criminal History Replacement Project under the oversight of the ScottishPolice Information Strategy (SPIS) Programme Board.</p>
28 Aug 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to continue allowing Alimta to be prescribed to patients who have mesothelioma.
Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-27982 on 13 September 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webap…
28 Aug 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS Quality Improvement Scotland will issue guidance on Alimta following the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence’s rejection of the drug for use in cases of mesothelioma.
Answer · Andy Kerr: NICE is currentlyconsidering appeals against their Final Appraisal Determination beforepublishing firm advice for Pemetrexed (Alimta®) disodium for the treatment ofmalignant pleura mesothelioma.</p><p>Once published this will beconsidered by NHS Quality Impro…
28 Aug 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Medicines Consortium approved Alimta for use in cases of mesothelioma.
Answer · Andy Kerr: On 8 July 2005 the ScottishMedicines Consortium accepted Pemetrexed (Alimta®) in combination withcisplatin for restricted use within NHS Scotland for the treatment ofchemotherapy-naïve patients with stage II/IV unresectable malignant pleuralmesothelioma.</p>
28 Aug 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have been prescribed Alimta for mesothelioma in the last year, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested isnot held centrally. This is a matter for NHS boards.</p>
28 Aug 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been discharged from hospital with a diagnosis of mesothelioma in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The following table contains the number of patients discharged with a main diagnosis of mesothelioma from hospitals in Scotland by health board of residence for the five financial years (ending 31 March) to 2004-05:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpaddin…
28 Aug 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have mesothelioma, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information is publishedon the Scottish Health Statistics website under:</p><p><ahref="http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/files/cancer_mesothelioma_inc.xls">http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/files/cancer_mesothelioma_inc.xls</a>.</p><p>Source: ISD Scotland.</p><…