Carolyn Leckie

19 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what clinical basis the arrangements that are in place between the First Minister’s residence and NHS 24 were introduced.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the question S2W-22508 answered on 1 February 2006. 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/webap…

19 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the procedure in place in respect of the arrangements between the First Minister’s residence and NHS 24.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Arrangements have been in place prior to devolution to ensure the provision of appropriate medical assistance where necessary for people attending Bute House, which is used for overnight stays as well as for regular Scottish Executive business. These arrangem…

18 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21675 by Mr Tom McCabe on 17 January 2006, what other changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme it has decided to approve.

Answer · Tom McCabe: No further changes have been approved at present.</p>

17 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21512 by Tavish Scott on 19 December 2005, by what method the identities of the concessionaire company and those of its principal shareholders were officially published in 1995 when tolling at the Skye Bridge first commenced.

Answer · Tavish Scott: These details were not published when tolling began. There was no statutory requirement to do so.</p>

17 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21513 by Colin Boyd QC on 19 December 2005 and if Crown Production 16 was a “relevant document in establishing the legality of the tolling regime” at the Skye Bridge, whether it is satisfied that the convictions secured in the 20 months prior to its …

Answer · Colin Boyd: I am satisfied that convictions secured prior to the introduction of Crown Production 16 are safe.</p> <p>The Appeal Court made clear in their decision of 16 December 1999 that while Production 16 was a relevant document, what was subcontracted under the Oper…

17 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21513 by Colin Boyd QC on 19 December 2005, whether Crown Production 16 in respect of the Skye Bridge was an official document issued by an Executive department and, if so, which department.

Answer · Colin Boyd: Crown Production 16 was provided to the Crown by Skye Bridge Limited.</p>

17 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21513 by Colin Boyd QC on 19 December 2005, in what legal capacity Crown Production 16 was a “relevant document in establishing the legality of the tolling regime” at the Skye Bridge.

Answer · Colin Boyd: Production number 16 was relevant, as it made clear that the Secretary of State was aware of the existence of the Operations and Maintenance Agreement.</p> <p>I also refer to the answer to question S2W-22390 on 30 January 2006. All answers to written parliame…

17 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21512 by Tavish Scott on 19 December 2005, whether the Permit to Use incorporates the transfer of entitled rights from the Secretary of State to the Skye Bridge concessionaire in order to operate the tolling regime in respect of charging and collecti…

Answer · Tavish Scott: No. The assignation of the thenSecretary of States right to charge and collect tolls was contained in theconcession agreement relating to the Skye crossing.</p>

17 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21512 by Tavish Scott on 19 December 2005, whether there is any need for the Skye Bridge concessionaire to be in possession of an assignation statement identifying the concessionaire, regardless of when such a document is handed over.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Yes. Copies of both the Skye Bridge Assignation Statement and the subsequent Concession Agreement assigning the then Secretary of State’s right to charge and collect tolls at the bridge, were held by the concessionaire.</p>

17 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21510 by Tavish Scott on 19 December 2005, why it considers that there was no requirement for the statutory identification statement publicising the assignation of ministerial rights in relation to the Skye Bridge Toll Order to be signed or dated.

Answer · Tavish Scott: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-16388 on 20 May 2005. 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/wa…

17 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the UK Government has advised the Executive (a) which documents associated with the contamination of blood products have been destroyed, (b) in what format such documents were held, (c) where they were held and (d) by what process or mechanism they were destroyed and what explanat…

Answer · Andy Kerr: The UK Government has not provided the Executive with any information beyond the explanation released publicly that files were destroyed due to being incorrectly archived after the HIV litigation process in the early 1990s.</p>

17 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what role or input the UK Government had in respect of documents associated with the contamination of blood products recently released by the Executive under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Answer · Andy Kerr: These documents were released in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. There was no involvement from the UK Government.</p>

17 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government in respect of documents associated with the contamination of blood products.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive is in regular discussion with the UK Government on a wide range of matters including the specific issue raised.</p>

12 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made, and what steps it has taken, to address the dispute in respect of the future of the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21675 on 17 January 2006 relating to the rule of 85 in the Local Government Pension Scheme in Scotland. Officials from the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) a…

12 Jan 2006 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what plans are in place to improve the resources available to the Allowances Office to assist it to carry out its responsibilities efficiently.

Answer · Nora Radcliffe: The SPCB has established aMembers and Officials Joint Working Group to review allowance processes and tomake recommendations to the SPCB. The SPCB will consider any recommendationsand, in that context, will consider future staffing levels within the Allowance…

12 Jan 2006 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the average length of time for dealing with expense claims for staff and members has been in each year since 1999, including 2006.

Answer · Nora Radcliffe: A record of processing timesis only available for the period 1 April 2003 to date. Records show that allcorrectly completed travel claim forms were processed within seven days ofreceipt. For those claims were additional information was required records showth…

12 Jan 2006 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the average number of hours worked per week is of staff employed in the Allowances Office.

Answer · Nora Radcliffe: From October 2005 to date,the average number of hours worked per week by Allowances Office staff has been40 hours. Of those Allowances Office staff who have worked overtime during thisperiod, the average hours worked per week has been 42 hours 30 minutes.</p>

12 Jan 2006 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what additional staffing and hours have been allocated to the Allowances Office since the implementation of the new procedure for publishing detailed information of members' allowances and expenses and the submission of expense claim forms.

Answer · Nora Radcliffe: Two additional temporarymembers of staff, working 35 hours per week, have been employed within theAllowances Office to assist with the preparation of information in advance ofpublishing allowance expenditure data for the first two quarters of the 2005-06finan…

12 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of sentence has been of female prisoners in each of the last five years, broken down by age into (a) under 21, (b) 21 to 25, (c) 26 to 30, (d) 31 to 35, (e) 36 to 40, (f) 41 to 45 and (g) 46 and over.

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 available information is given in the following table:</p><p>Average Sentence Length in Days of Female Determinate Sentenced Prisoners…

12 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the ages of the female prison population in each of the last five years, broken down into (a) under 21, (b) 21 to 25, (c) 26 to 30, (d) 31 to 35, (e) 36 to 40, (f) 41 to 45 and (g) 46 and over.

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 available information is given in the following table:</p><p>Number of Female Prisoners in Custody on 30 June in Each of the Last Five…

10 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the breastfeeding duration rates have been in the last five years in the fullest and most detailed form available.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: A table detailing breastfeeding duration rates has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38624). This covers those NHS boards using the Child Health Surveillance Programme – Pre School (CHSP-PS) and gives details for those chi…

10 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what breastfeeding rates have been in each (a) maternity unit and (b) NHS board area in each of the last five years.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: This information is not centrally held. However, data is available for those NHS boards using the Child Health Surveillance Programme – Pre School and I attach this information in the following table:</p> <p>Table 1: Percentage of Mothers Recorded as Breastfe…

10 Jan 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of stay of new mothers in maternity units has been following (a) normal delivery, (b) instrumental delivery and (c) operative delivery in each of the last five years.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The information requested is shown in the following table:</p> <p>Table 1: Mean Length of Stay (in days) by Mode of Delivery¹</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>&nbsp;</p></td> <td> <p align=cent…

20 Dec 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are in place to review NHS funding formulae in respect of the ability of NHS boards to respond to need associated with factors such as deprivation and rurality.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The NHSScotland Resource AllocationCommittee(NRAC) was set up in February 2005. The remit of the committee is to improveand refine the Arbuthnott formula for resource allocation and keep under reviewthe information available to support existing elements of th…

20 Dec 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are in place to allocate retrospective funding to NHS boards which have not received their full allocations according to the Arbuthnott formula.

Answer · Andy Kerr: All boards have received a standarduplift annually to meet the cost of pay and price increases, increases in the drugsbill and developments. In addition, those boards below their target share of resourcesunder the Arbuthnott formula receive additional funding…

20 Dec 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what systems are in place to redistribute NHS budgets to each NHS board according to the principles of the Arbuthnott formula.

Answer · Andy Kerr: All boards receive a standarduplift annually to meet the cost of pay and price increases, increases in the drugsbill and developments. In addition, those boards below their target share of resourcesunder the Arbuthnott formula receive additional funding to mo…

20 Dec 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the overall percentage redistribution of NHS budgets has been since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Andy Kerr: In 2000-01, 0.3%, in 2002-03 to 2004-05, 0.5% annually and in 2005-06, 0.6% of boards initial unified budget was distributed to those NHS boards which were below their Arbuthnott target shares.</p>

20 Dec 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual and cumulative totals have been for budgetary (a) benefit and (b) deficit to each NHS board as a result of incomplete application of the Arbuthnott formula since 1999.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Details are as follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>&nbsp;</p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Benefit/</p> <p align=center>Deficit(-)</p> <p align=center>1999-2000</p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Benef…

20 Dec 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the allocation and distribution of NHS budgets would have been in each year since 1999 under complete application of the Arbuthnott formula, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Details are as follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>NHS Board</p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Target Allocation</p> <p align=center>1999-2000</p> <p align=center>(£ Million)</p> </td> <td> <p align…

20 Dec 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the allocation and distribution of NHS budgets has been in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Details are as follows:</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>NHS Board</p></td> <td> <p align=center>Actual</p> <p align=center>Allocation</p> <p align=center>1999-2000</p> <p align=c…