Parliamentary questions

Carolyn Leckie

686 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

10 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is now in a position to publish a target date for the implementation of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) standards in relation to ultrasound scanning.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: All clinical standardspublished by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland are set to improve performanceand set targets for continuous service improvement.Thereis no target date set for boards to meet the standards.Boards are working towardsmeeting th…

9 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been to the public purse of secondment arrangements between public bodies and private and independent organisations in each year since 1999, also broken down by public body entering such arrangements.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The cost of the arrangementsfor secondments between the Scottish Executive and private and independent organisations,including the wider public and voluntary sectors, since 1999 has been £6,818,427.<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr…

9 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the staff of public bodies have been seconded to private and independent organisations in each year since 1999.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The number of staff secondedby the Scottish Executive to private and independent organisations in the period1 April 1999 to 31 March 2006 is 485. The following table shows a breakdown by financialyear and shows the number seconded to the private sector separa…

9 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has regarding the arrangement between the Care Commission and BUPA in relation to the secondment of staff.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Staffing arrangements,including secondments, are an operational matter for the Care Commission, whocan be contacted at:The Care CommissionCompass House11 Riverside DriveDundee DD1 4NY.0845 603 0890<ahref="http:…

9 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what regulations and guidelines are in place governing the secondment of the employees of public bodies to the private and independent sectors.

Answer · Tom McCabe: There are no specificregulations governing the secondment of staff from the Scottish Executive tooutside organisations. The Scottish Executive’s policy and proceduraldocumentation is based on the UK wide Cabinet Office Good Practice Guide (September…

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have become infected with blood-borne viruses following clinical trials, broken down by time and location of the trial since 1978.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish NationalBlood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) are not aware of any cases of transmission of the hepatitis C virus in any clinical trials of SNBTS products.

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has of the number of people who may have contracted hepatitis C but have not yet received a diagnosis and whether it will provide any or all documentation in relation to this matter.

Answer · Andy Kerr: It is estimated that 50,000individuals are currently living in Scotland who are HCV antibody positive, the majority of whomcontracted their infection through injecting drugs and 33,500 of whom remainundiagnosed. Of the 16,500 formally diagnosed, 400 (2.4%) of…

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to initiate a recall of patients who received blood during the period when the hepatitis C or non-A, non-B hepatitis virus was likely to have been present in the donor pool to offer screening and appropriate counselling and care to those who have not already been offered…

Answer · Andy Kerr: The lookback exercise whichwas undertaken by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service has traced asfar as practicable patients who may have received blood infected with the hepatitisC virus. If any new cases of suspected infection from blood transfusio…

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time was between infection and diagnosis for those with (a) hepatitis C or non-A, non-B hepatitis or (b) HIV among the (i) drug-injecting and (ii) non-drug-injecting population in each year from 1978 to 1992.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Information is not availableto answer the question as there are no tests which indicate when an individualacquired HIV or hepatitis C. In addition, people who become infected with theseviruses rarely present with an acute illness.Data were not collecte…

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make available any documentation which explains the estimated number of patients who may have received blood infected with hepatitis C or non-A, non-B hepatitis virus.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Soldan et al Epidemiologyand Infection (2002) Volume 129:587-591 estimates the numbers infected prior to 1991 and is the source for thefigure for England that was quoted in the preliminary Report by LordRoss. Estimates from 1993 onwards are contained i…

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the hepatitis C or non-A, non-B hepatitis virus infectivity rate was in donated blood in each year from 1978 to 1992.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the memberto the answer to question S2W-22585 on 16 May 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.sea…

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients who have been identified as having received blood contaminated by hepatitis C or non-A, non-B hepatitis virus, in each year from 1978 to 1992, have been contacted by health services following look back execises.

Answer · Andy Kerr: This was a matter for the cliniciansresponsible.

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients received blood or blood products identified, either prospectively or retrospectively, as containing the hepatitis C or non-A, non-B hepatitis virus in each year from 1978 to 1992.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish NationalBlood Transfusion Service has identified 139 patients, through it’s lookback processand subsequent investigations, who received blood containing the hepatitis C virusup to the introduction of screening in 1991.

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many units of donated blood were identified as containing the hepatitis C or non-A, non-B hepatitis virus (a) prospectively and (b) retrospectively, in each year from 1978 to 1992.

Answer · Andy Kerr: There was no method of identifyingdonations prospectively as hepatitis C or non-A, non-B hepatitis positive until1991. After the introduction of testing in 1991, 256 donations (0.06%) were positivefor hepatitis C out of 442,406 donations. The testing period r…

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people contracted hepatitis C or non-A, non-B hepatitis in each year from 1978 to1992.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Non-A,non-B Hepatitis was a clinical diagnosis based on symptoms and confirmed bylaboratories as not being Hepatitis A or Hepatitis B. The laboratories did notreport such cases to Health Protection Scotland at the time. Thus, theinformation was not collected …

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many blood donors contributed to the donor pool in each year from 1978 to 1992.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Scottish National Blood Transfusionrecords show the number of donor attendances was as follows:<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <tr> <td nowrap valign=bottom> 1981-82 </td> <td nowrap valign=bottom> 322,312 </td…

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients were transfused with blood in each year from 1978 to 1992.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-25581 on 16 May 2006. 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.se…

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many units of blood were transfused in each year from 1978 to 1992.

Answer · Andy Kerr: This information is not centrallyavailable. Data on the number of units transfused during this period was held locally.

3 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been infected with blood-borne viruses during or following participation in clinical research, broken down by time and location and specifying the nature of the research, since 1978.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish National Blood TransfusionService are not aware of any cases of transmission of blood borne viruses during,or as a consequence of, participation in clinical research of SNBTS products.

27 Apr 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23225 by Tavish Scott on 13 March 2006 stating that there was no statutory requirement in terms of Schedule 2 to the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to advise the public of the commencement of the toll period, why Section 27(3) of the New Roads and Street …

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Invergarry - Kyle of LochalshTrunk Road (A87) Extension (Skye Bridge Crossing) Toll Order 1992 (SI 1992 No. 1501)was made on 23 June 1992 and a notice to this effect was published by the then Secretaryof State on 26 June 1992, as required by paragraph 1 o…

25 Apr 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in light of research recently published by Wake Forest University, United States of America, confirming the finding of measles virus RNA in the terminal ileum of autistic children, what urgent steps will now be taken to have this clinical research replicated in the United Kingdom by the M…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Medical Research Council(MRC) still considers research into autism as a priority. The research strategyimplemented by the MRC in 2003, which the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is contributingtowards, encourages a programme of research across all aspects of …

21 Apr 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many anti-social behaviour orders have been issued since implementation of the legislation and how many have been issued to people with diagnosed emotional or behavioural problems and learning difficulties.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The requested information isgiven in the following table.Number of Crimes Cleared upEach Year as a Percentage of Crimes Recorded, by Police Force Area, 1999-2000To 2004-05<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=162 no…

21 Apr 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many anti-social behaviour orders have been issued since the legislation came into effect and how many of these have been issued to people with diagnosed emotional or behavioural problems or learning difficulties.

Answer · Hugh Henry: Between April 1999 and March2005, 559 Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) were granted in Scotland.Information on how many ASBOswere issued to people with diagnosed emotional or behavioural problems orlearning difficulties is not collected centrally. C…

20 Apr 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-24316 by Lewis Macdonald on 27 March 2006 indicating that only one research project has been funded by the Medical Research Council into a link between MMR and autism, what its position is on the employment of a paid consultant to the MMR manufacture…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Medical Research Councilis an independent funding body, the responsibility for which is reserved to Westminster.For these reasons, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on the researchthey decide to fund. Many medical and otherresearchers have lin…

20 Apr 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-24316 by Lewis Macdonald on 15 March 2006 indicating that only one research project has been funded by the Medical Research Council into a link between MMR and autism and in light of the statement in the report of that study that “we were not able to…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the questionS2W-25366 answered on 3 May 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at:

20 Apr 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-24315 by Mr Andy Kerr on 22 March 2006 in which it states that, “Since that time there have been a series of studies which have reinforced the evidence that MMR is safe”,whether it will list the studies referred to in chronological order, identifying…

Answer · Andy Kerr: The key research papers listedsupport the view that there is no link between MMR and autism:GillbergC & Heijbel H, (1998). MMR and autism [commentary]. Autism, The InternationalJournal of Research and Practice</…

20 Apr 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the seminar for “front-line” professionals in autism held at Airth Castle on 28 February 2006, including the list of attendees, agenda, minutes and papers associated with the event.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Copies of papers from theAutism Spectrum Disorders Information Event held at Airth Castle have beenplaced in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39504).

31 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the closure order in respect of shootings at Dunblane Primary School, whether it will list all other situations where closure orders have been granted without a statutory basis.

Answer · Margaret Curran: As part of the routine administrativearrangements for managing Scottish Executive records, all records were automaticallyclosed for 30 years, and certain records of a sensitive nature were closed for extendedperiods up to 100 years, e.g. because they containe…

30 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-24241 by Cathy Jamieson on 27 March 2006, what its reasons are for passing a policy question directed to a minister to an official for response and when the Minister for Justice will provide a direct substantive answer.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Prison Service (SPS)framework document clearly sets out that the Chief Executive has delegated authorityto make decisions about the management of individual offenders, including theirlocation, movement, discipline, care and welfare, and intervent…

29 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence-based explanation it can give for the significant rise in numbers of pupils with a diagnosis of autism, as revealed by the Scottish Schools Census.

Answer · Robert Brown: There is no evidence-based explanationfor more pupils being recognised as having autistic spectrum disorder. However,the increase is likely to be due to a number of factors, which include increasedawareness, better diagnosis and the application of wider diagn…