Parliamentary questions
Joe FitzPatrick
179 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
17 Apr 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an update on plans for an institute of life sciences in Dundee.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: I have agreed to provide £10 million to establish a new institute in Dundee led by Sir Philip Cohen. The institute will be called the Scottish Institute for Cell Signalling.</p> <p >Funding for the institute will be provided by the Funding Council via the Un…
28 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding provision each NHS board makes for hospices.
Answer · Shona Robison: The planning and provision of NHS services is a matter for NHS boards in accordance with the guidance contained in HDL (2003) 18: </p> <p ><a href="http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/HDL2003_18.pdf">http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/HDL2003_18.pdf</a>. </p> <p…
28 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how NHS boards and hospices integrate to provide end-of-life care.
Answer · Shona Robison: NHS boards are responsible for the planning and provision of NHS services and work closely with a range of organisations, including hospices. Palliative care and end of life services are delivered through managed clinical networks and palliative care networks…
28 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how hospices fund the provision of medicines for people in receipt of end-of-life care.
Answer · Shona Robison: Guidance for the provision of medicines for people in receipt of end of life care is included in HDL (2003) 18 <a href="http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/HDL2003_18.pdf">http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/HDL2003_18.pdf</a> which describes the costs which will b…
28 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how hospices are funded in Scotland.
Answer · Shona Robison: Hospices in Scotland are independent organisations operating on a charitable basis. As such they receive funding from a range of sources including donations. With regard to adult hospices, the NHS in Scotland provides funding for up to 50% of agreed operating…
26 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what goals it expects Registers of Scotland to achieve in 2008-09.
Answer · Jim Mather: Scottish ministers have set Registers of Scotland the financial goal of achieving a return of 10% on net capital employed over the three-year period ending 31 March 2009.</p> <p >In addition, the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland will shortly publish Regis…
28 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what support it can offer to the 150 workers from Dundee whose jobs are in jeopardy as a result of Texol Technical Solutions plc going into receivership.
Answer · Jim Mather: I understand that Texol is currently in administration and that, regrettably, 85 staff were made redundant on Tuesday 5 March 2008. The affected staff are being contacted by the Scottish Government''s local partnership action for continuing employment (PACE)…
14 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many central heating programme installations have been carried out in the Dundee City Council area in the last two years, broken down by month of installation.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: For the scheme as a whole, information is not held by local authority or parliamentary constituency area, but by main postcode.</p> <p >Information on the numbers of systems installed, on a monthly basis in the DD postcode area is only available from October…
12 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average annual saving will be for businesses with a rateable value of (a) up to £8,000, (b) from £8,001 to £10,000 and (c) from £10,001 to £15,000 as a result of the removal of or reduction in business rates for small businesses.
Answer · John Swinney: Information on the average annual saving for business properties with a rateable value of up to £15,000 is presented as follows for (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10 and 2010-11. Savings represent the projected amount of additional relief that will be available fo…
12 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses will benefit from the decision to (a) remove business rates for businesses with a rateable value of up to £8,000, (b) halve the rates for businesses with a rateable value of £8,001 to £10,000 and (c) reduce by a quarter rates for businesses with a rateable value of £10…
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9756 on 19 February 2008. 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/web…
12 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average saving in 2008-09 will be for businesses with a rateable value of (a) up to £8,000, (b) from £8,001 to £10,000 and (c) from £10,001 to £15,000, broken down by (i) Scottish parliamentary constituency and (ii) local authority area as a result of the increase in the busines…
Answer · John Swinney: Information on businesses in the detail requested is not held centrally. Information on the average savings for business properties in 2008-09 according to their rateable value is available for Scotland as a whole and is presented as follows, together with th…
12 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses will benefit from the decision to remove or reduce business rates for businesses with a rateable value of (a) up to £8,000, (b) from £8,001 to £10,000 and (c) from £10,001 to £15,000, broken down by (i) Scottish parliamentary constituency and (ii) local authority area.
Answer · John Swinney: Information on businesses in the form requested is not held centrally. However, information on the number and rateable value of non-domestic properties which may be eligible for relief under the Small Business Bonus scheme is available for each local authorit…
25 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-3760 by John Swinney on 9 October 2008, how and when it plans to achieve the £2 million savings from efficiencies in the system of designing, printing, publishing, and distributing government publications.
Answer · John Swinney: The £2 million of savings I announcedin October 2007 will be achieved by a number of measures.</p><p>The Scottish Government willreview how we produce and distribute our publications. Reducing the number of documentswe print, producing smaller print runs and …
21 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to support local authorities in providing additional support for learning needs.
Answer · Adam Ingram: The Scottish Government has takena significant number of steps to support local authorities in providing additionalsupport for learning needs including the following:</p><p>Providing local government inScotland with record levels of funding over the period co…
16 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications would be if £12.5 million per annum was cut from the Health Information budget for the next three years.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The eHealth budget funds a numberof key national systems supporting the operation of NHS Scotland, such as ScreeningProgrammes, General Practice IT systems and the communications infrastructure. Inaddition, it supports boards in making the changes to IT which…
16 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications would be if £75 million was cut from the Support for Borrowing line of the Water budget over the next three years.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: If the Support forBorrowing line for Scottish Water was cut by £75 million, a corresponding cut inits investment programme would be required.</p><p>A cut of this sizewould mean the deferment or cancellation of many essential projects which improveservices to …
16 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what services are funded from the Police Information and Communications budget.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The Police Information and Communicationsbudget funds the development and maintenance of both Scottish and UK-wide informationand communication technology (ICT) systems to support operational policing in Scotland.The budget covers the Scottish contribution to…
16 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what services are funded from the Police Support Services budget.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: This budget funds a wide rangeof police services, including those provided by the Scottish Police Services Authority,which directly support or complement front line policing. These services includethe Scottish Crime and Drug enforcement agency, other speciali…
16 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications would be if £10 million per annum was cut from the Routine and Winter Maintenance level 3 budget line for the next three years.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: A funding cut of £10 million per annum will not be sustainable. It will reduce the level of funding below that required for contractually committed sums, winter maintenance, defects and hazards. The Scottish ministers would not meet their minimum Duty of Care…
16 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which projects could be at risk if (a) £15 million, (b) £20 million and (c) £25 million were cut from the Capital Works budget over the period of the spending review.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Any proposal to reduce expenditure on Capital Works would have adverse effects on delivery of a programme of new construction road schemes that have been designed for road safety reasons, or to reduce road congestion or improve access to strategic points such…
16 Jan 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications would be of cutting the Roads Improvements budget by £20 million (a) in the next year and (b) over the next three years.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: A £20 million cut in Roads Improvements spend next year would represent a 37% reduction in budget. This would require Transport Scotland to delay or cancel over a third of work in the Minor Scheme, Road safety and Intelligent Transport Systems programmes. The…
1 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many delayed discharges there have been in NHS Tayside in each year since 2004, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Shona Robison: The following tableshows the numbers of patients ready for discharge in NHS Tayside at April ofeach year.</p><p>NHS - PatientsReady for Discharge - Number Reported by NHS Tayside at each April Census(April 2004 to April 2007) by Local Authority Area<sup>1</su…
1 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many delayed discharges there have been in each year since 2004, broken down by NHS board and also expressed as a percentage of total beds in each board.
Answer · Shona Robison: The following tableshows the numbers of patients ready for discharge at April of each year and thetotal shown as a percentage of the total number of average available staffedbeds.</p><p>NHS- Patients Ready For Discharge - Numbers by NHS Board Area of Treatmen…
1 Oct 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being put in place to reduce delayed discharges.
Answer · Shona Robison: All NHS/localauthority partnerships have submitted joint action plans detailing initiativesto eliminate delayed discharges over the agreed six week discharge planningperiod and all delays in short-stay specialties by April 2008. £30 million isbeing allocated …
24 Sep 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to receive the final report of the NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I received the finalreport of the NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) from the Chair, DrKaren Facey, on 4 September 2007. I am currently studying the report and itsrecommendations carefully, and am sending it to the Convener of the Health and Spo…
20 Sep 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-941 by Stewart Stevenson on 13 June 2007, what progress has been made on the Scottish Government’s consultation on permitted development rights for microgeneration equipment and when its findings will be published.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The issues are underconsideration and the government will consult shortly on extending permitted developmentrights to micro-renewable equipment.</p>
19 Sep 2007 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to relieve the housing debt of councils, such as Dundee, which are proposing to retain their housing stock within council management.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3O-707 on 27 September 2007. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growthhas written to Treasury to establish whether there are any circumstances other thantransfer, where funding to redeem council hous…
27 Jun 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why there is a delay in national consistency checking for the 1,260 staff of NHS Tayside who have been assimilated on account and when this situation will be resolved.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The implementation of Agendafor Change has taken longer than had been anticipated but the volume and complexityof the task of assessing pay for over 140,000 plus staff should not be underestimated.In addition, it was agreed in partnership that the assessment …
8 Jun 2007 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what plans it has to replace ordinary light bulbs in the Parliament building with energy saving bulbs.
Answer · Alex Johnstone: We recognise thata number of areas of the building are lit by less efficient tungsten filamentlamps. Replacing these lamps will contribute towards our three year energyreduction target, which is currently on course to be achieved. A start has beenmade on iden…