Willie Coffey

27 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the report by the Scottish Prison Service into the murder of Michael Cameron in HM Prison Kilmarnock on 16 June 2006.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >The SPS has no plans to publish the investigation into the murder of Michael Cameron.</p>

27 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has received regarding the implications of the murder of Michael Cameron in HM Prison Kilmarnock on 16 June 2006; when that advice was received, and what steps were taken as a result of that advice in respect of (a) the operation of HM Prison Kilmarnock and (b) the rest of …

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >Immediately following the incident the Kilmarnock Prison Senior Management Team carried out an incident review to see whether there were a…

27 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what target response time is set by the Scottish Prison Service for sufficient officers to attend a violent incident involving prisoners to enable officers to intervene in (a) its own estate and (b) HM Prison Kilmarnock.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:</p> <p >The SPS operating procedures set out how staff should respond to emergency incidents. They do not include specific target response t…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8840 by Nicola Sturgeon on 31 January 2008, what guidance it has issued to NHS boards, special health boards or the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme in respect of the publication of aggregate data on claims for medical negligence …

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: No guidance has been issued to either health boards or special health boards on the publication of medical negligence data.</p>

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8840 by Nicola Sturgeon on 31 January 2008, how many claims for clinical negligence against the NHS have been (a) received, (b) noted as abandoned and (c) settled in each quarter since 1 April 2000, broken down into (i) obstetrics and gynaecology, (i…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information requested is not held centrally.</p>

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8840 by Nicola Sturgeon on 31 January 2008, what provisions and contingencies have been set aside by the NHS for meeting claims of clinical negligence, including through NHS boards, special health boards and the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks In…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Details are as follows:</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <tr > <td width=145 valign=top > <p align=center >&nbsp;</p> </td> <td width=69 valign=top > <p align=center >2000-01</p> <p align=center >£000</p> </td> <td widt…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to encourage the development of family friendly licensed premises.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: One of the aims of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 is to encourage pubs to become more child and family friendly. The new act replaces the complicated system of children's certificates with mandatory conditions concerning premises' policies on access by chi…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) cost was and (b) number of beneficiaries have been of the Individual Learning Account scheme in each year of its operation.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The following table records the cost of the Individual Learning Accounts Scotland (ILAS) scheme along with the number of learners participating in the scheme since it began in from December 2004 to March 2007. Figures for the financial year 2007-08 are not ye…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to improve the quality of housing in the private rented sector.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: We will implement provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 that enhance local authorities'' powers to enforce higher quality standards in the private housing sector as a whole, including the private rented sector. For example, a local authority will be a…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many rented properties are operated by registered private landlords and, of these, how many meet the (a) Tolerable Standard and (b) Scottish Housing Quality Standard.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: The latest figures for landlord registration show that the number of applications by landlords for registration is approximately 108,000, while the number of privately rented dwellings they operate is approximately 160,000. Landlords and agents are required t…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what MMR vaccines are approved for use by the NHS in Scotland; what changes there have been in approved vaccines since 2002, and what the reasons were for the withdrawal of any previously approved vaccines.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has advised that there are two UK licensed MMR vaccines available for use in the routine childhood immunisation programme in NHSScotland: Priorix and MMRII.</p> <p >The MHRA further advised that…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that young people and potential athletes in Kilmarnock and Loudoun have the opportunity to compete for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: The Governments' National Strategy for Sport, Reaching Higher clearly identifies the importance of the creation of Pathways to enable young people to fulfil their potential in sport. Sportscotland the national agency for sport lead on this area working in par…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place with Kilmarnock College in respect of its development plans.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: None. Matters relating to capital investment are the responsibility of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). I am aware that the SFC is currently in discussion with the college about its outline business case and that the matter is likely to be considered at th…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any powers to direct procurators fiscal to provide victims of crime with a written explanation of their decisions in respect of cases referred to them.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: No. Section 48(5) of the Scotland Act 1998 enshrines the independence of the prosecution system in Scotland by providing that any decision of the Lord Advocate in his or her capacity as head of the systems of criminal prosecution and investigation of deaths i…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers have relevant professional recognition in each of the five identified areas of additional support needs outlined in the Framework for Professional Recognition.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The five areas of teaching expertise covering autism, dyslexia, visual impairment, hearing impairment and visual and hearing impairment were added to the General Teaching Council's Framework for Professional Recognition at the end of last year. Since then, 1 …

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers with relevant professional recognition are required to meet the needs of pupils with each of the five identified areas of additional support needs outlined in the Framework for Professional Recognition for teachers.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Local authorities are required to employ a sufficient number of teachers with appropriate training and experience to meet the educational needs of all children in their area. Application for acceptance within the Framework for Professional Recognition is volu…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what core competences are required of teachers applying for professional recognition as teachers of pupils with (a) autism or (b) dyslexia.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Officials from the Scottish Government are working currently with key stakeholders in the preparation of advisory competencies for teachers applying for professional recognition as teachers of children with (a) autism or (b) dyslexia.</p>

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers have undertaken professional development in each of the five cross-curricular areas of additional support needs, following the launch of the Framework for Professional Recognition for teachers in 2006.

Answer · Maureen Watt: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-10232 on 4 March 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/webapp/w…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to meet the support needs of children with autism spectrum disorder and their parents, including the provision of funding to other agencies to undertake such work, and by what means information on such services is made available to affected families.

Answer · Adam Ingram: The Scottish Government has taken a significant number of steps to meet the support the needs of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their parents which includes:</p> <p >Our new concordat with local government includes a commitment for local …

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken in response to the report of the Autism Spectrum Disorder and Education Working Group set up to take forward the recommendations in Education for Pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorders, published by HM Inspectorate of Education in October 2006.

Answer · Adam Ingram: While the Autism Spectrum Disorder Education Working Group (the Group) has not published a specific report, the agreed output from their considerations is the production of an autism toolbox for local authorities and schools. The Scottish Autism Service Netwo…

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much compensation has been paid to patients by the NHS in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) basis of the claim.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: No records are held centrally on compensation payments made to patients by NHSScotland other than inthe case of clinical negligence. The following sums were paid from 1997-98 to 2006-07in respect of clinical negligence claims made against health boards and sp…

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many manufacturing jobs have been lost in (a) Scotland and (b) the Kilmarnock and Loudoun parliamentary constituency in each of the last eight years.

Answer · Jim Mather: There is no informationheld centrally on the number of jobs lost or created in Scotland. However, information on the number of jobs by industryis collected each year from the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI). Table 1 shows thenumber of manufacturing jobs in Scot…

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been registered on a methadone programme in (a) Scotland and (b) the Kilmarnock and Loudoun parliamentary constituency in each year since 2002.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: There is nonational information that reports on the number of people registered on amethadone programme in Scotland who are receiving methadone hydrochloridemixture for opiate dependence. However, the links below provide estimates of the number of people rece…

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been diagnosed with autism-related conditions in each year since 1980.

Answer · Shona Robison: People withautism spectrum disorder are most likely to be diagnosed in an outpatientclinic and managed in the community or general practice. Diagnostic informationfor patients attending outpatient clinics is not available centrally.</p>

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the proportion of households with access to broadband was in (a) Scotland and (b) the Kilmarnock and Loudoun parliamentary constituency in each of the last four years, broken down by (i) social class of household and (ii) level of deprivation of the area in which the household was lo…

Answer · Jim Mather: The data provided in this responseare taken from the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) datasets for 2003-04 and 2005-06;data for individual years 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 would not be statistically representativeat a local authority level and have not been pro…

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on the establishment of websites by schools since 2002.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Setting up and operating schoolwebsites is a matter for local authorities and schools. From 2004 to 2006 Learningand Teaching Scotland ran the “Scottish Schools Get Online” project to support schoolsacross Scotland in developing high quality websites which of…

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools have their own websites in (a) Scotland and (b) the Kilmarnock and Loudoun parliamentary constituency, broken down into (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools and giving the number of websites being updated.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Information held centrally isnot accurate for the whole of Scotland. In the Kilmarnock and Loudoun parliamentary constituency we understandthat eight of the 34 primary schools and all seven secondary schools have websites.Information is not gathered on which …

19 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive .

Answer · Shona Robison: I do not foreseeany detrimental effect. Wewill continue to work in partnership with local government and NHS board partnersto drive forward all our mental health priorities including reducing thedefined daily dose of antidepressants.</p><p>That element offund…