- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 September 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many external consultants it has used to validate data and statistics produced by non-departmental public bodies (NDPB) in (a) 2002-03, (b) 2003-04 and (c) 2004 to date, broken down by NDPB, and what the cost was to (i) it and (ii) each NDPB in terms of fees paid in each period.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has notused external consultants to validate data and statistics produced by NDPBs in thetime period asked. Information is not held centrally on the use of external consultantsby the NDPBs themselves. Where the NDPB publishes data as National Statistics thereis a professional obligation on them to carry out suitable quality assurance.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any problems being experienced by users of digital hearing aids in having them properly tuned.
Answer
The Executive is not aware ofany problems being experienced by users of digital hearing aids in having them properlytuned. If any issues are brought to our attention, they will be addressed by theExecutive’s Audiology Modernisation Project.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what training is given in the tuning of digital hearing aids.
Answer
A two-day training course onmodernised patient journey techniques run by representatives from the ModernisingHearing Aid Services (MHAS) programme in England is provided to audiology staff. The suppliers of digitalhearing aids also provide training locally when requested.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12998 by Rhona Brankin on 18 January 2005, when information on the provision of digital hearing aids will be available centrally.
Answer
This information will be publishedby the end of October 2005.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive who is professionally qualified to tune hearing aids.
Answer
Audiologists (Medical TechnicalOfficers) within audiology departments are qualified and will carry out tuning ofhearing aids.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10218 by Rhona Brankin on 16 November 2004, how many digital hearing aids have been drawn off the central contract in each year since 1999.
Answer
The number of digital hearingaids drawn off the central contract arranged by Scottish Healthcare Supplies since1999 are shown in the following table:
| Period | Number of Digital Hearing Aids |
| April 2000 – March 2001 | 163 |
| April 2001 – March 2002 | 293 |
| April 2002 – March 2003 | 595 |
| April 2003 – March 2004 | 19,079 |
| April 2004 – March 2005 | 38,015 |
| Total | 58,145 |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a prescribed number of tuning sessions for digital hearing aids.
Answer
Guidance on the modernised patientjourney, which is being introduced in all NHS board areas, states that patientsshould receive three appointments, namely an assessment, fitting and then a reviewwhere fine tuning will take place.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andrew Welsh on 29 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what measures it has in place to enable the Parliament to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the execution of Sir William Wallace.
Answer
The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has collaborated with the National Archives of Scotland to stage a temporary exhibition to commemorate the anniversary.
The display, “For Freedom Alone”, is on show in the Main Hall for four weeks from August 15 to September 9. It features three remarkable documents including the Lubeck Letter, which is the only known surviving letter issued by William Wallace. This has been loaned from Germany especially for the display.
Also on display are the Declaration of Arbroath, of 1320, and the Ayr Manuscript, the second-oldest surviving text of laws passed in the Scottish Parliament in 1318, during the reign of King Robert 1.
The exhibition is accompanied by a special commemorative leaflet and the Parliament’s shop will be retailing a poster print of the Declaration of Arbroath. The National Archives of Scotland have produced a set of educational resources linked to the exhibition which can be accessed on line.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andrew Welsh on 29 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions it has had with regard to a permanent recognition in the parliamentary complex of the historic importance of Sir William Wallace in the nationhood of Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Parliament has had a range of requests to support the placing of commemorative works in the parliamentary complex. In order to move forward, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will consider the issue of commemorative works at a forthcoming meeting. It is anticipated that we will develop a policy on this subject which will clarify our approach taking into account resource and space implications.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 19 August 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 August 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are target waiting times for hernia operations.
Answer
The current national maximum waiting time for in-patient and day case treatment, including hernia operations, is nine months. This guaranteed maximum waiting time will be reduced to six months from the end of this year, and to 18 weeks from the end of 2007.
On 30 June 2005, no patient with a guarantee had waited more than nine months for in-patient and day case treatment.
