- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by John Scott on 26 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many snagging faults have been reported in Holyrood and, of these, how many remain unresolved.
Answer
Over 33,000 snags in total have been reported at Holyrood and, since the Royal opening of the building in October 2004, that figure has been reduced to 950 to date.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by John Scott on 26 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how snagging faults in Holyrood are prioritised to ensure that potentially hazardous snagging is dealt with speedily.
Answer
Any snags or emerging defects which are confirmed as being a health and safety concern, or critical to the Parliament business operation, are addressed as priorities. In certain circumstance, the initial remedy could take the form of temporary works to make the area safe, if a permanent solution is not practical immediately.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 25 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15951 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 April 2005, what the cost has been of publications it has produced in each year since 1999, broken down by ministerial department and into (a) paper publications, (b) videos, (c) DVDs and (d) miscellaneous publications.
Answer
A list of Scottish Executive publications and their costs since 1999 is given in Scottish Executive List of Publications/Costs 1999-2005 a copy of which has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference centre (Bib. number 36555). There is currently no central record of the information in the format requested and it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it has had with the UK Government regarding the development of new nuclear power stations.
Answer
The Executive has had no contactwith UK Government regarding the development of new nuclear power stations.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 13 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive which helplines it has (a) wholly and (b) partly funded in each year since 1999, showing amount of funding allocated to, and number of calls processed by, each helpline.
Answer
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 18 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the letters of 19 February and 27 October 2004 and 6 April 2005 from its Environment and Rural Affairs Department on the employment of foreign workers at Monaghan Mushrooms, Fenton Barns, East Lothian, whether it has accessed the wage records of the foreign workers employed at Monaghan Mushrooms and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.
Answer
Investigations into this matter are on-going and it would not be appropriate at this stage to comment further.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 18 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the letters of 19 February and 27 October 2004 and 6 April 2005 from its Environment and Rural Affairs Department on the employment of foreign workers at Monaghan Mushrooms, Fenton Barns, East Lothian, what progress has been made regarding the employment of these workers and, in particular, the identification of agencies providing contract labour.
Answer
Investigations into compliance with the relevant Agricultural Wages Orders by these agencies are on‑going and it would not be appropriate to comment further.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 18 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the Operational Research Consultancy (ORCON) standards have been for the Scottish Ambulance Service in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
Prior to the introduction of the priority-based dispatch system which rolled out across mainland Scotland between August 2002 and April 2004, 999 emergency calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service were dealt with on a “first come first served” basis. The speed of response depended not on the condition of the patient but on the volume of calls being responded to and the ambulance resources available at the time. The performance standards applied by the Scottish Ambulance Service varied according to population density – as with other ambulance services in the United Kingdom. These are known as the ORCON standards. In Scotland, to ensure that the standards reflected local demography, they were applied based on local authority areas. The standards were:
High Density (more than 3.0 persons per acre) – 50% of calls to be responded to within seven minutes and 95% within 14 minutes;
Medium Density (less than 3.0 but more than 0.5 persons per acre) – 50% of calls to be responded to within eight minutes and 95% within 18 minutes;
Sparse Density (less than 0.5 persons per acre) – 50% of calls to be responded to in eight minutes and 95% within 21 minutes.
Under the priority based dispatch system, which is used in all mainland board areas, 999 emergency calls are processed using well proven, clinically approved, screen based software (called Automatic Medical Priority Dispatch System). Based on the responses of the caller, the software assigns the call a response category. The categories and standards applied are:
Category A – clinically defined as “immediately life threatening”. The target is that by March 2008, 75% of such calls should be responded to within eight minutes across mainland Scotland. The ambulance service has phased the introduction of priority based dispatch and is progressing towards this target.
Category B – clinically defined as “not life threatening but still serious”. The target for this category of calls is that 95% should be responded to within either 14, 19 or 21 minutes depending on the population density of the health board.
The ambulance service continues to apply ORCON standards to their responses to calls from NHS Western Isles, NHS Shetland and NHS Orkney.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 18 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the employment practices of Monaghan Mushrooms at Fenton Barns in East Lothian, what information it has on the request by Donegal Creameries plc, associate company of Monaghan Mushrooms, for its shares to be suspended from the Irish stock exchange due to "financial irregularities" and whether the Executive will be involved in any possible inquiries.
Answer
The Executive has no information on a request by Donegal Creameries plc for its shares to be suspended from the Irish Stock Exchange nor do we expect to be involved in any possible enquiries.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of air transport for its officials in each year since 1999, broken down by purpose of travel, for example representing the Executive or fact-finding.
Answer
Information about expenditure incurred by officials travelling by air is available only from April 2002. No information is held centrally about the purpose of the journeys undertaken.
The expenditure incurred on air travel is as follows:
1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003 - £1,737,744
1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 - £1,768,243
1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 - £1,894,142.
