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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-15229

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 11 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what protocols exist in respect of clinicians' and carers' assessments of people with Alzheimer's disease.

Clinicians have access to standard diagnostic criteria and a multitude of assessment tools for the diagnosis of dementia. These include consideration of intellectual and behavioural functions. Updated best practice clinical guidelines on dementia will be published by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network this summer.

While the carer’s role is always taken into account in the assessments of those with dementia, there are no specific standards for carers’ assessments of people with dementia.

Question reference: S2W-15210

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6083 by Susan Deacon on 26 April 2000, how many deaths as a result of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy there have been in each year since 1999.

The information requested is given in the table.

Deaths from Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy ¹, Scotland, 1999-2004

1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004²
6	7	7	10	2	5

Notes:

1. 1999: International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, code 425.1 2000–2004: International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, code I42.1.

2. Provisional.

Question reference: S2W-15573

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations regarding the single survey scheme, in particular regarding the merit of the scheme if a survey is three months old or more, and, if so, who the representations were from and what views were expressed in respect of the length of time for which such surveys should be valid.

In its final report in 2003, the Housing Improvement Task Force recommended that there should be no prescribed “shelf life” for the single survey on the basis that a surveyor can be expected to assess the condition of a property only at the time when survey is carried out. This is similar to the current position when surveys are commissioned by buyers.

The Scottish Executive consultation paper on proposals for the Housing Bill included a question on time limits for surveys. Eighty-six percent of those who responded on this point said that there should be a time limit on single surveys. Of those who agreed that there should be a time limit over 60% proposed that the time limit should be six months or less. A further quarter of respondents to this question said that the maximum time limit on the validity of a single survey should be one year.

Some respondents, for example the National Association of Estate Agents and the Law Society, suggested that a compulsory time limit on single surveys would place financial pressures on sellers particularly in areas where the market is less active.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors expressed strong opposition to any time limit, noting that a survey is a “snapshot” of the property at the time of the inspection. It also pointed out that there are risks in relying on old information.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders argued that it would be difficult to be prescriptive about a time limit. It expressed the view that in areas where there is a buoyant market, such as Edinburgh, the valuation might change significantly over a three-month period. However, in less active areas a valuation might not change significantly over a six or even a nine-month period.

From our discussions with the parties mentioned above, we are not aware of any changes to these views on this issue. We will work closely with all stakeholders on this and other issues to deliver an effective scheme.

A full report on the consultation can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/housing/mhphcr-00.asp.

Question reference: S2W-15406

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 11 April 2005

The number of Record of Needs opened in 2000-05 in total and broken down by local authority is not held centrally.

However, we do collect statistics within the school census on the numbers of Records of Needs which exist currently within each local authority. Links to each of these publications are as follows:

2000 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00079.pdf.2001 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00168.pdf.2002 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00272.pdf.2003 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00350.pdf.2004 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00412.

Question reference: S2W-14531

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many GPs are currently eligible for retirement at 60 and, of these, how many could retire in each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board area.

The table shows the number of GPs in post who are aged 60 and over at 21 February 2005, together with the additional GPs who will reach the age of 60 at 21 February in each of the following three years 2006-08. This information is shown for Scotland and by individual NHS board.

GPs aged 60 and Over in the Years 2005 - 2008: by NHS Board Area

	GPs Aged 60 and Over	Additional GPs who Reach Age 60 in the Years:

Year	2005	2006	2007	2008
Scotland	150	58	77	89
Argyll and Clyde	19	7	3	9
Ayrshire and Arran	8	4	7	7
Borders	1	1	5	3
Dumfries and Galloway	3	1	-	3
Fife	7	3	5	4
Forth Valley	5	4	5	5
Grampian	7	3	9	9
Greater Glasgow	36	7	11	13
Highland	9	5	5	6
Lanarkshire	19	5	11	7
Lothian	19	8	10	14
Orkney	3	1	-	1
Shetland	2	-	-	1
Tayside	9	9	5	7
Western Isles	3	-	1	-

Source: General Medical Practitioner database, ISD Scotland.

Ref: IR2005-00558 – 23 February 2005.

The requirements with which general medical practitioners must comply are set out in the NHS (Primary Medical Services Performers lists) (Scotland) Regulations 2004. They do not specify an age for retirement.

The terms of the NHS pension scheme in Scotland allow for members to retire from pensionable employment at any time on or after attaining age 60, with entitlement to a normal retirement pension. This arrangement includes those members who are general practitioners.

The new GMS contract, introduced on 1 April 2004, includes specific incentives to help fill vacancies which occur. To achieve this, the contract allows GPs to manage their workloads better. Perhaps the biggest disincentive to attracting GPs into general practice was onerous out-of-hours commitments, particularly in remote and rural areas. Under the terms of the new contract GPs can now transfer this responsibility to NHS boards.

The new contract also included enhanced seniority payments for GPs.

Question reference: S2W-15050

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 22 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the claim by Citizens Advice Scotland that 79% of forms issued by the Department for Work and Pensions as a consequence of the reorganisation of job centres refer clients to their local citizens advice bureau and increased pressure on bureaux, what additional funding the Executive will provide to meet increased demand.

The Scottish Executive is aware of the excellent work done by Citizens Advice Bureaux across Scotland. Core funding for Citizens Advice Bureaux is a matter for local authorities, who are best placed to decide on the allocation of resources according to the needs of their particular areas. The Executive will be providing local authorities with almost £8.1 billion in 2005-06 to help them fund core services such as Citizens Advice Bureaux.

Question reference: S2W-15100

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 22 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider reopening applications for the additional support needs advocacy services scheme, given that the deadline for applications was 6 December 2004 and the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 has not yet come into force.

Consideration of applications under the one-year additional support needs advocacy pilots scheme is now complete. Successful applicants have been informed and the exercise will not be reopened. For details of these organisations and awards, I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-15099 on 22 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Question reference: S2W-15098

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 22 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the position is in respect of funding for the additional support needs advocacy services scheme pending the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 coming into force.

Question reference: S2W-15099

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 22 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which organisations applied for funding under the additional support needs advocacy services scheme; which were successful, and how much was awarded to each successful organisation.

Seven organisations applied for funding under the one-year (2005-06) additional support needs advocacy pilots scheme. The five successful organisations are Children in Scotland (£129,881), Edinburgh Youth Social Inclusion Partnership (£36,000), Partners in Advocacy (£40,000), Partners in Play (£31,000) and Parent to Parent Tayside (£12,940). The two unsuccessful organisations were Afasic Scotland and the Equity Group.

Question reference: S2W-15089

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what complaints have been received regarding the standard of service cover and delivery since the introduction of NHS 24 to the Scottish Borders.

NHS Borders and NHS Dumfries and Galloway are responsible for providing family practitioner service out of hours within their board areas, with support from NHS 24, which triages calls to ensure that patients receive the care appropriate to their needs. As a rule, complaints about the standard of service provided will be directed to the appropriate responsible organisation. I have asked the chairs of these NHS boards and of NHS 24 to write to you about this matter.

Between 1 April 2004 and 28 February 2005, NHS 24 dealt with 1.19 million calls across Scotland. In that same period the Executive received 86 specific complaints about NHS 24 and the out of hours GP services. Six of these complaints came from patients in NHS Borders and NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

On 24 February 2005 I announced that I was establishing a review group to consider the operational performance of NHS 24 and to come forward with recommendations for action, including actions for NHS 24, NHS boards, other partners and the Health Department for improving the services provided.