- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 26 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will intervene if the Scottish Cashmere Club is adversely affected by any future reduction in funding to Scottish Enterprise Borders.
Answer
Scottish Enterprise Bordershas supported the Scottish Cashmere Club since it was established in 1999.
The Scottish Executiveprovides Scottish Enterprise with funds for economic development. Theallocation of these funds is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise, andin this case Scottish Enterprise Borders.
Scottish Enterprise Borders'budget and operating plan for 2004-05 will go before its Board on 30 March 2004 forfinal approval and, as in previous years, will be prioritised to ensure itachieves the maximum impact on the Borders’ economy.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Health Technology Assessment Advice 5, what increases in the NHS budget will be made to allow for the estimated increase in costs to the antenatal scanning service following the implementation of the Health Technology Assessment recommendations.
Answer
NHS boards are given anannual general allocation to meet the health care needs of their residentpopulations. It is for boards to determine, within the funds available, how tomanage and deliver local health care services to meet these needs, bearing inmind national and local priorities.
Every NHS board received aminimum increase in their funding of 7.4% in 2003-04 and 6.75% in 2004-05.
The contents of the HealthTechnology Assessment Advice 5 report is currently being fully reviewed by the Scottish Executive taking into consideration the advice from the UK National ScreeningCommittee. Resources will be considered as part of this process.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Health Technology Assessment Advice 5, what steps will be taken to record data regarding prenatal identification of conditions and subsequent outcomes in order to evaluate the effectiveness of screening and scanning programmes and develop electronic storage of maternity, birth and child surveillance records.
Answer
The content of the HealthTechnology Assessment Advice 5 report is currently being fully reviewed by the Scottish Executive taking into consideration the advice from the UK National ScreeningCommittee.
The Scottish Executive Health Department has recently established a Child Health Information StrategyGroup to address the issues of prenatal and childhood health information anddevelopment of electronic maternity and child health records.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Health Technology Assessment Advice 5, what steps will be taken to introduce local audits of ultrasound scanning against national standards and foetal loss rates following invasive diagnostic procedures.
Answer
The content of the HealthTechnology Assessment Advice 5 report is currently being fully reviewed by the Scottish Executive taking into consideration the advice from the UK National ScreeningCommittee.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Health Technology Assessment Advice 5, which NHS boards automatically offer a second trimester anomaly scan within the recommended 18 to 22 weeks gestation period and, if this is not universally offered, what steps will be taken to ensure that it will be offered automatically in all board areas and whether it will facilitate the development of action plans to help boards to achieve automatic access to first and second trimester scans.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is aware that a second trimester anomaly scan is not universal across Scotland,however, we do not hold the requested information centrally. This is a matterfor NHS boards.
The contents of the HealthTechnology Assessment Advice 5 report is currently being fully reviewed by the Scottish Executive taking into consideration the advice from the UK National ScreeningCommittee.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Health Technology Assessment Advice 5, what steps will be taken to ensure that the safety of ultrasound use is continuously monitored by units and that British Medical Ultrasound Society guidelines for the safe use of diagnostic ultrasound equipment are adhered to at all times.
Answer
The contents of the HealthTechnology Assessment Advice 5 report is currently being fully reviewed by the Scottish Executive taking into consideration the advice from the UK National ScreeningCommittee.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Health Technology Assessment Advice 5, what steps will be taken to ensure that the National Services Division's national pregnancy screening programme specifications are extended to cover all aspects of ultrasound scanning, including gestational age assessment and second trimester anomaly scanning.
Answer
A review of the HealthTechnology Assessment Advice 5 report is currently underway by the Scottish Executive which will take into consideration the advice from the UK NationalScreening Committee. The National Services Division’s national pregnancyscreening programme specifications will be considered during this review.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 25 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when its Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department will make an announcement on plans after 2005 for the #2.25 million allocated annually to fund the employability services for the drug users' element of the New Futures Fund.
Answer
The Department will discusswith the enterprise networks, in the context of their planning process,employability objectives for disadvantaged groups after March 2005. The outcomeof these discussions, which will be informed by progress on mainstreaming NewFutures Fund, will be reflected in the enterprise networks operational plansfor 2005-06. The department will ask the networks to alert NFF projects to theimplications as soon as possible.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 24 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are, or will be, put in place to assist amateur football clubs, such as Stow amateur football club, to meet water charges.
Answer
The Water and SewerageCharges (Exemption) (Scotland) Regulations 2002 exempt from water and sewerage chargesa range of organisations affected by the withdrawal of relief on these charges.This exemption scheme, which will run until 2006, is providing assistanceto a number of relatively small voluntary and charitable bodies, including anumber of sporting organisations. However, the Executive is unable to comment on itsapplication in individual cases, as this is a matter for Scottish Water, whichadministers the scheme.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Health Technology Assessment Advice 5, what steps will be taken to follow up the recommendation to establish a national working group to determine the specification for ultrasound equipment, to ensure fitness for the requirements of both first and second trimester scanning and to address the issues of safety, quality assurance, repair and maintenance of ultrasound equipment.
Answer
The contents of the HealthTechnology Assessment Advice 5 report is currently being fully reviewed bythe Scottish Executive taking into consideration the advice from the UKNational Screening Committee.
