- 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, 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 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: Friday, 12 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 26 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any funding for aids and adaptations is ring-fenced.
Answer
No. Resources for aids andadaptations are provided through local authority general allocations.
- 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: Thursday, 11 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the cost of installing sprinklers in care homes will be reflected in future care home charges or whether it will provide any financial assistance to care homes for their installation.
Answer
There is no requirement forsprinklers to be installed in existing care homes. The Executive intends tointroduce regulations requiring sprinklers to be installed in new residentialcare homes. Providers need to consider the cost of meeting all the relevantregulatory requirements when they are planning a new facility.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of public awareness of the National Care Standards.
Answer
The National Care StandardsCommittee, which develops and recommends draft standards to Scottish ministers,has recently asked the Scottish Executive to consider methods to assesspublic awareness of the National Care Standards. A report will be made to theCommittee in due course.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken, and will put in place, to promote the National Care Standards.
Answer
The National Care Standardswere officially launched in November 2001 by the Health Minister. The event washeld at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh and attracted significant press and media attention.This was followed by the publication and wide distribution of the first 19 setsof standards in late 2001 and 2002. Two further sets of standards have beenpublished in 2003 and 2004. All the standards are available on the Scottish Executive’s website at
www.scotland.gov.uk.
In September 2002 around 220,000copies of a general information leaflet about the standards Using careservices? was published. This leaflet along with posters was widelydistributed to public places such as benefit offices, doctors’ surgeries,libraries and local authority social work departments; to service providers; toumbrella and professional organisations and to the Care Commission. We will bepublishing an updated version of this leaflet during 2004.
The Care Commission has akey role to play in raising awareness of the standards when it is carrying outregulation, inspection and complaints work. The Scottish Executive is working,and will continue to work closely with the Commission to develop ways of furtherpromoting the standards.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money has been (a) allocated to and (b) spent on publicising the National Care Standards in (i) 2002-03 and (ii) 2003-04 to date.
Answer
The table details the financial resources spent on publishing, distributing and publicising the National Care Standards.
Expenditure On The National Care Standards
| Year | Resources Spent |
| 2001-2002 | £153,590 |
| 2002-2003 | £46,738 |
| 2003-2004 (to date) | £14,053 |
There are also effective ways of publicising the standards which do not involve spending money. The Scottish Executive and ministers take every appropriate opportunity to raise awareness of the standards in correspondence, at meetings and other events. Likewise, the Care Commission has a key role to play in raising awareness of the standards when it is carrying out regulation, inspection and complaints work.
