- 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 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what account is taken of increases in water charges when care home charges are set.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-5615 on 3 February 2004.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/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 18 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government with regard to the complexity of the application form for the pensioner credit scheme, in light of the impact of the scheme on services the Executive provides to pensioners.
Answer
None.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 18 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has with regard to the uptake of the pensioner credit scheme, in light of the impact of the scheme on services it provides to pensioners.
Answer
This information is in thepublic domain, available from the Department of Work and Pensions at:
www.pensioncreditinfo.gov.uk/communication.asp.As of 31st January 2004,around 229,000 individuals in Scotland were receiving pension credit, with an average awardof £42 per week.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 18 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance it provides to those wishing to access the pensioner credit scheme, in light of the impact of the scheme on services it provides to pensioners.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues,including pension credit, and issupporting the implementation in Scotland by disseminating information andencouraging applications by a variety of means, including: benefitshealthchecks through our central heating programme; publishing agenda newsletterfor older people; and advising the pension service on the content anddistribution of the Scottish version of the pensioners' guide.
This is in addition to the UKgovernment’s current uptake campaign and application advisory services.Applicants are recommended to apply through, and get advice from, the pension creditapplication helpline on freephone 080099 1234. The Minister for Finance and Public Services welcomed the latest uptake campaign on 1 March 2004. Acopy of his statement can be read at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2004/03/SENW1047.aspx
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 18 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the funding structure of the Sleep Centre in Edinburgh and return to the previous arrangement of central government funding rather than the current structure of funding by individual NHS boards.
Answer
There are no plans to returnto the previous arrangement of national NHS funding. The criteria for anational service include low volume and high unit costs. As the sleep service doesnot meet these criteria, it cannot be considered as a national service. Fundingof the Sleep Centre is a matter for NHS Lothian, to be considered with otherservice priorities in the board area.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 18 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Helping Homeless People: Delivering the Action Plan for Prevention and Effective Response - Homeless Monitoring Group First Report - January 2004, whether East Lothian Council's homelessness strategy has been fully assessed against the recommendations of the Homelessness Task Force and, if so, what conclusions have been reached in respect of the adequacy of the strategy.
Answer
A cross sector panel isassessing all homelessness strategies against a common framework drawn up byCommunities Scotland in consultation with the homelessness monitoring group.
East Lothian’s homelessness strategy has been assessed by thepanel and feedback has been given to the council. Scottish Executive officials will liaise with the Council regarding its response to thisfeedback and its review of the strategy in light of the recommendationscontained within the homelessness section of the pathfinder inspection reportpublished by Communities Scotland in January.
- 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 Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure that there is thorough and rigorous documentation by NHS boards of patient assessment and progress.
Answer
NHS Quality ImprovementScotland has monitored the systems for ensuringthat this documentation is in place through the Generic Clinical GovernanceStandards and will continue to monitor this through the Healthcare GovernanceStandards which are currently being consulted on.
- 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 Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the #6.8 million granted annually for local authority rehabilitation services will not be diverted to other services when such funds are built into the mainstream revenue grant to local authorities.
Answer
The £6.8 million annualallocation continues within individual authorities’ grant aided expenditureresources, and we expect authorities to continue to use these resources for drugrehabilitation services. There has been no change to these arrangements whichhave been in place since 2001-02.
Decisions at local level onspending priorities are a matter for individual authorities in liaison withtheir partners on drug action teams (DAT). This is to ensure an integratedapproach to the provision of all drugs services in the DAT area, and to providebest value.
- 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 Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to ensure that effective communications are in place for older people with any cognitive impairment and what monitoring is in place to ensure equity of services for such patients, as referred to in Older People in Acute Care National Overview - February 2004.
Answer
NHS boards should aim toachieve the standards of care set by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. Anysignificant shortfall should be identified through local clinical audit andgovernance arrangements. Where necessary NHS Quality Improvement Scotland willcarry out follow up visits. Any major issues can be address through the annualaccountability review process.
- 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 Malcolm Chisholm on 17 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding has been put in place to meet the increasing number of persons with HIV in care, in light of figures recording the highest annual number of new cases of HIV since the mid-1980s, as referred to in issue 172 of the Scottish Drugs Forum Bulletin.
Answer
Following the publication of the report of the HIV Health Promotion Strategy Review Group in January 2001,the Executive increased the resources available to NHS boards by £2 million annually,to assist their work to prevent the spread of HIV and other bloodborne viruses.The allocation in 2003-04 is £8.12 million. Boards use these resources to fundmeasures to address a range of issues relating to HIV in their areas.
Expenditure on treatment andcare services for those suffering from HIV is a matter for individual boards todetermine within their general funding allocations, which increased by aminimum of 7.4% across boards in 2003-04.
Local authorities also havea key role in supporting those suffering from HIV. Substantial additionalresources for community care have been allocated in the local governmentfinance settlement to 2005-06.
The Executive also providessome £500,000 to a range of voluntary organisations responding to thechallenges posed by bloodborne viruses, particularly HIV and hepatitis C.
