- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 12 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a full or abridged copy of the Borders railway business plan will be made public and, if so, when.
Answer
Publication of suchdocuments is a matter for the promoter. The Waverley Railway Partnership is thepromoter of this project.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 12 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the funding for the Borders railway will be raised by each relevant local authority; how this funding will be raised; what its position would be if local authorities do not raise the expected funding, and what its position would be if the Strategic Rail Authority does not deliver its expected funding for the project.
Answer
The amount of and means ofraising funding contributions is a matter for the Waverley Railway Partnership.It is the promoter’s responsibility to assemble and deliver the funding packagefor the railway and it would be premature for the Scottish Executive to anticipate the outcome of the promoter’s efforts.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 12 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-932 by Nicol Stephen on 11 December 2003, when it received the business case for the Borders railway and when it expects to make an announcement in respect of its additional funding contribution to support construction of the railway.
Answer
The initial business casewas received on 4 November 2003. Following an initial analysis further informationwas requested from the Waverley RailwayPartnership and this was received on 2 December 2003.That information is now being considered and an announcement will be made oncethat consideration is complete.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 12 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many seminars it is holding for local newspapers to discuss improving communications with it and what the cost of such seminars is to the public purse.
Answer
The Executive is planning tohold a seminar for local newspaper editors on 15 January 2004.
Final costs for the seminar,to include buffet lunch and transport to the Parliament, will depend on thenumbers attending, but are not expected to exceed £700. Attendees are expectedto travel to Edinburgh at their own expense.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 7 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it has provided to the NHS this year to respond to winter pressures.
Answer
On average we have increasedthe allocations to NHS boards by 7.8% for 2003-04. From this increase NHS boardshave set aside around £12 million to address specific winter issues, supportedby the £11 million spent by the Executive on the flu vaccination programme.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are national targets for local authorities regarding the maximum period of time for which older people in hospital should wait (a) to be allocated a care manager and (b) for a care management assessment to be completed.
Answer
There are no nationaltargets for local authorities regarding the maximum period of time for whicholder people in hospital should wait to be allocated a care manager, or for acare manager assessment to be completed. We will, however, introduce from April2004 a performance indicator on the time interval between the referral and thestart of service delivery.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 22 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment will be made of the progress of local authorities in making their streets and services more suitable and accessible to people with disabilities.
Answer
The interests of disabledpeople are an extremely high priority for the Scottish Executive and it is ouraim that they have the same opportunities to travel as other members of societyAlthough there are presently no plans for any formal assessment to be made of the progress of local authorities in making their streets and servicesaccessible to disabled people we will continue to encourage local authoritiesto ensure that their facilities and infrastructure are accessible to all.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, subject to its business case test being satisfied, it would increase its notional contribution towards the Borders Railway if the Strategic Rail Authority failed to deliver their anticipated contribution of #4 million.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to S2W-4596 on 15 December 2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich 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, 11 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 19 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with VisitScotland and the Scottish Borders Tourist Board in respect of boosting tourism in the Borders.
Answer
Boostingtourism in the Borders is a matter for VisitScotland and the Scottish BordersTourist Board. They have developed a range of initiatives aimed at increasingthe volume and value of tourism to the Borders area. There is clear evidencethat tourism in the Borders area has increased as a result of the initiativesand strategies that have been put in place. In 2002 there were 560,000 visitsmade to the area with a value of £91 million; this compares with 440,000 and£49 million respectively in 1999.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-16722 by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 July 2001, what progress has been made in the introduction of neonatal hearing screening in light of research showing that if children are identified as deaf before six months of age they are likely to develop language at the same or similar rate to a hearing child, as referred to in the National Deaf Children's Society's Annual Review 2003 Making Dreams Real.
Answer
The introduction of newbornhearing screening is a commitment in the partnership agreement and is beingtaken forward in two steps. The first step which involved the establishment oftwo screening pathfinder sites in Tayside and Lothian NHS boards is in placeand screening of newborn babies in these areas began in January and March 2003respectively. There is also a three-year newborn hearing screening pilot inHighland and Western Isles NHS boards which is due to be completed in March2004. The remaining boards are in the process of developing business cases andtaking forward the arrangements to support the introduction of newborn hearingscreening, which is expected to be in place by April 2005. In addition all NHSboards have agreed through their regional planning groups to purchase the sameinformation management system which will ensure easier tracking and monitoringof babies.
