- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider extending access to free personal care to the estimated 1,350 to 1,650 people under the age of 65 suffering from dementia.
Answer
The free personalcare policy was introduced to benefit people aged 65 and over, and the governmentis focusing its attention on addressing implementation issues arising from thispolicy. There are no current plans to extend this general provision to other caregroups. For people under the age of 65, two forms of support are provided. Nursingcare payments are available to care home residents who fully fund their care homecosts, and people who have dementia or any other degenerative illness who requirecare, and who live in their own homes, can claim Disability Living Allowance.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 21 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has that customers on Scottish Power’s dynamic teleswitched tariff cannot switch to another supplier without incurring additional costs.
Answer
I am advised byOfgem that a consumer is not likely to incur additional costs in switching to asimilar dynamic teleswitching tariff offered by an alternative supplier.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 21 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will carry out a review of the operation of the Warm Deal and central heating programme and whether as part of any such review it will consider extending the criteria for eligibility, in consultation with organisations representing older people and people with disabilities.
Answer
The centralheating and Warm Deal programmes have already provided free central heating for83,000 homes and free insulation for 317,000 homes in Scotland. The majority of
these free installations have benefited people over60 years of age.
A formal review of the Fuel Poverty Statement is not required until August 2010. The contractfor the delivery of current programmes runs till March 2008. I am open to suggestionsas to how the effectiveness of these programmes in combating fuel poverty can beimproved in future.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 20 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many local advisory councils of the Scottish Health Council there are; where the councils are located and what funding they receive.
Answer
There is a Local AdvisoryCouncil (LAC) in each of the 14 territorial NHS board areas. The following tabledetails total expenditure, which represents members expenses, by each LAC in 2006-07:
| NHS Board | Actual Expenditure 2006-07 (£) |
| Grampian | 1,575 |
| Highland | 2,044 |
| Orkney | 1,524 |
| Shetland | 638 |
| Western Isles | 309 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 1,210 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 837 |
| Greater Glasgow and Clyde | 410 |
| Lanarkshire | 74 |
| Tayside | 1,172 |
| Fife | 231 |
| Lothian | 316 |
| Borders | 1,086 |
| Forth Valley | 636 |
| Total | 12,062 |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 20 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21691 by Mr Andy Kerr on 19 January 2006, which NHS boards have developed strategic partnerships with the Citizens Advice Bureau in their areas to provide independent advice and support for patients and when any such partnerships were developed.
Answer
The following tabledetails the current position in relation to the partnerships between NHS boardsand the Citizens Advice Bureau for the provision of an independent advice and supportservice:
| NHS Board | Implementation Date |
| Ayrshire and Arran | Still under negotiation |
| Borders | 1 April 2007 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 1 April 2007 |
| Fife | Still under negotiation |
| Forth Valley | 1 June 2007 |
| Grampian | 29 January 2007 |
| Greater Glasgow and Clyde | 1 December 2006 - interim service April 2007 - full service |
| Highland | 1 August 2007 - interim service 1 January 2008 - full service |
| Lanarkshire | 1 September 2006 |
| Lothian | 1 April 2007 - interim service 8 July 2007 – full service |
| Orkney | 1 July 2007 |
| Shetland | 1 January 2007 |
| Tayside | 1 April 2007 |
| Western Isles | 1 October 2006 |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 20 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive which voluntary organisations received funding from NHS Health Scotland in each year since 1999 and how much each received.
Answer
I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-962 on 20 June 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Linda Fabiani on 20 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions and on what dates the Joint Ministerial Committee has met since 1999, excluding any sub-committee meetings.
Answer
The Joint MinisterialCommittee has met in plenary three times since 1999, on the following dates:
1 September 2000.
30 October 2001.
22 October 2002.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Linda Fabiani on 20 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any communication from the UK Government since May 2007 to propose that a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee be convened.
Answer
No.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 20 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring has been undertaken of the effectiveness of NHS Health Scotland’s disbursements of funding.
Answer
Monitoring the effectivenessof NHS Health Scotland’s disbursements of funding is by way of theorganisation’s performance management system.
Internal processesto monitor effectiveness are driven by quarterly business plan delivery reviewswhich involve budget holders and other staff tasked with project delivery, and stafffrom policy and planning and finance. These reviews lead to the production of reportson business plan delivery for consideration and, where necessary, action by theCorporate Management Team, the Audit Committee and the board.
External processesto monitor effectiveness include periodic reviews with organisations receiving funding,and reviews by external and internal audit. The annual delivery plan is agreed withthe Scottish Executive. Overall organisational effectiveness is reviewed annuallyby the Scottish government, through the annual review process.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 20 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the expenditure of the Scottish Health Council.
Answer
The Scottish HealthCouncil was established as part of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland but with itsown distinct identity. The Chief Executive of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland istherefore the accountable officer for the Scottish Health Council and is personallyanswerable to the Parliament for regularity, propriety and value for money in themanagement of the organisation. The council’s staff are responsible for complyingwith the requirements of NHS QIS systems of internal financial control and the board’sstanding financial instructions.
The Annual Reviewof the Scottish Health Council, which I will lead, also provides a mechanism forthe monitoring and review of expenditure.
