- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 16 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes in 2001 involved the use of firearms.
Answer
The requested information on the number of crimes and offences involving the alleged use of firearms in 2001 is published in Table 1 of the statistical bulletin Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland, 2001. Copies of the bulletin are available in Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 24105).
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 16 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many firearm licence certificates were issued for 2001.
Answer
The requested information on the number of firearm certificates issued in 2001 is published in Table 1 of the statistical bulletin Firearm Certificates Statistics, Scotland, 2001. Copies of the bulletin are available in Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 22812).
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 16 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-23704 by Mr Jim Wallace on 18 March 2002, why information on the sei'ure of illegal firearms is not held centrally and what information is available to gauge the extent of illegal firearm possession.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is consulting with Scottish police forces, via the Scottish Criminal Statistics Committee, about collecting information on the numbers of seizures of illegally held firearms. Scottish police forces hold such information but do not currently record this data in a standard way.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what support it is giving to the medical director at the Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow in relation to recruiting at least five clinical oncologists at the centre.
Answer
National and international recruitment continues to be pursued against the background of recognised shortages in the oncology specialties across the UK. In this, the Beatson Oncology Centre is supported by the HR Department within the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust. Dr Bryson and his colleagues continue to have the full support of the Chief Executive of Greater Glasgow NHS Board, the Chief Executive of the North Glasgow Trust and the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children abused through prostitution are currently under the care of social work services.
Answer
The Executive has established a working group containing a range of external experts to consider the support needs of children who run away from home and children abused through prostitution. The working group has established that there is a lack of data on the numbers of young people sexually exploited through prostitution and has proposed that research should be commissioned by the Executive on the scope of the problem.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will launch the healthy eating campaign and the national standards for school meals.
Answer
The national healthy eating campaign, "healthyliving", was launched on 7 January 2003. An announcement about the standards for school meals, which are part of the report of the Expert Panel on School Meals, will be made shortly.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will establish appropriate accommodation, such as places of safety, for vulnerable children including children abused through prostitution.
Answer
Local authorities have powers under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to provide short-term refuges for children who appear to be at risk of harm. The role of the local authority in providing refuge is to provide the child with somewhere safe to stay and any other services consistent with safeguarding the child's welfare.The Executive has established a working group containing a range of external experts to consider the support needs of children who run away from home and children abused through prostitution. The working group has suggested that the Executive should undertake an assessment of how local authorities are meeting the needs of young people for refuge, the levels of demand and examine models of good practice before issuing additional guidance on the provision of refuge support. The Executive has identified up to £600,000 in funding to take forward work on refuge provision and £57,000 for a study led by Barnardo's to identify effective services for young people abused through prostitution, with a particular focus on ensuring that there are alternatives to secure accommodation.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 13 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive who represents Scotland on the Firearms Consultative Committee.
Answer
A senior official from the Scottish Executive Justice Department and a chief officer from a Scottish police force are the members from Scotland who attend the Firearms Consultative Committee.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 December 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how long patients are expected to wait for their first appointment with a specialist after an urgent referral by their general practitioner for suspected breast cancer.
Answer
The Clinical Standards Board for Scotland (CSBS) criteria for breast cancer services standards, state:Essential a minimum of 70% of patients referred to a symptomatic clinic are seen within four weeks from date of GP referral.Desirable a minimum of 80% of patients are seen within two weeks from date of GP referral. In March 2002, the CSBS published their
National Overview of Breast Cancer Services alongside 17 local reports on service provision for breast cancer services in Scotland. These are available from
www.clinicalstandards.orgIn May 2002
Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer were distributed throughout NHSScotland. A copy is available from:
www.scotland.gov.uk and
www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/cancerinscotland.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 January 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 9 January 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made in discussions with Her Majesty's Government on uprating the threshold for payment for student loans and the graduate endowment.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range if issues including collection of student loan repayments.There is no income threshold for payment of the graduate endowment.