Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1957 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S1W-08022

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 12 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that National Lottery funding for successful mental health projects continues on a permanent basis.

Question reference: S1W-08020

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 12 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish waiting lists for patients with mental health problems.

Information on waiting lists is collected centrally only for hospital inpatients and day cases. Most consultations and treatments for patients with mental health problems are undertaken on an outpatient or day hospital basis and, therefore, information on the number of patients waiting for such treatment is not held centrally.

Data is collected centrally on first outpatient referrals and the length of time that patients waited for their first outpatient appointment. Information on waiting times for a first outpatient appointment for all specialties, including those for mental health, is given in table M6.7 on page 206 of Scottish Health Statistics 1999, which was published by the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency in March this year, a copy of which is available in the SPICe (Bib number 6937).

Question reference: S1W-07899

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 10 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support, expertise and encouragement it is providing to the Glasgow CrossRail project.

Question reference: S1W-08267

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 10 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, in the light of the House of Commons Select Committee on Health's concern that the current Scottish guidance on the use of children in test purchase cases has not been modified, what action it intends to take in response to the committee's recommendation about the achievement of a uniformity of approach towards tackling sales of tobacco products to children.

There is no action planned at present.

The particular aspect of the guidance which applies, i.e. in relation to the use of children for test purchasing, is based on policy set by the Crown Office. The Lord Advocate has clearly stated that children should not be used to test purchase tobacco products as part of the local enforcement activity. This is also the view of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS). Scottish Executive officials are working with local government representatives on measures to improve enforcement of laws relating to underage sales.

Question reference: S1W-08268

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 10 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, in the light of the House of Commons Select Committee on Health's report on the tobacco industry, whether it intends to introduce a system of negative licensing in order to deter retailers from selling tobacco products to underage children.

Question reference: S1W-08262

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 10 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it intends to take to address the findings of the recent ASH Scotland/Health Education Board for Scotland survey on smoking in public places that over half of businesses in the Scottish leisure industry do not have smoking policies in place.

The Scottish Executive is committed to seeing a marked improvement in non-smoking facilities in leisure and hospitality amenities. The Scottish Voluntary Charter on Smoking in Public Places which was recently launched by the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, the Scottish Tourism Forum, the British Hospitality Association and the Brewers & Licensed Retailers Association of Scotland should help ensure this improvement. I will be looking for clear evidence that the Charter is working.

Question reference: S1W-08266

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 10 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, in the light of the House of Commons Select Committee on Health's report on the tobacco industry, whether its policy goals in relation to environmental tobacco smoke take account of the "real health risks it poses" as identified in the report and whether the Voluntary Charter on Smoking in Public Places will include specific targets in this respect

Question reference: S1O-02138

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what resources have been made available to local authorities to ensure that the necessary funds are available to strengthen bridges in order to comply with EU regulations for higher gross weight lorries.

Scottish Executive support for local authorities' capital expenditure on roads and transport is included within the single allocation under section 94 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 which covers all non-housing capital programmes. It is for local authorities to prioritise upgrading of bridges to meet the 40-tonne EC standard and allocate the necessary funding from the resources available to them.

Question reference: S1W-08181

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 5 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether engineers can fulfil public expectations in relation to the upkeep of the road network given current road maintenance levels and funding methods and, if so, why its assessment of the situation differs from that of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

The assessment published for the Institution of Civil Engineers relates to local roads in England, Scotland and Wales. Local roads are maintained by councils as local roads authorities. It is entirely a matter for each Scottish Council to decide the priority to be given to this work and allocate resources accordingly.

I have made it clear that the maintenance of the Scottish trunk road network and the reversal of past underfunding was a clear priority of the Scottish Executive. The condition of the trunk road network is being preserved as a result of the significant extra funds that have been allocated.

Question reference: S1W-08182

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 5 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be possible for local authorities to implement the McCrone recommendations if it does not meet the costs centrally and, if so, why its assessment differs from that of CoSLA.