- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 9 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all grant and relief schemes to the water industry which have been withdrawn in each of the last four years; what the total estimated value was of each scheme, and what the total estimated overall loss is to those in receipt of such schemes.
Answer
The Domestic Sewerage Relief Grant worth £89.7 million/£59.2 million/£29.7 million was paid to the water authorities in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99 respectively. This was a transitional scheme designed to assist domestic customers cope with the payment for the sewerage service received. It is the only grant paid to the water authorities which has been withdrawn in the past four years.The withdrawal of relief to customer groups is a matter for the water authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 8 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make additional financial aid available to the catching and processing sectors in the light of the current situation in the fishing industry.
Answer
We announced last October the availability of record levels of support for the fisheries sector under the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG). We also announced this morning a £27 million package of support for the industry. That includes up to £25 million for decommissioning during the coming financial year, to bring whitefish capacity more closely into line with available fishing opportunities and help put the remainder of the fleet on a sounder financial footing for the future; additional resources to support conservation measures and £1 million to implement the report of the Scottish Fish Processors' Working Group.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 6 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Health Technology Board for Scotland will report on the efficacy of the Al'heimer's drug Aricept, Rivastigmine and Galantamine and, if so, when or whether the recommendations of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence will be adopted in Scotland.
Answer
The Health Technology Board for Scotland is currently working on a process to comment on all Final Appraisals from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. Treatments for Alzheimer's disease will be the first topic to go through this process in the spring.As an interim measure, the Scottish Executive has asked Drugs and Therapeutics Committees to review any advice they may have provided to their clinicians on the use of these treatments in Alzheimer's disease, taking into account the NICE guidance.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to make parents pay the financial cost of vandalism caused by their children.
Answer
No. The Scottish Executive's aim is to improve the operation of the current system which requires children to face up to their responsibilities and to change their behaviour to stop offending in future. In addition to their responsibilities under section 1 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, parents are required to attend a children's hearing and are encouraged to support their children in complying with any supervision requirement.A supervision requirement on a child from a children's hearing may include a requirement on the child to make reparation to a victim or to the community. The Youth Crime Review seeks to extend the range of suitable programmes and measures available to children's hearings.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 5 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are available so that tenants of private property who are a nuisance to their neighbours can be evicted.
Answer
Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988, private landlords can apply to the courts for possession of their property where the tenant, or anyone living with the tenant, has caused a nuisance or annoyance to neighbours or has been convicted by a court of immoral or illegal use of the premises. This is a discretionary ground and the sheriff will only grant the landlord possession if he believes it is reasonable to do so. To complement this legislation, the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 brought in extended grounds for eviction which allows landlords to repossess a house where criminal conduct has been committed or where anti-social behaviour has been committed or is likely to be committed, either in the locality of the tenanted property by the tenant, or someone residing or lodging with him, or by visitors to the property. In addition to these legislative measures, we are considering ways to encourage sociable neighbourhood initiatives and are evaluating existing initiatives to see if they should be replicated elsewhere. We have also commissioned the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland to produce a think piece on how to tackle the problems of anti-social behaviour in the private sector.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 5 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of violence and aggression against school staff have been recorded, by local authority area, for each of the last three years.
Answer
Information on violence against local authority school staff has been collected centrally since 1997-98. In that year the total number of incidents reported across Scotland was 743. In 1998-99 a total of 1,898 incidents were reported. Figures covering the 1999-2000 school year will be published early in 2001.Comparisons cannot be made between the 1997-98 and 1998-99 figures, because some authorities did not reply to the 1997-98 survey and because systematic and consistent reporting procedures are not in place in all local authorities.Because of concerns about the consistency of recording I am unable to give a breakdown of the figures by local authority area at this stage. The Scottish Executive is currently considering how this situation can be remedied.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the #30 million announced in July for the replacement of medical equipment was accompanied by additional revenue funding that could be used for the hiring of additional staff to help fully utilise any new equipment purchased.
Answer
No. It is for individual health boards and NHS Trusts to meet the revenue consequences of the new medical equipment from within existing resources.Health board unified budgets increased by an average of 7.2% in 2000-01 and will increase by an average of 6.5% in 2001-02.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the names and titles of the NHS clinicians consulted in connection with the #30 million announced in July for the replacement of medical equipment.
Answer
The composition of the working group set up to determine the distribution of the additional £30 million that I announced earlier this year for investment in medical equipment was as follows:
| Sir D Carter (Chairperson) | Chief Medical Officer | The Scottish Executive |
| Dr J Reid | Consultant Radiologist | Borders General Hospital NHS Trust |
| Professor D Hadley | Consultant Radiologist | South Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Dr H Burns | Director of Public Health | Greater Glasgow Health Board |
| Dr F Gilbert | Professor in Academic Radiology | Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Professor D Harrison | Consultant Histopathologist | Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Professor O Garden | Regius Professor of Clinical Surgery | Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Professor A Lorimer | Consultant Cardiologist | North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Dr D Old | Consultant Medical Scientist | Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Mr T Cavanagh | Laboratory Manager | North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Dr G Houston | Consultant Radiologist | Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Dr J Browning | Medical Director | Lanarkshire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust |
| Mr T Jones | Chief Executive | Lothian Health Board |
| Mr S Atherton | Director | Scottish Healthcare Supplies |
| Mr D Palmer | Deputy Director of Finance | The Scottish Executive |
| Mr C Knox | Director, IT Strategy | The Scottish Executive |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what its strategy is to improve general professional training opportunities for newly qualified dental graduates in Grampian.
Answer
The Scottish Executive, through the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education (SCPMDE), aims to provide General Professional Training (GPT) opportunities for dental graduates in Scotland. Two year GPT is widely recognised as being beneficial, and Scotland is in the lead on its introduction. The Dental Action Plan includes a recommendation to develop GPT more widely and the aim is to expand the number of GPT places steadily. It is planned that Grampian will be included in the next round of new GPT places.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Information Statistics Division records outpatient waiting times and, if not, whether it intends to do so in future.
Answer
Information on waiting times for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant, following referral by a General Medical Practitioner/General Dental Practitioner, is collected centrally by the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency. This information is published in Scottish Health Statistics and in other ISD releases which are available on the Internet - http://www.show.nhs.uk/isd.
