- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 August 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any representations to the UK or European parliaments in respect of concerns about imports of Brazilian beef, particularly in relation to foot and mouth disease.
Answer
The Executive is liaising withthe Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on this issue. We have madeno representations to the UK or European parliaments. We are aware of concerns aboutimports from Brazil but are currently content that EU import rules providesufficient guarantees that beef imported from Brazil does not endanger human oranimal health. Beef imports are permitted only from areas free of disease includingfoot-and-mouth disease. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 31 July 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has taken on whether, under section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998, UK ministers could ask Her Majesty by Order in Council to include the subject matter of the Electricity Act 1989 or the Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc.) (No.2) Order 2000 in Schedule 5, (Reserved Matters), of the Scotland Act 1998, thereby removing the ability of the Executive to withhold consent for a new generation of nuclear power stations.
Answer
No such advice has beensought on this matter.
On 11 July 2006, AlistairDarling, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, announced the conclusionsof the UK Energy Review. The review made clear that the consenting of newnuclear power stations is a matter executively devolved to Scottish ministersand the review made no proposal to change this situation.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 July 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 31 July 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has taken on whether, under section 58 of the Scotland Act 1998, the relevant Secretary of State could consider a decision to withhold consent for new nuclear power stations in Scotland as being incompatible with international obligations relating to the security of supply of electricity or the environment, for example in relation to the Kyoto Protocol or the EU plans for the liberalisation of European energy markets.
Answer
No such advice has beensought on this matter.
In accordance with ministers’duties under the Electricity Act 1989 any application to construct a newnuclear power station would require to be fully considered on its individualmerits.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 27 July 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in respect of raising the current limit on the value of claims that can be made under the small claims court procedure; with whom agreement on a new limit must be reached, and whether it will give reasons for any delay in making the necessary changes.
Answer
We have had a number ofdiscussions with a wide range of interested stakeholders in considering therelated questions of the appropriate level of the small claims limit, thesummary cause limit and the privative limit of the Sheriff Court,above which actions can be raised either in the Sheriff Court or the Court ofSession.
Itis for Members of the Parliament to set the appropriate levels, onconsideration of Orders laid in draft by Ministers.
Ourconsideration of the issue requires us to balance competing issues. Theseinclude issues around access to a simplified court procedure but one in whichlegal aid is not available and freedom for pursuers to litigate in the court oftheir choice against the costs for defenders in being forced to defend cases inthe Court of Session as opposed to the more local sheriff court. As part ofthat balancing exercise, we have proposed that personal injury cases areexempted from the small claims procedure.
We accept that the case ismade for an increase in all three of these levels and are considering where wecan properly strike the balance in proposing the new levels.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 July 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what its most recent estimate is of the cost of constructing the Fochabers to Mosstodloch by-pass.
Answer
Construction of theFochabers to Mosstodloch Bypass is estimated to cost £18 million to £21 millionexclusive of value added tax.
Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for moreinformation if required.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 July 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to change the formula used to allocate funding between NHS boards and, if so, whether it will provide the (a) details of, (b) reasons for and (c) timescale for any announcements in respect of such changes.
Answer
The NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) was established in March2005 to improve and refine the Arbuthnott Formula. Members were chosenthrough the public appointment process and DrKaren Facey, a self-employed health policy consultant and non-executiveDirector of Forth Valley NHS Board acts as Chairman. The remit and membershipof NRAC was detailed in my answer to question S2W-14556 answered on 21 February 2005. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.Over the summer of 2005, theCommittee consulted with a number of NHS boards to assess what issues they havewith the current Formula and identify criteria that NHS boards consider asuccessful Formula could be measured against. To inform the work undertaken byNRAC, the issues were collated into groups and a summary of the issues and anoutline of the proposed handling of the evidence was published on the NRAC website(www.nrac.scot.nhs.uk).Individual responses will not be given to Boards, but issues will be consideredas research progresses and new elements of the allocation formula are created.Research has been undertakenduring the past six months to determine how the Formula could be improved. Theareas of research include demography (population measurement and how age/sexcost weights for Care Programmes are assessed); morbidity and lifecircumstances; and the excess costs of supply (including remoteness). Thisresearch is currently being finalised.
The Committee will issuethese research reports on its website in early July, with an overview documentsummarising the key issues, presenting options and raising questions. Engagementand feedback will be sought mainly with NHSScotland, but also other interestedparties including, for example, the Royal Colleges, BMA and COSLA.
The Committee intends tosubmit its Report to Ministers in June 2007. Any agreed changes will be takeninto account in 2008-09 allocations, at the earliest.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 July 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what levels of staffing and financial resources have been devoted to genetic services in the NHS in each year since 2003, broken down by (a) category of test and (b) geographical location.
Answer
The clinicalgenetics services, together with the routine cytogenetic laboratory servicesare commissioned at NHS board level, thus the Executive does not have centralinformation on the staffing and financial resources allocated to these elementsof NHS genetic services.
The moleculargenetic laboratory service is provided by the four laboratories of the ScottishMolecular Genetics Consortium (SMGC) which are based in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh andGlasgow and is centrally funded.
The following tablesets out the staffing and expenditure on the Molecular Genetics service from2003 to 2006. The staffing figures include all staff employed on these budgets.
Information broken down by category of test is not available.
National Services DivisionScottish Molecular Genetics Laboratories Expenditure and Staff 2003-06
| Years | Whole Time Equivalent (Laboratory Staff Including Clerical) | Payment Sheet Totals (£) |
| Yorkhill | Lothian | Tayside | Grampian | Yorkhill | Lothian | Tayside | Grampian | TOTAL (£) |
| 2003-04 | 13.75 | 9.5 | 6.4 | 7 | 873,025 | 576,699 | 368,914 | 527,466 | 2,346,104 |
| 2004-05 | 14.25 | 11.9 | 7.9 | 7 | 970,020 | 694,398 | 352,375 | 472,826 | 2,489,619 |
| 2005-06 | 15.25 | 11.9 | 7.6 | 8.53 | 1,041,667 | 706,871 | 484,118 | 531,294 | 2,763,950 |
| Board Payment Totals (£) | 2,884,712 | 1,977,968 | 1,205,407 | 1,531,586 | |
DataSource: National Statistics Division.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 July 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made available the criteria used to determine the allocation of NHS funding between NHS board and, if so, where the details may be obtained.
Answer
Funds are allocated to NHS boardson the basis of the formula set out in
Fair Shares for All – the finalreport of the National Review of Resource Allocation for the NHS in Scotland(the Arbuthnott review) which was published on 7 September 2000. The reportis available on the Scottish Executive Internet site at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/10/19142752/27522The formula is based on fourmain indicators – the size of each health board population; the profile of eachhealth board population in terms of age and sex; the levels of ill health andlife circumstances found in each health board; and the unavoidable excess costsof delivering services in rural and remote areas.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 July 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take steps to reduce waiting times for genetic test results, in light of the delays highlighted in the Breakthrough Breast Cancer report, Testing Times: Waiting for Genetic Test Results.
Answer
The Scottish GeneticsService continues to look at ways to develop and improve the service –including waiting time performance where appropriate. The recent review of Genetics in Relation toHealthcare Scotland considered ways in which NHS genetics services could bestrengthened to improve all aspects of the service to patients and to cope withincreasing demand. This Report and the Scottish Executive response is expectedto be published shortly.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 July 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to inform people who have had a genetic test about the progress of that test and about when they can expect to receive the result.
Answer
The ScottishMolecular Genetics Consortium Clinical Users Group is working with the patients' representative group - the Genetics Interest Group -to develop good practice guidelines to ensure patients are kept fully informedabout genetic testing and genetic test results.
