- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average journey time has been for crossing the Forth Road Bridge in the three-week period after removing tolls as compared with the three week period before tolls were removed.
Answer
Average journey time information for the Forth Road Bridge is not available. However, the Scottish Government and FETA collect data on traffic flows.
There are a variety of factors that can impact on traffic flows on the Forth Road Bridge, including school half-term, and other seasonal factors.
While it would be premature to come to conclusions about changes in traffic flows due to the abolition of bridge tolls, initial analysis shows that overall average weekday traffic flows across the bridge have increased by around 1% from pre toll levels. Indications are that northbound only traffic flows increased by almost 3%, with southbound traffic flows showing a slight decrease over the same period.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were waiting for the provision of assistive technology services, including wheelchairs, seating, prosthetics, orthotics, augmentative communication and environmental controls in each NHS board in each of the last three years, broken down by type of equipment.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9454 on 26 February 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what average waiting times were for the provision of assistive technology services for people under the age of 18, including wheelchairs, seating, prosthetics, orthotics, augmentative communication and environmental controls, in each NHS board in each of the last three years, broken down by type of equipment.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-1064 on 5 March 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what average waiting times were for the provision of assistive technology services, including wheelchairs, seating, prosthetics, orthotics, augmentative communication and environmental controls, in each NHS board in each of the last three years, broken down by type of equipment.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. It is for NHS boards to commission and provide services, including assistive technology services, that best meet the needs of their local populations.
However, the wheelchair and seating services project team will look at the way in which wheelchair waiting times information is gathered throughout Scotland, and will work with the service managers to introduce a unified approach to the collection of meaningful and transparent data.
Following the Scottish Orthotic Services Review, a short-life working group, the Scottish Orthotic Review Recommendations Implementation Group has been established and a national project manager has been appointed. The project manager will work closely with NHS boards to introduce a unified approach to the collection of meaningful and transparent data.
I will shortly meet with the Royal College of Speech Language Therapists to discuss their Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) in Scotland campaign, when the future delivery of AAC services will be discussed.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on implementing the recommendations in the review of NHS wheelchair and seating services in Scotland which apply to children and young people.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-10167 on 4 March 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made to maximise social inclusion in regard to NHS wheelchair and seating services, particularly around the provision of lightweight wheelchairs and powered wheelchairs for use by (a) children and young people in school and at home and (b) all those that cannot travel long distances or pursue hobbies using standard wheelchairs.
Answer
These matters have been brought to the Scottish Government's attention in Recommendation 3 of
Moving Forward: Review of NHS Wheelchair and Seating Services in Scotland.
I have established a project board and have appointed a project manager to drive forward the modernisation and re-design of wheelchair and seating services. The project team will produce an action plan by December 2008, for my approval, identifying the recommendations of the review that best meet the needs of users and carers. Wheelchair provision that meets the particular needs of children, young people and adults, will be considered as part of that process.
Wheelchair service providers have been active in encouraging wheelchair manufacturers to develop lightweight models of wheelchairs at a reasonable cost to NHS Scotland. Those models are being used in wheelchair fleets throughout Scotland.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are in place to ensure that wheelchair services meet the specific needs of children and young people.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-10167 on 4 March 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what eligibility criteria are in use for NHS wheelchair and seating services and whether there are plans to change them.
Answer
The wheelchair national eligibility criteria are available on the Rehabilitation Technology Information System (ReTIS) website at
http://www.retis.scot.nhs.uk/index.php.
This is under the heading: National Group Information and Minutes.
The project team are reviewing the national eligibility criteria in developing an action plan by December 2008, for my approval, for the modernisation and redesign of NHS wheelchairs and seating services.
Forwa
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 29 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding for any continuation of the free school meals pilots beyond March 2008 will come from existing local authority funding allocations or whether it will provide additional funding.
Answer
The Scottish Government will provide all the funding for the free school lunch trial, including any additional funding required to continue the trial until the end of the current academic year.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 29 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding for the extension of free school meals to children in families in receipt of maximum working tax credit and maximum child tax credit in August 2009 will come from existing local authority funding allocations or whether it will provide additional funding.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-6744 on 3 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.