- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs have been lost in (a) textiles, (b) tourism, (c) electronics, (d) farming, (e) the public sector and (f) other sectors in the Scottish Borders in each year since 1999.
Answer
Statistics on the number ofjobs lost are not held centrally.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to assist the Borders textile industry and, in particular, cashmere production, in light of recent redundancies at Douglas of Scotland and John Laings of Hawick.
Answer
The Scottish Textiles teamin Scottish Enterprise has a remit to assist the sustainable development andgrowth of the textile industry throughout Scotland, including the Borders. The team works with a numberof partners to deliver a wide range of support measures to address theindustry’s issues such as workforce development, image technical capability andoverseas development. In addition, Scottish Enterprise Borders has provided financialand administrative support to the Cashmere Club which represents 85% of theBorders based cashmere industry over a four year period.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what role there is for the Scottish Textiles Forum in respect of the redundancies in textile production in the Scottish Borders.
Answer
The Scottish Textiles Forumprovides a central coordinating body linking industry with government. The forumwill therefore continue to work with industry and key partner organisations todevelop strategic direction for the industry and appropriate measures ofsupport.
Scottish Enterprise Bordersis working closely with other agencies such as Careers Scotland, ScottishBorders Council and JobCentre Plus through the PACE initiative to help thosemade redundant find suitable new employment.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been provided to support textile production in the Scottish Borders in each of the last six years; where the funding has been allocated, and for what purpose.
Answer
Since 2001 ScottishEnterprise has provided over £1.7 million through Scottish Textiles to supportthe Scottish textiles industry. A further breakdown to show specific figuresfor the Borders and purpose of the funding is not available asdisproportionately high costs would be attached to obtaining this information.
Scottish Enterprise Bordershas provided a financial contribution of £419,000 over a four year period from2001-05 to the Borders based Cashmere Club. This is in addition to £130,000from Scottish Borders Council and up to £632,000 from the EU. This funding wasused for brand promotion and enhancing the brand image. In addition, localenterprise companies provide a range of business support services assistingtraining and business development.
From 2000 the ScottishExecutive has provided some £538,000 in Regional Selective Assistance toScottish Textiles companies in the Borders to support capital investments of £2.4million creating or safeguarding 110 jobs. Scottish Development Internationalprovides £50,000 per annum to support and promote the industry internationally.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12475 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 26 January 2001, how often and on what dates the Scottish Textiles Forum has met since its inception.
Answer
The Forum has met twice ayear since its inception. It met on 4 March 2002,
2 September 2002, 7 March 2003, 5 September 2003, 13 February 2004,
10 September 2004, 28 January 2005 and 23 September 2005.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 24 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many suicides there have been in each NHS board area in each year since 1999, broken down by month and into age groupings.
Answer
Tables presenting the information requested have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38684).
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many gifts ministers have received from private sector firms or businesses (a) within and (b) outwith Scotland in each year since 2000, broken down by firm or business.
Answer
Details of all gifts received by ministers are published annually on the Scottish Executive website. These are currently shown from 1999 to 2004. We plan to issue the details for 2005 shortly.
Details can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1066/0008094.pdf.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 23 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the order of strategic priority is of current and proposed rail developments.
Answer
Our first priority is to implement the major rail infrastructure projects, as set out in the Partnership Agreement, i.e. the rail links to Glasgow and Edinburgh airports, the upgrade at Waverley station, opening the Stirling to Alloa line, the Airdrie to Bathgate line, and the Borders rail link. In addition, we are considering what the rail strategy for the next 15 to 20 years should be. We have consulted on the strategic priorities, commissioned a Scottish Planning Assessment and Network Rail are conducting a Route Utilisation Study. These will provide the building blocks for considering what further rail developments will make the most positive impacts on the economy, society and environment of Scotland in future. We expect to produce the rail strategy in the summer and this will guide the potential investments to be considered for future funding by the Executive in the subsequent Strategic Projects Review. Transport Scotland has the operational responsibility for this area and can be contacted for more information if required.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the audiology waiting times are in each NHS board.
Answer
This information is not collected by the National Waiting Times Unit as audiology is not a consultant-led service. Information Services Division has developed a data collection system for audiology services which is currently being tested to ensure quality assurance. This will produce centrally collected, validated data for publication.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional audiologists it estimates will be required to meet any increasing demand following the introduction of a telephone hearing test by the RNID, which has been based on a Dutch model and as a consequence of which it is estimated that two or three out of 10 people taking the test will thereafter contact their GP with regard to their hearing.
Answer
The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) has indicated to the Executive, based on the experience in the Netherlands, that they expect one in 10 people who take the telephone hearing test may then contact their general practitioner to be referred to an audiologist. There may, therefore, be an increase in referrals across NHSScotland. NHS boards currently have the option of using a private sector national contract to meet audiology needs, and this could be used to meet any increase in demand.
