- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 April 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it appropriate for NHS staff with an IT problem related to Atos software to be kept on hold for over 45 minutes when calling the national helpline.
Answer
ATOS Origin Alliance will investigate specific instances of poor performance if further details can be provided. Call monitoring records inspected over the last three months cannot identify a call of this duration.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met representatives from Infertility Network Scotland.
Answer
Scottish Government officials met with representatives from Infertility Network UK (Scotland) in August 2008 and a further meeting is arranged for May 2009.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered examples of best practice from other EU countries in delivering infertility and assisted conception services.
Answer
Where appropriate, we would consider examples of best practice from other EU countries in delivering infertility and assisted conception services.
The government last considered national guidance, Report of the Review of Infertility Services in Scotland in March 2007. This review was informed by the 2004 National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) Clinical Guideline on Fertility, which considered evidence from other EU countries and North America.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider framing the remit of a national advisory council for infertility and assisted conception services to include holding the Scottish Government to account for making progress in developing such services.
Answer
We are currently considering options on infertility services in Scotland.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last had discussions with clinicians involved in the delivery of infertility services.
Answer
A Scottish Government official last met with clinicians delivering infertility services in Scotland in August 2008. Additionally, informal telephone discussions take place on an ad hoc basis.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether ministers have considered any reports on infertility and assisted conception services since 2007.
Answer
The government last considered national guidance on the provision of infertility services in Scotland in March 2007. We are currently considering options on infertility services in Scotland.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 24 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what barriers it considers prevent the use of the reserved contracts procedure under regulation 7 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.
Answer
It is Scottish Government policy that every public body should aim to have at least one contract with a supported factory or business. We are currently developing a research project which will commence in September 2009 to identify barriers to the use of reserved contracts.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 24 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has (a) carried out internally, (b) commissioned and (c) conducted alongside the UK Government on the extent to which public bodies are using provisions for the reserved contracts procedure under regulation 7 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 or procurement activities and what the results were of any such research.
Answer
The Scottish Government plan to identify the extent to which reserved contracts are being used by public bodies at present, through engagement with their representative organisations. We will then commission research to identify any barriers preventing use of the reserved procedure by public bodies and engagement with the public sector by supported businesses, in order to identify what can be done to reduce such barriers.
We have engaged with Department for Work & Pensions(DWP) to discuss how we can work together to increase public procurement opportunities for support businesses and how DWP can support future activity in Scotland.
Following a recent video conference between the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism and Jonathon Shaw, UK Minister for the Disabled, Mr Mather has asked for an event to enable buyers from the public and private sector to have a dialogue with supported businesses, social firms and other commercially active organisations in the third sector business opportunities. We will be in discussion with British Association for Supported Employers (BASE),Scottish Union of Supported Employment (SUSE) and Remploy to arrange this event.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 24 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how it is working to support companies, partnerships and consortia that are able to deliver community benefit or provide supported employment opportunities to compete effectively in the public sector procurement market.
Answer
The Scottish Government''s Enterprising Third Sector Action Plan recognised the contribution to economic growth that third sector organisations make and acknowledged that there is a need to help organisations compete effectively for public contracts. The action plan included funding for training in preparing tender documents to help third sector organisations compete for contracts. The latest phase of this training took place in February and March 2009.
The action plan will also support training for public sector purchasers in the need to involve all sectors (including the third sector) in design of services, the need to use community benefit clauses within contracts where appropriate and the need to advertise contracts appropriately.
A secondee from a local authority is working with the Third Sector Division of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Procurement Directorate to take this work forward over the next two years.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 24 April 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to make use of provisions for the reserved contracts procedure under regulation 7 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 for any future contracts led by Procurement Scotland.
Answer
Procurement Scotland require commodity strategies to consider and balance a range of policy and best practice considerations to ensure maximum contribution to Scotland in terms of best value.
The reserved contracts procedure under regulation 7 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 is promoted across the wider public sector through the SPD guidance note for social issues:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/116601/0053331.pdf.
