- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 9 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place with port authorities across Scotland regarding the environmental impact of ship-to-ship oil transfers.
Answer
Port Authorities across Scotland requireoil spill contingency plans to be approved by the Maritime and Coastguard Agencybefore ship-to-ship transfers can take place. Decisions on such proposals are forthe Secretary of State for Transport in the UK Government to make.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 19 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on increasing the awareness of the public to the dangers of too much exposure to the sun and of unregulated use of sunbeds.
Answer
A number of agencies in the UK run awareness-raising campaigns aimed at highlighting the health risks from exposure to ultraviolet radiation. These include the SunSmart campaign, funded by the four UK Health Departments and co-ordinated by Cancer Research UK, “Sunsense” which is run by the Health Protection Agency and includes an interactive website, NHS Health Scotland’s “Sun safe protection tips” and NHS Fife and NHS Tayside’s “Keep Yer Shirt On” Project
In relation to sunbeds, the Health and Safety Executive has produced advice leaflets on “controlling the health risks from the use of ultraviolet tanning equipment” aimed at both operators and users.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 21 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the adult/pupil ratio is in schools and how this compares with 1999.
Answer
In 2003 local authorities reported the pupil:adult ratio in primary schools as 13.1, a reduction from 15.9 in 1999. Pupil adult ratios were not collected in secondary or special schools until 2003, and no comparison can therefore be made at this time.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 23 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to introduce a postal citation system for witnesses due to attend court.
Answer
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) introduced a national system of postal citation and countermand for civilian witnesses in summary trials in the District Court and the Sheriff Court in September 2003.
In the 12 months to August 2004, COPFS issued 54,968 successful postal citations and 51,136 postal countermands. Each successful postal citation avoids the police tracing the witness to serve a citation in person.
COPFS is planning to extend the use of postal citations for civilian witnesses in solemn cases in the Sheriff Court in 2005 and for civilian witnesses in the High Court in 2006.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 30 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive why, under Scots law, the spouse of a person accused of abusing their own child cannot be compelled to give evidence.
Answer
The general law is that a spouse can be compelled to give evidence for the defence.
A spouse is a compellable witness for the prosecution only where an accused spouse is charged with an offence against the other spouse. In all other circumstances, a spouse cannot be compelled to give evidence. The history of this law recognises the special nature of marriage and the public interest in respecting and sustaining the privacy of the relationship between spouses.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 23 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with train operating companies regarding the provision of no-smoking carriages on all trains.
Answer
GNER is the only train operating company operating in Scotland which permits smoking in limited areas of its trains. All other operating companies operate a no-smoking policy. I understand that GNER is currently reviewing its smoking policy and will be responding to the Scottish Executive consultation paper on smoking in public places.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether each NHS board has a Scottish Medicines Consortium implementation plan in place to ensure that patients with severe osteoporosis have access to Forsteo (teriparatide).
Answer
All NHS boards are required to follow national implementation plans for drugs deemed by the Scottish Medicines Consortium to be unique. Local NHS boards will agree implementation plans for drugs where alternative drug treatments already exist. Implementation arrangements for both categories of drugs are explained in guidance issued by the Executive on 25 November 2003, NHS HDL (2003) 60, a copy which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 30255).
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 7 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the recommended student nurse and midwife intake figures are for 2004-05.
Answer
Informed by the Student Nurse Intake Planning recommendations, the agreed commissioning numbers for 2004-05 for each of the nursing and midwifery categories are shown in the table below.
Nurse Category
| RN - General | RN - Children | RN – Mental Health | RN – Learning Disability | Registered Midwife | Total |
| 2,750 | 180 | 750 | 75 | 200 | 3,955 |
The total number is slightly higher than last year, which was an all time high.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients in each NHS board area receive Forsteo (teriparatide).
Answer
This information is notavailable centrally. Forsteo (teriparatide) should be restricted to initiationby specialists experienced in the treatment of osteoporosis. Prescription datacollected centrally relate to prescribed items dispensed in the community bycommunity pharmacists and dispensing doctors. These data are notpatient-specific and do not take into account medicines dispensed by hospitalsor hospital-based clinics.
- Asked by: Helen Eadie, MSP for Dunfermline East, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Forsteo (teriparatide) for the treatment of severe osteoporosis is now uniformly available across each NHS board area, in light of its announcement that unique category drugs recommended by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) will be made available uniformly across Scotland within three months of an SMC recommendation.
Answer
NHS boards are expected totake account of advice from the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) and ensurethat recommended drugs or treatments are made available to meet clinical need. Inthe case of Forsteo (teriparatide), the SMC has advised that it “is accepted forrestricted use within NHS Scotland for the treatment of established (severe)osteoporosis in post-menopausal women”.
