- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Ayrshire North Community Housing Association Ltd has an obligation to consult its owner-occupiers before imposing an estate management fee.
Answer
No, there is simply anobligation on the feu superior to ensure that the charges are reasonable.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has commissioned into dementia care for members of Asian communities.
Answer
Alison Bowes andHeather Wilkinson (Stirling University)received a grant from the Chief Scientist Office in 2002 to carry out afeasibility study to establish effective ways of ascertaining the views ofolder South Asian people with dementia, their families and carers, and toexplore central issues of service support.
The studyconcluded that South Asian communities lack knowledge and experience ofdementia and access to appropriate services, especially at home and highlightedthe need to develop responsive services, to address issues of diagnosis and to learn from existing expertise.
The researcherssuggested that future research could usefully cover dementia experiences andawareness in minority communities, and the identification and evaluation ofgood practice experience on a wider front.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether specific guidelines in respect of cultural norms are in place for carers who assist people from ethnic minority groups with dementia.
Answer
No specified guidelines arein place. However I expect all staff and all agencies to consider the wholeperson needs in designing care and support that, wherever possible, respectsand responds to cultural and religious beliefs.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to encourage more people to borrow materials from libraries.
Answer
Scotland’s libraries have worked together to offer a range ofreading promotions to the public. These have included five
Now Read Onpromotions, through the 1990s, the
Scottish Writers promotion of 2000,whose CD ROM was short-listed for a BAFTA Innovation award, and the
Mind’sEye non-fiction promotion.
With help from the ScottishArts Council lottery fund, the Scottish Library and Information Council andCILIP in Scotland have been helping the Scottish libraries establish areader development network. Reader development uses a reader-centred approachand is focussed on widening individual reading tastes for contemporary fiction,developing and sustaining the publishing industry. The reader developmentnetwork has seen an explosion in library-based reading groups, including groupsfor the visually impaired, island-based book chains and local readingactivities and promotions.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it issues guidelines to local authorities on levels of investment in lending stock for libraries.
Answer
The COSLA report,
Standardsfor the Public Library Service in Scotland 1995, provides guidance on thenumber of titles which should be added to stock for local authorities toprovide an adequate selection of material for users, without defining spendinglevels, which is a matter for individual authorities. It is clear from Audit Scotland’s recentpublication,
Cultural and Community Services Performance Indicators 2002-03,that many authorities have not been able to achieve these levels.
The Scottish Executive has asked the Scottish Library and Information Council to explore withlocal authorities ways of improving the delivery of public library services,including book stock and reader development activity.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 30 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty's Government with regard to ensuring that adequate measures are in place to prevent the H5N1 bird flu virus entering Scotland.
Answer
The Executive is in closetouch with the UK Government and other key interests to ensure that contingencyplans are in place to respond to any possible spread of H5N1 virus to Scotland orother parts of the UK.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 4 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what importance it places on the provision of Gaelic translations on signage in public offices.
Answer
The Executive considersthere is merit in the provision of bilingual signage in public places.Bilingual signage provides a minority language with an enhanced degree ofrecognition, and it informs and interests visitors to those areas.
Gaelic signage in Scotland isalso in keeping with a range of other initiatives which the Executive has inplace to raise the profile of Gaelic in Scotland. It helps to increase the confidence of Gaelicspeakers and learners and it acknowledges that Gaelic is a language of Scotland.
I expect those public bodieswhich produce a gaelic language plan in terms of the draft Gaelic Language billto give serious consideration, in consultation with Bòrd na Gàidhlig, to the introduction of bilingual signage wherever appropriate.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 4 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many responses it received to the consultation on the proposed Gaelic Language Bill.
Answer
We have received over 3,000responses to the draft Gaelic Language Bill consultation, broken down asfollows:
627 letters and e-mails
56 responses to the WestHighland Free Press cut-out campaign
1,706 responses to the Cli-Gaidhligpostcard campaign
2 petitions with 19 and 127signatures respectively
503 template letterresponses.
Responses not marked asconfidential will be placed on the Scottish Executive web-site at
www.scotland.gov.uk/gaelicbill.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 4 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost will be of the nationwide roll-out of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme.
Answer
It is estimated that by fullnational rollout in 2007-08 the EMA programme will cost £43 million per year.Approximately 40,000 young people will benefit from EMAs to encourage them toremain in non-advanced post compulsory education in schools and further educationcolleges.
- Asked by: Irene Oldfather, MSP for Cunninghame South, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 4 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to publish the Gaelic Language Bill.
Answer
I expect to introduce a GaelicLanguage Bill to Parliament later this year.
