- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 26 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the commitments made during the debate in the Parliament on Institutional Child Abuse on 1 December 2004 and the letter of 21 December 2004 from the Minister for Education and Young People to the Convener of the Public Petitions Committee, when the short-life working group to scope the level of support services available to survivors of in care abuse was established; what the remit and membership of the group is, and when it began its work.
Answer
The membership of the short-life working group will be announced shortly.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 26 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the commitments made during the debate in the Parliament on Institutional Child Abuse on 1 December 2004 and the letter of 21 December 2004 from the Minister for Education and Young People to the Convener of the Public Petitions Committee, whether it has appointed someone with experience to undertake independent analysis of the regulatory requirements of the time and, if so, what the appointee's remit is.
Answer
We are in the final stages of discussing the remit with interested parties and an announcement on the appointment of the independent expert will be made soon.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 26 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the commitments made during the debate in the Parliament on Institutional Child Abuse on 1 December 2004 and the letter of 21 December 2004 from the Minister for Education and Young People to the Convener of the Public Petitions Committee, what support has been put in place for individuals who wish to access the files referred to.
Answer
A helpline has been set up by the Executive. Run by Who Cares? Scotland this local charge telephone helpline service will assist people who want information about how to access information held by the Executive and with understanding the access process. The helpline operates on a Tuesday and Wednesday evening between the hours of 6 and 8pm and can be reached on 08448 000 223.
Who Cares? Scotland may also provide referral information about where people can go for assistance (such as legal and counselling services) if required.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 26 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the commitments made during the debate in the Parliament on Institutional Child Abuse on 1 December 2004 and the letter of 21 December 2004 from the Minister for Education and Young People to the Convener of the Public Petitions Committee, what input the In Care Abuse Survivors Group (INCAS) has had in respect of the appointment of someone with experience to independently analyse the regulatory requirements of the time.
Answer
This was discussed at a meeting between my officials and representatives of INCAS on 10 December 2004 when INCAS were invited to make suggestions of potential candidates and to provide input into the characteristics they felt were important in any appointee. INCAS has since contributed various suggestions and are being kept up to date with developments.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11571 by Nicol Stephen on 18 November 2004, how many broadband connections have now been made as a direct result of its Pathfinder project and how many are expected to be made by the end of 2005.
Answer
There have been no broadband connections made as a result of the Pathfinder projects to date. Local councils are directly responsible for this project and have notified this to the European Commission for State Aid approval.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 26 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8744 by Peter Peacock on 16 June 2004, whether the target of achieving an average pupil to modern computer ratio of 7.5:1 for primary schools has now been met.
Answer
The latest information, from the 2004 pupil census (available online at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/04/11114958/50011) shows that the pupil:modern computer ratio in primary schools has remained steady at 9:1 in 2002, 2003 and 2004. In 1988 the ratio was 34:1.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 25 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the actual outturns were against target outturns for the Refuge Development Programme in each of the last three years and what projects were funded, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is asfollows:
Actual out-turn spendagainst target for the Domestic Abuse Refuge Accommodation Programme over thelast three years have been as follows:
| | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 |
| Target | £2.84 million | £7.74 million | £5.54 million |
| Out turn | £1.09 million | £2.41 million | £4.34 million (estimate) |
Because of delays withindividual projects we now expect the programme to be fully completed in 2005-2006
Projects have been funded in29 locations as follows:
| Local Authority | Project |
| Angus | Montrose |
| City of Edinburgh | Edinburgh (Edinvar HA) |
| City of Edinburgh | Edinburgh (Old Town HA) |
| Dumfries and Galloway | Clerkhill |
| Dumfries and Galloway | Stranraer |
| Dumfries and Galloway | Newton Stewart |
| Dumfries and Galloway | Whithorn |
| Dundee City | Dundee |
| East Ayrshire | Kilmarnock |
| East Dunbartonshire | Bishopbriggs |
| East Renfrewshire | Barrhead |
| Falkirk | Denny |
| Fife | Dunfermline |
| Glasgow City | Southside |
| Highland | Inverness |
| Highland | Wick |
| Inverclyde | Greenock |
| Moray | Elgin |
| North Ayrshire | Kilbirnie |
| North Lanarkshire | Coatbridge |
| North Lanarkshire | Bellshill |
| Orkney Islands | Orkney |
| Renfrewshire | Paisley |
| South Ayrshire | Ayr |
| South Ayrshire | Troon |
| South Ayrshire | Girvan |
| South Lanarkshire | East Kilbride |
| Stirling | Stirling |
| West Dunbartonshire | Haldane |
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of neurologist provision in each NHS board area.
Answer
Information on neurologistsin post in NHS Scotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics websiteunder Workforce Statistics, at
www.isdscotland.org/workforce.
The latest available figures on thewebsite are correct at 30 September 2004.
Section B gives details ofmedical staff employed in NHS Scotland. In particular, table B6 shows the whole-timeequivalent (WTE) provision of neurologists, broken down by NHS board area. WTEadjusts headcount staff figures to take account of part-time staff.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice and assistance it gives to NHS boards in respect of the employment of specialist nursing staff.
Answer
Recruitment and training ofspecialist nurses is primarily a matter for NHS boards to determine in thelight of clinical needs and service developments within their area.
To support NHS boards, theHealth Department has produced a Framework for Developing Nursing Roles. Thisdocument sets out the principles for developing and sustaining nursing rolessuch as specialist nursing roles. It will be disseminated to NHSScotland by May2005.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 25 April 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-14479 by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 March 2005, how many of the new-build starts referred to have been approved for funding by Communities Scotland and have scheduled start dates.
Answer
Further to my response toquestion S2W-14479, the figures given in that answer have been revised to takeaccount of Communities Scotland’s Affordable Housing Investment Programme for2005-06. The following table provides updated information on:
(a) Number of new buildstarts currently scheduled over the next three years for affordable rent, and
(b) number of new buildstarts currently scheduled over the next three years for low cost homeownership
| | (a) Affordable rent | (b) Low-cost home ownership |
| 2005-06 | 5,293 | 1,107 |
| 2006-07 – 2007-08 | 11,398 | 3,702 |
Note: The numbers of newbuild starts for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are given as total figures across thetwo-year period, because the profiles for affordable rent and low-cost homeownership starts will be specified when the programmes for these years aredeveloped.
Six thousand, four hundred newbuild starts will be approved for funding by Communities Scotland in 2005-06.These will receive scheduled start dates during the course of this financialyear. Dates for the remaining new build startsfor the two-year period of 2006-07 and 2007-08 will be scheduled, respectively,during these financial years.
