- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 17 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak is having on rural businesses in "at risk" areas such as Ayrshire.
Answer
In March I announced the establishment of an Impact Assessment Group to inform the Executive about the effect which the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak is having across all areas and sectors. To date the majority of the assessment has been qualitative and has helped to inform the work of the Ministerial Group on FMD in its decisions on hardship relief and thinking about recovery. The Impact Assessment Group recently commissioned a survey of businesses to provide greater quantification of impact. The survey is based around Local Enterprise Company areas such as Ayrshire and the results will be shared with local organisations. I look forward to seeing the results in the near future.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 17 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it has undertaken in respect of section 37 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Answer
A joint informal consultation paper Disability Discrimination Act 1995: The Government's Proposals for Taxis was issued in July 1997.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 10 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to produce a Communities Against Drugs toolkit for Scotland similar to that produced by the Crime Reduction Unit.
Answer
The Home Office Crime Reduction Unit toolkit on drug-related crime is one of a series of 22 designed to help all those involved in crime reduction and community safety to work as effectively as possible. The Home Office has agreed to make these toolkits and other crime prevention and community safety materials available to the Scottish Executive and they will be adapted and developed for use by Community Safety Partnerships and other practitioners in Scotland later this year.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 8 May 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will produce a Scottish version of the document Communities Against Drugs published jointly by Her Majesty's Treasury, the Home Office and the Cabinet Office.
Answer
The Executive is announcing today a new Scottish Communities Against Drugs Fund. This will provide up to £500,000 to match funds raised by the Daily Record, for local communities to address the problems with drugs that they identify in their area. The Fund will be housed within Scotland Against Drugs. Detailed arrangements for applications will be published shortly.The Executive does not intend to produce a Scottish version of the Communities Against Drugs document. That already includes a section on the Executive's drugs strategy.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to inform general practitioners of the options available under the National Health Service (Personal Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2001 (SSI 2001/72).
Answer
A variety of initiatives have been undertaken by the Scottish Executive to inform primary care teams about Personal Medical Services: a leaflet explaining PMS has been distributed; a series of roadshows has taken place; information is available on the SHOW website; a PMS network is held quarterly and presentations are provided on request - around 40 have been given over the last four months.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the financial allocation for the personal medical services pilot and permanent schemes, broken down by (a) health board and (b) local health care co-operative.
Answer
A recurring investment programme of £4.5/6/8 million over the next three years has been agreed for the development of Personal Medical Services (PMS) in Scotland. The allocations were made to health boards, not to Local Health Care Co-operatives. The table shows the breakdown of Personal Medical Services allocations for Year 1 (2001-02).
| Health Board | GMS Arbuthnott Allocation (%) | Indicative Allocation (£) |
| Argyll & Clyde | 8.51 | £370,283 |
| Ayrshire & Arran | 7.52 | £326,970 |
| Borders | 2.21 | £95,948 |
| Dumfries & Galloway | 3.24 | £141,017 |
| Fife | 6.48 | £281,736 |
| Forth Valley | 5.31 | £231,151 |
| Grampian | 9.68 | £420,895 |
| Greater Glasgow | 19.02 | £827,336 |
| Highland | 5.24 | £228,078 |
| Lanarkshire | 10.68 | £464,747 |
| Lothian | 14.12 | £614,384 |
| Orkney | 0.00 | £50,000 |
| Shetland | 0.00 | £50,000 |
| Tayside | 7.99 | £347,455 |
| Western Isles | 0.00 | £50,000 |
| Scotland | 100.00 | £4.500.00 |
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms are in place to determine the expected health gains arising from each approved personal medical services scheme and how patients will be informed of the targets for such gains.
Answer
Every Personal Medical Services (PMS) scheme will vary according to the local needs of the patient population and the services that are developed to meet those needs. Monitoring arrangements are determined locally. If the PMS scheme is a pilot, it will be reviewed by Scottish Ministers towards the end of its pilot period. Guidance has been issued to Primary Care Trusts and Island Health Boards stating that patients should be involved in the development of PMS proposals.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 20 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it has had with the water authorities in respect of the decision to remove the water charges relief afforded to charities.
Answer
The water authorities informed the Scottish Executive of their intention to make a phased withdrawal of reliefs. They were asked to consider whether it was practical to ringfence particular groups, but they indicated that it was not. On this basis, they have gone ahead with their proposals.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 20 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of any impact of the removal of water charges relief on the work of charities and voluntary organisations.
Answer
It is not possible to make an overall assessment of the impact on such a large number of diverse organisations. Reliefs are being phased out over a number of years to allow organisations time to adjust to higher charges.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 20 April 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give any direction to water authorities relating to the removal of water charges relief afforded to charities.
Answer
The Scottish Executive supports the policy of phased withdrawal of reliefs offered to charities. As the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development indicated on 4 April, the Scottish Executive recognises the concerns of a number of organisations about the immediate impact of the first phase of withdrawals this year, and we are in contact with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations on this.
