- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the review by the University of York in 2000 on water fluoridation which showed high levels of fluorosis in people who live in fluoridated water areas.
Answer
The University of York review, which was published in 2000, said that an increase in the prevalence of dental fluorosis of aesthetic concern may occur in 12.5% of the population. There is no evidence of any other adverse effects on health, where fluoride is used at recommended doses. The Executive is consulting from a position of neutrality.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all children with a mental illness are given adequate psychological treatment to support drug therapy.
Answer
Individual care decisions are a matter for clinicians in consultation with the relevant professional staff/multi-disciplinary team and should always be based on individually assessed needs.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding was given to the British Fluoridation Society to promote water fluoridation in each of the last three years.
Answer
The Scottish Executive provides grant support to enable the British Fluoridation Society to continue to provide scientific advice to the Scottish Executive and to NHS Scotland on issues of fluoride. The amounts awarded in the last three years are £8,000 in both 2000-01 and 2001-02, and £10,000 in 2002-03.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to study nutritional deficiencies and requirements of children with behavioural problems.
Answer
The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), within the Scottish Executive Health Department has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and care needs in Scotland.The CSO is not currently directly funding any research projects into nutritional deficiencies and requirements of children with behavioural problems but would be pleased to consider funding suitable research proposals into this subject. Such proposals would need to be of a sufficiently high standard and would be subject to the usual peer and committee review.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 25 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is given to funeral directors on the cremation of a body where death was due to a notifiable disease.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-30227 on 17 October 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 25 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all infectious diseases that would be notified by an NHS board to funeral directors in a board's area to ensure they are not at risk of infection.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-30227. All answers to written PQs are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the presence of fluorosis in teeth is associated with bone disease and a higher level of bone fractures.
Answer
Some research projects have linked sustained exposure to very high fluoride concentrations with bone disorders and fractures. Such outcomes have been detected in countries where fluoride is present in concentrations far above concentrations recommended for use in artificial fluoridation schemes. An expert scientific review, published in 2000, concluded that, aside from a possible increase in the prevalence of dental fluorosis of aesthetic concern, there is no evidence of other adverse effects on health, where fluoride is used at recommended doses.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 24 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to address the increase of 899 between 2000 and 2001 in the number of vacancies in social work services departments, as identified in table 7 of Staff of Scottish Local Authority Social Work Services, 2001.
Answer
The comparison made is based on less complete information collected in 2000. The Scottish Executive is sponsoring a National Recruitment and Awareness Campaign which will target the areas where there is most difficulty. To inform this activity, local authorities are being asked by the Executive to detail the particular problems in their areas.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 24 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies currently exist in each local authority social work services department and how many of such vacancies are for qualified social workers.
Answer
The latest Social Work Services Inspectorate Annual Report due to be published in November will provide information on staffing and vacancies at a local authority level.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 October 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it has had with other European Union countries on fluoridation of the public water supply and what consideration it has given to the rejection of such fluoridation by Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Holland and France.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has not formally consulted widely outwith Scotland on how best to improve our children's oral health. The Executive will take account of the views expressed by the people of Scotland in response to the consultation document Towards Better Oral Health in Children, published on 24 September. Fluoridation of the public water supply is one of a number of possible measures described in that document.Fluoride toothpaste has widespread support in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, Holland and France. In France, fluoridated salt has widespread support, and in many other countries such as Australia, Republic of Ireland and America there is support for water fluoridation. For example, in USA, at present, more than 150 million people receive fluoride daily in their water supply and this is increasing.International perspectives on fluoridation of the public water supply are mixed and therefore not compelling in isolation.
