Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-11255

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 29 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether measures are in place to ensure that all doctors practising in Scotland have undergone training and education equivalent to the standards in Scotland's medical schools.

Regulation of the medical profession is a reserved matter. All doctors practising in the UK must be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) which sets the standard for education and training by medical schools in the UK. Doctors coming to the UK from outwith the European Economic Area (EEA) are required to pass the GMC's Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test, which assesses both their language skills and their clinical skills before being registered.Under the terms of European Community legislation, doctors from within the EEA are entitled to register in other member states. Minimum standards of training for both basic and specialist qualifications are laid down in the legislation.

Question reference: S1W-10743

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 28 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Health Education Board for Scotland will be integrated into a new joint structure with the establishment of the Public Health Institute of Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-10643

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 27 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, given the current unavailability of beds due to "bed blocking", reducing the total number of NHS beds in the longer term can be justified, in particular with respect to the intended reduction in bed numbers from 1,029 to 894 on transferring services to the new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

The NHS in Scotland keeps the number and mix of hospital beds under review to ensure that appropriate health services can be delivered to the people of Scotland in the light of changing patterns of treatment and care.

The Scottish Executive believes that the problem of delayed discharges should be tackled systematically by the NHS and local authorities working together, and has allocated an additional £10 million of recurring funding to local authorities for that purpose. This sum is over and above the £60 million recurring funding, allocated to health boards in June to enable them to accelerate the delivery of national and local priorities, of which a total of £9 million is being used by boards and Trusts specifically to tackle delayed discharges.

The planned bed numbers for the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh are based on target levels of performance, determined by clinicians, and agreed between the health board and Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust. The health board recognises that plans must be flexible, and that if experience indicates that the proposed balance between hospital and community services requires to be adjusted, then that will be done.

Question reference: S1W-10745

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 27 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to reimburse health visitors and community nurses for car use beyond the current 10p per mile for cars using unleaded petrol.

Question reference: S1W-10727

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 27 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria have to apply for food and drink to be accurately labelled "organic".

I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that minimum standards for organic production are set down in a European Community Regulation (Council Regulation 2092/91).

In the UK, a body called the UK Register of Organic Food Standards (UKROFS) ensures that the Regulation is properly applied by the various UK bodies which register and inspect organic farmers and processors. All food sold as organic must come from growers or processors who are registered with one of these bodies. Imported organic food is subject to the same checks and guarantees; importers must also be registered with one of the UK bodies.

Question reference: S1W-10728

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 27 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether organic food has greater health and nutritional benefits than non-organic food.

Question reference: S1W-10739

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 27 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure an increased uptake of donor cards and to increase awareness of individual's intentions with regard to organ donation.

We are presently finalising arrangements for a short TV filler advertisement which we hope will catch the attention and interest of TV viewers in Scotland; help raise the profile of this important issue; and encourage people to think seriously and talk openly about the possibility of allowing their organs to be used to help others after they die.

I know that in the Scottish Parliament there is a great awareness and interest, across all parties, in the promotion of organ donation. It would be invaluable, therefore, if the Scottish members could lead by example and join together to help publicise this issue in Scotland. I shall be writing out to all Members soon inviting their participation in promoting organ donor awareness.

The Scottish Executive is keen to encourage and support, where possible, initiatives to promote organ donation. We have supported various promotional activities in the past and are always open to considering new and innovative proposals. We are also, as a matter of course, involved in the ongoing provision of supplies of organ donor leaflets and information in support of individual independent initiatives.

Question reference: S1W-08016

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Angus MacKay on 27 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all non-departmental public bodies which have ceased to exist since May 1997.

Between May 1997 and June 2000, the following non-departmental public bodies have ceased to exist:

Advisory Committee on Dental Establishments

The Potato Marketing Board

Scottish Agricultural Consultative Panel

Scottish Childcare Board

Scottish Community Education Council

Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum

Scottish Council for Education Technology

Scottish Seed Potato Development Council

Scottish Water and Sewage Customers' Council

The Advisory Committee on Dental Establishments was reconstituted as the Scottish Advisory Committee on the Dental Workforce (which is not an NDPB).

The Potato Marketing Board and the Scottish Seed Potato Development Council have been superseded by the British Potato Council, a body which covers the whole of Britain and on which Scotland is represented.

The remit of the Scottish Agricultural Consultative Panel was subsumed within the Hill Farming Advisory Committee.

The Scottish Council for Education Technology and Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum are undergoing a merger to form Learning and Teaching Scotland.

The Scottish Water and Sewage Customers' Council has been replaced by the Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland. The Scottish Community Education Council has been reconstituted as Community Learning Scotland.

Health Trusts, which are NHS Bodies and not strictly NDPBs, were also reconfigured in 1999 reducing the number of Trusts from 47 to 28.

Question reference: S1W-10735

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 22 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the #2,580 annual unitary fee per 1,884 registered/list patients (Medeconomics, June 2000, page 86), is sufficient to cover health promotion in relation to smoking, alcohol problems, strokes and heart disease.

The current arrangements, as detailed in the general practitioners Statement of Fees and Allowances (SFA), allow for a GP to be paid £2,580 per annum, for local Health Promotion activities as agreed annually between the GP and Health Board/Primary Care Trust, pro rata per 1,884 registered/list patients.

In addition to these payments, GPs provide health promotion advice as part of General Medical Services and the fees and allowances which they receive are designed to reflect such activity.

Together, the current level of payments provide substantial resources to cover health promotion activities.

Question reference: S2O-00780

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Sunday, 12 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how local communities will be consulted with regard to planning applications for wind farms producing more the 50 megawatts.