- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 19 July 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it intends to take in addressing Scotland's record of chronic heart disease.
Answer
Tackling Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) has been one of the clinical priorities of the National Health Service in Scotland for some years.Scotland's CHD burden means that we must find ways to stop people getting the disease in the first place. The Scottish Executive is taking forward a £15m demonstration project under the White Paper Towards a Healthier Scotland which will build on international experience in promoting primary prevention of CHD. We are also addressing the needs of those with the established disease. We are raising the coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) rate to 616 per million population by the end of March 2000, thereby treating the disease at a less advanced stage and minimising delays that lead to avoidable disease and death. Our CHD Task Force is also working on an assessment of the appropriate rate for the Scottish population for both CABG and angioplasty, and I shall want to take account of the implications of that work. We also need to look at ways of improving cardiac rehabilitation services across the country. The overall aim of the Task Force's work is to make sure that people with CHD have equity of access to the network of cardiac services and are not disadvantaged by factors such as age or where they live.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 6 July 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to extend the list of communities it will visit in its fact finding mission on poverty and deprivation, as announced by Ms Wendy Alexander in Scottish Office press release 1094/99.
Answer
Our fact-finding mission will not be restricted to those areas listed in Press Release 1094/99. We recognise that poverty and deprivation exist across Scotland, and we will tackle them wherever they occur.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 30 June 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to address the drugs problem in Scotland.
Answer
Tackling Scotland's drugs problem is one of a number of priority areas the Scottish Executive has identified for cross-cutting action across departmental and other organisational boundaries. This broad based approach will embrace all the key areas including treatment, enforcement, rehabilitation, prevention and education as well as the links with the Executive's wider programme of social reform. A Ministerial Group will ensure a co-ordinated approach on tackling drugs, with integrated policy and integrated policy delivery, focusing on results. Scottish Ministers are committed in principle to the concept of a drugs enforcement agency and discussions are underway with the police about what form it should take.
- Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 June 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 17 June 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive in the light of the proposed ending of the European Commission's scheme which supplies milk at reduced rates to school children (EC 3392/93), what plans does it have to adopt an equivalent scheme?
Answer
The EU funded School Milk Scheme has been in operation since 1977. My understanding is that the Commission has recently conducted an evaluation of the Scheme, although no proposal for altering or amending it has yet emerged. The UK Government line, which I support, is to press for the continuation of the scheme.
