- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive from what date NHS Scotland was advised that funding for the anti-TNF drugs, etanercept and infliximab, should be made available to meet local clinical need.
Answer
The Health Technology Board for Scotland (HTBS) (now part of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland) issued advice on the use of etanercept and infliximab on the following dates:
17 May 2002 - Comment on the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) Technology Appraisal Guidance number 35 on the use of etanercept for the treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
17 May 2002 - Comment on the NICE Technology Appraisal Guidance number 36 on the use of etanercept and infliximab for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
28 June 2002 - Comment on the NICE Technology Appraisal Guidance number40 on the use of infliximab for Crohn’s disease.
The comments can be accessed at www.nhshealthquality.org.
On 12 July 2004, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) issued advice to NHSScotland about the use of infliximab for the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis in patients who have severe axial symptoms, elevated serological markers of inflammatory activity and who have responded inadequately to conventional therapy. On the same date, the SMC also advised on the use of etanercept for the treatment of active and progressive psoriatic arthritis in adults. The SMC advice can be accessed at www.scottishmedicines.org.
In each case, the HTBS and the SMC advised that NHSScotland should take account of the advice and ensure that recommended drugs and treatments are made available to meet clinical need.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 18 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how it differentiates between shared equity and shared ownership schemes.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:
Shared ownership enables people who cannot afford outright purchase to buy an equity stake in a property. Sharing owners must also make an occupancy payment to a Registered Social Landlord to obtain exclusive occupancy of that property.
Shared equity also enables people who cannot afford outright purchase to buy an equity stake in a property. Shared equity differs from shared ownership however because a shared equity owner would not make an occupancy payment to a Registered Social Landlord. A shared equity owner would be expected instead to maximise the use of their available funds towards the purchase of an equity stake in a property. They would therefore be expected to have a larger equity stake in a property than would be the case with shared ownership.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 18 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how communal repairs will be charged under shared equity home ownership schemes
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:
Communities Scotland will shortly issue a discussion paper outlining the Executive’s proposals for introducing a range of shared equity tenure models. This paper will set out principles for the practical operation of these models, including the apportionment of communal repair costs.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the new formula for police funding will provide additional resources for policing in Glasgow city centre.
Answer
The new allocation methodology agreed following the review of police grant aided expenditure applies to police forces as a whole. Between 2004-05 and 2007-08, grant aided expenditure for Strathclyde Police will increase by around 15.5% (or£69 million) to £513 million. The allocation of these additional resourcesbetween Glasgow city centre and other parts of the force area is then a matter for the Chief Constable.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the review of police grant aided expenditure will have on Glasgow.
Answer
The new formula takes account of a range of pressures, including city centre policing. Between 2004-05 and 2007-08, grant aided expenditure for Strathclyde Police will increase by around 15.5%. However, the allocation of these resources between Glasgow and other parts of the Force area is a matter for the Chief Constable.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 3 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any proposals to strengthen legislation regarding planning and houses in multiple occupation to ensure that work carried out to such properties complies with planning and building warrant regulations.
Answer
Not all houses in multiple occupation (HMO) require planning permission, nor would all changes to a building to meet HMO licensing requirements necessarily need a building warrant.
Local authorities are encouraged to establish effective co-ordination and systems for sharing information between all the departments which may have an interest in HMO properties. This advice is set out in two documents recently published by the Scottish Executive. Planning Circular 4/2004: Houses in Multiple Occupation: Guidance on the interface between planning control and licensing (Bib number 33931) and Mandatory licensing of houses in Multiple Occupation: Guidance for licensing authorities (Bib. number 34059).
It would be for each department of the local authority to satisfy themselves that work carried out at any type of property complied with any grants of permission under planning or building legislation or with the requirements for HMO licensing.
We have no plans to amend planning and building control legislation in so far as it relates specifically to HMO.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 15 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the new statistics from the Registrar General for Scotland showing a rise in the birth rate in all but one quarter since 2002 will have any impact on the proposed closure of the Queen Mother’s Hospital.
Answer
Statistics from the Registrar General for Scotland are a factor which NHS planners must take into account in developing proposals for NHS service configuration. In the case of the Queen Mother’s Hospital, I refer the member to the announcement made by Malcolm Chisholm in Parliament on 30 September 2004.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 8 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider reviewing the licensing of lap-dancing clubs in light of the findings of the research carried out by Julie Bindel of the London Metropolitan University and commissioned by Glasgow City Council, Profitable Exploits: Lap Dancing in the UK.
Answer
We are considering the regulation of lap dancing in alcohol licensed premises in the context of the review of the liquor licensing legislation.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 30 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are for the long-term retention of Scottish opera chorus singers after 2005.
Answer
The employment of performers by Scottish Opera is a matter for the management of the company.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with industrial relations in the further education sector.
Answer
I believe that good industrial relations have played an important part in securing the sector’s high level of success. I have seen no evidence to suggest that industrial relations are not generally of a high standard. Where industrial relations do fall short of the standard I expect, I look to all concerned to work maturely and constructively to resolve any areas of specific difficulty, and to do so with the minimum of delay.
