- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there have been any issues concerning delays in provision of forensic services.
Answer
Increasing demand for policeforensic science services led to some delays during 2002. Forces have takensteps to address these problems and to improve service delivery whereverpossible.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to Audit Scotland's report Scottish Further Education Funding-performance management of the further education sector in Scotland.
Answer
We are pleased to note theimprovements in the performance of the sector which this report has highlighted,and we are working with the funding council to ensure that the recommendationsmade in the report are implemented to continue these improvements. For example,the new joint corporate plan includes new key performance indicators linked to ministerialpriorities, and Scottish Further Education Funding Council have recentlypublished the first annual report on performance indicators in the furthereducation sector, which includes student satisfaction measures.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to improve management and accountability in the further education sector.
Answer
The outcome of the Review of Governance and Accountability in the Further Education Sector was announced in March 2003. The consultation process upon which the review was primarily based found general support for existing arrangements, but with scope for modernisation in specific areas. Ministers announced a programme of 14 measures aimed at enhancing standards of governance and accountability in the further education sector.
Most of the measures can be implemented without the need for legislation (mainly through formal guidance by ministers and from the Association of Scottish Colleges).
We will be consulting shortly on the proposals to amend, by order, the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 in order to reduce the maximum length of board membership, and to relax the current statutory restriction on the appointment of a local authority employee or elected representative to the Chair of a college board.
We will consult separately on the other measures requiring primary legislation – to extend the remit of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman to further education and higher education complaints, and to give the Scottish Further Education Funding Council the right to attend meetings of college boards.
When announcing the outcome of the review, ministers indicated that they intend to assess the effectiveness of the new arrangements after two years.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it will give to the 60,000 signatures collected in the Evening Times petition in support of saving the Queen Mother's Hospital.
Answer
I will consider allinformation before me and all representations made to me before I come to adecision.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider a central review of maternity services to determine the cross-flow of patients between NHS boards as a result of board decisions on maternity provision.
Answer
The Executive currently hasno plans conduct a central review to determine the cross-flow of maternitypatients between NHS boards. However, the overview report of the expert groupon acute maternity services (2002) states clearly the need for boards to take aregional approach to planning maternity services and consideration ofcross-flow of patients from other board areas should be part of this.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 17 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to protect skills and jobs in the call centre industry in light of global outsourcing of services to Asia.
Answer
Extensive research on callcentres in Scotland and outsourced competition from India has recentlybeen undertaken by Phil Taylor of the University of Stirling and Peter Bain of the University of Strathclyde.The Scottish Executive supported this study and the findings are expectedto be published later this month. The Scottish Executive will be considering thesefindings most carefully together with other partners to see what conclusions canbe drawn.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take into account the experience of maternity hospital closures in Edinburgh when it considers the Greater Glasgow NHS Board recommendations on the future of maternity services in Glasgow.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3828. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility forwhich can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 17 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with COSLA in relation to the nursery nurses' dispute.
Answer
COSLA and the Scottish Executive are in regular formal and informal contact about a wide range of issues.The Executive does not hold central records of how many contacts are made inrelation to any specific issue.
Pay and conditions are amatter for employers and this dispute must be resolved between the localauthorities, as employers, and the trade unions. COSLA has informed us that theyhave made it clear to each local authority they need to enter into localdiscussions with the trade unions to arrive at a local settlement.
The Scottish Executive will continue to encourage the local authorities and unions to keeptalking in order to reach a settlement that is fair for the nursery nurses andfinancially sustainable for the local authorities.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider the proposals on the future of maternity services in Glasgow in relation to the wider impact such changes will have on (a) the West of Scotland and (b) Scotland as a whole.
Answer
Greater Glasgow Health Boardare currently consulting on their proposals for the future of maternityservices in Glasgow. The overview report of the Expert Group on AcuteMaternity Services (2002) makes it clear that acute maternity services shouldbe planned and commissioned in a regional context and when considering theirfinal proposal I will have to be content Greater Glasgow Health Board haveadhered to this.
I have already emphasisedthe importance of this pan-regional approach when I responded to the proposals madeby NHS Argyll and Clyde.
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 11 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what role Strathclyde Passenger Transport will have in Transport Scotland.
Answer
Transport Scotland isproposed to be a strategic body for Scotland as a whole which would work closely with transportbodies across the country. We are currently consulting on the new agency;stronger regional transport partnerships; and Strathclyde Passenger Transportand this consultation will close on 17 December this year.
