- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to direct local authorities to improve services for people with sensory impairments, in light of the concerns expressed by the annual report of the Chief Social Work Inspector, Progress with Complexity: The 2003 National Overview Report.
Answer
The Sensory Impairment Action Plan, launched in January, gives the Executive, local authorities andother stakeholders clear goals for improved services for people with a sensoryimpairment. A key recommendation is that a short life working group be set upto produce common sensory impairment service standards for implementation by September 2005.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will meet its target of having a 10% increase in the number of drug misusers receiving a drug treatment and care service in the community this year.
Answer
The target of achieving a10% increase in the number of new clients attending drug treatment services ismonitored through returns to the Scottish Drug Misuse Database and figures arepublished annually by financial years.
Data for 2003-04 will not beavailable until the autumn.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been allocated to Scottish Training on Drugs and Alcohol in each year since its formation.
Answer
£612,000 a year, £1.8 millionover three years, has been allocated to Scottish Training on Drugs and Alcoholsince its inception in April 2001.
We are committed tomaintaining at least this level of funding for a further three years until 31 March 2007.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many social workers were sponsored to undertake the Diploma in Social Work by their local authority in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This information is not heldcentrally.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists finished their vocational training last year.
Answer
The number ofdentists who finished their vocational training in July 2003 was 92.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures there are to track those dentists who qualify in Scotland but do not apply for an NHS list number.
Answer
Since 1994-95,data has been collected by the Education, Transport and Lifelong LearningDepartment on the number of dentistry graduates in Scotland in each year. This is brokendown to identify the domicile of the graduates and the first destination of dentistrygraduates from Scottish higher education institutes (categorised into Scotland,rest of the UK, rest of the world, and unknown first destination).
Themost recent information within this “first destination study” is correct as at 2001-02when 80% of these graduates had a first destination in Scotland.
Further tracking is donethrough employment in the NHS. Through this system, first year vocational traineescan be tracked to subsequent jobs in NHSScotland.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out by the Food Standards Agency into any links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heart disease.
Answer
The Food Standards Agencyhas not carried out, and is not currently funding, any research investigatingthe links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heartdisease.
Hydrogenation is a processof turning liquid oil into solid fat. During this process, a type of trans fatmay be formed that raises cholesterol levels in the blood. This increases therisk of coronary heart disease. The Food Standards Agency does therefore advisethat as part of a healthy diet, we should try to reduce the amount of saturatedfats and trans fats we eat and replace them with unsaturated fats.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the labelling of food to include trans fat content in light of scientific information highlighted by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States of America.
Answer
The Food Standards Agencyhas informed me that the European Commission is reviewing the nutritionlabelling rules and preliminary papers suggest that the issue of labelling oftrans fatty acid content may be discussed.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentist posts are vacant.
Answer
In terms of the hospital andcommunity dental services, as at 30 September 2003, there were fiveconsultant vacancies out of an establishment of 115. Three of the five postshad been vacant for six months or more.
The number of dentist postsvacant in the general dental service (high street dentistry) is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend the eligibility criteria for the access grant for dentists establishing new dental practices to include those purchasing existing practices.
Answer
We are currently looking atthe eligibility criteria for grant under the Scottish dental access initiativewith a view to making these more flexible.
