- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out into attention deficit hyperkinetic disorder.
Answer
The Chief Scientist Office(CSO), within the Scottish Executive Health Department, has responsibility for fundingand supporting research into health and healthcare needs in Scotland. CSOis currently funding one research project on complementary interventions forchildren with attention deficit hyperkinetic disorder (ADHD).
The National ResearchRegister (NRR), a UK wide research database, records that there are afurther 10 on-going research projects in the UK on ADHD and 71 completedresearch projects. Details of these projects are available from the NRR, a copyof which is in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 17404).
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any research proposals regarding the effects of dietary intervention on children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperkinetic disorder in the last five years and, if so, which proposals were (a) accepted and (b) rejected and what the reasons were for the decision in each case.
Answer
The Chief Scientist Office(CSO), within the Scottish Executive Health Department, has responsibility forencouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland. Inthe last five years, CSO has not received any research proposals on the effectsof dietary intervention on children diagnosed with attention deficithyperkinetic disorder. CSO would be pleased to consider proposals for researchin this area which would be subject to the usual peer and committee review.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3472 by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2003, why information on psychological intervention or other non-drug therapies, in respect of (a) severe and enduring mental illness, (b) attention deficit hyperkenetic disorder, (c) depression and (d) dementia, is not held centrally.
Answer
Unlike prescriptionmedications dispensed in the community, psychological therapies are not paidfor centrally and as a result there is no single stream for data onpsychological interventions.
Collectionof enhanced information to capture psychological interventions provided willrequire considerable additional infrastructure and organisational development,including agreement on national definitions for different psychologicalapproaches. Work on this is beginning, through the Improving Mental HealthInformation Programme (iMHIP), eCare and the eHealth strategy.
Certain information isalready available on aspects of psychiatric and psychological health care, assummarised in the June 02 publication
Mental Health in Scotland: InformationSources and Selected Insights (available at
http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/collect2.jsp?pContentID=1554).
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances GPs may refuse to treat patients.
Answer
The Terms of Service for GPsare set out in the National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland)Regulations 1995. These require a GP to provide for patients all necessary andappropriate treatment of the type which might reasonably be expected from GPsas a class. They also require a GP to exercise professional judgement as to thedegree and standard of such treatment. In exercising this professionaljudgement it is open to a GP to refuse to provide particular treatment whichthe GP deems inappropriate.
Professional advice from theGeneral Medical Council makes it clear that GPs may take reasonable steps to protecttheir health or safety as required before investigating a patient’s conditionor providing treatment.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when the review and assessment of mental health services will be completed.
Answer
The interimreport of the National Assessment of Mental Health Services and 15 localityreports were published on 10 December 2003 (Bib. numbers30239, 30221-30234 and 30236). The final report is expected to be completed inFebruary.
The reports willinform the drafting of joint NHS board and local authority local implementationplans, setting out for each area what services need to be put in place toimplement the new act from April 2005. Further funding of £15 million over threeyears was announced on 19 November 2003 to help thisprocess.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will propose that the implications of the establishment of a Supreme Court for the United Kingdom be debated in the Scottish Parliament and, if so, when, and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.
Answer
At First Minister’sQuestions on 4 December, the First Minister indicated the intention of the Executive to seek a debate in the Parliament on the proposals for theestablishment of a UK Supreme Court.
The date will be finalisedin the near future.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have a mental health problem, broken down by age, gender and prison.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is asfollows:
This information is notcollected centrally. We do not have a universal assessment tool for mental healthproblems.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 12 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are plans to examine the method used to calculate teacher numbers to reflect the reduction in class si'es and, if so, when the results will be reported.
Answer
The Scottish Executive carries out an annual teacher workforce planning exercise overseen by agroup with representatives of education authorities, teacher unions, highereducation institutes, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and theGeneral Teaching Council. In the 2003 exercise the group has considered themethodology used and how known developments such as the Partnership for aBetter Scotland commitments are to be taken into account. The results of the2003 exercise will be published in February 2004.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 17 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Special Education Needs Advisory Forum will be re-established with a new remit and, if so, what the remit will be.
Answer
The Education (AdditionalSupport for Learning) (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced into Parliament on 28October, proposes a new legislative framework for support for learning whichextends beyond special educational needs. The Special Educational Needs Forum,as constituted, was not equipped to address this new framework.
We have established a newadvisory group, supported by officials from the Scottish Executive, which willdevelop a strategy for implementation of the bill. This will include sub-groupswhich will involve stakeholders from across the spectrum of additional supportneeds. We will announce further details about the strategy in early 2004.
- Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 17 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a reference group has been established for the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill and, if so, what the remit and membership of the group will be and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.
Answer
An advisory group has been setup to work with the Executive to address operational and implementation issuesarising from the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland)Bill.
The remit for the group isto (a) advise the team working on the draft bill on operational mattersrelating to proposals for co-ordinated support plans (CSP), transitions, publishedinformation and tribunals; and b) to take forward proposed changes in the draftbill, advise on the practical implications of the bill, review current guidanceon special educational needs and manage production of new/revised guidancerelating to the proposed new system.
The group is supported byofficials from the Scottish Executive and will develop a strategy for implementation of the bill. This will include sub-groups which will involve stakeholders fromacross the spectrum of additional support needs. The membership of the maingroup is:
| Name | Interest |
| Rowena Arshad | Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland |
| Steven Bermingham | Scottish Youth Parliament |
| Anna Fowlie | COSLA |
| Louise Hayward | Department of Educational Studies, University of Glasgow |
| Jane Hook | Scottish Pre-School Play Association, |
| Bryan Kirkaldy | Association of Directors of Education |
| Hugh Mackintosh | Barnardos Scotland |
| Dr Patricia Jackson | Community Child Health |
| Julie-Ann Jamieson | Careers Scotland |
| Veronica Rankin | EIS (Educational Institute for Scotland) |
| Caroline Selkirk | Child Health Commissioners Network |
| Sheena Swinhoe | Association of Directors of Social Work |
| Shirley Young | Special Needs Information Point, (Parents’ Support Group) |
