- Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists it estimates the NHS in the Dumfries and Galloway area requires and how many are currently employed.
Answer
There were 16 dentists employed in community and hospital dental services and 43 general dentists in NHS Dumfries and Galloway at 30 September 2003.
Responsibility for the overall provision of NHS dental services in an area rests with NHS boards. New arrangements for workforce planning are developing at national, regional and NHS board level.
- Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional resources will be allocated in real terms to help reduce the backlog in roads maintenance in each year from 2006-07 to 2007-08, broken down by local authority.
Answer
An additional £60 million per year has been allocated in 2006-07 and 2007-08 to help local authorities address the backlog of maintenance on the local road network. In real terms this represents £57 million and £55.5 million respectively, based on 2004-05 prices. Allocations to individual authorities will be announced in due course.
- Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been any progress in relation to the six road improvement schemes planned for the A75.
Answer
Yes, proposals for three of the six planned schemes have now been published and are available for public comment.
- Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 28 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-9394 and S2W-10611 by Tavish Scott on 9 and 28 September 2004 respectively, how the estimated cost of altering the NHS superannuation scheme in respect of widowers’ pensions to include pensionable service prior to 6 April 1988 and after March 1972 was calculated, given that the number of widowers eligible for payments under the scheme if it were so altered is unknown.
Answer
As the most recent valuation of the NHS Scheme in Scotland is still to be completed, the cost was based on the 1999 valuation of the NHS Pension Scheme in England and Wales.
- Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 October 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the potential for radon to be present in any given area, similar to that available for England and Wales on pages 62 and 63 of the British Geological Survey’s publication, Britain Beneath Our Feet.
Answer
The Executive has commissioned the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) to give advice on the radiological significance of levels of radon in Scotland. To do that the NRPB is completing its mapping of the levels of the naturally occurring radioactive gas, radon, in housing across Scotland. The survey aims to bring the extent of radon mapping in Scotland into line with that for the rest of the UK, with radon maps similar to those published for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what statistics it maintains on waiting times for dental treatment.
Answer
Information Services Division collects waiting time information for dental treatment at consultant level only. Waiting times are recorded for a first outpatient appointment following general medical/dental practitioner referral and the waiting time recorded for consultant services for the period from being placed on the inpatient and day case waiting list to admission for treatment. Information is not collected centrally for waiting times for dental treatment undertaken in hospital at a second or subsequent outpatient appointment.
Information is collected centrally on waiting times for in-patient or day-case treatment in hospital in all dental specialties.
- Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 6 October 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in negotiations between VisitScotland and local authorities on the setting up of an integrated tourism network.
Answer
Very positive progress is being made towards ensuring that the new integratedtourism network will be in place by April 2005. Discussions have taken place with COSLA and all the local authorities in Scotland on their role in the new network and I am pleased with the positive and active approach being taken by the local authority sector to help deliver the vision of growing tourism revenues by 50% over the next decade.
- Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 28 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many widowers who are retired or active NHS workers would be eligible for NHS pension payments in respect of their pensionable service between March 1972 and April 1988 if entitlement to such payments were to be extended to them.
Answer
The information requested is not available. The records of active and retired members of the NHS Superannuation Scheme maintained by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency do not contain information about whether the individuals concerned are widowed.
- Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 13 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 27 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost to it was of legal action taken against it by Wallets’ Marts of Castle Douglas when all factors have been accounted for.
Answer
Apart from some minimal staff costs, there will be no cost to the Scottish Executive arising from the defence of the action raised by Wallets Marts. All sums awarded by the court, legal costs etc. will be met by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
- Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 10 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the current policy of NHS Scotland is in respect of the use of acupuncture as a treatment and whether NHS Scotland has any plans to review this policy.
Answer
It is open to NHS boards to provide acupuncture and other complementary medicine through the NHS in Scotland. Decisions on whether to provide any particular form of complementary medicine are for NHS boards to make, based on their assessment of local needs. There are no plans to review this policy.
NHS boards will be helped in their decisions on funding complementary medicine by reliable standards of regulation for complementary practitioners. The Executive, with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations, took part in a UK-wide consultation on the statutory regulation of people who practice acupuncture and herbal medicine. Responses are currently being assessed.
