Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-16268

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 28 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12056 by Mr Jack McConnell on 4 January 2001, which ministers and officials were involved in the consultation with Her Majesty's Government in preparation for the Inter-Governmental Conference; whether any record of this consultation was made, and where any such record has been lodged.

Question reference: S1O-03597

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 28 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting times currently are for a tonsillectomy at both the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley and Vale of Leven Hospital and what the target waiting times are for the end of 2001.

Provisional figures for the year ending 31 December 2000 show that the median waiting times for tonsillectomies at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and the Vale of Leven Hospital were 56 days and 161 days respectively.The current national waiting times guarantee for inpatient/day case treatment is 12 months. As stated in Our National Health: a plan for action, a plan for change, this will be reduced to 9 months by 2003.

Question reference: S1O-03658

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 28 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive when a report of the negotiations and consultations between Her Majesty's Government and the Scottish Executive in preparation for the 2000 Inter-governmental Conference in Nice will be in the public domain.

Question reference: S1W-15404

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 24 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals have been identified as requiring tonsillectomies in the Argyll and Clyde Acute Hospital NHS Trust area and how many are currently waiting for tonsillectomies at each of the Trust's hospitals.

Information on the number of patients waiting for inpatient and day case tonsillectomy treatment is not available centrally. Information on the number of patients waiting for inpatient and day case treatment is collected at specialty level only.At 31 December 2000, the numbers waiting for ENT inpatient or day case treatments of all kinds at the Vale of Leven Hospital and at the Royal Alexandra Hospital were 130 and 185 respectively. No elective tonsillectomy operations are undertaken at Inverclyde Royal Hospital.

Question reference: S1W-14748

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 24 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made, or will make, representations to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Postal Services Commission regarding the impact on rural areas in Scotland of any moves towards increasing competition in the provision of postal services, in particular any reduction in the weight limits of packages handled by a universal postal service.

Question reference: S1W-15403

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 24 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for a tonsillectomy at (a) Vale of Leven Hospital, (b) the Royal Alexandra Hospital, and (c) Inverclyde Royal Hospital.

Question reference: S1W-15402

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 18 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive which health boards have supplies of single-use tonsillectomy instruments in stock; which health boards have no such supplies, and when any health boards without supplies will receive supplies of these instruments.

Stocks of surgical instruments are, apart from the island health boards, held by individual NHS Trusts, from whom information on supply levels is not routinely collected.A contract for the future provision of single-use tonsillectomy instruments was placed for all UK Health Departments at the end of April. Scottish Healthcare Supplies, a Division of the Common Services Agency, led for Scottish procurement interests and are currently working with the appointed suppliers and Scottish Trusts to secure an appropriate and timeous distribution of initial supplies. Supplies will come on stream this month and will rise to meet the projected level of monthly demand by July.

Question reference: S1W-15418

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 17 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12921 by Mr Sam Galbraith on 13 February 2001, what additional flood prevention schemes have been confirmed by Scottish Ministers since 13 February 2001 and what additional requests have been submitted since then and are currently under consideration.

The River Kelvin (Glazertbank, Lennoxtown) Flood Prevention Scheme, allowing for a small alteration to the existing River Kelvin Scheme, has been confirmed by ministers in the period since 13 February 2001.The Executive has not received any further requests for confirmation of schemes in this period. Two schemes, to allow changes to the Perth Flood Prevention Scheme, are presently being considered. Further information is awaited from the council before these schemes can be taken further.

Question reference: S1W-14950

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 16 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13248 by Ross Finnie on 30 March 2001, whether, given its involvement with Her Majesty's Government on the liberalisation of European postal services and its commitment to the maintenance of universal services throughout Scotland, it will be attending the 2,340th meeting of the Council of the European Union (Transport and Communications) when the issue of amending EC Directive 96/97/EC on the competition of postal services within the European Community will be considered and, if so, what position it will take and who will attend.

The Scottish Executive is closely involved in discussions on the UK position in European negotiations which impact on Scottish interests. The UK was represented at the 2,340th Council meeting on Transport and Telecommunications, held on 4-5 April, by Patricia Hewitt, Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry and Keith Hill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. The UK position is designed to support the maintenance of the universal service at a uniform tariff.

Question reference: S1W-15495

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 15 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance exists on the circumstances in which a general anaesthetic should be recommended to NHS dental patients by dentists; whether such treatment involves any charge to patients and, if so, what that charge is, which categories of patient care are exempt from such a charge and how long such a charge has existed.

The offer of a general anaesthetic to a patient under the NHS requires the dentist to make a clinical judgement based on need. In the majority of cases this judgement is based on the degree of anxiety or phobia exhibited by the patient and the related complexity of the dental treatment required.In Scotland at present all NHS patients requiring general anaesthesia for dental treatment are treated within a hospital environment. The provision of general anaesthesia to such patients is free.