- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 23 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Food Standards Agency office in Aberdeen will open.
Answer
The aim is for the Food Standards Agency office in Aberdeen to be open in spring 2000 when the Agency will assume its full powers.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Donald Dewar on 23 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Ministers fully reimburse the Consolidated Fund for any journeys taken in their Ministerial vehicles when visiting their constituencies or attending party political events.
Answer
Guidance on the functions of the Government Car Service in Scotland has been issued to all Ministers of the Scottish Executive. Ministers and Deputy Ministers are entitled to use GCS services for journeys which are necessary in the course of carrying out their duties as Ministers.If a Minister wishes to use the GCS in Scotland to arrange travel for Party or private business he/she may do so on a repayment basis.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 23 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce private funding into the higher education sector over the length of this Parliamentary session and, if it has no such plans, what alternative plans it has to ensure adequate funding for this sector.
Answer
The higher education sector receives about 30% of its funding from wholly private sources. The Executive proposes additional funding of £250 million for the three years to 2001-02 as announced following the Comprehensive Spending Review.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 23 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding a reduction in the cost to road hauliers of excise duty in order to assist Scottish firms' trading position.
Answer
The Executive keeps in regular contact with Treasury on a range of reserved issues which affect Scottish interests.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 23 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive how many asthmatics were diagnosed per year over the last three years, categorised by health board area.
Answer
The information requested is not available centrally.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 23 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what benefits to the Scottish economy it anticipates as a result of the recent visit to Prague by the Minister for Finance.
Answer
I visited Prague to meet the Minister for Regional Development and to launch, with him, the Twinning Covenant for the preparation of the Czech Republic to administer structural funds. The purpose of these European Commission funded Twinning Covenants is to establish good administrative practices in these specialised areas in the accession countries. This ensures that EU funds are spent as effectively as possible.
It is hard to quantify now the economic benefits to Scotland of securing such a prestigious project in one of the first wave accession countries. However, business contacts will extend well beyond the Government departments concerned, to supporting agencies and others.The value of the Twinning Covenant is €2 million over 20 months. The Scottish Executive leads a three Member State Consortium, with France and Ireland, and will administer the funding for all of the countries. The fact that Scotland is leading this exercise reflects very positively on the Scottish system for administering the structural funds.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 23 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have asked for more funding for next year than they were initially allocated; how much these authorities have asked for, and what response has been given to each one.
Answer
Individual councils were notified of their allocations from the local government finance revenue settlement for 2000-01 on Wednesday 15 December. To date I am not aware of any councils having submitted formal requests for additional grant for next year.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 30 November 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the number of people in Scotland who suffer from multiple sclerosis and who have received Beta Interferon treatment in the past year and to breakdown the number for each Health Board area.
Answer
A total of 163 people in Scotland who suffer from multiple sclerosis received Beta Interferon treatment in the past year.This information is given on a national basis in order not to disclose information that may relate to an individual.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 19 November 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the number of people who suffer from multiple sclerosis in each of the Health Boards areas in Scotland.
Answer
The information is not available centrally in the form requested.
Information derived from the Continuous Morbidity Recording (CMR) system estimates that approximately 5,900 individuals were seen by General Practitioners, in respect of Multiple Sclerosis in Scotland in 1998.It is not possible to estimate the number of people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis in each Health Board area.CMR data is obtained from the daily work of GPs within a sample of Scottish General Practices whose population is nationally representative. The above information is based on the activity of 40 Scottish General Practices for the year ending December 1998, with a combined population of 224,736.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 19 November 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been any increase in the number of people being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in Scotland in the past three years and, if so, which Health Board is reporting the greatest increase over that period.
Answer
The information is not available centrally in the form requested.
Information derived from the Continuous Morbidity Recording (CMR) system estimates that the number of patients seen by General Practitioners in Scotland for a first ever diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis is as follows:| Year | Number of patients |
| 1996 | 1250 |
| 1997 | 1200 |
| 1998 | 1250 |
It is not possible to estimate the number of people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis in each Health Board area.CMR data is obtained from the daily work of GPs within a sample of Scottish General Practices whose population is nationally representative. The above information is based on the activity of 33, 43 and 40 Scottish General Practices with combined populations of 171,069, 221,486 and 224,736 respectively.
