- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 1 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that Scotland should be the pilot for UK road pricing.
Answer
No.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes were reported and responded to on train services and in stations in each of the last four years.
Answer
The available information isshown in the following table.
Crimes and Offences Recordedby the British Transport Police in Scotland, 2002-03 to 2005-06
| 2002-03 | 10,344 |
| 2003-04 | 9,892 |
| 2004-05 | 9,487 |
| 2005-06 | 8,146 |
Note: These include all crimesand offences recorded by the British Transport Police, and not only those occurringon trains and in stations. For example, any instances of graffiti/vandalism of signalboxes or trespass on railway lines that have been recorded will have been included.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its response to Audit Scotland’s overview of governance in Scottish local authorities.
Answer
As in previous years, the ScottishExecutive does not intend to publish a response to the Audit Scotland report Overviewof the Local Authority Audits 2006.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 22 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any meetings with the British Transport Police about antisocial behaviour in railway stations and on trains in Scotland and, if so, what (a) was discussed and (b) action was taken as a result.
Answer
Ministers met with the BritishTransport Police (BTP) on 24 January 2007. The meeting included discussion of the potential forusing community wardens on the rail network and for creating an antisocial behaviourpost within the BTP. Further consideration is being given to both matters.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 6 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all local authorities have been consulted on any new responsibilities and costs resulting from any legislation introduced since January 2006 and, if so, whether it will publish their responses, broken down by local authority.
Answer
Public consultation is an integralpart of the policy formulation process in the Scottish Executive. As part of thatconsultation process, local authorities are consulted routinely. The Executive considersin detail all responses provided to consultation documents and takes these intoaccount when finalising its legislative proposals. Copies of the responses to consultationexercises are always made available to the public, except where the respondentshave asked for them to be treated as confidential.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 31 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when prescribers will be able to prescribe lenalidomide to patients who suffer from multiple myeloma.
Answer
Licensing of medicines is reservedand is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency(MHRA). Before a medicine can be placed on the UK market it must have a marketingauthorisation from either the MHRA or the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). TheMHRA has advised that an application for a marketing authorisation for lenalidomidefor the treatment of multiple myeloma is pending with the EMEA.
When a medicine receives a UKmarketing authorisation, either from the MHRA or the EMEA, it can be prescribedon the NHS unless it is subject to a direction by Scottish ministers under section17N(6) of the NHS (Scotland) Act 1978.
However, NHS Scotland is expectedto await the advice of the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) before making a newmedicine routinely available. SMC conducts rapid and careful appraisals of medicinesusing pre-launch data and provides its advice to NHS Scotland as soon as possibleafter the launch.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 31 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to allow patients and prescribers access to orphan drugs.
Answer
The Scottish Medicines Consortium(SMC) provides NHS boards and their area drug and therapeutics committees with adviceon the prescription of licensed orphan drugs.
The SMC has prepared a statementwhich explains their assessment process for orphan drugs. The statement is availableon the SMC website www.scottishmedicines.org.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects that the A90 north of Aberdeen will be fully dualled.
Answer
Work will begin in the firstquarter of 2009-10 on dualling the section between Balmedie to Tipperty.
The A90 corridor is being assessedas part of the Strategic Transport Projects Review.
Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted if required.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 24 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when the National Licensing Forum last met and what issues were discussed.
Answer
The National Licensing Forumlast met on 18 April 2006. It discussed a number of issues relating to the Licensing(Scotland) Act 2005 including overprovision and the capacity of licensed premisesand training. The Forum also agreed its next phase of work as drafting guidancefor Licensing Boards. This task has now been completed
I shall shortly be consideringthe future role of the forum as we move closer towards full implementation of thenew Licensing legislation.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 24 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken by the National Licensing Forum in the last six months.
Answer
The National Licensing Forumhas not met collectively in the last six months, but during this time its membershave been involved in the development of policy, regulations, and draft guidancerelating to the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. This has included direct engagement with ScottishExecutive officials during the consultation period. In addition, members of theforum have been heavily involved in the development of training specifications forLicensing Board Members, Licensing Standards Officers, Personal Licence Holders,and staff serving alcohol.
I shall shortly be consideringthe future role of the forum as we move closer towards full implementation of thenew Licensing legislation.
