- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 October 2006
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Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executiven how many convictions for offences aggravated by religious prejudice in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06 (i) the target was the police, (ii) the offence involved the perceived hatred of (1) Islam, (2) Judaism, (3) Christianity, (4) Protestantism and (5) Roman Catholicism, (iii) the offence arose from support of, or hostility towards, a football club, (iv) the offence was related to a march or procession, and (v) the offender was considered to be under the influence of alcohol.
Answer
Awaiting answer
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding has been specifically focused on services for people with mental health problems in each of the past five years.
Answer
NHS boards and localauthorities receive a general allocation of funds and it is for those agencies towork together with their partners to decide how best to use these funds to meetthe assessed needs of their resident population, including mental health services,taking account of national and local priorities.
NHS board and localauthority expenditure on mental health services in each of the last five years was:
| Financial Year | NHS Board Expenditure on Mental Health (£ Million) | Local Authority Expenditure on Mental Health (£ Million) | Total (£ Million) |
| 2004-05 | 625.5 | 72.8 | 698.3 |
| 2003-04 | 581.3 | 63.4 | 644.7 |
| 2002-03 | 560.9 | 47.6 | 608.5 |
| 2001-02 | 519.8 | 32.5 | 552.3 |
| 2000-01 | 474.4 | 30.8 | 505.2 |
Significant other funding whichwill impact on overall services and support for people with mental health problemshas also been provided e.g. for the Mental Welfare Commission, the National Programmefor Improving Mental Health and Well-being; Mental Health Specific Grant and supportfor a range of voluntary sector organisations.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what residential in-patient facilities for treating patients with serious alcohol and drug dependency problems there are; what their capacity is, and which NHS board areas have no such facilities.
Answer
Since 2002-03 each Alcohol andDrug Action Team has been tasked with producing annual Corporate Action Plans whichcontain information on the numbers of alcohol rehabilitation places available atlocal level across Scotland. These plans are available on the Information and StatisticsDivision Scotland website at
http://www.drugsmisuse.isdscotland.org/dat/cap/dat.htm.Additional information can beobtained direct from NHS boards. Information is not available centrally on tacklingalcohol problems prior to 2002-03.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what system it has in place to monitor and reduce, where appropriate, the volume of regulations imposed on voluntary organisations and schools by the Executive, the UK Government, the European Union, local authorities and government agencies.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is stronglycommitted to ensuring that all regulations are implemented in a way which causesminimum disruption to all sectors and bodies, including the voluntary sector.
Alllegislation emanating from the Scottish Executive which impacts on schools and voluntaryorganisations must be accompanied by a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA). The RIAis a policy tool to assist policy makers to think through and analyse the consequencesof proposals in a disciplined and comprehensive way ensuring that we identify, andtake fully into account before regulations are made, the effects on business, thevoluntary sector and charities. The RIA helps to improve the way policy is formulated,planned and delivered - as good policy relies on providing informed and detailedadvice to ministers. It is Scottish Executive policy that our departments and agenciesthat exercise statutory powers and make rules with a general effect on others shouldproduce such an RIA wherever new regulations are proposed.
Regulations emanating from Whitehall mustalso be accompanied by an RIA and increasingly this is also the case with regulationsfrom Brussels.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 3 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when it announced its policy of creating new indoor full-size football pitches; what the current position is in respect of each project, and (a) what progress is being made on, (b) how much has been spent on and (c) what the budget is of each project.
Answer
Football will be a major beneficiaryfrom our National and Regional Sports Facilities Strategy launched in March 2003. Of the ten projects allocated Stage One funding underthat strategy in 2004, five include full-size indoor football pitches. Progressand funding for each of those projects is set out in the following table.
| | Award* (Estimated Project Cost) | Expected/Actual Site Start Date | Expected Project Completion Date |
| Westfield Stadium, Falkirk | £3 million (£8 million) | June 2007 | May 2008 |
| Hunters Hall, Edinburgh | £3 million (£35.1 million) | June 2008 | October 2009 |
| Linksfield, Aberdeen | £5 million (£23 million) | June 2007 | August 2008 |
| Toryglen, Glasgow | £3 million (£14.5 million) | August 2006 | September 2008 |
| Ravenscraig, North Lanarkshire | £5 million (£18.1 million) | June 2007 | September 2008 |
Notes:
*The level of award and estimatedproject cost is determined by the size and scope of each project. Each project willreceive £3 million towards its football facility element.
[Also, as part of the work beingdone to implement the Youth Football Action Plan, the SFA has set up a facilitiesdevelopment steering group to develop a national facilities strategy for football.]
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 3 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how much public money it has given the Scottish Football Partnership to match the £63 million given over four years in England to the Football Foundation.
Answer
The Scottish Football Partnershipwas established to distribute Scotland’s share of funds held by the now dissolved Football Trust.The Football Trust’s funds comprised donations from the Football Associations ofEngland, Scotland and Wales, the FA Premier League, the English Sports Council,Littlewoods Spot the Ball and the Reduction in Pools Betting Duty account. The ScottishFootball Partnership’s share was £4.8 million and the Football Foundation’s in Englandwas £63 million.
No further public funds willbe made available to the Scottish Football Partnership.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 2 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is its policy that residential in-patient facilities for treating patients with serious alcohol and drug dependency problems should be part of the range of provision in each NHS board area and, if so, what action it is taking to ensure that NHS boards make use of existing facilities and, where necessary, create new ones.
Answer
It is for each of the 22 Alcoholand Drug Action Teams (ADATs) to determine the range and availability of servicesat local level. Record levels of funding are being made available in 2005-06 and2006-07 by the Executive to support the expansion of treatment and rehabilitationservices, and the detail of what is now available locally can be found on the ISDScotland website at
http://www.drugsmisuse.isdscotland.org/dat/cap/dat.htm
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 2 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been conducted to compare the success of residential in-patient facilities for treating patients with serious alcohol and drug dependency problems with other ways of treating these patients and what conclusions any such research has reached.
Answer
The Health Economics ResearchUnit study of
effective and cost effective measures to reduce alcohol misusereviewed UK and international research on the effectiveness of interventions.This review notes that all studies need to be interpreted with caution and thatmore research is needed about the effectiveness of different treatment settingsin a UK context. The review is available at:
http://www.alcoholinformation.isdscotland.org/alcohol_misuse/files/MeasureReduce_Full.pdf.A large amount of research hasbeen conducted both in the UK and internationally which compares, or enables comparisonof, the effectiveness of residential treatment with community-based treatments fordrug addictions. The Scottish Executive is currently undertaking a review of theavailable evidence, to inform policy.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 2 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with NHS Lanarkshire with regard to the provision of visitor transport services for patients who are admitted to Hairmyres Hospital or Wishaw General Hospital as a result of the downgrading of accident and emergency services at Monklands Hospital.
Answer
Transport is a significant issuewhich NHS boards must take into account in the design and delivery of local healthservices. When submitting a proposal for a service change, boards are expected tohave fully assessed the impact of the proposed changes on the travel arrangementsof patients, carers, visitors and staff. We therefore required NHS Lanarkshire tocarry out a full transport needs assessment as part of the consultation processon the redesign of services in NHS Lanarkshire.
Iwas aware of the level of concern that was raised during NHS Lanarkshire’s consultationprocess about transport issues and in particular about the difficulties for relativesand other visitors in travelling from the Monklands area to Wishaw and Hairmyres.I questioned the board about these matters at their Annual Review, and subsequentlyI required them to give me an assurance that a shuttle bus service will operatebetween Monklands and the other two hospital sites. This service will be availablefor the use of patients, relatives and staff and will be in place by the time Accidentand Emergency provision changes at Monklands Hospital.
More generally, we are establishingTransport for Health sub-groups in each of our three Regional Planning Groups tobring together NHS boards and their transport planning partners, including the ScottishAmbulance Service, local authorities and community transport providers, to allowthem to develop innovative, integrated transport solutions that will provide betteraccess to health care facilities for patients, carers, visitors and staff. NHS Lanarkshirewill play a full part in the West of Scotland Partnership.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 29 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it or its agencies have had with public transport providers with regard to introduction of the “London model” of provision of services to hospitals in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish ExecutiveHealth Department, Scottish Executive Transport Group and Transport Scotlandhave not had discussions with public transport providers with regard tointroduction of a “London model” of provision of services to hospitals in Scotland.
