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-15956

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 12 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13554 by Susan Deacon on 17 April 2001, when its Health Department/NHS working group on standards of hospital cleanliness will report; who will enforce the agreed standards, and how enforcement will be undertaken.

The joint Scottish Executive Health Department/NHS working group's report has been received and is being actively considered. The draft standards prepared have already been passed to the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland (CSBS) for review and further work. The process of checking and reporting on compliance with the standards once established will be taken forward by CSBS alongside their ongoing work programme in relation to clinical standards in general.

Question reference: S1W-13553

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 February 2001
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 11 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its report of the Youth Summit held last June and what further action will be taken as a result of any such report.

Question reference: S1W-15901

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 6 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the nature is of any requirements placed on local authorities under the Best Value regime and what local authorities must do to comply with any such requirements.

Best Value is currently being taken forward on a voluntary basis in Scotland, and as such there are no formal "requirements" placed on local authorities by legislation or by the Scottish Executive with which local authorities must comply. Nevertheless, all authorities are expected to undertake a rolling programme of Best Value service reviews, to engage with and make comparative information on performance available to stakeholders and to plan for continuous improvement. These are in line with voluntary undertakings made in 1998.Local authorities are subject to inspection and audit arrangements which have been amended to accommodate Best Value scrutiny. Audit Scotland, on behalf of the Accounts Commission, annually consider the results of a "Performance Management and Planning" audit in each local council and publish an overview report. Inspection reports by HM Inspectorate of Education, the Social Work Services Inspectorate, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, the Fire Services Inspectorate and the Benefits Fraud Inspectorate make comment on Best Value where it is considered appropriate. The new inspections of the education functions of local authorities are conducted within a framework of quality indicators which have been designed to embody Best Value policy.In the future we intend to succeed the current voluntary regime by placing authorities under a duty to secure Best Value and we have already announced our intention to publish proposals for legislation on Best Value in the autumn.

Question reference: S1W-15957

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 6 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in setting up the seminar on football supporters' trusts as announced by the Deputy Minister for Sport, the Arts and Culture on 8 March 2001.

Question reference: S1W-15902

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12809 by Susan Deacon on 7 February 2001, whether the current review of the support arrangements for nursing students will address (a) reimbursement of all travel expenses connected with clinical placements and (b) students' housing needs.

Question reference: S1W-15903

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12809 by Susan Deacon on 7 February 2001, in what way degree nursing students, as distinct from diploma nursing students, receive significantly more financial support than students studying other disciplines.

Honours Degree student nurses receive assistance towards their living costs by way of a means-tested NHS bursary (which does not need to be repaid) and a non-means-tested student loan, in roughly equal proportions.Students studying other disciplines in Scotland get living cost support mainly through a (partly) means-tested loan, although students under 25 may be eligible for a new non-repayable Young Students' Bursary in the forthcoming academic session.Both types of students have their fees paid and may be eligible to apply for supplementary allowances which do not have to be repaid. However, nursing degree students will not be liable for the £2,000 Graduate Endowment which other students starting their studies this year will have to pay on completion of their course.As a means test is involved to some extent for both sets of students, each individual's circumstances will dictate how much assistance they receive. However, because the NHS Bursary does not have to be repaid, nursing degree students are likely to have less debt in the form of student loan than their counterparts in other undergraduate disciplines.

Question reference: S1W-15898

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to offer financial or other support to the Salvation Army for its proposed alcohol addiction unit in Inverclyde.

The funding of local alcohol addiction services operated by voluntary and charitable organisations is a matter for the health board and local authority.We are presently consulting on the development of a national Plan of Action on alcohol misuse, and expect to publish our plan at the end of this year. The plan will cover the whole spectrum of services that address alcohol problems: these should be flexible and responsive and delivered to a good standard. In keeping with Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change', we envisage the voluntary sector playing a key role in influencing change and meeting needs, and we welcome the Salvation Army's continuing interest in offering social care services to those in need.

Question reference: S1W-15862

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Angus MacKay on 5 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what materials currently used by it are subsequently recycled; how much of each material is sent for recycling, and what targets it has for future recycling.

The Scottish Executive aims to recycle office waste in all main buildings. The current recycling figures are shown in the following table.

Recycled Waste in the main Scottish Executive Buildings
	1999-2000*	2000-01*
Paper	13,052 bags	490.201 tonnes
Aluminium Cans	121 bags	8.258 tonnes
Plastic Cups (Victoria Quay figures only)	342 bags	9.012 tonnes
Waste Metal from Office Furniture	no figures available	16.530 tonnes
Cooking Oil (Victoria Quay figures only)	no figures available	0.675 tonnes
Toner Cartridges (Victoria Quay figures only)	1,235 cartridges	1,247 cartridges
Fluorescent Tubes	1,200 tubes	4,000 tubes

The main waste material within the Scottish Executive is waste paper. In addition to the items set out above, we also recycle the power packs from emergency lighting in Victoria Quay, but figures are not available for this. We have plans to introduce battery segregation and are investigating the possibility of recycling other plastics.In the year to March 2001, we recycled 38% of our waste, exceeding the target of 25% waste recycling for that year. Our revised target for recycling is to achieve 50% recycled waste by March 2002.* Figures for each year are not comparable because of a change in waste contractor between 1999-2000 and 2000-01 which resulted in a new and more appropriate way to measure waste and recycling.

Question reference: S1W-15904

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to make hospital-acquired infection a notifiable disease.

There are no plans to make hospital-acquired infection (HAI) a notifiable disease within the generally accepted use of the term under the Public Health (Notification of Infectious diseases) (Scotland) Regulations 1988. We are undertaking a comprehensive review of public health legislation in Scotland which is considering the system of notification of infections. But a HAI is an indication of where the patient acquired the illness rather than a specific medical condition. There are also considerable clinical uncertainties about the degree to which a HAI may contribute to death and in addition there can be uncertainties about the source of infections.

Question reference: S1W-15863

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by David Steel on 4 June 2001

To ask the Presiding Officer what materials used by the Parliament are subsequently recycled; how much of each material is sent for recycling, and what targets the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has for future recycling.