- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 June 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 11 June 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many recommendations the Council of Economic Advisers has made to the Scottish Government; how many it agrees with, and how many it has implemented.
Answer
The recommendations the Council of Economic Advisers has made to the Scottish Government are listed in the
Council''s Annual Reports; the first published in December 2008, and second in December 2009.
The Scottish Government published a response to each Annual Report in January 2009 and February 2010 respectively, and also published a progress report on the recommendations made in the First Annual Report in February 2010.
All of the above can be accessed on the Scottish Government website:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Economy/Council-Economic-Advisers/Annual-Reports.
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 22 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects work to begin on the Newhouse to Baillieston M8 upgrade.
Answer
The programme for the M8 Baillieston to Newhouse Scheme is contained within the following link:
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/files/documents/roads/Programme_Update_at_311209.pdf.
We are currently considering the report of the Public Local Inquiry into this scheme. Assuming a decision to proceed and subsequent approval of the orders, it will then be necessary to carry out a thorough review of the remaining stages of the project, including procurement.
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 22 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects work to begin on the M74 Raith interchange upgrade.
Answer
The programme for the M74 Junction 5, Raith Scheme is contained within the following link:
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/files/documents/roads/Programme_Update_at_311209.pdf.
We intend to examine the benefits of including the M74 Junction 5, Raith Scheme in the proposed not for profit distribution procurement of the M8 Baillieston to Newhouse Scheme.
We are currently considering the report of the Public Local Inquiry into the M8 Baillieston to Newhouse Scheme. Assuming a decision to proceed and subsequent approval of the orders, it will then be necessary to carry out a thorough review of the remaining stages of the project, including procurement.
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 10 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has allocated for spending in 2010-11 on advertising in relation to the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009.
Answer
No money has been allocated for spending in financial year 2010-11 on advertising in relation to the Education (Additional Support For Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009.
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 10 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent in 2009-10 on advertising in relation to the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009.
Answer
Approximately £320,574 inclusive of VAT will be spent in the financial year 2009-10 on advertising in relation to the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009.
The Scottish Government''s advertising spend for 2009-10 will be reconciled and published on the Scottish Government''s website in July 2010.
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has issued guidance to NHS boards on consulting communities in relation to proposed closures of branch surgeries.
Answer
We are committed to ensuring that communities are fully involved in the configuration of local healthcare services and their views are taken into account when changes to services are being proposed. That is why we issued the guidance,
Informing, Engaging and Consulting People in Developing Health and Community Care Services, to NHS boards on 10 February 2010 under cover of Circular CEL 4 (2010) setting out the process for involving the public in proposed service changes. Paragraph 6 of that document includes advice on the applicability of the guidance to the provision of Primary Care services through independent contractors such as GPs.
This guidance supports previous guidance issued to boards in 2004 under Circular PCA(M)2004)22 on the provision and funding of premises costs for branch surgeries. Paragraph six states that NHS boards and GPs in Scotland are free to review branch surgery provision and either extend or rationalise provision of branch surgeries, but only after due consultation conducted in accordance with the relevant provisions of The National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Act 2004.
Both Circulars are available on the SHOW website via the following link:
http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/publications/publication.asp?offset=10.
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-30741 by Nicola Sturgeon on 26 January 2010, what the views of the public involved in the work of the Directorate of Equalities and Planning of NHS Health Scotland are on whether its work is having an impact on patients’ experience of the NHS and when these views will be placed in the public domain.
Answer
The Equalities and Planning Directorate involve the public at various stages of their work.
Guidance developed for NHSScotland using the feedback and experiences of service users is available on the NHS Health Scotland website at:
http://www.healthscotland.com/resources/index.aspx.
Examples include Are you really listening?, Mosaics of Meaning and BME WRAP project report.
The views of public partners were also used in the development of the Directorate''s draft equality impact assessments (EQIA) for example on the Translation, Interpreting & Communication Support (TICS) Strategy for NHS Scotland. The draft TICS EQIA was published on the NHS Health Scotland website as a public consultation document. The closing date was 29 January 2010 and NHS Health Scotland will publish a full response to comments from the public in due course.
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-30737 by Nicola Sturgeon on 26 January 2010, in what six areas compliance by NHS boards with legal equality duties was most frequently identified as a concern in the NHS Health Scotland report, The Big Picture 2009: A review of progress on equality in the NHS in Scotland, and what the timescale is for addressing such concern.
Answer
It is the responsibility of individual NHS boards to ensure compliance with legal equality duties. Compliance is monitored by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The aim of the NHS Health Scotland report was to gather a baseline on the status of equality and diversity work in the NHS in Scotland. The report, based on information provided by NHS boards in 2008-09, reflected the position at that time. All boards received detailed feedback on their own performance against the indicators shown in the report and were offered support from NHS Health Scotland to address the areas identified as priorities. The status may have changed since the report was published.
The full report is available on NHS Health Scotland''s website at:
http://www.healthscotland.com/documents/3703.aspx.
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-30739 by Nicola Sturgeon on 26 January 2010, what baseline data the Directorate of Equalities and Planning of NHS Health Scotland has established in order to measure improvements in delivering equality of access to health services in the individual experience of (a) disabled people, (b) people from black and minority ethnic communities and (c) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31268 on 23 February 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Michael McMahon, MSP for Hamilton North and Bellshill, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-30741 by Nicola Sturgeon on 26 January 2010, what opportunities were provided to organisations across Scotland’s voluntary sector to secure a service level agreement with the Directorate of Equalities and Planning of NHS Health Scotland.
Answer
NHS Health Scotland promoted the opportunity to work with them on a programme of equality impact assessments through the Community Health Exchange (CHEX) newsletter, which is widely distributed to a network of organisations working in the field of community health. This was also highlighted directly to a number of equality organisations.
