- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 3 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether targets set in The Same as you? for the closure of residential units that provide residential care for those with profound learning difficulties remain in place and, where such targets have not been met, whether they will be withdrawn.
Answer
There is noaim in
The same as you? for the closure of residential units or carehomes as described in the question. The target in
The same as you? isfor the closure of long-stay hospital provision for people with learningdifficulties by the end of 2005. We remain committed to that target, and aretaking steps to ensure it is achieved.
Whereindividuals have been assessed as able to live in the community, agreed andfunded plans need to be in place so they can move out by the target date ofend-2005.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 3 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many airline passengers began or finished their rail journey at Glasgow Prestwick International Airport in the last year.
Answer
Around 350,000 airline passengersarrived at or departed from Glasgow Prestwick International Airport by rail in the year to 31 March 2004.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 20 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-2239 by Nicol Stephen on 6 May 2004, how many passengers used Strathclyde Passenger Transport-supported rail services in each year since 1995.
Answer
Informationfor the years 1995-96 to 2002-03 is given on page 5 of the recently published SPTStatistics and Trends 2003, a copy of which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib number. 32703). Passenger numbers in theyear to March 2004 were 41.1million.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 18 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7447 by Allan Wilson on 21 April 2004, what the terms of reference are of the working group on large animal veterinary services.
Answer
The Working Group on Vets andVeterinary Services is required to produce a report that highlights the challengesand opportunities facing the provision of large animal veterinary services in Great Britain.It will identify the problems and propose solutions to mitigate these problems.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 18 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7447 by Allan Wilson on 21 April 2004, what the names and backgrounds are of the members of the working group on large animal veterinary services.
Answer
The working group’s composition differs at its five meetings across Great Britain, each focussing on a specific area of concern. Whilst there is a core membership of organisations across each of the meetings, individual attendance varies.
The Edinburgh working group focussed on education and delivery of veterinary service and the attendees were:
| Name: | Organisation: |
| Libby Anderson | Scottish Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals |
| Stuart Ashworth | Quality Meat Scotland |
| David Whitericker | University of Glasgow Veterinary College |
| David Barrett | University of Glasgow Veterinary College |
| Colin Penny | University of Edinburgh Veterinary College |
| Mike Lamont | State Veterinary Service |
| Derek Stallard | State Veterinary Service |
| Mike Sharp | Veterinary Laboratories Agency |
| Jane Downes | Meat Hygiene Service |
| Alexis Easson | Scottish Higher Education Funding Council |
| Anthony Bates | Scottish Executive |
| Ian Anderson | Scottish Executive |
| Neil Ritchie | Scottish Executive |
| Alex Trifkovic | Scottish Executive |
| Sabine Brun | French Embassy |
| Charles Milne | Chief Veterinary Officer Scotland |
| Tony Edwards | Chief Veterinary Officer Wales |
| Lucy Hansen | Edinburgh Veterinary Student |
| Anita Inderdall | Edinburgh Veterinary Student |
| Alasdair Stuart | Edinburgh Veterinary Student |
| Colin Macleod | Defra |
| Veryan Nicholls | Defra |
| Bill Parish | Defra |
| Carl Padgett | British Cattle Veterinary Association |
| Jeremy Johnson | British Veterinary Association |
| Donald Ferguson | British Veterinary Association |
| Barry Johnson | Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons |
| Brian Hosie | Sheep Veterinary Society |
| Sandy Clark | Practising Vet |
| Dominic Plumley | Practising Vet |
| David Reed | Practising Vet |
| Iain Richards | Practising Vet |
| Graeme Richardson | Practising Vet |
| Iain McCulloch | Practising Vet |
| Mike Robson | Practising Vet |
| Andrew Sayer | Practising Vet |
| Freda Scott-Park | Practising Vet |
| Ross Muir | Practising Vet |
| Colin Silver | Practising Vet |
| John Sproat | Practising Vet |
| Frank Stephen | Practising Vet |
| David Taylor | Practising Vet |
| Sam Duff | Practising Vet |
| Hugh Jardine | Practising Vet |
| Nigel Miller | National Farmers Union (Scotland) |
| John Tullie | Farmer |
| Robert Newlands | Farmer |
| W Kilpatrick | Farmer |
| W Whiteford | Farmer |
| Jim Shanks | Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs |
| David Weaver | National Association of Cattle Foot Trimmers |
| Jock Timlet | National Association of Cattle Foot Trimmers |
| Charles Harding | National Association of Cattle Foot Trimmers |
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 13 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what responsibilities local authorities have for ensuring that properties provided by them for homeless families meet relevant gas safety regulations.
Answer
Local authorities have a dutyto ensure that housing owned by them meets all legal requirements under health andsafety legislation. The duty to comply withgas safety regulations requires to be observed by landlords irrespective of thetype of occupant in the premises.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 13 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure that private landlords meet gas regulation requirements when letting property to tenants on housing benefit.
Answer
The enforcement of gas safetyregulations is a matter for the Health and Safety Executive. Its guidance on therelevant regulations explains that landlords have a duty to make sure that gas appliances,fittings and flues used by tenants are safe, and to ensure that an annual safetycheck is carried, out normally by a CORGI‑registered installer. There arepenalties for non‑compliance.
The Department for Work and Pensions,which is the department with responsibility for housing benefit, advise that eligibilityfor housing benefit is based on a tenant’s liability for rent and their means andnot adherence to gas regulations, and that there are no plans to change this position.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 13 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what checks are carried out by rent officers to ensure that all safety regulations are met in properties for which they set rent valuations for tenants on housing benefit.
Answer
Rent Officers of the Rent RegistrationService have no locus in relation to the enforcement of safety regulations. Theirstatutory responsibility for Housing Benefit is confined to determining market rentsfor private rented sector tenancies in cases referred to them by local authorities.This enables local authorities to assess the level of housing benefit award.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 13 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time is for an adoption order to be issued from the time of placement of a child with prospective adoptive parents.
Answer
This information is not currentlyheld centrally. The Scottish Executive has been working with partners in the voluntarysector and local authorities to improve the information held on children needingnew permanent homes. A new statistical return is being piloted in 2004-05 and initialfindings will be available in autumn 2005. Details of the information sought areavailable at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/ED/IAC/00016135/Forms.aspx
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 7 May 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children under one had adoption certificates issued for them in each year from 1999 to 2003.
Answer
Adoption certificates areissued, on request, by the General Register Office for Scotland. Itis not possible to identify the number of certificates issued in any given yearfor children under the age of one.
Statistics on the number ofadoption applications for children are published each year by the Scottish Executive. The latest figures, including those for children under one year, canbe accessed at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00329-03.asp.
