- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 8 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has issued guidance or instructions to its directorates and agencies about their approach to requests under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Answer
Yes, a range of guidance is available for Scottish Government staff on how to handle freedom of information requests. Most recently, interim guidance has been provided on a Court of Session case which found against the Scottish Information Commissioner. This guidance is in the course of being updated.
I also refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31196 on 8 February 2010. 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: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 8 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its directorates and agencies comply with the guidance of 27 January 2010 from the Scottish Information Commissioner as to their approach when applicants request copies of documents.
Answer
The Scottish Information Commissioner has just published guidance on the impact of a recent Court of Session decision which clarified that the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 provides a right to information not documents. We are working closely with the commissioner in order to update our guidance to staff on the handling of requests for information, to take account of the commissioner''s guidance and the court''s decision.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 5 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many requests for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 in the period since July 2009 have related to the Glasgow Airport Rail Link and, of those, how many have been (a) accepted and (b) refused.
Answer
In the period from July 2009 to date a total of 14 requests for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 relating to the Glasgow Airport Rail Link have been received. All of the requests have received a response broken down as requested: (a) nine were accepted, with full information being released in five instances and partial information being released in the remaining four instances, and (b) five requests were refused.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 5 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 have been rejected as invalid in each month from January 2006 to January 2010.
Answer
This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 5 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, given the CO2 emissions from surface traffic accessing Glasgow Airport, what impact the cancellation of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link will have on its target to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3O-8422 on 12 November 2009, which indicates that the maximum reduction in the peak pm traffic occurs in 2030 and would see traffic reduce by 21 cars in an hour.
We would therefore only expect there to be a negligible impact on our target to reduce carbon emissions as a result of cancelling the GARL project.
All answers to 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: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Monday, 25 January 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 4 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of rickets were diagnosed and treated in each year from 1999 to 2009 in (a) adults, (b) children aged nought to three, (c) children aged four to 11 and (d) children aged 12 to 16, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Rickets is a disease of growing bones in children and therefore only affects children. Information on the number of children treated in hospital and hospital stays at which a diagnosis of rickets has been recorded are shown in the following table. The information cannot be shown at NHS board level or by age group as there is a risk of patient disclosure due to small numbers.
The figures presented in table 1 are those with a diagnosis of the condition and presenting for hospital treatment. Patients treated in the community are not included.
Table 1. Rickets: Numbers of Patients Aged 16 and Under
| | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
| Stays | 5 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 12 |
| Patients | 5 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Source: Information Services Division Scotland. Scottish Morbidity record 01 (SMR01).
Notes:
1. These statistics are derived from data collected on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland. Data are based on date of discharge.
2. The basic unit of analysis for these figures is a continuous stay in hospital. Probability matching methods have been used to link together individual SMR01 discharge episodes for each patient, thereby creating linked patient histories.
3. Up to six diagnoses (one principal and five secondary) are recorded on SMR01 returns. All six diagnosis positions have been used to identify rickets diagnoses. The following International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) code has been used to identify rickets: E550 Active rickets.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what the public policy purposes are of the (a) Paisley Corridor Renewal and (b) additional platform capacity at Glasgow Central Station work, both originally approved to support the Glasgow Airport Rail Link project.
Answer
The Paisley Corridor Renewal is a Network Rail planned project to renew the existing signalling on the Glasgow to Paisley rail corridor which has become life expired. It is appropriate that the equipment is renewed in a manner which caters for anticipated growth in rail demand.
All of this work must be considered within the context of this government''s investment in the railway network which, through a combination of capacity enhancements, essential renewals works and the introduction of new electric rolling stock will improve:
The length of trains to address overcrowding;
The robustness of service;
Punctuality, and
Capacity at the busiest station in Scotland (Glasgow Central).
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it gave to the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance in deciding whether to cancel the Glasgow Airport Rail Link.
Answer
The Glasgow Airport Rail Link project has been subject to Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) appraisal during its development.
As we have stated previously the overriding criteria which resulted in our decision to cancel the branch line element of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link Project were the significant pressures which arose in our budget for 2010-11, including budget reductions imposed upon us by the UK Government, and the expectation that this pressure would grow. It is essential that all projects are affordable and all budgets sustainable.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how much the cancellation of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link has cost in terms of the loss of economies of scale.
Answer
The cancellation of the Branch Line element of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link has not resulted in any loss of economies of scale.
The reason for this is that the identified economies of scale were associated with the integration of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link and Paisley Corridor Renewals projects on the existing main line between Glasgow Central station and Paisley Gilmour Street station. These works are continuing under the auspices of the Paisley Corridor Improvements project and are due to be complete early in 2012.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 January 2010
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 February 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish all documents relating to its decision to cancel the Glasgow Airport Rail Link.
Answer
As we have previously stated the level of information that this government has made publicly available is entirely consistent with the arrangements put in place by previous administrations and we do not propose to change this.
We have provided this Parliament with details of the three-year capital programme, plus broader indications including: 10-year figures; three-year proposals; three-year revisions; all of which are subject to performance.
We consider the range of information that we have already put into the public domain to be substantial and that it therefore provides this Parliament with a comprehensive basis upon which to consider our budget proposals.
