- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the role of the Scottish Prison Service was in relation to an incident at HM Prison Kilmarnock on 4 January 2008.
Answer
I have asked Mike Ewart,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:
The SPS were made fullyaware of the incident at HM Prison Kilmarnock on 4 January 2008. The SPS played no active role onsite in relation to the incident although were regularly briefed during theincident and under nationally agreed protocols SPS were available to offeradvice and assistance if requested by HM Prison Kilmarnock. The incident wasbrought to a successful conclusion by SERCO.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in the event of prison staff needing assistance to deal with internal violent incidents, it is normal practice for staff to be deployed from other prisons to provide such assistance.
Answer
I have asked Mike Ewart,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:
Yes and contingency plansexist to enable this.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the number of secondments that currently operate in relation to Scottish Prison Service staff.
Answer
I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:
There are no plans to reviewthe number of secondments that currently operate in relation to SPS staff.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the recommendation of NHS Lanarkshire to change patients’ medication to Tabphyn PR in its medical practices was subject to any detailed evaluation study or monitoring mechanisms.
Answer
Any such change to apatient’s medication will be made by the clinician responsible for their carewho will consider whether this is suitable for the patient.
NHS Lanarkshire has advisedthat in this instance, each patient was informed of the change by letter fromthe GP practice providing an explanation of the proposed change and a contactphone number to allow the patient to ask any questions. GPs have also beenasked to provide feedback to NHS Lanarkshire of any problems of the medicationchange.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it was consulted on patients in Lanarkshire medical practices who receive Flomaxtra XL or Flomax MR having their medication changed to Tabphyn PR.
Answer
Decisions on which medicinesare included in local formularies are matters for NHS boards taking intoaccount advice from the Scottish Medicines Consortium.
Flomaxtra XL and Flomax MRare proprietary names for tamsulosin hydrochloride, a medicine used in the treatmentof urinary retention. There are also a number of generic brands of this medicine,one of which is Tabphyn MR. Generic drugs are generally less expensive than theequivalent branded product and generic prescribing is encouraged in the NHS.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 18 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average financial cost is of answering written parliamentary questions.
Answer
The average financial cost of answering a written parliamentary question is £65.18. As this figure has not been updated since 2002 we are currently now reviewing the cost calculation.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 17 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussion it has had with North Lanarkshire Council in respect of future school building provision, with reference to the Scottish Futures Trust.
Answer
There have been discussionswith various parts of the public sector about the potential for the Scottish FuturesTrust to assist with the delivery of major public infrastructure. There are alsoperiodic discussions between Scottish Government officials and individual authoritieson school estate matters.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 20 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what will happen to the information gathered during the police operation at Central Station, Glasgow, on 31 October 2007 under section 44(2) of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Answer
I understand the operationwas carried out by the British Transport Police (BTP). The Scottish Government hasno functions in relation to BTP. However, under the 2000 Act BTP are required to send informationon all stops and searches that take place and the ethnicity of the persons searchedto the Home Office.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 15 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications are of the police operation at Central Station, Glasgow, on 31 October 2007 under section 44(2) of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Answer
The Scottish Governmenthas no functions in relation to British Transport Police and we were not informedabout this operation.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2007
-
Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 5 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how effective the 218 Centre has been in the rehabilitation of female prisoners and whether there are plans for a detailed evaluation of the centre in addition to the report of April 2006.
Answer
The initial evaluationof the 218 Centre, published in April 2006, reported that the centre had delivereda number of benefits for the target group, including:
Reductions or cessationsin offending;
Reductions in druguse and/or the levels of medication needed;
Improvements in physicaland psychological health, such as reductions in self harm;
Attainment of stableaccommodation arrangements, and
More qualitative improvementssuch as lifeskills.
The possibility andtiming of a further evaluation to look at longer term impacts is currently underconsideration.
