- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 2 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-22512 and S2W-22508 by Mr Andy Kerr on 1 February 2006, why special arrangements between the First Minister’s residence and NHS 24 are necessary to achieve confidentiality, consistency and appropriate medical care and whether it considers that this would not be achievable if there were no such special arrangements.
Answer
I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-23071 on 2 March 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 2 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-22512 and S2W-22508 by Mr Andy Kerr on 1 February 2006, whether it will confirm that there is no clinical basis for the special arrangements between the First Minister’s residence and NHS 24.
Answer
The arrangements are entirelyconcerned with supporting access to clinical advice and to an assessment processthat will help determine the medical attention most appropriate to the needs of the individual. NHS 24 put in place this standard process in the interests of confidentialityand consistency.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 2 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the previous agreed target deadlines for completion of Agenda for Change were and what the reasons are for each specific delay.
Answer
An original target date of endSeptember 2005 for the assimilation of staff onto the new Agenda for Change paybandswas set in partnership with trades unions and professional organisations as partof the overall UK Agenda for Change agreement. It soon became evident that thistarget was overly ambitious for all UK health services, who subsequently set their own timeframesfor full implementation.
Agenda for Change is being implementedin partnership in NHSScotland, and significant progress has been made. Over 85%of posts which have been submitted to matching panels have been matched againstnational profiles. Around 53,000 staff in the nursing, midwifery, ancillary and allied health professionals staff groupshave been approved for assimilation. In January, the first groups of staffwere paid on the new Agenda for Change paybands.
A plan for 2006, whichhealth boards are committed to delivering, has been drawn up and agreed in partnership.Based on the plan it is anticipated that Agenda for Change will be introduced andoperational by the end of 2006.
The Pay Modernisation Team, alongsidethe Scottish Executive Health Department, will monitor progress towards the planfor 2006, providing health boards with support and advice as necessary.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nora Radcliffe on 2 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what plans are in place to improve the resources available to the Allowances Office to assist it to carry out its responsibilities efficiently.
Answer
The SPCB has established aMembers and Officials Joint Working Group to review allowance processes and tomake recommendations to the SPCB. The SPCB will consider any recommendationsand, in that context, will consider future staffing levels within the AllowancesOffice
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nora Radcliffe on 2 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what additional staffing and hours have been allocated to the Allowances Office since the implementation of the new procedure for publishing detailed information of members' allowances and expenses and the submission of expense claim forms.
Answer
Two additional temporarymembers of staff, working 35 hours per week, have been employed within theAllowances Office to assist with the preparation of information in advance ofpublishing allowance expenditure data for the first two quarters of the 2005-06financial year. Support has also been provided, on an overtime basis, by two formermembers of Allowances Office staff now working in other offices of the SPCB. FromOctober 2005 to date these former Allowances Office staff have worked 97 hrs 40minutes while Allowances Office staff have worked 332 hours in overtime.
In addition, one temporarymember of staff has been employed, working 35 hours per week, to assist withthe processing of travel and expenses claims following the introduction of the requirementto provide more detailed information when submitting travel claims.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nora Radcliffe on 2 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the average length of time for dealing with expense claims for staff and members has been in each year since 1999, including 2006.
Answer
A record of processing timesis only available for the period 1 April 2003 to date. Records show that allcorrectly completed travel claim forms were processed within seven days ofreceipt. For those claims were additional information was required records showthe following percentages of these claims were processed within 10 days ofreceipt:
2003-04 - 96%;
2004-05 - 94%, and
2005-06 - 84%.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nora Radcliffe on 2 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the average number of hours worked per week is of staff employed in the Allowances Office.
Answer
From October 2005 to date,the average number of hours worked per week by Allowances Office staff has been40 hours. Of those Allowances Office staff who have worked overtime during thisperiod, the average hours worked per week has been 42 hours 30 minutes.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans its Environment and Rural Affairs Department has to ensure that an environmental impact assessment is undertaken of the proposed Rolls-Royce aero engine test bed site at East Kilbride and to monitor its impact subsequently.
Answer
Consideration of individual planningapplications, together with the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),is a matter, in the first instance, for the planning authority concerned, in thiscase South Lanarkshire Council. I understand that South Lanarkshire Council commissioneda screening report which concluded that this application did not require to be thesubject of an EIA.
Following consideration of thisapplication South Lanarkshire Council indicated, on 28 February, that it is mindedto grant planning permission. But before doing so the council will notify the applicationto Scottish ministers for their consideration. As part of their consideration, ministerswill also look into the question of whether an EIA is required in this case.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 1 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when job evaluations will be completed in respect of Agenda for Change.
Answer
Job evaluation in NHSScotland is carried out in partnership with trades unions and professional organisations, and significant progress has been made. Over 85% of posts which have been submitted to matching panels have been matched against national profiles. Health boards are also making progress with local evaluations.
A plan for 2006, which health boards are committed to delivering, has been drawn up and agreed in partnership. Based on the plan all staff, either by way of job matching or local evaluation, will be paid on Agenda for Change pay bands by October 2006.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 1 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how long it takes on average for its Health Department to carry out quality assurance checks and to ratify evaluations conducted under Agenda for Change.
Answer
The Job Evaluation Monitoring Group (JEMG) operates in partnership between employers and trade unions/professional organisations to ensure that the outcomes of job matching and local evaluation are consistent and accurate across NHSScotland. All outcomes must pass through this monitoring process before staff can be notified and assimilated to the new Agenda for Change paybands.
Monitoring requests from health boards would normally be turned around by JEMG within two weeks of the date of receipt. Requests must be of a sufficient standard and contain the necessary information to allow the process to be undertaken satisfactorily.
