- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to expand the Kessock roundabout by an extra lane for park-and-ride buses and cars containing more than one passenger.
Answer
There are no plans to provide extra lanes at the Longman roundabout at the south end of the Kessock Bridge as part of the proposed resurfacing works on the bridge. Methods of providing bus priority at the roundabout are, however, currently being developed in relation to the works.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest estimated (a) start and (b) completion date is of the resurfacing of the Kessock Bridge.
Answer
The current earliest start date for the resurfacing works is March 2011, with an anticipated contract period of between five and six months.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what conditions and instructions it has issued to the relevant contractors regarding the substation at Balblair as a result of the Beauly to Denny transmission project.
Answer
Scottish ministers do not issue instructions to contractors on developments which are the subject of planning applications.
The Scottish ministers'' letter granting conditional planning consent to the proposal can be accessed from the following link http://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/Documents/qJ6139/J115724.pdf.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 28 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what negotiations it has had with the European Union to extend the Public Services Obligation contract for air services to Barra.
Answer
Under the relevant European Regulation, Public Service Obligation contracts can be awarded for up to four years. The Glasgow to Barra contract was awarded from 1 April 2009 until 31 March 2013.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 25 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional provision has been budgeted for insulin pumps for (a) adults and (b) people under the age of 18 for each of the next three years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
I have asked each NHS board chair to provide details of their board''s planned investment in insulin pumps, and the structured education associated with it, over the next three‘five years.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with the progress being made by NHS boards on increasing insulin pump usage among people up to the age of 18 with insulin dependent diabetes and, if not, what action it will take.
Answer
NHS boards are making steady progress, albeit from a low starting point, in relation to the provision of insulin pumps and the structured education associated with them. We have asked NHS boards to provide details of their planned investment for the next three to five years in this area of provision, and are awaiting responses from several of them.
We expect the revised Diabetes Action Plan to include a number of measures designed to guide NHS boards in planning this investment. The issue will also be dealt with in the resource impact assessment which the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network intends to publish to accompany its revised clinical guideline on the management of diabetes.
From March 2010, the annual Diabetes Survey will contain an update on insulin pump provision across NHSScotland to allow boards'' progress to be monitored.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to improve the uptake of insulin pumps for people up to the age of 18 with insulin dependent diabetes.
Answer
The Scottish Diabetes Group''s revised Diabetes Action Plan, due to be published in the near future, is expected to include a number of measures designed to guide NHS boards'' investment in insulin pump therapy and the associated structured education.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 22 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) adults and (b) people under the age of 18 who have insulin dependent diabetes have been on insulin pump therapy in each of the last three years, also expressed as a percentage of people with insulin dependent diabetes, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. The answer to question S3W-20807 on 6 March 2009 set out the number of people with type 1 diabetes using an insulin pump broken down by NHS board and age group. The answer to question S3W-25079 on 15 July 2009 gave the percentage of people with type 1 diabetes receiving insulin pump therapy, broken down by NHS board.
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.
The 2009 Diabetes Survey, due to be published in March this year, will contain an update on insulin pump provision in Scotland.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met representatives of NHS Highland and what issues were discussed.
Answer
I meet all national health service chairs regularly. The last meeting was on 23 November. My most recent meeting with NHS Highland representatives was on 7 December when I chaired the board''s annual review. We discussed the board''s performance against Scottish Government targets and local service priorities.
- Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 November 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 9 December 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the EU ruling that the Gourock to Dunoon ferry route should be treated as a public service route and whether specific vessels have been identified for this and the other island routes operated by Calmac Ferries Ltd.
Answer
The Scottish Government welcomes the European Commission''s Decision, which confirms that the public financing of the ferry services in Scotland is compatible with the State aid rules so long as we implement appropriate tendering procedures in respect of the Gourock to Dunoon route. We look forward to receiving a final version of the full EC report, at which time a proper assessment of all its findings can be made.
The Commission requires us to launch a public tender for this route before the end of 2009, and for the subsequent public service contract to take effect before the end of June 2011:
- The Scottish Government will launch an open transparent and non-discriminatory public tender for a six-year public service contract with the subsidy to cover only passenger traffic, with current timetable restrictions being removed.
- The winning bidder will be allowed an unrestricted commercial vehicle transport service, subject to appropriate accountancy measures and audit monitoring to prevent cross subsidisation from the passenger service to the commercial vehicle service.
The winning bidder will be free to bring in its own vessel solutions, replacing the old vessels currently operating on the route. Nevertheless, I have recently asked Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) to undertake some research into the availability of ferries on the present second-hand market, to provide what we believe will be useful information to bidders for the Gourock to Dunoon ferry service contract. The timetable in the Commission''s Decision would not allow sufficient time for new vessels to be procured. In terms of the remainder of the island routes operated by Calmac Ferries Ltd, I can confirm that these will continue to operate with the existing vessels.
