- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 18 June 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to paragraph 3.6 of Final Consensus Statement of the Royal College of Physicians' Consensus Conference on Hepatitis C, how many outreach clinics there are for patients with hepatitis C, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
This information is not available centrally.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 18 June 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the key messages of Final Consensus Statement of the Royal College of Physicians' Consensus Conference on Hepatitis C, what resources have been allocated to improving the (a) prevention of hepatitis C and (b) delivery of care to patients with hepatitis C in (i) 1999-2000, (ii) 2000-01, (iii) 2001-02, (iv) 2002-03, (v) 2003-04 and (vi) 2004-05 to date in (1) Scotland as a whole and (2) each NHS board area.
Answer
As recommended in the
Report of the HIV Health Promotion Strategy Review Group, published in January 2001, the Executive extended the earmarked HIV prevention funding provided annually to NHS Boards to include other bloodborne viruses, particularly Hepatitis C. Funding for this purpose was accordingly increased from £6.1 million in 1999-2000 to £8.1 million in 2001-02. Allocations to individual boards are shown in the table below.
| NHS Board | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 |
| Argyll and Clyde | £415,922 | £415,922 | £415,922 | £415,922 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | £370,000 | £350,000 | £350,000 | £350,000 |
| Borders | £116,498 | £115,498 | £115,498 | £115,498 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | £116,804 | £115,804 | £115,804 | £115,804 |
| Fife | £408,062 | £408,061 | £408,061 | £408,061 |
| Forth Valley | £276,705 | £276,705 | £276,705 | £276,705 |
| Grampian | £690,825 | £690,825 | £690,825 | £690,825 |
| Greater Glasgow | £1,555,208 | £1,560,208 | £1,560,208 | £1,560,208 |
| Highland | £200,197 | £200,197 | £200,197 | £200,197 |
| Lanarkshire | £441,775 | £441,775 | £441,775 | £441,775 |
| Lothian | £2,505,627 | £2,524,627 | £2,524,627 | £2,524,627 |
| Orkney | £39,000 | £36,000 | £36,000 | £36,000 |
| Shetland | £56,000 | £55,000 | £55,000 | £55,000 |
| Tayside | £854,377 | £861,377 | £861,377 | £861,377 |
| Western Isles | £48,000 | £47,000 | £47,000 | £47,000 |
| State Hospital | £24,000 | £20,000 | £20,000 | £20,000 |
| Totals | £8,119,000 | £8,119,000 | £8,119,000 | £8,119,000 |
In addition, the Executive has provided an additional £34 million to NHS boards and local authorities over the three years 2001-02 to 2003-04 to support treatment and rehabilitation programmes for drug misusers, including those who inject drugs. There is evidence that treatment reduces the use of illegal drugs and levels of injecting. Sharing of contaminated injecting equipment is one of the main routes through which Hepatitis C can be transmitted.
As well as these specific allocations, NHS boards are given a unified budget to meet the healthcare needs of their resident populations. It is for each board to decide how best to utilise this funding, based on their assessment of local needs, including Hepatitis C
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 18 June 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the statement in paragraph 5.3 of Final Consensus Statement of the Royal College of Physicians' Consensus Conference on Hepatitis C that “if we do not invest adequately now, we will not be able to afford the consequences of failing to tackle this epidemic”.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-9189 on 1 July 2004. 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/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 June 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 1 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-8837 by Cathy Jamieson on 18 June 2004, how many people were convicted of drink-driving in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01 and (c) 2001-02.
Answer
The information requested, which is available for calendar years, is given in table 19 of statistical bulletin Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts, 2002 published by the Scottish Executive in February 2004. A copy of the bulletin is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 31304).
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 18 June 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to paragraph 5.1 of Final Consensus Statement of the Royal College of Physicians' Consensus Conference on Hepatitis C, what measures it is taking, and are planned, to reduce non-attendance at hepatitis C virus services (HCV), enhance referral to HCV services, improve data collection and service audit within the framework of managed clinical networks.
Answer
These are issues, which are being considered in the context of the action plan, to which the answer given to question S2W-9189 on 2 July 2004 refers. 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/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 18 June 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to paragraph 3.3 of Final Consensus Statement of the Royal College of Physicians' Consensus Conference on Hepatitis C, what measures are being taken to encourage patient involvement, given that half of those referred do not attend clinics.
Answer
This is an issue which is being considered in the context of the action plan to which the answer given to question S2W-9189 on 1 July 2004 refers. 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/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 18 June 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to paragraph 4.4 of Final Consensus Statement of the Royal College of Physicians' Consensus Conference on Hepatitis C, what its response is in respect of the call for new drug therapies.
Answer
The regulation and safety of medicines is reserved and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MRHA), or, for certain types of drugs, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA).
The MRHA has advised that any new drug applications, including those for Hepatitis C must achieve the required standards of safety, quality and efficacy before being granted a licence. The Scottish Executive would welcome any new drug therapies, which satisfied these criteria.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 29 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive with reference to The State of the Nation 2004 - An assessment of the state of the UK's infrastructure by the Institution of Civil Engineers, what measures are being taken to ensure avoidance of development on flood plains and whether it considers such measures sufficient and, if not, what steps it is taking to remedy the situation.
Answer
In February we published
Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 7: Planning and Flooding. SPP 7 states that new development should not take place if it would be at significant risk of flooding, or if it would increase the probability of flooding elsewhere. This new policy should be implemented by local authorities in the first instance, as the planning authorities for their areas.
We will publish a Planning Advice Note to supplement SPP 7 later this year.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 May 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 29 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what statistics it has with regard to the shortage of housing in the rental and owner-occupier sectors in rural areas, particularly for local people seeking to purchase or rent property in their area for the first time.
Answer
The Scottish Executive housing statistics branch gathers information from councils on numbers of vacant council houses and lettings; and on numbers on and changes in local authority housing lists. Communities Scotland gathers information from housing associations on vacancies and lettings. Sources of the latest available published information are:
Vacant council houses and lettings: Quarterly Statistical Bulletin HSG/2004/2, available at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00320-00.asp.Numbers on and changes in local authority housing lists: Quarterly Statistics Bulletin HSG/2003/4, available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00266-00.asp.
The latest volume of Scottish Registered Social Landlord Statistics 2002-2003, published in April 2004 is available on the CS Website at:
http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/web/FILES/R&IStats200203.pdf.These sources do not distinguish people seeking to rent council or housing association property in their area for the first time. Information from local authorities relates to the council as a whole and does not provide separate information for rural areas within the council area. Similarly, Information gathered from each housing association does not separately identify rural from other areas served by the association.
The Executive does not have statistical information on numbers wishing to purchase or to rent privately.
In preparing local housing strategies councils assess local housing markets to, among other things, identify actual or potential shortages with the aim of developing strategies to address these. The review of affordable housing currently being undertaken by the Executive includes an assessment of shortages based on the available information, which will inform policy proposals.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 28 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to The State of the Nation 2004 - An assessment of the state of the UK's infrastructure by the Institution of Civil Engineers, what steps it has taken to identify cost-effective measures to protect existing properties from flooding.
Answer
It is for local authorities to identify cost effective measures to protect properties in their areas from flooding. However, the National Technical Advisory Group on Flooding Issues, established by the Executive last autumn, is developing improved national guidance on flood-risk management for publication later this year. This guidance will help local authorities in meeting the Executive’s long standing requirement for grant aid, that flood prevention schemes demonstrate value for money.
