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During the appointment process Mr Houston had to demonstrate an understanding of what the residents of Edinburgh and the Lothians expect of Lothian NHS Board. Mr Houston is currently undertaking a full induction programme that will see him meet senior Scottish Government officials, board members and senior management within NHS Lothian.

As explained in the answer to question S4W-14488 on 8 May 2013, total costs involved in rehousing homeless households are variable and depending on a range of individual and local circumstances. It is not possible for the Scottish Government to produce meaningful estimates of national figures on such costs.

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

WRITTEN ANSWER

28 May 2013

Index Heading: Governance and Communities

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-14486 by Margaret Burgess on 8 May 2013, on how many other occasions the minister has (a) met and (b) written to a UK minister regarding welfare reform and when.

(S4W-14851)

The following corrected answer was issued on 31 May 2013

Margaret Burgess: Scottish Ministers meet with and write to UK Ministers on a regular basis.

The Minister for Housing and Welfare has met with UK Ministers on three occasions to discuss welfare reform. These meetings took place on 19 September 2012,
17 December 2012 and 6 March 2013.

The Minister has also written to UK Ministers on: 13 December 2012; 20 December 2012; 9 January 2013; 10 February 2013; 15 February 2013; 27 February 2013;
26 March 2013; 28 March 2013; 15 April 2013; and 23 May 2013 in relation to welfare reform matters.

The Scottish Government is launching the “Transforming Care after Treatment Programme” soon. The overall aim is to ensure that people diagnosed with cancer are prepared for and supported to live with the consequences of the diagnosis and its treatment.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have not received any criminal reports regarding the inappropriate disposal of baby ashes in any crematoria.

Yes. All territorial NHS boards require applicants to live or work within the NHS Board Area. Special Health Boards require applicants to live or work within Scotland.

The following tables provide data on laboratory confirmed measles cases recorded in Scotland each year from 2007 to date, broken down by NHS board area.

Notes:

*data for 2013 is up until 17 May 2013

Laboratory confirmed cases - is a case which has been diagnosed clinically,

a sample has been taken and it has tested positive.

Probable cases - is a case which has been diagnosed clinically and which is epidemiologically

linked to a laboratory confirmed case, but for which no sample was taken and no test result is available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-12761 on 25 February 2013. 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

NHSScotland staff data are held in the Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS). The “Reason for Leaving” field is not mandatory and therefore is not reliably populated.

Information on how many oncologists have resigned for reasons other than retirement in the last 12 months is therefore not available.

The National Confidential Alert Line has received 53 calls in its first month since launching on 2 April 2013. 34 of these calls were from individuals who identified themselves as working for NHSScotland and 19 were from NHS workers from other parts of the UK.

Of the calls from Scotland 23 were from individuals raising concerns about patient safety or malpractice and 11 were about private or contractual matters.

Due to the confidential nature of the Alert Line, and to avoid potential identification of individuals, we will not be advised of the actions taken in regard to each call.