- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish its plans for the administration of the recently announced expanded flu vaccine programme.
Answer
I shall make a further announcement later this year.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 8 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms or incentives are in place to allow joint funding by health and education authorities to provide innovative visual aids to young people with visual impairment.
Answer
Health boards have a statutory duty to comply with requests for help from local authorities to assist them in fulfilling their duties under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. This includes assisting local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide services for children with visual impairment and to design services so as to minimise the effect of this impairment. This may include the use of visual aids to enable these pupils to access the curriculum. Funding arrangements are a matter for agreement between local authorities and health services.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 8 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reconsider its guidance to local authorities to allow easier access to children requesting assessment of educational needs.
Answer
The Special Education Needs Advisory Forum will as a priority review all aspects of the Records of Needs process and will advise on revisions to the guidance.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 31 May 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether cases can be referred directly to orthoptists within the health service without having to go through general practitioners.
Answer
Local practices regarding referral arrangements will vary and may be subject to relevant local protocols.
The Statement of Conduct issued by the Orthoptists Board at the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine states: "An orthoptist shall communicate and co-operate with registered medical or dental practitioners in management of patients. It is desirable that an orthoptist should not undertake treatment of a patient unless he/she has the approval of a registered medical or dental practitioner."
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 25 May 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how long, on average, it has taken to award an ill-health pension to teachers with myalgic encephalomyelitis over the last five years.
Answer
Separate statistics are not kept for the processing times to award pensions to teachers with different conditions.
Teachers with myalgic encephalomylitis (ME) whose claims are initially rejected are encouraged to reapply should their condition worsen or not respond to treatment. The majority of ME sufferers do recover as illustrated by two studies reported in the Association of NHS Occupational Physicians (ANHOPS) guidelines which note that 60-70% of patients make a good functional recovery within four years. However, these extended timescales for recovery mean that the period between initial application and award can be extensive and this is recognised in the generally accepted medical guidance.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 25 May 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive which illnesses are deemed to be permanent by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency for the purposes of ill-health pensions.
Answer
It would be inappropriate to have a list of illnesses which were automatically considered permanent for the purposes of ill health pensions. The decision is made, following medical advice, on an individual basis and depends on the severity of the condition in each particular case.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 25 May 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many sufferers of myalgic encephalomyelitis have (a) applied for and (b) been awarded teachers' ill-health pensions in each of the last five years.
Answer
Statistics specifically relating to suffers from myalgic encepalomyelitis have not been kept for the full period requested. The figures available are given in the table below.
Year | Applications received | Applications approved |
1999-2000 | 30 | 19 |
1998-99 | 28 | 14 |
1997-98 | 22 | 17 |
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 25 May 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last reviewed the procedures for awarding ill-health pensions to teachers.
Answer
The procedures for awarding ill-health pensions to teachers were last fully reviewed in 1997 when the current contract for the provision of medical advice to the Scottish Public Pensions Agency was awarded.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 25 May 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how long, on average, the Scottish Public Pensions Agency takes to award an ill-health pension.
Answer
The average period from receipt of the request to the issue of the decision is currently around five weeks.
- Asked by: Margaret Jamieson, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 25 May 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of all new teacher pensioners have been awarded an ill-health pension in each of the last five years.
Answer
Figures for the numbers of ill health retirements and for the percentage of all retirements to have been ill health retirements are given in the table below. They are distorted by changes in the numbers of other early retirements, particularly in 1997-98.
Year | Number | Percentage |
1999-2000 | 367 | 31% |
1998-99 | 367 | 26% |
1997-98 | 435 | 13% |
1996-97 | 424 | 19% |
1995-96 | 468 | 21% |
