- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 9 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will fund the costs of the repair and maintenance of the Clyde Tunnel.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-9457 on 20 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: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 9 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce a craft vocational route into the school curriculum for 13 and 14-year-olds who wish to enter the construction industry.
Answer
Vocational learning is integral to the Executive’s education strategy - Educating for Excellence and our Partnership Agreement set out our commitment to enable pupils to acquire vocational skills. Through Determined to Succeed (DtS), our Enterprise in Education strategy, we have allocated funding to local authorities to enable them to increase vocational options to pupils, including in construction. Some schools already offer school pupilsin third year and above training in construction skills, principally through collaboration with colleges. The Executive is currently reviewing such collaboration to examine how such vocational opportunities can be best facilitated. The current review of the curriculum three to 18 will consider existing and future vocational provision.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 29 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many modern apprenticeship schemes have been implemented through the modern apprenticeships implementation group since May 1999.
Answer
52 out of the 83 Modern Apprenticeship (MA) frameworks have been approved by the Modern Apprenticeship Implementation Group since 1999.
There are currently over 31,000 MAs in training, compared with 11,500 in 1999.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by George Reid on 28 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what insurance coverage has been put in place in the event of serious structural damage or fault to the new parliament building.
Answer
I can confirm that the position stated in my answer to Question S2W-3746 still stands and that, inline with the Scottish Executive and other bodies financed from the Scottish consolidated fund, the Parliament follows a policy of self-insurance and therefore does not insure its buildings against loss or damage.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Duncan McNeil on 28 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what insurance cover has been put in place in the event of accident, injury or loss to staff, visitors and MSPs whilst working in or visiting the new parliament building.
Answer
The SPCB has Employer and Public Liability insurance which provides cover should either a member ofstaff, a member of the public or MSP make a claim of negligence against it inthe event of death, injury or illness. MSPs and Parliamentary staff can alsoaccess certain benefits under their respective pension schemes.
As a general rule commercialinsurance would only be justified if the cost of claims, includingadministration costs, was calculated as likely to exceed the cost of insurancepremiums. Loss or damage to personal property is not covered by insurance andaccordingly, any claim would be dealt with directly by the SPCB.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 20 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to assume direct responsibility for the cost of maintaining and repairing the Clyde Tunnel.
Answer
Responsibility for the Clyde Tunnel rests with Glasgow City Council. The Scottish Executive provides revenue support to local authorities for roads, bridges and tunnels, including the Clyde Tunnel, through the general local government finance settlement. That support is not ring fenced, and it is for each local authority to decide how to allocate its expenditure. There are no current plans to change this arrangement.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 6 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce a rent convergence policy, similar to that introduced in England and Wales.
Answer
We have no plans at present to introduce a rent convergence policy for local authorities and Registered Social Landlords.
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients were conveyed to out-patient hospital appointments by the Scottish Ambulance Service Non-Emergency Service in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The information below details all out-patient journeys carried out by the Scottish Ambulance Non-Emergency Service:
| | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 |
| Argyll and Clyde | 141,095 | 137,889 | 135,688 | 135,616 | 136,769 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 121,681 | 129,398 | 137,869 | 146,178 | 127,339 |
| Borders | 32,460 | 33,050 | 32,433 | 28,788 | 25,527 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 37,883 | 40,350 | 41,811 | 39,766 | 38,104 |
| Fife | 101,160 | 101,327 | 86,531 | 93,895 | 90,915 |
| Forth Valley | 115,519 | 106,715 | 105,505 | 101,062 | 94,837 |
| Grampian | 128,046 | 119,498 | 111,069 | 94,075 | 78,826 |
| Greater Glasgow | 358,490 | 354,111 | 340,280 | 333,229 | 279,238 |
| Highland | 60,298 | 63,924 | 63,746 | 61,911 | 64,303 |
| Lanarkshire | 250,287 | 247,322 | 235,565 | 205,766 | 195,695 |
| Lothian | 192,610 | 174,362 | 154,122 | 130,525 | 111,585 |
| Orkney | 1,690 | 1,747 | 1,230 | 652 | Not available |
| Shetland | 1,234 | 1,168 | 1,194 | 356 | Not available |
| Tayside | 128,474 | 124,549 | 114,333 | 104,533 | 100,780 |
| Western Isles | 7,993 | 7,467 | 6,607 | 6,812 | 6,194 |
| Total | 1,678,920 | 1,642,877 | 1,567,983 | 1,483,164 | 1,350,112 |
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the 2004-05 budget is for hospital out-patient visits conveyed by the Scottish Ambulance Service Non-Emergency Service, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
The information requested can only be broken down to the Ambulance Service’s Operating Divisions and not to NHS board area. The information broken down to divisional area is set out in the attached table:
| Division (Covering NHS Board Areas) | Budget for Direct Non-Emergency Costs (£) |
| North East (Grampian, Orkney and Shetland) | 1,876,557 |
| North and West (Highland and Western Isles) | 1,213,521 |
| East Central (Tayside, Fife and Forth Valley) | 4,582,264 |
| West Central (Lanarkshire and Greater Glasgow) | 5,974,922 |
| South East (Lothian and Borders) | 3,066,134 |
| South West (Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire and Arran, Argyll and Clyde) | 4,508,754 |
| Total | 21,222,152 |
- Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial provision is made for patients attending hospital out-patient appointments by public transport, including taxis, when the Scottish Ambulance Service non-emergency vehicles are booked to capacity, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The responsibility to commission non-emergency ambulance transport lies with medical practitioners, practicing midwives or dentists who determine when there is a clinical need for ambulance transport. The Scottish Ambulance Service Non-Emergency Service will endeavour to meet all such requests.
The NHS boards received guidance on patients’ entitlement to financial help in meeting reasonable travelling and related costs incurred in attending hospitals and clinics on 21 August 1996 in Management Executive Letter (1996) 70. The boards are known to use a number of alternative transport options such as taxis, hospitals’ own car services and voluntary organisations to provide other means of transport for their patients where this is appropriate. The cost of these services will vary across the country as some may be subsidised. Information on the actual costs incurred by NHS boards is not held centrally.
