- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 27 March 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive why the grant aided expenditure figure for school transport in 2000-01 showed variances over its 1999-2000 figure ranging from -56% in the case of East Lothian to +248% in the case of Glasgow.
Answer
Grant aided expenditure for school transport was allocated in 1999-00 on the basis of school age population adjusted by a secondary indicator of rural settlement pattern. For 2000-01 COSLA agreed the use of a new secondary indicator, population dispersion as a more plausible measure of councils' relative school transport costs, which has resulted in a different distribution. "Damping" arrangements have been introduced to give extra support to councils facing a reduction in GAE as a result of the change in indicator.
Indicators used for GAE distribution are set out in the Grant Aided Expenditure 2000-01 Green Book, copies of which are available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 27 March 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive why the grant-aided expenditure figure for school transport of #46.569 million in 1999-2000 will remain exactly the same in 2000-01.
Answer
The GAE allowances for individual services are not spending targets or limits, but contribute towards the calculation of councils' total grant allocations. The factors determining that calculation in respect of school transport did not change between 1999-2000 and 2000-01. In 2000-01 Government Supported Expenditure will rise by 3.7% to £6,746 million. Within that, provision for education will increase by 4.3%. It is a matter for local authorities to determine their spending priorities and allocate resources accordingly.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 27 March 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3568 by Susan Deacon on 11 February 2000, why the waiting times for coronary artery bypass grafts and other cardiac surgery vary widely between health boards and what it will do to reduce both waiting times and the level of variance.
Answer
The variations between Health Boards in waiting times for coronary artery bypass surgery and other cardiac surgery are the result of a number of different factors, of which the severity of disease in individual patients is a key factor.
It is for clinicians to determine the priority to be assigned in any given case. Those who need surgery on an emergency or urgent basis may never be on the waiting list at all. The Coronary Heart Disease Task Force has drawn up standard criteria for the management of patients awaiting cardiac surgery, based on clinical need. These will ensure that patients on the waiting list are managed actively and the system will respond appropriately, especially if there is any deterioration in a patient's condition.The Task Force is working with cardiologists throughout Scotland to draw up common referral practices and is developing the concept of a national Managed Clinical Network for cardiac surgery. These initiatives, together with the work to establish national maximum waiting times for cardiac surgery, will help to overcome any geographical bias, while enhancing equity of access to services.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 27 March 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those local authorities (a) who have a low forecast level of capital receipts raising capacity and whose net capital allocation has been adjusted up and (b) who have a high forecast level of capital receipts raising capacity and whose net capital allocation has been adjusted down, showing the capital allocations before and after adjustments for each local authority in the years 1999-2000 and 2000-01.
Answer
The information requested is shown in the table below. The allocations for 2000-01 are provisional.
| | 1999- | 2000 | 2000 | -2001 |
| | Base formula allocation | Formula Allocation adjusted for receipts | Base formula allocation | Formula allocation adjusted for receipts |
| Council | £000s | £000s | £000s | £000s |
| | | | | |
| Aberdeen City | 7269 | 6660 | 8035 | 6319 |
| Aberdeenshire | 7875 | 8184 | 8749 | 8368 |
| Angus | 4451 | 4873 | 4887 | 5204 |
| Argyll & Bute | 8564 | 9695 | 9552 | 10272 |
| Clackmannanshire | 2621 | 2814 | 2761 | 2874 |
| Dumfries & Galloway | 7240 | 8051 | 7900 | 8596 |
| Dundee City | 6369 | 6221 | 7024 | 6994 |
| East Ayrshire | 4569 | 4937 | 5017 | 5251 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 4392 | 4076 | 4812 | 4553 |
| East Lothian | 4026 | 4351 | 4445 | 4404 |
| East Renfrewshire | 3707 | 4005 | 4040 | 4251 |
| Edinburgh (City of) | 15632 | 14338 | 17563 | 16590 |
| Eilean Siar | 8306 | 9250 | 8947 | 9619 |
| Falkirk | 5159 | 4619 | 5661 | 5945 |
| Fife | 11740 | 11315 | 13159 | 13598 |
| Glasgow City | 26597 | 24797 | 30012 | 28827 |
| Highland | 14906 | 15597 | 16339 | 17241 |
| Inverclyde | 5325 | 5565 | 5864 | 6216 |
| Midlothian | 3475 | 3403 | 3790 | 3619 |
| Moray | 3991 | 4106 | 4369 | 4415 |
| North Ayrshire | 6613 | 7024 | 7415 | 7767 |
| North Lanarkshire | 11397 | 10458 | 12696 | 12137 |
| Orkney Islands | 3373 | 3653 | 3475 | 3681 |
| Perth & Kinross | 6513 | 6816 | 7348 | 7546 |
| Renfrewshire | 7116 | 7075 | 7862 | 8086 |
| Scottish Borders | 5797 | 5128 | 6366 | 6979 |
| Shetland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Ayrshire | 4343 | 4696 | 4764 | 4457 |
| South Lanarkshire | 11271 | 11425 | 12590 | 12065 |
| Stirling | 4309 | 3899 | 4695 | 4544 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 3898 | 4192 | 4244 | 4382 |
| West Lothian | 5295 | 4917 | 5845 | 5429 |
| SCOTLAND TOTAL | 226139 | 226139 | 250228 | 250228 |
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 27 March 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will implement self-financing pay awards, similar to those in local authorities, in 2000-01 for staff under its own direct responsibility.
Answer
In 2000-01, as in previous years, pay awards for the core Scottish Executive Departments will be self-financing.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 27 March 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the specific grant allocation was for local government in 1999-2000, and what it will be in 2000-01, in real terms.
Answer
The specific grant allocations for local government in 1999-2000 and 2000-01, expressed in real terms using the September 1999 Retail Prices Index, are £500.552m and £530.420m respectively.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 February 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 23 March 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the financial indebtedness is of each local authority relating to the total interest charges incurred for paying invoices after the due date to (a) all firms and (b) firms employing fewer than 50 people, since the introduction of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 22 March 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive why the funding for the rough sleepers initiative in Argyll and Bute will fall from #274,880 in 2000-01 to #114,480 in 2001-02.
Answer
Funding in 2000-01 includes a one off capital grant of £400 for the provision of direct access and move on accommodation in Oban.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 22 March 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive why the funding for the rough sleepers initiative in Renfrewshire will fall from #165,394 in 2000-01 to #103,181 in 2001-02.
Answer
Funding in 2000-01 includes a one off capital grant of £65,000 for the provision of crisis accommodation for clients with mental health problems.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 March 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 22 March 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive why Lanarkshire Health Board failed to meet its guarantee under the Patients' Charter of nine months wait for cataract removal in over 115 cases during 1999 and what additional resources will be made available to enable Lanarkshire Health Board to fulfil the Patients' Charter guarantee in future.
Answer
The Patients Charter guarantee of nine months for cataract surgery was breached during 1999 following the discovery of a cluster of cases of the eye infection "endophthalmitis" at Stonehouse Hospital. Routine operations were suspended while investigations were carried out to identify common characteristics of all such cases and to examine infection control procedures. The service was resumed in September 1999.
In 1998-99 Lanarkshire Health Board invested an additional £266k in improving local ophthalmological services and consequently adequate resources are in place to deal with the current backlog and to sustain compliance with Charter guarantees.
A further ophthalmologist is due to take up post on 1 May and this combined with the momentum created by the full restoration of cataract surgery means that no patient should breach the Charter guarantee by the end of this year.
