Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-37872

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 December 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-37685 by Stewart Stevenson on 25 November 2010 and given that the inquiry was concluded two years ago, when it expects to announce the outcome of the public local inquiry into the M8 Baillieston to Newhouse scheme.

Question reference: S3W-37685

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 November 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 November 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Raith Interchange upgrade will be completed.

As announced in the budget statement on 17 November 2010, the M74 Junction 5, Raith scheme will be taken forward as part of a non-profit distributing contract with the M8 Baillieston to Newhouse and M8, M73, M74 Network Improvements schemes.

Subject to a successful outcome of the public local inquiry of the M8 Baillieston to Newhouse scheme (including parliamentary approval) and the successful completion of the statutory procedures for all three schemes including the making of the orders, procurement is programmed to start in 2011-12. A thorough review of the project will be carried out before any more definitive timetable can be issued.

Question reference: S3W-35460

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 20 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the delay in progress of the M8 Baillieston to Newhouse Scheme will impact negatively on the programme for the M74 Junction 5, Raith Scheme

Question reference: S3W-35459

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 20 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can confirm that the Raith Interchange will be completed by 2013, as indicated by the Transport Scotland Programme Update dated published on 31 December 2009

Question reference: S3O-09986

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent officials at the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority are allowed to use their discretion in considering cases involving historical abuse.

The terms of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme are governed by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1995. Changes to the Scheme are matters for the UK Government. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority is the cross border public authority that administers the Scheme throughout Great Britain on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, and its case officers can exercise discretion within the terms of the scheme.

Question reference: S3O-08888

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to help acquitted defendants recover legal costs.

Question reference: S3O-07927

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in its Audiology Modernisation Programme.

Question reference: S3W-26856

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been an impact on services for people with mental health problems as a result of the loss of ring-fencing and how it would address the situation if evidence emerged that services had deteriorated.

The Scottish Government is not formally monitoring the impact on any specific service or set of services provided by local authorities. The concordat and the introduction of SOAs “ together with the removal of ring-fenced funding - were designed to substantially enhance local decision-making on the design, delivery and funding of all services provided by local authorities within Community Planning Partnerships.

In reaching agreement with CPPs on the SOA, The Scottish Government requires evidence that local outcomes reflect an area''s strategic priorities and that they are capable of being linked to one or more of the National Outcomes.

We also offer support and advice to enable local authorities and other partners to consider the strategic priorities across the range of community care areas to inform use of resources and service redesign, in order to improve outcomes for people who use services, and their carers.

We have also commissioned research on how the third sector is responding to the new opportunities and challenges arising from their new relationship with the public sector; this research was commissioned with the engagement of the third sector and public sector partners.

Question reference: S3W-26855

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how it is monitoring the effects of single outcome agreements on services for people with mental health problems.

The Scottish Government is not formally monitoring the effects of the introduction of single outcome agreements (SOAs) on specific services provided by local authorities as part of local partnerships.

We are confident that the effects of the concordat and SOAs will have a positive impact on mental health services, and work being undertaken on social care mental health benchmarking will give a clearer benchmark and more comparative information.

The concordat and SOAs deliberately enhanced and greatly liberated local decision-making reflecting local knowledge of needs, priorities and demographics. SOAs set out strategic priorities for local areas - including tackling health inequalities; it is for each Community Planning Partnership (CPPs) to derive its local outcomes which should be drawn from an integrated profile of the social, economic and environmental conditions of the area concerned. In reaching agreement with CPPs on the SOA, we look for evidence that local outcomes reflect an area''s strategic priorities and that they are capable of being linked to one or more of the National Outcomes.

We also offer support and advice to enable local authorities and other partners to consider the strategic priorities across the range of community care areas to inform use of resources and service redesign, in order to improve outcomes for people who use services, and their carers.

We have also commissioned research on how the third sector is responding to the new opportunities and challenges arising from their new relationship with the public sector; this research was commissioned with the engagement of the third sector and public sector partners.

Question reference: S3W-26857

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how it works with local authorities in relation to efficiency savings in services for people with mental health problems and (b) whether it is developing a strategic context for such savings.

The concordat and single outcome agreements give local authorities far greater autonomy not only to allocate funding on all local services in line with local need but also to manage efficiency savings locally without any constraints of ring-fenced funding streams.

The Scottish Government offers support and advice to enable local authorities and other partners to consider the strategic priorities across the range of community care areas to inform use of resources and service redesign, in order to improve outcomes for people who use services, and their carers.

In addition the developing work on the Integrated Resource Framework (IRF) with a number of local areas in Scotland will assist NHS boards and local authorities to consider their collective resources in context of demographic and financial challenges, and support more effective use of resources in delivery of service improvements.

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