- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 26 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Social Work Statistics Branch Audit of Services for people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder which found that over 3,400 children have been identified as having autistic spectrum disorder and in view of the government figures that the lifetime cost for each child is £2.94 million to the taxpayer, what steps are being taken to inform the Parliament of planned budgetary alterations to accommodate the growing lifetime cost of over £10 billion.
Answer
The figure of £2.94 million isnot a government figure. It is cited in the Public Health Institute of Scotland’sNeeds Assessment Report as the estimated lifelong cost for a person with autisticspectrum disorder and learning disability, with costs for those without learningdisability estimated as £785,000. These estimates were produced by Jarbrink andKnapp from previously published international evidence.
There are no plans to make budgetaryalterations in the light of the audit of services for people with autistic spectrumdisorders.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 26 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Social Work Statistics Branch Audit of Services for People with Autistic Spectrum Disorder which found that over 3,400 children have been identified as having autistic spectrum disorder and given that the condition was previously significantly less prevalent, why the Chief Medical Officer has not previously reported the prevalence of the condition in his annual report.
Answer
In his annual report
Healthin Scotland 2002 the Chief Medical Officer advised that the Executive had commissionedthe then Public Health Institute of Scotland to co-ordinate a needs assessment onAutistic Spectrum Disorders in Scotland. The project brief was for a report comprising an epidemiologicalreview, a description of services and an assessment of the extent to which children,young people and adults with ASD and their carers, receive appropriate and adequatesupport.
Their report was published inFebruary 2002. Hyperlinks to both reports are attached below.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/health/his02-00.asp.http://www.phis.org.uk/pdf.pl?file=publications/Autistic%20Spectrum%20Disorders.pdf.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 26 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 3,400 children in Scotland identified as having autistic spectrum disorder have received a clinical examination to identify the underlying causes of their condition since 1998, when it was hypothesised that the MMR vaccine may be the cause of autism and that it may be an iatrogenic condition.
Answer
I refer the member to questionS2W-12070 answered on 26 November 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 24 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the research recently published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, volume 9, number 2, by Bradstreet, El Dahr et al confirming that measles genomic RNA has been detected in both the gut wall and the cerebrospinal fluid of some children with autism, what steps are being taken to clinically examine autistic children in Scotland for measles genomic RNA in their bodies.
Answer
The Executive is not aware of any such steps being taken in Scotland. I also refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-11802 answered on 10 November 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/wa.search.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-11164, S2W-11165, S2W-11166 and S2W-11167 by Mr Andy Kerr on 8 November 2004, whether it has received any specific complaints from staff, trade unions or others based at Glasgow Royal Infirmary regarding the Sodexho contract and, if so, what response it has made to any such complaints and what measures it has taken to investigate these and to initiate appropriate strategies to address any specific issues raised.
Answer
One letter was received, from the member herself, dated 24 January 2002 to which a reply was sent on 21 March 2002. Otherwise we have not received any specificcomplaints referring to the Sodhexo contract.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many paediatric gastroenterologists there are and at which hospitals they are based.
Answer
Staff in post numbers in NHS Scotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at
www.isdscotland.org/workforce.Details on paediatric consultants and gastroenterologists are given in tablesB6 and B7 of section B. It is not possible to identify which of these arepaediatric gastroenterologists. Latest available figures are at 30 September 2003.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 22 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the recent publication of Spontaneous Mucosal Lymphocyte Cytokine Profiles in Children with Autism and Gastrointestinal Symptoms: Mucosal Immune Activation and Reduced Counter Regulatory Interleukin-10 by P Ashwood et al in the Journal of Clinical Immunology, Vol. 24, No. 6, November 2004, which reveals a breakthrough in identifying the source of damage to the immune system and intestine of children with regressive autism, what urgent action it will take to replicate this research and to examine and treat, where appropriate, autistic children who may have this condition.
Answer
The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), within the Scottish Executive Health Department has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland. The CSO is contributing £0.25 million to the £2.75 million which the Medical Research Council (MRC) has been given to take forward the research agenda set out in the MRC Review of Autism. As this agenda will encourage a programme of research across all aspects of autism, this is the appropriate vehicle for testing hypotheses about possible causes and treatment. For this reason, CSO has no plans to commission further research in this area.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 22 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the research published recently in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, volume 9, number 3, by GS Goldman and FE Yazbak confirming a rise in autism in Denmark following the introduction of the MMR vaccine, what steps are being taken to reintroduce single vaccines as an alternative to the MMR vaccine in Scotland.
Answer
The weight of evidence, from studies around the world, confirms that MMR remains the safest and most effective way to protect children against these serious diseases, mumps, measles and rubella.
The Executive has no plans to change the current policy in relation to MMR vaccine, on which it is advised by the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 22 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children aged 16 and under have a diagnosis of (a) spina bifida, (b) cerebral palsy, (c) Down’s syndrome and (d) leukaemia.
Answer
Information on how many children under the age of 16 who have spina bifida is not held centrally. However, as the majority of patients diagnosed with spina bifida will receive hospital treatment, an estimate can be derived using hospital discharge information. The latest available information shows that in 2003 there were an estimated 362 children aged 16 or under in Scotland who had been discharged from hospital with a diagnosis of spina bifida.
The number of children with cerebral palsy under the age of 16 is not held centrally. A new register is being rolled out at present, which will work alongside the special needs system, but is not yet sufficiently complete to furnish the required data.
Information on the numbers of children under the age of 16 with Down’s syndrome is not held centrally. However, over the years 1995 to 1999 the average number of children born with Down’s syndrome was 69 per annum.
The latest available national cancer registration records show that there were 380 children aged 16 or under in Scotland with leukaemia in 2001.
- Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 18 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether health workers have at any time in the last year entered schools and administered MMR vaccinations to children without written parental consent and, if so, which schools.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. Consent must always be obtained before immunisation. It is standard practice to obtain written parental consent prior to administration of any vaccine in schools. This process is generally managed in partnership with NHS boards. If there are any incidents where this has not happened, it would be the responsibility of the NHS board to treat it as an adverse event, investigate fully and put in place arrangements to prevent recurrence.
