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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-08104

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7038 by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 April 2004, whether it will list all cases where thiomersal has been removed from vaccines as a precautionary measure.

The regulation and safety ofmedicines is reserved and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcareproducts Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA has advised that since October 2003the following vaccines have had thiomersal removed from the manufacturing formulationof the bulk vaccine and consequently the finished products:

Tetavax - adsorbed Tetanus Vaccine;

Diftavax - adsorbed Diphtheriaand Tetanus Vaccine for adults and adolescents;

Influvac - influenza vaccine,surface antigen, inactivated, and

Mastaflu - influenza vaccine,surface antigen, inactivated.

Thiomersal is not used in themanufacturing process therefore these vaccines do not contain a manufacturing residue.

Question reference: S2W-08107

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, given that only the road authority or a concessionaire with lawfully assigned powers might properly charge and collect tolls, on what statutory basis other organisations are permitted to charge tolls on the Skye Bridge.

Question reference: S2W-08105

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether #23.64 million, the agreed cost of the Skye Bridge at July 1990 prices, has been collected in tolls and, if not, when it estimates that this figure will be reached.

Question reference: S2W-08078

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7643 by Mr Malcolm Chisholm on 4 May 2004, what guidance it issues to NHS boards to prevent Agenda for Change being used for the purpose of achieving savings.

Question reference: S2W-07952

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 April 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 14 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it has had with North Lanarkshire Council regarding the ability of Craigneuk Development and Support Unit to continue its work in the community.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to reply. Her response is as follows:

As members of the North LanarkshirePartnership Board, Communities Scotland and North Lanarkshire Council have beenin regular contact about the work of the Craigneuk Development and Support Unit(CDSU). The partnership board has decided that the services provided by CDSU shouldbe integrated with Routes to Work, an established not-for-profit organisation providingtraining and employment services throughout North Lanarkshire.

Question reference: S2W-07671

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 April 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7038 by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 April 2004, under what circumstances thiomersal would be removed from childhood vaccines as a precautionary measure and whether there are any plans to use the mercury-free vaccine, Infranrix, as an alternative to thiomersal.

As set out in the answer to questionS2W-7038 UK Health Departments are advised by a number of expert committees on mattersrelating to vaccination and immunisation and their advice, which has full regardto issues of safety and effectiveness is, and will continue to be, reflected inthe childhood vaccination programme.

Infranrix is the brand name of the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis) vaccine, currently licensedfor use in the UK. The alternative, recommended, vaccine is DTwP (diphtheria,tetanus and wholecell pertussis) which contains thiomersal. Protection against diphtheria,tetanus and pertussis is currently recommended for babies at two, three and fourmonths and, when administered, the vaccine used is generally combined with a Hibvaccine to protect infants against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) disease.

Based on advice from the JointCommittee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), UK Health Departments currentlyrecommend DTwP-Hib vaccine, for primary immunisation at 2, 3 and 4 months, as partof the childhood immunisation programme. This is because it has been demonstratedto give more effective protection against whooping cough (pertussis) than the DTaP-Hibalternative. Scientific evidence shows that the combined DTwP-Hib is more efficaciousagainst Hib disease than DTaP-Hib, which provides lower immunity against Hib disease.

Where a child has a valid contraindicationto DTwP, current advice is that he or she should be given DTaP and separate Hibvaccines at the same time but in different limbs. General Practitioners (GPs) areaware that any final decision about immunisation of a child requires the informedconsent of a parent or guardian. In that process, it is appropriate for GPs to makeavailable information on why a particular product is recommended, while recognisingthat it is open to parents to request, and doctors to provide, an alternative vaccine,which is licensed in the UK and available through the NHS.

All answers to to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

Question reference: S2W-07656

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of the introduction of the Mercury-Free Vaccines Act of 2004 in the US House of Representatives on 2 April 2004 and the conclusions of Geier and Geier's 2003 study Thimerosal in childhood vaccines, neurodevelopment disorders and heart disease in the United States, all vaccines containing mercury will be banned as a precautionary measure and, if so, when such vaccines will be banned.

Question reference: S2W-07643

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 April 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS board funding deficits will affect the outcome of job evaluation exercises under Agenda for Change.

No.

The cost of Agenda for Changewill be met through NHS boards’ general allocations. Boards have received recordfunding in this spending round and the costs of Agenda for Change will be subsumedwithin the very significant overall real terms uplift received by NHS boards thisyear. An additional £30 million was allocated to NHS boards in March 2004 in orderto help meet the pressures relating to pay and service modernisation.

Question reference: S2O-02141

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 April 2004
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 29 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to develop waste land for the benefit of young people.

Local authorities plan for thedevelopment of their land to take account of the needs of local communities, includingyoung people. There are Executive funded programmes related to this such as theBetter Neighbourhood Services Fund which has supported teenage recreation and multi-playsports areas in deprived communities and the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund alsofunds projects including community open spaces.

Question reference: S2W-07038

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to encourage NHS boards not to use vaccines containing mercury.

The Joint Committee onVaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), a statutory independent expert advisorycommittee, advises UK health departments on matters relating tovaccination and immunisation.

The UK Medicines andHealthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), with advice from the independentexpert advisory committee, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM), isresponsible for ensuring that vaccines are safe and effective for those who usethem.

The CSM has reviewed thesafety of vaccines which contain thiomersal (a preservative compound thatincludes ethylmercury) on a number of occasions, most recently in February 2003.It advised that, with the exception of hypersensitivity reactions, thattypically include skin rashes or local swelling at the site of the injection,there is no evidence of harm from the levels of thiomersal contained in somevaccines. It concluded that the balance of benefits and risks ofthiomersal-containing vaccines therefore remains overwhelmingly positive.

As such, some thiomersal-containingvaccines are currently recommended for use in the UK because,on the basis of the best scientific evidence and advice, they provide the mosteffective clinical protection against a range of serious diseases.

As a precautionary measure,however, to reduce avoidable exposure to mercury in general, it has been agreedon a European-wide basis that, even though there is no evidence of toxicity, asa precautionary measure, thiomersal should be substituted or reduced as soon assafe and effective thiomersal-free alternatives become available and licensedfor use in the UK. Work is proceeding to this end.

This approach has beenendorsed by the JCVI, the CSM, the MHRA and the Executive.