- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 12 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authority monitoring officers are required to report regularly to any body other than the local authority for which they act and, if so, to what bodies.
Answer
Monitoring officers are only required to report to the full council for which they act.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 12 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the monitoring officer and deputy monitoring officer of each local authority are obliged to liaise with the chief executive of their local authority.
Answer
The monitoring officer and deputy monitoring offer are independent and are not subject to direction by the council. However, the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 states it is the duty of a monitoring officer in preparing a report, to consult as far as practicable with the authorities'' Head of Paid Services and the Chief Finance Officer.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 12 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive who appoints the monitoring officer and deputy monitoring officer for each local authority and whether these appointments require the approval of any agency other than the relevant local authority.
Answer
The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 requires councils to designate one of their officers as monitoring officer. The legislation requires that it must not be the Chief Finance Officer. No other approval is required.
In the absence of the monitoring officer, duties will be performed by the member of staff personally nominated by the monitoring officer as his deputy.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 12 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what body has primary responsibility for monitoring the work of local authority monitoring officers.
Answer
The role of monitoring officers is independent and is not subject to direction by the council or any other body.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 12 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what remuneration each local authority monitoring officer and deputy monitoring officer has received in respect of fulfilling the functions of that office in each year since 1999.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. The remuneration of monitoring officers and deputy monitoring officers is a matter for each local authority.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 12 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has for the Scottish economy and wider society in relation to Her Majesty’s Government’s proposals to part-privatise the Royal Mail.
Answer
This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0312-01.htm
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 9 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the contract completion date is for the M80 upgrade between Stepps and Haggs.
Answer
The completion date for the construction of the M80 between Stepps to Haggs is September 2011.
The contract completion date including maintenance and network operation is 2041.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it holds on the availability of cardiology services in each general hospital in each NHS board area.
Answer
The most relevant information which is held centrally is the data on the availability of staffed beds by speciality and hospital, including cardiology and coronary care units. This information can be found on the website of the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland:
http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/servlet/FileBuffer?namedFile=Costs_Hospital_Profile_2008.xls&pContentDispositionType=inline.
The most recent data are from 25 November 2008, but do not allow for identification of the cardiology activity which is also delivered under the heading of general medicine.
Additional Information on coronary heart disease is available on ISD''s Coronary Heart Disease website www.isdscotland.org/isd/2123.html.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are in place to support patients waiting in one hospital for treatment or examination in another hospital.
Answer
There are a number of reasons, why patients may require treatment outwith their own health board area, for example when a service is provided on a regional or national basis. These patients will be required to be seen or treated within national maximum waiting times standards.
Guidance to NHS boards, issued in preparation for the introduction of New Ways of defining and measuring waiting times on 1 January 2008, makes clear that when treatment cannot be provided locally and a patient needs to travel elsewhere, the patient should be made aware of this as early as possible, preferably when the decision to refer or treat is made. This helps ensure that the patient is part of the decision-making process. The guidance also states that when a patient has to travel, appropriate transport arrangements for the patient (and relative/carer if necessary), should be resourced by the patient''s health board.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 2 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many direct rail services connect London and Scotland each day.
Answer
Rail services between London and Scotland on Cross Border routes are operated by Virgin Trains and National Express East Coast (NXEC) under franchises awarded by the Department for Transport (DfT). The exception is the Caledonian Sleeper services which are provided under the franchise awarded to First ScotRail by the Scottish Government.
The number of services operated is specified in the Service Level Commitments agreed by train operating companies and DfT. I understand that there are 32 daily services connecting Scotland and London on Monday to Thursday (with three more NXEC services on the East Coast on Fridays).
Full and updated details of weekend services can be found at the National Rail Enquiries website http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/.
