Written questions lodged on 28 June 2011
Questions marked with a triangle (Δ) are initiated by the Scottish Executive in order to facilitate the provision of information to the Parliament.
Questions in which a member has indicated a declarable interest are marked with an "R".
S4W-00958 Richard Simpson: To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-38009 by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 December 2010, what progress has been made toward establishing a national plan for rare diseases.
S4W-01201 Richard Simpson: To ask the Scottish Executive which hospitals (a) have or (b) do not have a transplant coordinator, broken down by NHS board.
S4W-01202 Richard Simpson: To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the reported prevalence of measles and the call by the European Union to step up vaccination programmes to eradicate measles.
S4W-01203 Richard Simpson: To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to support the development of a national register of patients who might be prepared to participate in clinical trials.
S4W-01204 Richard Simpson: To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to reverse the decline in clinical trials.
S4W-01273 Drew Smith: To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with universities concerning their role in providing cultural events and facilities on their campuses for the benefit of students, staff and communities.
S4W-01296 James Kelly: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will include representatives from football supporters’ clubs in the Joint Action Group on Football set up following the Old Firm summit on 8 March 2011.
S4W-01301 James Kelly: To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to allow communities to decide on the work that offenders serving community sentences should carry out locally.
S4W-01304 James Kelly: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce a victims’ fund modelled on the Victim and Witness General Fund in England and Wales.
S4W-01318 David Stewart: To ask the Scottish Executive which sections of the Inverness to Edinburgh railway line will receive line speed improvements.
S4W-01319 David Stewart: To ask the Scottish Executive where the new passing loops will be located on the Inverness to Edinburgh railway line.
S4W-01320 David Stewart: To ask the Scottish Executive what the timescale is for improvement works on the Inverness to Edinburgh railway line and when the proposed 35-minute journey time saving will be achieved.
S4W-01321 David Stewart: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider providing funding for a subscription-led and voluntary property annual inspection pilot scheme.
S4W-01322 Jackie Baillie: To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the National Records of Scotland charging MSPs for information that is required to assist them in representing their constituents.
S4W-01323 Jackie Baillie: To ask the Scottish Executive when the National Records of Scotland introduced a charging policy and what consultation was undertaken.
S4W-01324 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive when it last nominated or recommended a Scottish representative for the Board of Forestry Commissioners to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
S4W-01325 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of native trees were planted in the 2010-11 planting season, broken down by (a) public land, (b) private land and (c) Forestry Commission conservancy area.
S4W-01326 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of native trees have been approved for planting in the next planting season through the Scotland Rural Development Programme.
S4W-01327 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of non-native trees have been approved for planting in the next planting season through the Scotland Rural Development Programme.
S4W-01330 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of woodland were lost due to (a) restoration of open ground habitats, (b) clearance for wind farms, (c) loss to development and (d) loss of hedgerow trees in 2010.
S4W-01331 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of native woodland were lost due to (a) restoration of open ground habitats, (b) clearance for wind farms, (c) loss to development and (d) loss of hedgerow trees in 2010.
S4W-01332 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of ancient woodland were lost in 2010.
S4W-01333 Willie Coffey: To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it issues to (a) local authorities and (b) other public bodies on the (i) financial appraisal of and (ii) provision of support to new small and medium-sized enterprises wishing to participate in public sector procurement processes.
S4W-01334 Willie Coffey: To ask the Scottish Executive what support small and medium-sized enterprises interested in participating in public sector procurement processes receive from it and its agencies.
S4W-01336 Willie Coffey: To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it issues on the minimum time that public sector bodies should allow for the preparation of tenders for long-term framework agreements.
S4W-01337 Willie Coffey: To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that its agencies allow sufficient time for the preparation of tenders.
S4W-01338 Elaine Murray: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to amend section 28 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 and, if so, when.
S4W-01339 Elaine Murray: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it provides guidance on the hierarchy of tests in section 28 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006.
S4W-01340 Drew Smith: To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers completed training between 2007 and 2010 and how many of those have been successful in finding teaching positions.
S4W-01342 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in developing a caring for carers employers’ kitemark and when it will be introduced.
S4W-01343 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive what projects will be included in the proposed Scottish futures fund to deliver effective early intervention in a child’s life.
S4W-01344 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria will be used to award money from the proposed Scottish futures fund to projects intended to deliver effective early intervention in a child’s life.
S4W-01345 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive when the first of a new generation of children and family centres will open.
S4W-01346 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) new and (b) refurbished children and family centres will open in the next five years.
S4W-01347 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive when it will review the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and what provisions will be reviewed.
S4W-01349 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive when it will introduce legislation to create an obligation for local authorities, NHS boards and the Scottish Government to deliver early years services.
S4W-01350 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive when it will introduce legislation to place a duty on NHS boards, local authorities and other agencies to work together to place children at the centre of their delivery of services.
S4W-01351 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on expanding nursery education in each year since 2007.
S4W-01352 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive what progress will be made over the next five years on expanding nursery education.
S4W-01353 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance is offered to families who need help with parenting.
S4W-01354 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive what help is offered to families to assist in accessing high quality childcare.
S4W-01355 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive when a national parenting strategy will be published.
S4W-01356 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive what stakeholders it will consult in developing a national parenting strategy.
S4W-01357 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive when a task force will be in place to coordinate policy across the Scottish Government to ensure that early years spending is prioritised.
S4W-01358 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive when it will revise the child protection guidance for health officials to bring it in line with the new national child protection guidance.
S4W-01359 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on developing new guidance for professionals working in child protection regarding disabled children.
S4W-01360 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish new guidance for professionals working in child protection regarding disabled children.
S4W-01361 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive when it will develop a national risk assessment toolkit for professionals working in child protection.
S4W-01362 Jenny Marra: To ask the Scottish Executive when it will develop a national competency framework to set out a common set of skills and standards for child protection professionals.
S4W-01363 Jamie McGrigor: To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received on access to Eculizumab for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria in the last year.
S4W-01364 Jamie McGrigor: To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria have died in the last year; whether they were recommended for treatment with Eculizumab by clinicians; to which NHS boards those treatment requests were made, and whether these boards funded treatment with Eculizumab.
S4W-01365 Jamie McGrigor: To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards have (a) received, (b) approved and (c) rejected individual patient treatment requests for Eculizumab for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria.
S4W-01366 Jamie McGrigor: To ask the Scottish Executive for what reasons the Scottish Medicines Consortium did not recommend Eculizumab for use.
S4W-01367 Jamie McGrigor: To ask the Scottish Executive for what reasons Eculizumab is not included in the national orphan drugs risk share scheme.
S4W-01368 Jamie McGrigor: To ask the Scottish Executive what therapies to treat ultra-orphan conditions have been (a) assessed and (b) recommended for use by the Scottish Medicines Consortium in each of the last five years.
S4W-01369 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive what role it expects the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan to have in relation to the development of Hunterston power station.
S4W-01370 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive what effect the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan has in relation to the assessment of plans under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the assessment of plans or projects under the (a) habitats and (b) environmental impact assessment regulations.
S4W-01371 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to adopt the draft electricity generation policy statement.
S4W-01372 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to (a) commence work on and (b) adopt the next national planning framework.
S4W-01373 Sarah Boyack: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that a local development plan could contradict the national planning framework in relation to section 25 of the Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 and, if so, what the effect of this would be for the determination of planning applications.
S4W-01374 Alison McInnes: To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the importance of the role of prison visiting committees, following its consultation on the independent monitoring of prisons.
S4W-01375 Alison McInnes: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will maintain a separate monitoring role for prison visiting committees.
S4W-01376 Stuart McMillan: To ask the Scottish Executive what marketing awards VisitScotland has received in the last year.
S4W-01377 Richard Simpson: To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities reached the agreed minimum target of carrying out test purchasing exercises in 10% of tobacco retailers in their area per annum during the Enhanced Tobacco Sales Enforcement Programme in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11.
S4W-01378 Richard Simpson: To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities reached the agreed minimum target of carrying out visits providing advice and support to 20% of tobacco retailers in their area per annum during the Enhanced Tobacco Sales Programme in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11.
S4W-01390 Humza Yousaf: To ask the Scottish Executive how many young offenders are detained at HMYOI Polmont; how many are ordinarily resident in Glasgow, and whether it will provide a breakdown by (a) age and (b) ethnic identity.
S4W-01391Δ Derek Mackay: To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are plans to revise the memorandum of understanding between the UK Government, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.