- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 9 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the聽answers to questions S3W-10806, S3W-10807 and S3W-10808聽by Shona Robison on 25 March 2008 and in light of the judgment by the US Attorney General on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services which found that combined multiple vaccinations received by a child significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder predisposing her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism and manifested as a regressive enecphalopathy with features of autism, what its view is of the research paper, Oxidative Phosphorylation (OXPHOS) Defects in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders [IN1-1.004] by John Shoffner et al,聽presented at the American Academy of Neurology on 13 April 2008, revealing that 56% of the assessed children with autistic spectrum disorders had mitochondrial disorder.
Answer
The research abstract states Recognition of these children is important for understanding how genes that produce autistic spectrum disorders impact mitochondrial function, making clear that the genes that predispose to autism may secondarily affect mitochondrial function, not that mitochondrial disorders play a part in the causes of autism.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 8 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what total settlement聽was given to each local authority in each of the聽last 10 years and, of those, what percentage were ring-fenced for specific spending streams, broken down by specific ring-fenced item.
Answer
The information requested is published in Local Government Finance Circulars copies of which can be accessed from the Scottish Government''s website using the following link .
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 8 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what total settlement聽was given to local authorities聽in each of the聽last 10 years and, of those, what percentage were ring-fenced for specific spending streams, broken down by specific ring-fenced item.
Answer
The information requested is published in Local Government Finance Circulars copies of which can be accessed from the Scottish Government''s website using the following link:
.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Frank Mulholland on 7 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions have resulted from the test purchasing pilot scheme for the sale of alcohol to under 18-year-olds in Fife and how many of these were instigated after those being prosecuted had been reported for (a) one and (b) more than one offence of this type as a result of the pilot scheme.
Answer
The test purchasing pilot scheme carried out by Fife Constabulary tackled the sale of alcohol to children under 18 in a variety of ways:
Advising licensees about ways to ensure compliance
Targetting premises that sell alcohol to children
Reporting all breaches to the Licensing Board
Prosecuting where appropriate.
As a result of the pilot seven people (four licence holders and three employees) were prosecuted in relation to alcohol test purchasing failures at four separate licensed premises. The Procurator Fiscal was not barred from prosecuting where one failure only was reported to him and he took all the circumstances of each case into account in deciding what action to take. In the event, these cases involved two test purchase failures. The pilot''s focus on educating and advising licence-holders clearly produced a failure rate of 17% which was low compared with rates in other jurisdictions.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, 聽further to the聽answer to question S3W-10809 by Shona Robison on 25 March 2008, how much research has been conducted by the Medical Research Council and the Chief Scientist Office into the role that has been established of combined multiple vaccinations significantly aggravating an underlying mitochondrial disorder, predisposing a child to deficits in cellular energy metabolism and manifesting as a regressive encephalopathy with features of autism.
Answer
The Medical Research Council (MRC) funds a mitochondrial disorder unit. At this point they have not researched vaccination in their patients as they are not aware of any research which might have established the role of combined multiple vaccinations in significantly aggravating an underlying mitochondrial disorder. However, the MRC would be open to considering proposals for research along such lines.
The Chief Scientist''s Office have likewise not conducted any research on this issue.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, 聽further to the聽answer to question S3W-10805 by Shona Robison on 25 March 2008, on what basis it concluded that mitochondrial disorder is an extremely rare genetic metabolic condition.
Answer
This conclusion was based on the fact that the US United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation quotes a rate of one case per 4,000 live births. Further, Dr Lindsey Kent in an article in New Scientist on 3 March 2008 noted that mitochondrial diseases are very rare, amounting to 5.7 per 100,000 individuals.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 7 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many聽of the fatal accidents on the A9 occurred on (a) single and (b) dual carriage sections of the road between Perth and Inverness聽in each of the last five years.
Answer
The following table shows the number of fatal accidents on the A9 on single and dual carriageway sections of the road between Perth and Inverness in each of the last five years.
Fatal Accidents
| | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | Total |
| Single Carriageway | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 19 |
| Dual Carriageway | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
The figures quoted may differ slightly from those published elsewhere because they were extracted on a different date and the database may have changed between the two dates, for example because of late returns or corrections to earlier returns.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 7 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the serious but non-fatal accidents on the A9 occurred on (a) single and (b) dual carriage sections of the road between Perth and Inverness聽in each of the last five years.
Answer
The following table shows the number of serious but non-fatal accidents on the A9 on single and dual carriageway sections of the road between Perth and Inverness in each of the last five years.
Serious Accidents
| | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | Total |
| Single Carriageway | 12 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 50 |
| Dual Carriageway | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
The figures quoted may differ slightly from those published elsewhere because they were extracted on a different date and the database may have changed between the two dates, for example because of late returns or corrections to earlier returns.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 7 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average speeds聽were of (a) cars and (b) HGVs on the A9 along speed-monitored sections of the road聽in each of the last five years.
Answer
This information is not available in the format requested. Transport Scotland holds speed data captured by its traffic counting sites at specific locations along the entire length of the A9. This data is captured over a 24-hour period and is for all classes of vehicles. Transport Scotland does not hold speed data for specific classes of vehicles.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 2 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it would, in principle, support a subsea cable along the west coast of Scotland for the transmission of electricity.
Answer
The Scottish Government believes that subsea electricity transmission options should be explored if we are to fully capitalise on our renewables potential. We are therefore involved in two studies, one of which will examine potential grid links from the west coast of Scotland to Ireland.
The aim of these studies is to help make the case for long-term commercial investment.
