Chamber and committees

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-25710

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities recorded an improvement of more than 15% in only two of the 77 statutory performance indicators in each year since 2001.

Question reference: S2W-25842

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what its advertising budget was, and how many advertising campaigns it ran, in each year since 1999.

I refer the member to the questionS1W-26485, answered on 3 July 2002, providing information on advertising spend by the ScottishOffice-Scottish Executive Departments from 1991-92 to 2001-02.

For information on the Scottish Executive’s advertising spend for 2002-03 please see answer to questionS2W-2481. For information on advertising spend for 2003-04 please see the answer to question S2W-15204.

Advertising spend for 2004-2005is published on the Scottish Executive Marketing Unit website. Please see attachedlink http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/media/17963/adspend05.

Scottish Executive advertisingspend for 2005-2006 is detailed in the following table. Please note these figuresare un-reconciled. Definitive figures will be published in July 06:

Campaign	Total
Alcohol	£664,223.89
ASB	£251,372.67
Career Opps in NHS Scotland	£976,107.92
Childrens Hearings	£99,643.02
Domestic Abuse	£295,950.03
Drug Misuse	£967,016.93
Environment	£368,951.96
Fire Domestic	£287,463.05
Flu	£365,333.28
Healthy Living	£743,600.76
Mental Health	£117,683.10
Organ Donation	£190,570.49
Race	£611,471.60
Road Safety	£605,732.53
Smoking	£1,056,867.36
Teacher Recruitment	£618,668.61
Violence Against PS Workers	£163,263.66
Volunteering	£164,003.13
Miscellaneous	£791,458.64
Total	£9,339,382.63

The miscellaneous figure is advertisingexpenditure out with specific campaigns. Thisincludes the central purchase of a block of outdoor advertising which is used throughoutthe year by the campaigns listed.

All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Question reference: S2W-25824

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 17 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what provision is in place to support pupils with autistic spectrum disorder once they leave the educational system.

The Education (AdditionalSupport for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 places new duties on educationauthorities and appropriate agencies, including Careers Scotland, furthereducation colleges and higher education institutions, to ensure early planning,preparation and the effective exchange of information to support children andyoung people with additional support needs to make a smooth and successfultransition to post-school life – whether that is to education, training orwork.

As autonomous bodies, Scotland’scolleges and universities are responsible for ensuring their provision isaccessible and inclusive to students with disabilities and other additionalsupport needs. Both sectors have been successful in achieving this, asevidenced by the year on year increase in participation by students withdisabilities.

Colleges and universitiescan draw on various support to help them improve their provision. Guidance toPE Colleges on the subject was published in January 2005 when PartnershipMatter’s set out the roles and responsibilities of the various bodies involvedin providing support to students, and other tools from the Scottish Further andHigher Education Funding Council.

Question reference: S2W-25826

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional specialists were recruited among the relevant allied health professions in order to increase the provision of support available to pupils identified as having autistic spectrum disorder in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-25825

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 17 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional specialists were recruited among the relevant educational professionals in order to increase the provision of support available to pupils identified as having autistic spectrum disorder in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-25823

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 17 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to commission research into autistic spectrum disorder among primary and secondary school pupils to understand what the underlying reasons are behind the rises in pupils being identified as having autism.

The Executive and MedicalResearch Council (MRC) have been taking forward a jointly funded researchprogramme based on the agenda outlined in the MRC Review of Autism Research.The MRC has now committed over £3 million to new research. The awards rangefrom clinical investigations in children and adults, to environmental riskfactors, brain imaging and intervention studies.

The Scottish Executive ASDReference Group is represented on the UK Wide Autism Research Co-ordinationGroup (ARCG), which has been established by the Department of Education andSkills to provide a framework to enable greater co-ordination of autismresearch activity in the UK. ARCG has a number of aims including focusing inautism research funding on identified gaps such as biomedical research andresearch on interventions.

In addition, the ScottishInter-collegiate Guidance Network (SIGN) Council are developing a guideline forprofessionals working with children and young people up to age 18 on evidencebased approaches to diagnosis, assessment and early clinical interventions forautism. The SIGN Guideline development will cover surveillance and shouldconsider the evidence base for routine screening.

Question reference: S2W-25738

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time was for a first appointment at a sleep centre in each year since 1999, broken down by sleep centre.

Question reference: S2W-25739

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was allocated for the treatment of sleep disorders in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Health Boards	Total Funding
Health Boards	1999-2000 (£)	2000-01 (£)	2001-02 (£)	2002-03 (£)	2003-04 (£)	2004-05 (£)	2005-06 (£)
Argyll and Clyde	1,543	3,348	3,515	3,620	3,761	4,183	4,434
Ayrshire and Arran	943	3,104	3,255	3,353	3,483	3,874	4,106
Borders	30,515	24,870	40,561	41,778	43,400	52,814	55,983
Dumfries and Galloway	1,886	800	1,111	1,144	1,189	1,322	1,402
Fife	75,601	57,000	59,850	61,646	64,040	96,225	101,999
Forth Valley	37,801	47,293	50,407	51,919	53,935	62,118	65,845
Grampian	943	58,164	88,000	90,640	*	*	*
Greater Glasgow	2,914	8,000	10,160	10,465	10,871	12,091	12,816
Highland	1,371	5,872	6,166	6,351	6,598	7,338	7,779
Lanarkshire	9,429	10,126	10,632	10,951	11,376	14,783	15,670
Lothian	182,918	172,420	266,744	274,746	285,416	317,440	336,486
Orkney	771	779	877	1,143	1,062	1,334	1,414
Shetland	4,029	225	237	244	254	2,413	2,558
Tayside	54,515	62,000	65,100	67,053	69,657	91,274	96,740
Western Isles	86	459	482	496	516	574	608
Cumbria**	171	173	195	254	236	263	278
Northumberland**	600	606	682	889	826	1,038	1,100
Northern Ireland**	771	779	877	1,143	1,062	1,334	1,414
Totals	406,807	456,018	608,851	627,835	557,682	670,418	710,632

Notes:

*Local provision since 2003-04.

**Because of limited facilitiesin Cumbria, Northumberland and Northern Ireland for people with sleep disorders, patients who requirea “second opinion” (or the provision of a CPAP machine) in the view of the consultant,or need to be assessed by undergoing a sleep study which involves overnight staysare referred to the Edinburgh Sleep Centre at the RIE.

Question reference: S2W-25711

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities recorded a deterioration of more than 15% in seven of the 77 statutory performance indicators in each year since 2001.

Question reference: S2W-25827

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 17 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates have been carried out by (a) Scottish ministers, (b) local authorities and (c) NHS boards of the additional financial cost of providing adequate support and provision for pupils identified as having autistic spectrum disorder in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority and NHS board area.

The Scottish Executiveprovides significant funding each year to help local authorities make provisionfor children and young people with additional support needs, including autismspectrum disorder. Funding is allocated on the basis of each authority’s two to19-year-old population. It is a matter for local authorities to decide how toutilise this funding in the light of local needs and circumstances.

The information requested inrelation to estimates carried out by local authorities and NHS boards is notheld by the Scottish Executive.