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-05833

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of candidates for senior civil service posts have been (a) women, (b) from ethnic minorities and (c) disabled, since information began to be held centrally in April 2002.

Question reference: S2W-05835

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 10 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether each school class having exclusive access to four modern computers is still one of its targets and, if so, what percentage of classes now have such exclusive access.

The Scottish Executive has never set a target of each school class having exclusive access tofour modern computers. Information is collected in the School Census each yearthat allows the calculation of pupil:modern computer ratios in schools. The latestinformation, from the 2002 School Census (available online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00272-00.asp)shows pupil:modern computer ratios of 3:1 in special schools, 5:1 in secondaryschools and 9:1 in primary schools. Decisions about the actual deployment of the computers are taken locally in the light of teaching practice andaccommodation requirements.

Question reference: S2W-05820

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-4961 and S2W-4962 by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 January 2004, what statutory impediment prevents it forming, or participating in forming, companies for the provision of health services.

Question reference: S2W-05829

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 10 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its neighbourhood warden scheme, due to commence in April 2004, remains on track.

Question reference: S2W-05828

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 10 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is still its target to have a classroom computer for every teacher and, if so, what percentage of teachers is now so equipped.

Question reference: S2W-05826

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set for increasing the representation of female officers above the rank of constable in police forces and how such targets are monitored.

The appointment of officers in Scottish Police Forces is the responsibility of chief constables or, at themost senior levels, the police authority. Further advancement is determined onmerit under internal procedures which take account of qualifications andexperience. However, as an equal opportunities employer, the Scottish PoliceService is committed to the principles of equality and diversity in relation toemployment. Under the Scottish Police Service People Strategy, each force willbe taking forward the Gender Equality Action Plan prepared by the Women’s Development Forum, which was formed last year by the Scottish police forces andcommon services to raise the profile of women in the police service.

Question reference: S2W-05845

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 10 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many central heating systems have been installed under its central heating programme and what its estimate is of the number of systems still to be installed under the current eligibility criteria.

Question reference: S2W-05785

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what recent assessment it has made of the impact on its responsibilities of the General Agreement on Trade in Services.

The regulation of international trade is a reserved matter. The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with DTI and other government departments on a range of trade issues, including discussions of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

The Scottish Executive is continuing to monitor the progress of the GATS negotiations, andmaintains an ongoing assessment of any potential impact of GATS on itsresponsibilities. This will continue to inform discussions with DTI on (GATS) inorder to ensure that Scottish interests are fully considered.

Question reference: S2W-05771

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4809 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, what the value is of each percentile.

The following table showsthe value of each percentile of the waiting times distributions.

Only values up to the 99^th percentile are given. The one percent of values that are longer than the 99^th percentile cannot individually be relied upon as these will include a mixture of actual times and times that are a result of recording errors. Of those patients who have actually waited longer for inpatient or day case treatment than the value of the 99^th percentile there will be some whose waiting times is affected by a period of unavailability by the patient for medical or social reasons.

For in-patients and daycase, the data reported on includes all patients who are routinely admitted from the waiting list from home and therefore includes the total wait experienced by patients who are excepted from the national maximum waiting times guarantees because for example they have been unavailable for treatment for medical or social reasons.

	Waiting Time (days)
Percentile	First Out-patient Appointments	In-patients/Day Cases
1^st	0	1
2^nd	0	1
3^rd	0	1
4^th	0	1
5^th	1	2
6^th	3	2
7^th	4	3
8^th	6	3
9^th	7	4
10^th	7	4
11^th	8	5
12^th	9	5
13^th	10	6
14^th	12	6
15^th	13	7
16^th	13	7
17^th	14	7
18^th	15	8
19^th	16	8
20^th	17	9
21^st	18	10
22^nd	20	11
23^rd	20	12
24^th	21	13
25^th	22	14
26^th	23	14
27^th	25	15
28^th	26	16
29^th	27	17
30^th	28	18
31^st	29	19
32^nd	30	20
33^rd	32	21
34^th	33	21
35^th	34	22
36^th	35	24
37^th	36	25
38^th	38	26
39^th	39	27
40^th	41	28
41^st	42	29
42^nd	43	30
43^rd	44	31
44^th	46	33
45^th	47	34
46^th	49	35
47^th	50	36
48^th	51	38
49^th	53	40
50^th	54	41
51^st	56	42
52^nd	57	44
53^rd	59	46
54^th	61	48
55^th	63	49
56^th	64	51
57^th	66	53
58^th	68	55
59^th	70	57
60^th	72	59
61^st	74	62
62^nd	76	64
63^rd	78	67
64^th	81	69
65^th	83	72
66^th	85	75
67^th	88	78
68^th	90	81
69^th	92	84
70^th	95	88
71^st	98	91
72^nd	100	96
73^rd	104	99
74^th	107	104
75^th	111	108
76^th	114	113
77^th	118	118
78^th	122	124
79^th	126	130
80^th	131	136
81^st	135	143
82^nd	140	150
83^rd	145	157
84^th	151	165
85^th	157	172
86^th	164	179
87^th	173	187
88^th	181	196
89^th	190	206
90^th	201	217
91^st	214	227
92^nd	230	238
93^rd	247	248
94^th	271	260
95^th	295	272
96^th	323	284
97^th	362	307
98^th	405	343
99^th	489	446

Notes

1. The 1^stand 99^th percentile values have changed from those give in PQS2W-4809. The SMR00 and SMR01 files are dynamic files with records continuallybeing added. Information relates to the quarter ending 30 September 2003and should be considered provisional

2. Inpatient /Day casedata is sourced from the SMR01 dataset. Outpatient data is sourced from theSMR00 dataset, and covers referrals from a GMP/GDP to a consultant ledoutpatient clinic.

All answers to writtenquestions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility forwhich can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

Question reference: S2W-05782

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1571 by Mr Jim Wallace on 13 August 2003, when it will publish the results of the survey of the income and expenditure of Scottish students..