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-26361

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for x-rays taken during a hospital appointment to be passed to the patient’s GP in each NHS board area.

Question reference: S2W-26362

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for a hernia operation in each NHS board area.

The majority of patients whorequire in-patient and day case treatment, including hernia operations, are treatedquickly. Nearly 53% of the patients treated in NHSScotland hospitals receive immediatetreatment and never join a waiting list. Of those who do wait almost 41% are admittedwithin one month and over 70% within three months.

For those who wait longer, thecurrent maximum waiting time is six months. This guarantee will be reduced to 18weeks from the end of 2007. On 31 March 2006, no NHSScotland patient with a guarantee had waited morethan six months for in-patient and day case treatment.

Median waiting times are derivedfrom information about individual patients who have been treated and dischargedfrom hospital during each year. This data includes patients who have had an AvailabilityStatus Code (ASC) applied, for example because they were medically unfit or askedfor their admission to be deferred for personal or social reasons, and to whom theExecutive’s waiting time guarantee did not apply. Periods of unavailability fortreatment are therefore included in the calculation of median waiting times, whichmeans that the median waits are overstated.

The following table shows themedian wait, by NHS board, for all patients who were discharged from hospital followinga hernia operation in 2005.

NHSScotland: Median WaitingTime for a Hernia¹ Operation by NHS Board of residence. Year ending 31December 2005^P

NHS Board Area	Median Wait (Days)⁺
Argyll and Clyde	77
Ayrshire and Arran	98
Borders	56
Dumfries and Galloway	79
Fife	113
Forth Valley	115
Grampian	122
Greater Glasgow	74
Highland	105
Lanarkshire	144
Lothian	124
Orkney	54*
Shetland	39*
Tayside	93
Western Isles	40
NHSScotland	98

Source:ISD SMR01.

^PProvisional.

Notes:

1.Hernia operations are defined as all OPCS4 procedures “T19” to “T27” inclusive.

* Figures should be treatedwith caution as they are derived from a possibly unrepresentative small number ofdischarges (more than 14 but less than 50).

⁺Median waits includes patients with an Availability Status Code. Consequently, true waiting timesare likely to be overstated because of periods of medical unavailability, etc.

Question reference: S2W-26347

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 7 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what working groups on tenant participation are supported by the Executive or its agencies.

Question reference: S2W-26352

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 7 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what information is available in respect of the number of car journeys made on the A725 between Strathaven and East Kilbride in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S2W-26350

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 7 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive which tenants’ organisations are directly funded by the Executive or its agencies.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

No tenants’ organisations aredirectly funded by the Executive or its agencies. A grant scheme is available forregistered tenant organisations to fund projects which improve tenant participationin their own areas. Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 local authorities and registered social landlordsare legally required to carry out an assessment of the resources required to implementtenant participation, including the funding of tenant organisations. Resources shouldbe negotiated and agreed with tenants and reviewed regularly.

Question reference: S2W-26346

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 7 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the remit is of the Tenant Participation Advisory Group; who its members are, and what its current role is.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is asfollows:

The remit and current role of the TenantParticipation Advisory Group is to overseethe work of the Tenant Participation Development Team in Communities Scotlandand to allow stakeholders to engage with this work by giving advice on; workplanning, engaging with tenants and landlords, development activities,strategic priorities, feedback on activities and material produced andequalities in practice.

Current membership comprisesrepresentatives from the Chartered Institute of Housing, Communities Scotland,Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Scottish Federation of HousingAssociations, Scottish Tenants Organisation Steering Committee, TenantsInformation Service, TIGHRA (Tenant Involvement in Grampian, Highland andRural Areas) and the Tenant Participation Advisory Service.

Question reference: S2W-26349

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 7 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress local authorities are making towards meeting their obligations for tenant participation under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

As part of the Communities Scotland inspection regime, all local authorities have to demonstratehow well their tenant participation strategy is working and the views of tenantsand tenants groups are considered.

Whilst much has been achievedand good progress has been made by some local authorities recent research and thepublic reporting of landlords inspections has highlighted that more work needs tobe done to improve the level and quality of tenant participation across the country.The Minister for Communities announced in March 2006 that Communities Scotland willbe commissioning further research into landlords’ progress on tenant participationlater in the year to help to tailor development support, help to drive up standardsin tenant participation and encourage improvements in landlords’ performance.

Question reference: S2W-26345

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 7 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current status is of the Scottish Tenants Organisation.

Question reference: S2W-26348

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 7 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what its current strategy is for tenant participation; who is responsible for the implementation of the tenant participation strategy, and what their remit is.

The Executive’s commitmentto tenant participation is set out in the national strategy for tenantparticipation Partners in Participation published in 1999 (Bib. number2471). This commitment is underpinned in the Housing (Scotland)Act 2001 which introduced a legal framework for tenant participation. localauthorities and registered social landlords are required to publish a tenantparticipation strategy and are responsible for implementing the strategy, inconsultation with their tenants and Registered Tenant Organisations.

Development support fortenant participation is provided by Communities Scotland’s Tenant ParticipationDevelopment Team and how well tenant participation is working within individuallocal authorities and registered social landlords is assessed as part ofCommunities Scotland’s inspection programme.

Question reference: S2W-25531

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 22 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-17123 and S2W-23825 by Patricia Ferguson on 17 June 2005 and 17 January 2006 respectively, whether the Fair Trade Group referred to is a cross-party group or an Executive group; what meetings of the group have taken place since its formation, and what work is ongoing to progress the fair trade agenda in Scotland and towards Scotland's designation as a Fair Trade Nation.

The Cross Party Group on FairTrade is an informal group whose purpose is to provide input on Scotland’s effortstowards becoming a Fair Trade Nation. The group includes representation from allpolitical parties, with members nominated by their respective party leaders. Thegroup has met twice since its formation – on 26 May 2005 and25 January 2006 – to consider how to progress the Fair Trade agenda andaspiration for Scotland to become a Fair Trade Nation, and will next meet on7 June.

The Executive has been liaisingclosely with the Fairtrade Foundation and the Welsh Assembly Government to establishrelevant criteria for a Fair Trade nation as these do not exist at present.