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-18907

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which police force led the exercise, on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Scottish Police Service, of inviting tenders for the Scottish Intelligence Database system.

Question reference: S2W-18905

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Intelligence Database system was operational on time.

Question reference: S2W-18904

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Intelligence Database system was installed on time.

Question reference: S2W-18911

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 13 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to expand the Fresh Talent initiative to allow graduates from previous years to apply.

Question reference: S2W-18910

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 13 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what advantage a graduate applying for a visa under the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme will have over other similar graduates who do not apply through the scheme.

Question reference: S2W-18912

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 13 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many graduates it expects to apply for the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme in each of the next five years.

Question reference: S2W-18913

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 13 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-14460 by Mr Tom McCabe on 14 March 2005, when the construction procurement manual will be published.

Question reference: S2W-18444

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 6 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Skye Bridge and Inverness Airport provided models for buying out PFI contracts which it intends to replicate in respect of other PFI contracts.

The Executive does not have a general policy for buying out PPP contracts. PPP contracts are for the long term and this is the spirit in which the public sector enters into these contracts. They provide important safeguards for the public sector because of the long-term commitment to maintenance of key public service assets.

However, it is important that PPPs remain appropriate to changing circumstances and continue to offer value for money. The buy-out of the Skye Bridge was a consequence of a political commitment to abolish the tolls made in relation to the Partnership Agreement (Bib. number 27591). The Inverness Airport contract was examined in the light of altered market conditions which suggested that a continuation of this early PFI would not offer continued value for money over the remainder of the contract. Each of these is a unique circumstance and do not indicate any trend towards other buy-outs.

Question reference: S2W-18233

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 2 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many video installations in private properties for the purposes of surveillance at the request of the householder have there been in the last full year for which figures are available; how many reports to the Procurator Fiscal have resulted and, of these, how many cases subsequently resulted in a court appearance, and how many prosecutions resulted, broken down by police force area.

Information about the deployment of video surveillance is not recorded in the format that you have requested.

The Chief Surveillance Commissioner publishes details in his annual report of the number of authorisations given under the Police Act 1997 for property interference, and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000 for directed and intrusive surveillance.

The most recent report by the Chief Surveillance Commissioner, for 2003-04, was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 28 June 2004, SE/2004/109.

Question reference: S2W-18196

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11089 by Mr Andy Kerr on 11 November 2004, what the average waiting time is for orthopaedic surgery in each NHS board area and what the (a) shortest and (b) longest waiting time was in each board area in the year ending 30 June 2005.

The majority of patients who require in-patient and day case treatment, including orthopaedic surgery, are treated quickly. Nearly 55% of patients treated inNHSScotland hospitals receive immediate treatment and never join a waiting list. Of those who do wait 41% are admitted within one month and almost 70% within three months.

For those who wait longer, the current national maximum waiting time is nine months. This guaranteed waiting time will be reduced to six months from the end of 2005 and to 18 weeks from the end of 2007. On 30 June 2005, no NHSScotland patient with a guarantee had waited more than nine months for in-patient and day case treatment.

Median waiting times are derived from information on patients treated during the previous year and include cases where patients will have had an Availability Status Code (ASC) applied, for example because they were medically unfit or patients asked for their admission to be deferred for personal reasons. The inclusion of those with an ASC inevitably increases the median wait and the longest wait. The table shows the median wait, by NHS board, for all patients who were discharged from hospital following orthopaedic surgery in the year ended 30 June 2005.

Fair To All, Personal To Each, set out our commitment to abolish Availability Status Codes and introduce a new system of defining and measuring waiting times, which will be clearer, more consistent and help to put patients at the centre of their care, by the end of 2007.

NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for All Patients, Including Those with Availability Status Codes, for Orthopaedic Surgery, by NHS Board of Residence. Year Ended 30 June 2005^P

NHS Board	Median Wait (Days)
Argyll and Clyde	145
Ayrshire and Arran	118
Borders	97
Dumfries and Galloway	105
Fife	158
Forth Valley	175
Grampian	112
Greater Glasgow	111
Highland	133
Lanarkshire	166
Lothian	150
Orkney Islands	117
Shetland Islands	105
Tayside	115
Western Isles	83
Scotland	132

^PProvisional.

Source: NHS National Services Scotland, SMR01.