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-29458

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many disabled adults there are in (a) Dundee and (b) Angus, broken down by gender.

Question reference: S2W-29460

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people over the age of 75 it estimates are deaf or hard of hearing.

Question reference: S2W-29467

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 15 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the childhood immunisation rates for Dundee Community Health Partnership have been in the last quarter for which the information is available.

Question reference: S2W-29473

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 15 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it is spending on the Measure Up awareness campaign on the possible link between waist measurement and a risk of diabetes.

Question reference: S2W-29170

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage of singleton low birth weight babies has been of all births in each three-year period since 1996-98, also broken down by NHS board.

Please find the informationrequested in the following table:

Percentage of Singleton Low BirthWeight Babies Year Ending 31 March

	1997-99	2000-02	2003-05
Scotland	5.7	5.9	6.0
Argyll and Clyde	5.9	6.5	6.7
Ayrshire and Arran	5.4	6.1	6.1
Borders	5.1	4.8	5.0
Dumfries and Galloway	5.0	5.6	5.0
Fife	5.5	5.3	6.0
Forth Valley	5.5	5.8	6.0
Grampian	5.1	5.3	5.5
Greater Glasgow	7.0	6.8	7.0
Highland	4.6	5.3	5.6
Lanarkshire	5.9	5.7	5.4
Lothian	5.4	5.7	6.0
Orkney	2.1	3.6	4.1
Shetland	3.6	3.6	3.2
Tayside	5.4	5.4	5.6
Western Isles	2.6	5.0	4.8

Question reference: S2W-29165

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 15 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest available information is on the average drive time to (a) post offices, (b) supermarkets, (c) primary schools and (d) GPs for residents of (i) Dundee, (ii) Angus and (iii) Aberdeenshire.

Information on average drivetimes to post offices, primary schools and GPs is not available at local authoritylevel. Due to the size of local authorities and the variation within them, asingle drive time per local authority would not be meaningful.

However, information onaverage drive times to post offices, primary schools and GPs can be found inthe background data for the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2006at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/SIMD/Background-Data-2006.

Average drive times tosupermarkets can be found in the background data for the Scottish Index of MultipleDeprivation (SIMD) 2004 at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/06/19421/38085.For SIMD 2006 drive times to supermarkets were replaced with drive times toshopping facilities.

The drive times in the SIMDare provided at the data zone level. Data zones are small areas with an averagepopulation of around 750 people. The data zone level drive times are populationweighted average drive times taken to reach a key service and cannot then beaveraged to local authority level.

Question reference: S2W-29174

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of mothers have smoked during pregnancy in each of the last three years, also broken down by NHS board.

Percentage of Mothers Smokingat Booking.

	Year ending 31 March
	2003	2004	2005
Scotland	25.3	23.9	22.7
Argyll and Clyde	24.1	21.3	23.0
Ayrshire and Arran	29.9	28.5	29.6
Borders	25.8	24.8	27.6
Dumfries and Galloway	28.0	21.9	25.3
Fife	29.3	27.7	28.0
Forth Valley	27.0	25.3	23.1
Grampian	24.2	23.9	21.3
Greater Glasgow	26.4	24.8	23.8
Highland	26.8	26.4	23.1
Lanarkshire	27.5	24.5	25.3
Lothian	17.9	17.6	12.6
Orkney	18.3	12.3	15.6
Shetland	14.2	10.7	12.3
Tayside	28.6	28.3	26.8
Western Isles	20.8	14.1	17.1

Source: ISD Scotland, SMR02.

Notes:

1. There are data quality issuesaround the “smoking at booking” data item and a revision was made to the previouslypublished information on the ISD Scotland website. Please refer to http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4416.htmlfor comprehensive background notes. Figures above reflect the revised information.

2. Excludes home births andbirths at non-NHS hospitals.

3. Where four or more babiesare involved in a pregnancy, birth details are recorded only for the firstthree babies delivered.

4. Data for Scotlandincludes births where NHS board of residence is unknown or outside Scotland.

5. Data for Tayside NHSBoard for 2005 are incomplete.

6. It is not possible toidentify mothers who give up smoking after initial booking.

Question reference: S2W-29164

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 14 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the uptake of concessionary travel cards under the national concessionary travel scheme has been in (a) Dundee, (b) Angus and (c) Aberdeenshire.

The number of National EntitlementCards, which give an entitlement to the Scotland-Wide Free Bus Travel for Olderand Disabled People, within the requested areas are as follows:

(a) Dundee

Category of Eligibility	Number of Cardholders
60+	27,294
Disabled	2,219
Disabled plus companion	484
Visually impaired	569
Visually impaired plus companion	71
Total	30,637

(b) Angus

Category of Eligibility	Number of Cardholders
60+	19,984
Disabled	738
Disabled plus companion	192
Visually impaired	253
Visually impaired plus companion	77
Total	21,244

Category of Eligibility	Number of Cardholders
60+	33,587
Disabled	1,723
Disabled plus companion	1,096
Visually impaired	81
Visually impaired plus companion	388
Total	36,875

Question reference: S2W-29688

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 14 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pupils had specific learning difficulties in each of the last two years.

Question reference: S2W-28000

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the numbers and overall percentages in employment are in (a) Dundee and (b) Angus in (i) construction, (ii) manufacturing, (iii) retail and catering, (iv) distribution, hotel and restaurant , (v) business and financial services, (vi) transport and communications, (vii) finance, IT and other business activities, (viii) public administration, education and health and (ix) tourism and other services in each of the last three years.

The following tables 1 and 2 show the number of employee jobs in Angus and Dundee City by standard industry sector.

Table 1: Employee Jobs by Industry Sector – Angus

	Levels			Proportion of Total
	2002	2003	2004	2002	2003	2004
Construction	1,500	1,300	2,500	4.3%	3.6%	7.0%
Manufacturing	5,400	6,100	6,100	15.2%	16.7%	17.1%
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods	6,100	6,700	6,000	17.3%	18.6%	16.6%
Hotels and restaurants	3,200	2,800	2,000	9.0%	7.7%	5.6%
Financial intermediation	400	400	400	1.0%	1.1%	1.1%
Real estate, renting and business activities	2,200	2,300	2,400	6.2%	6.4%	6.8%
Transport, storage and communication	1,300	1,100	1,200	3.6%	3.1%	3.4%
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	1,800	1,900	1,800	5.1%	5.3%	4.9%
Education	2,700	2,600	2,300	7.7%	7.2%	6.5%
Health and social work	6,300	7,200	7,000	17.7%	20.0%	19.6%
Other	4,600	3,800	4,100	12.9%	10.5%	11.4%
Total	35,600	36,200	35,900	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Source: Annual Business Inquiry

Notes:

1. Catering sector is included in H: hotels and restaurants.

2. Distribution sector is included in I: transport, storage and communications.

3. Finance, IT and other business activities are included in J: financial services and K: real estate, renting and business activities

4. Other includes A: agriculture, hunting and forestry; B : fishing; C : mining and quarrying; E : electricity, gas and water supply and O : other community, social and personal service activities.

5. The figures for construction will be underestimated due to the high level of self employment in this industry and that the self employed are excluded from the Annual Business Inquiry.

5. 2002 figures are based on SIC 1992 codes and 2003-04 figures are based on SIC 2003 codes. This may lead to a discontinuity in levels.

6. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.

7. The total may not equal the sum of the individual components due to rounding.

Table 2: Employee Jobs by Industry Sector – Dundee City

	Levels			Proportion of Total
	2002	2003	2004	2002	2003	2004
Construction	3,000	2,700	4,100	4.2%	3.8%	5.4%
Manufacturing	9,200	9,900	10,200	12.9%	13.5%	13.5%
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods	13,400	13,400	13,400	18.9%	18.4%	17.7%
Hotels and restaurants	4,800	4,400	3,700	6.8%	6.1%	4.9%
Financial intermediation	1,500	1,900	2,500	2.0%	2.6%	3.4%
Real estate, renting and business activities	5,600	6,300	6,500	7.9%	8.7%	8.5%
Transport, storage and communication	3,100	3,000	3,000	4.3%	4.2%	4.0%
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	4,700	5,700	5,800	6.6%	7.8%	7.6%
Education	9,100	8,800	9,000	12.8%	12.1%	11.9%
Health and social work	11,700	11,800	13,300	16.5%	16.2%	17.5%
Other	5,000	5,000	4,200	6.9%	6.8%	5.6%
Total	71,100	73,000	75,600	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Source: Annual Business Inquiry

Notes:

1. Catering sector is included in H: hotels and restaurants.

2. Distribution sector is included in I: transport, storage and communications.

3. Finance, IT and other business activities are included in J: financial services and K: Real estate, renting and business activities

4. Other includes A: agriculture, hunting and forestry; B: fishing; C: mining and quarrying; E: electricity, gas and water supply and O: other community, social and personal service activities.

5. The figures for construction will be underestimated due to the high level of self employment in this industry and that the self employed are excluded from the Annual Business Inquiry.

5. 2002 figures are based on SIC 1992 codes and 2003-04 figures are based on SIC 2003 codes. This may lead to a discontinuity in levels.

6. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.

7. The total may not equal the sum of the individual components due to rounding.