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-22992

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that voluntary sector services are not disproportionately affected by funding cuts to the Supporting People programme.

The Scottish Executive believessignificant efficiency improvements are achievable through local reviews of thestrategic relevance, quality and value for money offered by all services fundedthrough the Supporting People programme. It is vital that local authorities retainthe freedom to secure maximum efficiency improvements where they judge best. Imposingthe same level of savings on all providers doesn’t offer any incentive to providersto improve efficiencies.

However, the Scottish Executivehas issued guidance that all services and service providers must be treated fairlyand objectively, with transparency in decision making and recording of decisions,and efficiency improvements sought by local authorities internally and externally.

As part of the monitoring arrangements,agreed with stakeholders, local authorities will have to submit statements froma representative range of providers confirming they agree the process has been fair.If providers are unwilling to sign such a statement the local authority has to explainthe circumstances and the Scottish Executive will investigate further. Analysisof the first monitoring returns does not appear to indicate that external providershave been disproportionately affected so far, but we will continue to monitor thisaspect very carefully.

Question reference: S2W-22991

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to local authorities in relation to managing funding cuts to the Supporting People programme and what steps it is taking to monitor compliance with such guidance.

Comprehensive guidance has beenissued to local authorities on the review of local services, through which the efficiencyimprovements will be delivered. The guidance sets out the key principles and processesfor assessing the strategic relevance, quality and value for money of each service.It emphasises the importance of fairness and objectivity, with local authoritiesseeking efficiency improvements in a similar way internal and externally for allservices and all providers, with transparency in decision making. Funding reductionsshouldn’t be passed on in a pro-rata way across all providers without evaluationof the strategic appropriateness of the services or the scope for improved efficiencies.

The Scottish Executive believessignificant efficiencies are achievable in the programme and will expect to seeevidence of that for the next spending review, but monitoring arrangements willalso allow local authorities to record any adverse impact of budget changes on servicesand service users to inform future funding decisions.

Question reference: S2W-22939

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 6 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to increase the number of specialist neonatal nurses.

We are on track to achieve thePartnership Agreement target of attracting 12,000 nurses and midwives into NHSScotlandby 2007. This target is associated with all qualified nurses and midwives, includingneonatal nurses. Information on specialist neonatal nurses is not collected separately.

The Scottish Executive publishedthe National Workforce Planning Framework 2005 in August 2005 which setsout a workforce planning cycle at national, regional and NHS board level. This planningcycle allows for a bottom up evidence based approach to future staffing numbersacross all staff groups, including nurses and midwives. Workforce forecasts containedwithin NHS board workforce plans will help inform national decisions on future trainingnumbers and supply.

In addition, the Scottish Executivehas funded 18 experienced nurses and midwives from across NHSScotland to completethe Advanced Neonatal Intensive Care course (NNIC) at Napier University. Thiscourse will take two years (part-time) and includes eight modules at Masters Level.

Question reference: S2W-22938

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 6 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many neonatal units have a specialist counsellor in breastfeeding.

Question reference: S2O-09095

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 23 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to ski areas to encourage the development of ski communities.

The Executive, through the Enterprise Networks, VisitScotland and sportscotland works with communities including those close to ski centres, to support their development.

Assistance is tailored to local opportunities and can include activities such as; destination marketing, encouraging diversification, business networking and infrastructure investment – all of which contribute to the long-term development of the community.

Question reference: S2W-21075

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 31 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) grocery, (b) butcher, (c) baker, (d) fishmonger, (e) newsagent, (f) confectionery and (g) tobacco retail outlets and how many wholesalers there were in (i) 1998 and (ii) 2004.

The number of retail outlets in Scotland was as follows (separate figures are not available for newsagents and confectionery):

		Number of business sites
	Business Activity	1998	2004
(a)	Retail sale of fruit and vegetables	1160	620
(b)	Retail sale of meat and meat products	1310	880
(c)	Retail sale of bread, cakes, flour confectionery and sugar confectionery	1050	890
(d)	Retail sale of fish, crustaceans and molluscs	425	315
(g)	Retail sale of tobacco products	1220	505
(e,f,g)	Retail sale by confectioners, tobacconists and newsagents (CTNs)	910	1205

The total number of wholesalers in Scotland was as follows:

	Number of Enterprises
Business Activity	1998	2004
Wholesale Trade and Commission Trade, Except of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles	6615	6325

Of this, the number active in the wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco was:

	Number of Enterprises
Business Activity	1998	2004
Wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco	1210	1150

Source: Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) which is maintained by the Office for National Statistics.

Question reference: S2W-21939

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 27 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many midwife hours have been worked in each year from 1994 to 2005.

The number of midwife hours worked in each year is not available centrally. Centrally held information provides details of staff in post at particular workforce census dates.

Snapshot figures are available for headcount and whole-time equivalent (WTE) staff in post. WTE adjusts headcount to take account of part time working. Latest available figures are at 30 September 2005. These do not include data on bank and agency usage.

Further information is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Midwives in NHS Scotland

Headcount and Whole-Time Equivalent as at 30 September

Year	Headcount	WTE
1994	3,964	3,284.6
1995	3,875	3,184.9
1996	3,812	3,126.2
1997	3,748	3,076.6
1998	3,663	2,995.3
1999	3,626	2,962.8
2000	3,600	2,928.2
2001	3,504	2,859.9
2002	3,475	2,839.0
2003	3,506	2,862.9
2004	3,507	2,857.8
2005	3,534	2,861.9

Source : ISD Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-22418

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5654 by Mr Tom McCabe on 2 February 2004, how many calls there have been to the healthyliving line in each month since January 2004.

The number of calls to the healthy living advice line between 1 February 2004 and 31 December 2005 are as follows:

2004	2005
		January	231
February	491	February	226
March	351	March	265
April	255	April	237
May	308	May	225
June	303	June	200
July	588	July	163
August	917	August	230
September	658	September	249
October	393	October	196
November	292	November	170
December	136	December	105

Question reference: S2W-21938

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 24 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many practising maternity units there have been in each year from 1980 to 2005 and what the reasons were for any closures.

The information requested is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-20693 on 25 November 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

A table showing number of births by hospital for years 1980-2003 is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38645). This shows the hospitals at which babies were delivered, but does not specify whether deliveries were in a maternity unit.

Question reference: S2W-21941

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 24 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the ratio is of maternity units with 24-hour on-site consultant cover to those that do not have such cover and whether it will list the units in each category.