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-19452

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on publicly funded health publications in each of the last six years.

Question reference: S2W-19339

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 29 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware that (a) many of the special-needs children and adults living in the Aberdeen Camphill communities suffer from hyperacusis (an abnormal sensitivity to noise) and (b) there are currently no acceptable noise levels set for special-needs individuals and how it proposes to adapt the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) methodology for noise measurement and assessment to give a realistic assessment of the noise impact of the proposed Murtle option for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route on these individuals.

The Scottish Executive is aware that some of the residents in the Camphill Communities suffer from hyperacusis. The Scottish Executive is also aware that there are no standards for maximum noise levels for special-needs individuals. It is for this reason that the noise assessment for Camphill is going beyond the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) methodology by, for example, exploring noise levels at greater than normal assessment distances and by utilising World Health Organization guidance. Attempts are also being made to agree noise assessment parameters with the Camphill Communities based upon speech frequency ranges.

Question reference: S2W-19338

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 29 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the (a) suggestion contained in Professor James Hogg's interim report into the impact of the Murtle option for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route that the special-needs children at Camphill Rudolf Steiner Schools be desensitised to the proposed road noise by participating in the creation of a three-metre noise barrier and (b) view of the autism experts who carried out an autism accreditation appraisal on the Camphill school that such a suggestion "at best shows a naivité into the complexity of autistic spectrum disorder and at worst a total misunderstanding or disregard to the effects of the disorder upon individuals".

Question reference: S2W-19337

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 29 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of the statement by Dr Lorna Wing, an expert in autistic spectrum disorders, in relation to the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route that "the noise made during the construction of a bypass and the continual noise when it is in use would make life intolerable for many Camphill residents".

Question reference: S2W-19451

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 28 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many publicly funded health publications there have been in each of the last six years.

Question reference: S2W-19445

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 28 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS Scotland publications there have been in each of the last six years.

Question reference: S2W-19447

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 28 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS board publications there have been in each of the last six years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S2W-19086

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) medical school places and (b) junior doctor posts there have been in each year since 1995.

The recommended intakes which take account of overseas students, for medical school places in Scotland are detailed in the following table:

Undergraduate Medical Intake 1995-96 to 2005-06

Year	Number of Students
	Home/EU	Overseas	Total
1995-96	781	60	841
1996-97	818	66	884
1997-98	818	66	884
1998-99	833	67	900
1999-2000	833	67	900
2000-01	834	66	900
2001-02	834	66	900
2002-03	834	66	900
2003-04	834	66	900
2004-05	834	66	900
2005-06	834	66	900

Source: Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.

The number of junior doctor posts is not held centrally. However, the total number of junior doctors, in whole time equivalents, is detailed in the following table and this gives an approximation of the number of posts each year from 1995.

Junior Doctors 1995-2004

Year	WTE
1995	3,863.9
1996	4,038.6
1997	4,174.4
1998	4,221.1
1999	4,283.8
2000	4,239.7
2001	4,429.1
2002	4,912.9
2003	5,066.3
2004	5,273.8

Source: Workforce Statistics, ISD Scotland.

Note: 1. Data includes Pre Registration House Officers, Senior House Officers, Registrars and GP Registrars.

Workforce planning is underway to determine the number of training places Scotland requires both for the longer term and for the immediate transition period for new training arrangements known as Modernising Medical Careers (MMC), where the aim is to ensure that those doctors currently in the system in Scotland have every opportunity to remain here.

Question reference: S2W-19090

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many junior doctors did not have a post to go to (a) on 3 August 2005 and (b) in each of the last five years.

The following table details the destination of those graduates from Scottish medical schools at 30 September 1999-2004 as recorded by NHS Education for Scotland.

Taking up Pre-Registration House Officer:	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Scotland	619	672	644	748	721	644
England and Wales	80	44	28	32	48	57
Northern Ireland	12	5	4	4	6	9
HM Forces	1	1	0	0	1	1
Abroad	0	1	5	5	3	9
Unknown/Other	14	5	8	12	9	7
Total	726	728	689	801	788	727

Source: NHS Education for Scotland Destination from Scottish Medical School Graduates.

This shows that the destination of a small number of graduates in each year was either unknown or other, than posts in the home countries, HM Forces or abroad.

Of the seven graduates whose destination was listed as “Unknown/Other” in 2004 four were in the unknown category and of the three that chose not to take up PRHO posts this was due to travel, further study and one did not apply for registration. We do not have evidence that any of these graduates did not have a post to go to for any reason other than through their own choice. Information prior to 2004 is not available.

Information is not held centrally on the number of junior doctors at Senior House Officer and Specialist Registrar level seeking a post in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-19088

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 22 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many international medical graduates there have been working in training posts in Scotland in the last five years.

Information on the number of Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) medical and dental staff in training grades, outwith the United Kingdom, over the last five years is shown in the following table.

Country of Qualification Outwith the UK for HCHS Medical and Dental Training Grades by Time

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Total Training Grades	891	952	1,087	1,166	1,339
Registrar Group	314	339	402	386	431
Senior House Officers	525	525	636	726	762
House Officers	52	88	49	54	146

Source: ISD Scotland, Ref: S2W-19088 (IR2005-02817).

International migration has been on the increase in recent years and as the market place for health care professionals has become global this will continue to shape the supply and demand of workforce capacity. To this end, the NHSScotland, in line with UK policy, will be introducing a Code of Practice for international recruitment of health care professionals which will prohibit active recruitment from developing countries. However, appointments to medical training and substantive positions are made via an open recruitment process and NHSScotland does not give preference to any applicant on the basis of their country of origin.