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: S3W-19574

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the terms of reference are for its review of the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP).

Question reference: S3W-19753

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many accident and emergency staff were employed by the Scottish Ambulance Service in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Grampian, (c) Western Isles, (d) Orkney and (e) Shetland in (i) 2007 and (ii) 2008, broken down by month.

The information is not held in the format requested. However, the numbers of accident and emergency staff in the North Operating Division, covering these NHS board areas, are set out below. Staff numbers are still recorded under the previous structure of two operating divisions.

North East Operating Division

January 2007	230	July 2007	233
February 2007	231	August 2007	233
March 2007	231	September 2007	233
April 2007	231	October 2007	233
May 2007	232	November 2007	233
June 2007	232	December 2007	234

January 2008	236	July 2008	243
February 2008	236	August 2008	244
March 2008	236	September 2008	245
April 2008	238	October 2008	245
May 2008	240	November 2008	245
June 2008	240	December 2008	247

North and West Operating Division

January 2007	212	July 2007	215
February 2007	214	August 2007	216
March 2007	215	September 2007	216
April 2007	215	October 2007	216
May 2007	215	November 2007	217
June 2007	215	December 2007	217

January 2008	217	July 2008	223
February 2008	217	August 2008	223
March 2008	219	September 2008	223
April 2008	219	October 2008	223
May 2008	220	November 2008	223
June 2008	222	December 2008	223

Notes:

*Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

**Accident and emergency staff comprise paramedics, technicians, paramedic team leaders and urgent tier ambulance care assistants.

***Figures are for total staff numbers.

Question reference: S3W-19755

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 January 2009

The Scottish Ambulance Service has advised that fixed-wing staff are paramedics employed on a rotational basis on both the aircraft and on road vehicles. The rosters and staff ratio mix allows for the necessary cover for both air and road requirements. If vacancies occur on air shifts these are managed by the remaining staff undertaking more air shifts until the vacancy is filled. This preserves complete cover for the aircraft.

Rotary wing (Helimed) staff are paramedics who are, in general, seconded for a three to five year period. The Scottish Ambulance Service has provided the following information in relation to Helimed vacancies:

(a) one vacancy during 2006

(b) two vacancies during 2007

The current two vacancies are in the process of being filled.

Question reference: S3W-19754

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 22 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff were employed in each emergency medical dispatch centre (EMDC) in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008, broken down by month.

The information requested is set out in the following table.

	South West	North West	South East
January 2007	71	40	54
February 2007	71	40	54
March 2007	75	40	54
April 2007	75	40	56
May 2007	75	40	56
June 2007	76	40	57
July 2007	80	40	57
August 2007	79	40	57
September 2007	79	40	59
October 2007	79	40	60
November 2007	79	40	60
December 2007	81	40	64
January 2008	81	40	64
February 2008	82	41	68
March 2008	82	41	67
April 2008	82	43	68
May 2008	86	43	74
June 2008	87	43	74
July 2008	87	43	76
August 2008	87	43	78
September 2008	90	46	82
October 2008	96	47	88
November 2008	97	47	89
December 2008	100	49	90

Notes:

*Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

**EMDC staff comprise call takers, dispatchers, EMDC supervisors, EMDC shift managers, EMDC admin managers, EMDC data administrators, AMPDS (Advanced Medical Priority Dispatch System) auditors, AMPDS supervisors and centralised workforce planners.

***Figures are for total staff numbers.

Question reference: S3W-19223

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 21 January 2009

The following number of properties were completed by the Devanha consortium in the period 2005-06 to 2007-08:

	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Number of units	0	0	17

Question reference: S3W-19227

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 21 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the administration and start-up costs incurred by Highland Housing Alliance in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008 and whether any grant funding was received for this purpose.

Details of the administrative and start up costs incurred by the Highland Housing Alliance between 2006-07 and 2007-08, and grant funding from Scottish Government are as follows:

	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Administration and start up costs	£167,500	£190,500	Not yet available
Scottish Government Grant	£29,325	£12,500	0

Question reference: S3W-19224

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 21 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the actual build costs for properties completed by the Devanha consortium in (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) 2007 and whether these properties were delivered within the stated timeframe.

There are no build costs for the period 2005-06 to 2006-07 as no properties were completed by the Devanha consortium in this period.

During 2007-08, a total of 17 properties were completed. Final build costs will become available during 2009-10 and I will write to the member with further details as soon as they are available and a copy will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 47407).

Question reference: S3W-19219

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 January 2009

Question reference: S3W-19218

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 January 2009

Question reference: S3W-19225

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 21 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the actual build costs for properties completed by the Highland Housing Association in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008 and whether these properties were delivered within the stated timeframe.