Chamber and committees

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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: S1W-18703

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many respite care places have been provided since May 1999, broken down by (a) health board area and (b) local authority area.

The following tables contain information on respite admissions:Respite Admissions - year to 31 March 2000

Local Authority	Residential Care Homes	Private Nursing Homes^1,2,3,4	Total
Aberdeen City⁵	1,000	210	1,210
Aberdeenshire⁵	1,385	235	1,620
Angus	453	38	491
Argyll & Bute	672	42	714
Clackmannanshire	52	23	75
Dumfries & Galloway	664	130	794
Dundee City	1,102	276	1,378
East Ayrshire⁵	454	169	623
East Dunbartonshire	127	125	252
East Lothian⁵	213	568	781
East Renfrewshire	10	116	126
Edinburgh, City of⁵	4,025	419	4,444
Eilean Siar	177	18	195
Falkirk	302	243	545
Fife	3,070	578	3,648
Glasgow City	4,571	656	5,227
Highland	3,181	374	3,555
Inverclyde	1,145	51	1,196
Midlothian⁵	838	120	958
Moray⁵	564	34	598
North Ayrshire⁵	500	402	902
North Lanarkshire	2,902	170	3,072
Orkney Islands	302		302
Perth & Kinross⁵	955	761	1,716
Renfrewshire	532	439	971
Scottish Borders⁵	264	62	326
Shetland Islands	437		437
South Ayrshire⁵	1,138	133	1,271
South Lanarkshire	2,081	522	2,603
Stirling	714	184	898
West Dunbartonshire	747	42	789
West Lothian⁵	407	158	565
Scotland	34,984	7,298	42,282

Source: ISD Scotland, ISD(34).HD: Social Work Statistics; R1 Return.Notes:1. Private nursing homes subject to the Nursing Homes Registration (Scotland) Act 1938 (as amended), or the Mental Health Act 1960/1984. It also includes a few "other" establishments, e.g. hospices registered under the Act.2. The figures shown are based on information supplied by nursing homes at the end of the financial year. It is understood from health boards that a small number of other nursing homes have not been able to provide the information requested. Data from these nursing homes (around 30 in total) and data from private hospitals also registered under the Acts, are not included in the table. For this reason caution should be used when interpreting the trends in the table. Any change in respite admissions could be due to non-submission of data in any year. Health boards with particular issues are noted in the table above.3. Patients admitted on a non-permanent basis to assist their normal carer.4. Health board area refers to that of the private nursing home and is not necessarily the normal health board area of residence of the patient receiving respite.5. Data for this health board are affected by incomplete returns across one or both years, as referred to in note 2 above.Respite Admissions - year to 31 March 2000

			Non-Obstetric Non-Psychiatric	Mental Illness Learning Disability Hospital	Admissions to long stay facilities in Geriatric Medicine^{10 11}
Health Board	Residential Care Homes	Private Nursing Homes^1,2,3,4	Hospital Discharges^{6 7}	Unit Admissions^{8 9}		Total
Argyll & Clyde	2,550	570	209	583	32	3,944
Ayrshire & Arran⁵	2,092	704	220	1,085	219	4,320
Borders	264	62	141	26	67	560
Dumfries & Galloway	664	130	35	610	3	1,442
Fife	3,070	578	54	499	5	4,206
Forth Valley	1,068	450	173	222	172	2,085
Grampian⁵	2,949	479	333	247	4	4,012
Greater Glasgow	5,848	950	129	120	80	7,127
Highland	3,181	374	408	104	36	4,103
Lanarkshire	4,389	643	209	336	64	5,641
Lothian⁵	5,483	1,265	1,132	432	532	8,844
Orkney	302	-	4	1	-	307
Shetland	437	-	-	-	-	437
Tayside	2,510	1,075	223	561	11	4,380
Western Isles	177	18	124	-	-	319
Scotland	34,984	7,298	3,394	4,826	1,225	51,727

Source: ISD Scotland: ISD(34); SMR01; SMR50HD: Social Work Statistics; R1 Return.Notes:1. Private nursing homes subject to the Nursing Homes Registration (Scotland) Act 1938 (as amended), or the Mental Health Act 1960/1984. It also includes a few "other" establishments, e.g. hospices registered under the Act.2. The figures shown are based on information supplied by nursing homes at the end of the financial year. It is understood from health boards that a small number of other nursing homes have not been able to provide the information requested. Data from these nursing homes (around 30 in total) and data from private hospitals also registered under the Acts, are not included in the table. For this reason caution should be used when interpreting the trends in the table. Any change in respite admissions could be due to non-submission of data in any year. Health boards with particular issues are noted in the table above.3. Patients admitted on a non-permanent basis to assist their normal carer.4. Health board area refers to that of the private nursing home and is not necessarily the normal health board area of residence of the patient receiving respite.5. Data for this health board are affected by incomplete returns across one or both years, as referred to in note 2 above.6. Discharges from non-obstetric/non-psychiatric specialties in NHS hospitals in Scotland.7. Defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Volume 10, (ICD10) code Z75.5 (holiday relief care) recorded as a principal diagnosis.8. Discharges from mental illness hospitals, psychiatric units and learning disability hospitals in Scotland.9. Status on Admission defined as "Informal - holiday/respite".10. Discharges from long stay facilities in the specialty of Geriatric Medicine in NHS hospitals in Scotland.11. Defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Volume 10, (ICD10) code Z75.5 (holiday relief care) recorded as "Main Contributory Social Factor on Admission".

Question reference: S1W-19672

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 16 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that special educational needs training is a core unit within teacher training courses.

Core curricular time is already devoted to special educational needs in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. In addition, training for special educational needs is being examined in the review of ITE which began earlier this year. The first stage of the Review has now been completed, and the Executive plans to publish its associated Action Plan in the near future.Training to meet special educational needs is also a key element of teachers' continuing professional development (CPD). The CPD framework is also currently under review and the Educational Inclusion Sub Group of the Ministerial Strategy Committee on CPD is looking at inclusion issues, including special educational needs. Recommendations will be made in due course.

Question reference: S1W-19669

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 16 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) paediatricians and (b) psychiatrists have undergone specific training in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

All doctors working as consultants or specialist registrars in paediatrics or psychiatry will be members of, respectively, either the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health or the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The membership examinations for both institutions require a knowledge of child and adolescent mental health, and theoretical knowledge of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) will be included.Information is not collected on those staff who undertake any specific additional training in ADHD. However, all consultants in the specialty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry will have received training in the assessment, diagnosis and management of patients with ADHD during their higher specialist training.

Question reference: S1W-19670

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 16 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will make an announcement on the establishment, remit and budget of the Scottish Medicines Consortium.

Question reference: S1W-19111

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question SIW-9963 by Iain Gray on 12 October 2000, why the allocation to the Mental Illness Specific Grant Scheme for 2001-02 as outlined in the draft budget for 2002-03 is #13.3 million rather than #19 million as previously indicated.

Question reference: S1W-19048

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 9 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people (a) absconded from hospitals and (b) were subsequently returned, whilst under section orders issued under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 in each of the past three years, broken down by health board area.

The information for patients not subject to a restriction order is not available centrally. Patients on a Hospital Order and Restriction Order become subject to the provisions of Part VI of the 1984 Act and are referred to as "restricted patients". The majority of restricted patients who abscond return to hospital within 24 hours. Because of issues of confidentiality under the Data Protection Act 1998, it is not possible to break the figures down by NHS Board area. In Scotland as a whole, the figures are as follows:

1998	15
1999	7
2000	11

Question reference: S1W-19015

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether information relating to firearm licence applications refused as a result of police enquiries are centrally collated to ease access by other police forces throughout the UK.

At present there is no central or national firearms licence application database covering all UK force areas. Each Scottish, and indeed UK, police force maintains its own standalone system. In Scotland, the Scottish Criminal Records Office receives and records details of firearm certificate holders located within the Scottish force areas. This information can then be accessed on-line by all Scottish police forces.The Police Information Technology Organisation is progressing the establishment of a National (UK) Firearms Certificate Holders Register. The National Firearms Certificate Holders Register Project Board, which includes representation from the Association of Police Officers in Scotland, is aiming for UK-wide implementation of the register by summer 2002.

Question reference: S1W-19014

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland or the Scottish Police Federation on the weighting attributed to police reports on firearms licence applications and whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government to review the licensing procedures.

Question reference: S1W-19013

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many firearm licenses were (a) applied for, (b) granted and (c) refused in each of the last three years, broken down by police force area.

The information requested is set out in the following table.

Police force area	Year	Applications
		New firearm certificate		Renewal of firearm certificate
		Granted	Refused	Granted	Refused
Central	1998	40	3	-	-
	1999	24	-	-	-
	2000	53	-	251	-
Dumfries & Galloway	1998	70	-	47	1
	1999	48	-	12	-
	2000	118	-	480	-
Fife	1998	27	1	1	-
	1999	47	-	1	-
	2000	51	1	287	-
Grampian	1998	192	7	-	7
	1999	201	2	12	-
	2000	311	2	1,158	2
Lothian & Borders	1998	175	-	5	1
	1999	117	2	-	-
	2000	148	4	857	3
Northern	1998	180	1	5	5
	1999	184	5	123	-
	2000	228	2	2,024	1
Strathclyde	1998	181	1	-	-
	1999	126	1	-	-
	2000	118	-	918	1
Tayside	1998	97	7	-	-
	1999	110	2	-	-
	2000	125	1	915	1
Annual totals for all police forces	1998	962	20	58	14
	1999	857	12	148	-
	2000	1,152	10	6,890	8

Question reference: S1W-19385

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 8 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would cost to add slip roads to and from East Linton to the A1 expressway between Haddington and Dunbar once the expressway has been built.