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: S2W-23630

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the fingerprint expertise, experience and qualifications of each of the heads of the fingerprint bureaux in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-23155

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20247 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 November 2005, whether the reports by John McLeod in respect of his investigations into the Shirley McKie fingerprint case will now be made public and, if so, when they will be published; if not, what the reasons are for not publishing the reports and whether it will publish the terms of reference and the conclusions arising from these reports; whether the Executive or the Lord Advocate has commissioned any other reports into this case, and, if so, when these will be published, what the terms of reference were and what conclusions were reached.

It is not my intention tomake the MacLeod reports public. They were commissioned by the Executive aspart of its defence of the civil action brought by Shirley McKie. Publicationof the MacLeod reports would undermine the basic principle of Scots law thatneither party to a litigation is obliged to disclose reports commissioned forthe purpose of the litigation. The Scottish Executive has commissioned onefurther report as part of its defence of the civil action which will not bepublished for the same reason. The Lord Advocate also commissioned reports inthe course of criminal investigations linked to the Shirley McKie case. The Lord Advocatedoes not intend to publish these reports as they were prepared for the purposesof criminal investigations and as such are confidential.

Question reference: S2W-24093

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are currently diagnosed as suffering from cystic fibrosis in each NHS board area and how many were diagnosed, (a) 5 years ago, (b) 10 years ago, (c) 15 years ago, (d) 20 years ago, (e) 25 years ago, (f) 30 years ago, (g) 35 years ago, (h) 40 years ago and (i) 45 years ago, broken down into those aged (i) under 5, (ii) 5 to 10 (iii) 11 to 16 and (iv) over 16.

Centrally held information canprovide details for patients where cystic fibrosis is identified on their hospitalrecords. These figures may represent an undercount of the true number ofcases because cystic fibrosis could be an underlying reason for admission to hospitaland, as such, will not always be recorded.

Table 1 presents the number ofpatients discharged from acute hospitals in Scotland with a diagnosis of cysticfibrosis broken down by health board of residence and age group. Patients with morethan one discharge in a year are only counted once in each health board and agegroup.

It is not possible to count thenumber of patients prior to 1981 as individual hospital discharge records have notbeen linked before this date.

Table 1. Number of PatientsDischarged with a Diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis in Scotland in LastFinancial Year, Five Years Ago, 10 Years Ago, 15 Years Ago, 20 Years Ago^1,2,3,4

Health Board of Residence	Age Group	Year End 31 March
Health Board of Residence	Age Group	1985	1990	1995	2000	2005⁴
		1	2	3	4	5
Scotland	Under 5	68	66	78	59	71
	5 to 10	66	65	87	87	95
	11 to 16	51	53	86	95	136
	Over 16	75	78	116	168	197
	All Ages	260	262	367	409	499
Argyll and Clyde	Under 5	9	2	6	1	4
	5 to 10	3	7	6	3	6
	11 to 16	8	1	10	5	11
	Over 16	7	4	6	15	20
	All Ages	27	14	28	24	41
Ayrshire and Arran	Under 5	8	8	5	3	5
	5 to 10	5	6	5	7	4
	11 to 16	4	8	10	14	9
	Over 16	3	22	12	16	26
	All Ages	20	44	32	40	44
Borders	Under 5	1	2	1	1	-
	5 to 10	2	-	1	1	2
	11 to 16	1	-	-	2	2
	Over 16	1	1	3	2	4
	All Ages	5	3	5	6	8
Dumfries and Galloway	Under 5	1	7	9	2	1
	5 to 10	-	8	7	10	6
	11 to 16	1	6	9	11	11
	Over 16	-	7	11	14	13
	All Ages	2	28	36	37	31
Fife	Under 5	2	1	1	2	3
	5 to 10	6	2	8	2	2
	11 to 16	8	4	5	6	6
	Over 16	1	1	4	7	9
	All Ages	17	8	18	17	20
Forth Valley	Under 5	4	11	9	7	2
	5 to 10	4	6	12	8	9
	11 to 16	4	3	7	9	16
	Over 16	2	6	14	18	21
	All Ages	14	26	42	42	48
Grampian	Under 5	7	9	9	-	7
	5 to 10	8	3	6	3	-
	11 to 16	1	5	6	7	9
	Over 16	4	7	11	19	16
	All Ages	20	24	32	29	32
Greater Glasgow	Under 5	11	3	8	1	9
	5 to 10	9	4	5	10	9
	11 to 16	6	1	7	5	11
	Over 16	46	1	6	7	16
	All Ages	72	9	26	23	45
Highland	Under 5	-	3	7	2	4
	5 to 10	4	4	5	8	5
	11 to 16	-	4	4	3	11
	Over 16	-	6	15	11	7
	All Ages	4	17	31	24	27
Lanarkshire	Under 5	8	16	22	8	11
	5 to 10	9	21	22	24	18
	11 to 16	7	11	15	23	38
	Over 16	4	16	19	28	33
	All Ages	28	64	78	83	100
Lothian	Under 5	7	1	1	30	23
	5 to 10	12	2	-	9	32
	11 to 16	6	3	4	2	9
	Over 16	5	1	2	16	13
	All Ages	30	7	7	57	77
Orkney	Under 5	-	-	-	-	2
	5 to 10	-	-	-	-	-
	11 to 16	-	-	-	-	-
	Over 16	-	-	-	-	-
	All Ages	-	-	-	-	2
Shetland	Under 5	1	-	-	-	-
	5 to 10	-	-	-	-	-
	11 to 16	-	-	1	-	-
	Over 16	-	-	-	-	-
	All Ages	1	-	1	-	-
Tayside	Under 5	8	3	-	2	-
	5 to 10	4	2	7	1	2
	11 to 16	4	6	7	7	2
	Over 16	2	5	12	14	17
	All Ages	18	16	26	24	21
Western Isles	Under 5	1	-	-	-	-
	5 to 10	-	-	3	1	-
	11 to 16	1	1	1	1	1
	Over 16	-	1	1	1	2
	All Ages	2	2	5	3	3

Source: ISD Scotland(SMR01).

Notes:

1. These statistics are derived from data collected ondischarges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland.

2. Cases where the patient was not admitted to hospitalare not included.

3. Up to six diagnoses (one principal, five secondary)are recorded on SMR01 returns. All six diagnoses have been used to identify cysticfibrosis. The following code was used from the International Statistical Classificationof Diseases and Other Health Related Problems, tenth revision (ICD10): E84 for dischargesfrom 1 April 1996, and ninth revision (ICD-9): 277.0 for discharges prior to 1 April1996. However, it should be noted that the use of these codes may vary from hospitalto hospital.

4. Data for year ending31 March 2005 should be treated as provisional.

Question reference: S2W-24104

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what it anticipates the cost of Agenda for Change will be in each NHS board and whether it will make additional resources available to implement the process.

The final cost of implementingAgenda for Change on a board by board basis will not be known until such times asstaff have gone though the job evaluation process and are assimilated to the newAgenda for Change pay bands.

In terms of NHSScotland overall,the anticipated cost pressures associatedwith Agenda for Change were reported in The Scottish Executive: Draft Budget2006-07. You can access a copy of this at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/publications.

The Scottish Executive previouslymade available a total of £3.5 million towards the administrative costs of Agendafor Change. This was issued to health boards in NHS Scotland, on a proportionatebasis, in two separate tranches over 2003-04 and 2004-05. There are currently noplans to issue further dedicated funding to assist boards in implementing Agendafor Change.

Question reference: S2W-24105

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards have (a) completed and (b) not yet completed the Agenda for Change job matching process and when staff will enter the new grading structure.

Agenda for Change is being implementedin partnership with trade unions and professional organisations in NHSScotland,and significant progress has been made. Just under 90% of posts which have beensubmitted to matching panels have been matched against national profiles. Around67,000 staff in the nursing, midwifery, ancillaryand AHP staff groups have been approved for assimilation to the new Agenda for Change pay bands,and the first groups of staff were paid on those new pay bands in January.

A number of boards have completedthe matching process for all staff who match national job profiles. However, notall of these staff have passed through the local consistency and national monitoringprocesses, which is required before assimilation to the new pay bands can take place.

A plan for 2006 has been drawnup and agreed in partnership, which health boards are committed to delivering. Basedon the plan it is anticipated that Agenda for Change will be introduced and operationalby the end of 2006, with all staff assimilated to the new pay bands by October 2006.

The Pay Modernisation Team, alongsidethe Scottish Executive Health Department, will monitor progress towards the planfor 2006, providing health boards with support and advice as necessary.

Question reference: S2W-24088

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23439 by Cathy Jamieson on 7 March 2006, whether it will provide details of the costs to it of the legal representation it sought in defence of the claim for compensation against it by Shirley McKie once the court has resolved the outstanding issues in relation to expenses in this case.

Question reference: S2W-24109

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce a half-hourly rail service between Motherwell and Stirling via Cumbernauld and a new station at Castlecary with park and ride facilities, as recommended by the Central Scotland Transport Corridor Studies in January 2003.

An option to introduce a half-hourlyrail service between Motherwell and Stirling is included in the First ScotRail franchise. However,before such a service can be introduced track capacity issues on the route requireto be resolved, which are the subject of current study through Network Rail’s RouteUtilisation Strategy. This is due to report by the autumn of 2006.

The Scottish Executive awardedFalkirk Council £450,000 from the Public Transport Fund to undertake a feasibilitystudy to improve rail services along the A80/M80 corridor, including opening a stationand park and ride site at Castlecary (now called Allandale). The study concludedin February 2006 and Transport Scotland is assessing the findings of the report.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.

Question reference: S2W-24036

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21577 by Cathy Jamieson on 22 December 2005, whether the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is still responsible for deciding whether evidence in a criminal prosecution meets the essential burdens of proof in Scots Law.

Question reference: S2W-23662

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is its understanding that the (a) management and (b) staff of the Scottish Criminal Records Office accept that "an honest mistake" was made in respect of the misidentification of Shirley McKie's fingerprint.

The Executive reached a settlementwith Ms McKie on the basis that the misidentification had been made in good faithand was not malicious. The basis on which the Executive sought to reach a settlementwas made clear to the staff at SCRO in June 2005. The Director of SCRO has confirmedthat he accepted ministers’ decision to settle the case and has acknowledged itas an opportunity for the organisation and staff to move on.

Question reference: S2W-23665

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide written proof that it was accepted by both parties to the settlement reached between Shirley McKie and the Scottish Executive that “no malice was involved”.