- Asked by: Ben Wallace, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 23 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11191 by Susan Deacon on 30 November 2000, how many general practitioners were recruited in 2000.
Answer
Robust information on the number of general medical practitioners recruited in any year is not available.
- Asked by: Ben Wallace, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 13 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many general practitioners were employed in each year since 1996.
Answer
The number of general practitioners employed in each year since 1996 for which there is firm data is shown in the following table. The table should be read in conjunction with the notes below.General medical practitioners contracted to NHSScotlandHeadcount at 1 October
Year | Number2 |
| 1996 | 3 877 |
| 1997 | 3 942 |
| 1998 | 4 026 |
| 1999 | 4 073 |
Notes:1. Source: ISD Scotland, General Medical Practitioner Database; Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education.
2. Number comprises principals, assistants, GP registrars, associates and salaried doctors.
- Asked by: Ben Wallace, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 13 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many general practitioners retired in (a) 1997-98, (b) 1998-99 and (c) 1999-2000.
Answer
Robust information on the number of general practitioners who retire is not available. Information is collected on the number of GPs who cease to practise as principals in Scotland. However, a significant percentage do not supply a reason for leaving, and the number of those who have retired cannot be estimated with any accuracy.
- Asked by: Ben Wallace, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 2 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authority staff are currently employed in community care services for the elderly.
Answer
Information on the number of staff in local authority social work departments by client group is given in table 4 of the statistical bulletin Staff of Scottish Local Authority Social Work Departments, 1999, published by the Scottish Executive in January 2001 and also available on the Scottish Executive website.
- Asked by: Ben Wallace, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 2 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6120 by Susan Deacon on 5 May 2000, when the Dairy Products (Hygiene) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 will come before the Parliament for consideration.
Answer
I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that the Dairy Product (Hygiene) (Scotland) Regulations have completed their three-month mandatory notification period with the Commission and now have the necessary clearance in respect of technical standards.Some revisions are currently being considered by the Executive's Solicitors and it is anticipated that the Regulations will be laid before the Scottish Parliament as soon as these have been addressed.
- Asked by: Ben Wallace, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 2 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total amount of resources transfer from health boards to local authorities was in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Answer
The information requested for 1997-98 is given on page 21 of NHS (Scotland) Summarised Accounts 1997-98, published by The Stationery Office in 1999, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. no. 11584).The information requested for 1998-99 is given on page 21 of NHS (Scotland) Summarised Accounts 1998-99, published by The Stationery Office in 2000, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. no. 11585).The NHS (Scotland) Summarised Accounts 1999-2000 are not yet published. However, using the figures reported in the annual accounts of the health boards in Scotland, the total for 1999-2000 is £147,301,000.
- Asked by: Ben Wallace, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 17 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will implement the British Medical Association's recommendation that the smoking cessation drug Zyban be issued, with appropriate guidance for both doctors and patients.
Answer
Health Board Drug and Therapeutic Committees are providing doctors with guidance on the prescription of Zyban. As a prescription-only medicine, clinical responsibility for the use of this drug rests with the prescriber who should discuss this treatment with the patient concerned.
Guidance on the appropriate use of Zyban is also contained in the British National Formulary, published by the British Medical Association and by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and issued free of charge to doctors. In addition, Zyban is dispensed with a Patient Information Leaflet to ensure that it is used safely and correctly.The Executive is looking at the availability of smoking cessation services, Zyban is one element of this.
- Asked by: Ben Wallace, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 9 January 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the Acute Services Review Body has met since its inception.
Answer
The Acute Services Group has met 14 times since its inception in August 1998.
- Asked by: Ben Wallace, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 7 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will undertake a review of the collection of national statistics in order to ensure that a wider range of figures is held centrally with particular regard to health board, education and local authority statistics.
Answer
Scottish Executive statistics will be reviewed within the National Statistics framework, at least every five years, involving external experts as appropriate. These reviews will be wide-ranging and will take account of the needs of users of the information, while considering the burden that meeting these imposes on data providers. A UK-wide review programme is being developed for each broad subject area (National Statistics theme) and consultation on the proposed three-year work plans for 2001-02 onwards is currently in progress. Details are available on the National Statistics website,
http://www.statistics.gov.uk.
I will shortly be releasing the second Scottish Executive Statistical Plan, for 2001-02, for consultation. This will provide an opportunity to comment on all aspects of our statistical programme, including the need for statistics on particular topics or areas. Responses to the consultation on the first plan, issued earlier this year, did not suggest any major shortfalls in the range of statistics we have available. We specifically highlighted that we had identified a growing need for more detailed local data: we will be bringing forward proposals for meeting that.Scottish health statistics are not collected by the Executive and so were not within the initial scope of National Statistics. The Minister for Health and Community Care is currently considering detailed proposals on the extension of the scope of National Statistics to include health data. All information within scope will be covered by the same review arrangements described above.
- Asked by: Ben Wallace, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 6 December 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will introduce to facilitate health boards' adaptation to operating within a single European currency.
Answer
The Scottish Executive Health Department has issued guidance to the NHS in Scotland on how to plan for the conversion to the euro.
