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: S1W-21333

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 17 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how the performance of Social Inclusion Partnership Boards is monitored.

The performance of Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP) Boards is monitored as part of the overall Scottish Executive Monitoring Framework for Social Inclusion Partnerships. This includes a requirement on SIPs to produce Annual Reports for the Executive on their progress against objectives, to produce information in relation to their area in terms of compulsory indicators of performance specified by the Executive, and formal appraisal visits carried out at least once every two years by Communities Scotland officials.SIPs are also subject to an evaluation programme conducted by independent consultants either towards the end of their designation, or in the case of some SIPs, both in the middle and towards the end of their designation.

Question reference: S1W-21030

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-19994 by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 December 2001, who briefed the UK delegation to the EU Health Council in Brussels on 15 November on matters in which Scotland has a particular interest.

Question reference: S1W-19724

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it is currently making to BAE SYSTEMS plc in opposition to the transfer of the Nimrod programme from Prestwick to Chadderton, Greater Manchester.

Question reference: S1W-20749

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 10 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what average length of time elapses between (a) the submission of an application for, and (b) installation of, free central heating and insulation under its Central Heating Programme.

Question reference: S1W-20910

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 8 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-19430 by Jackie Baillie on 25 November 2001, how many households have benefited from its central heating programme to date.

Question reference: S1W-20544

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Richard Simpson on 7 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority has allocated for emergency planning in the current financial year.

Question reference: S1W-19722

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 7 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to BAE SYSTEMS plc concerning the transfer of the Nimrod programme from Prestwick to Chadderton, Greater Manchester.

Question reference: S1W-20549

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital bed spaces are available in the event of major emergencies occurring, broken down by health board.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, NHS Scotland has contingency plans in place in every NHS board for dealing with major emergencies, and these plans are reviewed and exercised regularly. They include arrangements for making available hospital beds for treating casualties and for mutual assistance where the resources of more than one NHS board area would be required to deal with a particular incident.

Question reference: S1W-17844

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 3 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the planned guidelines for home schooling will require entry to premises used for home schooling by representatives of local councils.

The draft guidance, which has been issued for consultation until March 2002, indicates that authorities do not have an automatic right of access to a home educating family's home. It recommends that where a family does not feel comfortable in allowing an education officer into their home, the authority should respect their views and arrange a meeting in a mutually acceptable location. Although it is recognised that the learning environment has a key bearing on the effectiveness of learning, authorities should, in the majority of cases, be able to assess the suitability of the education being provided without gaining access to the child's home. The draft guidance also suggests, however, that it is reasonable for authorities to be given access to the home educated child in order to adequately assess the child's progress and to satisfy themselves that the child is receiving a suitable education.

Question reference: S1W-21029

Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 December 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been diagnosed as having Amyotorphic Lateral Sclerosis since 1991 to date and what percentage of those who are have been so diagnosed are veterans of the Gulf War.

Information on the incidence of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Motor Neurone Disease, in Scotland from 1991, broken down by age and sex, is given in the following tables.Information on veterans of the Gulf War is not held by the Executive.Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) (Motor Neurone Disease) - number of patients by sex, age and year of admission

Males
Age Group	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	Total
0-4	2	1	3	4	6	1	2	1	0	1	21
5-9	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	5
10-14	0	0	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	4
15-19	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	4
20-24	0	0	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
25-29	2	0	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	11
30-34	0	2	0	1	1	4	1	2	3	1	15
35-39	2	4	5	4	2	1	0	2	1	3	24
40-44	0	5	4	3	3	1	1	4	2	7	30
45-49	5	7	4	3	8	6	9	4	3	4	53
50-54	7	10	7	5	3	9	7	6	9	9	72
55-59	11	10	10	11	10	12	12	16	13	12	117
60-64	17	16	10	19	11	10	20	11	7	13	134
65-69	17	24	28	12	27	12	23	16	19	16	194
70-74	23	30	17	17	22	20	20	21	15	26	211
75-79	20	16	12	10	21	14	17	20	24	20	174
80-84	12	13	11	16	12	14	8	9	9	4	108
85+	4	6	1	4	6	5	6	13	6	5	56
All ages	124	145	114	116	133	112	129	126	114	124	1,237

Females
Age Group	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	Total
0-4	0	1	2	4	0	1	0	0	0	4	12
5-9	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	5
10-14	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	6
15-19	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
20-24	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	3	0	8
25-29	2	1	0	2	0	1	1	1	0	0	8
30-34	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	3
35-39	2	1	1	1	3	0	0	0	1	0	9
40-44	1	3	1	2	1	1	0	1	2	6	18
45-49	1	5	4	3	1	2	0	1	2	1	20
50-54	4	6	6	3	4	8	4	3	5	5	48
55-59	5	6	8	8	7	7	9	7	5	4	66
60-64	12	14	11	6	8	12	5	13	9	19	109
65-69	14	19	15	16	15	15	11	17	16	10	148
70-74	17	22	14	22	10	14	22	25	11	15	172
75-79	17	13	8	14	9	10	10	20	14	16	131
80-84	7	10	12	9	14	13	12	9	11	5	102
85+	5	7	9	8	4	9	15	21	12	8	98
All ages	89	108	95	100	78	94	90	121	93	97	965

Both Sexes
Age Group	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	Total
0-4	2	2	5	8	6	2	2	1	0	5	33
5-9	2	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	3	2	10
10-14	1	0	2	3	0	1	0	1	0	2	10
15-19	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	6
20-24	0	0	2	4	1	1	0	1	3	0	12
25-29	4	1	1	3	1	2	3	2	1	1	19
30-34	0	2	0	1	1	4	2	3	3	2	18
35-39	4	5	6	5	5	1	0	2	2	3	33
40-44	1	8	5	5	4	2	1	5	4	13	48
45-49	6	12	8	6	9	8	9	5	5	5	73
50-54	11	16	13	8	7	17	11	9	14	14	120
55-59	16	16	18	19	17	19	21	23	18	16	183
60-64	29	30	21	25	19	22	25	24	16	32	243
65-69	31	43	43	28	42	27	34	33	35	26	342
70-74	40	52	31	39	32	34	42	46	26	41	383
75-79	37	29	20	24	30	24	27	40	38	36	305
80-84	19	23	23	25	26	27	20	18	20	9	210
85+	9	13	10	12	10	14	21	34	18	13	154
All ages	213	253	209	216	211	206	219	247	219	224	2,202

Note:The tables are created from the SMR1 (Scottish Morbidity Records 1) linked dataset maintained by the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) Scotland. SMR1 records record all non-obstetric and non-psychiatric discharges from NHS hospitals in Scotland. Probability matching methods have been used to link together individual hospital records for each patient, thereby creating "linked" patient histories.Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is defined as motor neurone disease: ICD-9: 335.2 & ICD-10: G12.2 and may not be exclusively ALS. Incident cases are defined as the first occurrence of the disease with screening back to 1991. Patients can appear only once and are defined in the first year of occurrence of their condition.