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: S2W-08590

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 June 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many university teachers have left Scotland to take up posts in other parts of the United Kingdom in each of the last five years.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects data on the number of academic staff who have left each institution to go to another UK Higher Education Institution (HEI), but this data does not record whether the UK HEI to which the staff member has moved is within or outwith Scotland. The figures for Scotland given in the following table therefore includes movements between Scottish HEIs as well as movements from Scottish HEIs to HEIs in the rest of the UK .

Academic Staff who Left a Scottish HEI to Work at Another UK HEI, 1998-99 to 2002-03

	All Staff	Permanent Staff	Fixed-Term/Contract/Casual Staff
1998-99	161	50	111
1999-2000	238	67	171
2000-01	194	70	124
2001-02	212	67	145
2002-03	170	60	110

For 2002-03, this total represents around 1% of the entire academic staff body in Scotland, and around 19% of all those academic staff who left Scottish HEIs in that year. This proportion is significantly lower than comparable staff movements in England and the rest of the UK, where, for 2002-03, 26% of those who left moved on to another UK HEI or academic institution.

The Phase 3 review of higher education highlighted the lack of data on movement between Scottish and non-Scottish UK HEIs, and the importance of this gathering information in the future, if the impact on staff flows of shifts in perception about the competitiveness of Scottish HEIs is to be tracked. We plan to discuss how data on this issue might be improved with Universities Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-08589

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 June 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Universities Scotland regarding top-up fees and what the outcome was.

The impact of the proposed introduction of variable tuition fees in England on Scottish higher education institutions and on Scottish students has been fully considered by the Executive in detailed discussions with Universities Scotland, and other organisations, as part of the Phase 3 Review of Higher Education. We continue to work closely with Universities Scotland on the policy response to the Phase 3 findings and on other higher education related issues.

Question reference: S2W-08585

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 8 June 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had, or intends to have, meetings with the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) with regard to the role of subject principal teachers.

Question reference: S2W-08586

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 June 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for head CT scans for patients referred with chronic headaches in each NHS board.

Question reference: S2W-08548

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 June 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated to each NHS board in each financial year since 1995-96.

Details are as follows:

Health Board	1995-96 (£ Million)	1996-97 (£ Million)	1997-98 (£ Million)	1998-99 (£ Million)
Argyll and Clyde	334.680	355.580	369.280	385.918
Ayrshire and Arran	281.609	292.000	312.543	325.386
Borders	86.752	90.497	93.431	96.754
Dumfries and Galloway	121.292	128.351	133.144	139.973
Fife	253.756	261.522	277.017	285.584
Forth Valley	204.072	209.013	220.009	232.054
Grampian	386.461	405.793	423.147	440.147
Greater Glasgow	795.767	810.221	847.501	868.493
Highland	174.254	179.418	189.089	195.157
Lanarkshire	390.133	410.129	437.414	455.550
Lothian	586.086	600.996	633.152	658.341
Orkney	19.794	19.970	20.402	22.273
Shetland	22.033	21.624	22.476	24.016
Tayside	336.335	360.171	364.917	381.336
Western Isles	35.842	33.942	35.245	36.410

Health Board	1999-2000 (£ Million)	2000-01 (£ Million)	2001-02 (£ Million)	2002-03 (£ Million)	2003-04 (£ Million)
Argyll and Clyde	399.945	429.153	454.343	476.764	506.771
Ayrshire and Arran	340.764	367.498	386.696	412.956	444.554
Borders	101.248	106.946	111.389	117.690	126.762
Dumfries and Galloway	148.004	153.781	162.489	173.251	185.122
Fife	297.928	320.117	334.372	353.873	382.916
Forth Valley	243.711	264.599	276.361	294.722	306.831
Grampian	455.518	488.023	502.968	539.080	572.913
Greater Glasgow	910.908	972.687	1,034.981	1,115.237	1,174.588
Highland	197.843	213.226	231.063	246.927	264.368
Lanarkshire	477.668	513.363	554.346	574.003	615.130
Lothian	681.295	729.672	771.940	775.075	881.566
Orkney	21.427	22.375	24.498	25.696	26.402
Shetland	24.782	26.636	28.239	30.974	33.220
Tayside	396.642	425.536	459.060	473.887	492.615
Western Isles	36.903	39.791	43.869	46.515	50.085

Notes:

1. The allocations for 1995-96 to 2002-03 are the final cash limited/unified budgets and actual expenditure for demand-led family health services for those years.

2. The allocations for 2003-04 are the final cash limited/unified budgets and estimated expenditure for demand-led family health services.

Question reference: S2W-08035

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 24 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what extra resources it will allocate to Grampian Police to monitor and enforce the 40 mph speed limit for HGVs on all single carriageway roads within the force area.

Question reference: S2W-08040

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of hospital administration was for each year from 1995 to 2003, broken down by NHS board.

Hospital management and administration expenditure for NHS Board areas from 1995 to 2003 was as follows:

Board (£000s)	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Ayrshire and Arran	14,394	14,203	15,722	15,672	15,927	18,632	20,259	22,454
Borders	4,735	5,132	5,332	5,432	6,605	6,753	7,241	7,882
Argyll and Clyde	18,987	19,441	20,070	20,655	20,196	22,884	23,896	25,680
State Hospital	1,343	1,334	1,241	1,649	1,836	1,928	2,399	2,401
Fife	14,078	14,607	13,914	15,039	15,009	16,066	19,397	19,142
Glasgow	70,067	68,935	66,523	63,064	60,056	72,357	74,003	81,850
Highland	12,671	10,870	10,828	11,295	10,674	10,263	12,041	12,663
Lanarkshire	23,272	25,101	27,844	29,017	30,279	33,315	35,659	36,903
Grampian	27,746	28,147	26,752	23,053	27,188	29,609	31,862	34,923
Orkney	647	698	711	712	731	885	1,076	1,260
Lothian	41,159	39,326	40,015	44,598	41,552	48,099	47,758	57,599
Tayside Total	24,369	25,117	25,706	27,138	29,925	35,005	30,434	33,260
Forth Valley	12,723	12,129	11,801	11,641	11,510	11,828	12,637	15,764
Western Isles	1,474	1,339	1,557	1,576	1,530	1,947	1,992	2,037
Dumfries and Galloway	7,897	8,210	7,605	8,544	8,806	8,662	8,939	9,212
Shetland	793	840	738	760	835	872	1,152	1,280
Total	276,355	275,429	276,358	279,844	282,661	319,102	330,745	364,310

These figures for management and administration expenses are taken from Scottish Financial Return 5.2, which is completed by each hospital and submitted to the Common Services Agency Information and Statistics Division for publication in the Cost Book.

Question reference: S2W-08047

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 24 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to address the issue of increasing seagull populations in towns and cities.

Local authorities already havethe powers within their environmental health responsibilities to deal with the nuisancecaused by seagulls. In addition, the Scottish Executive already issue general licences to all local authorities which enable themto take action against Great Black-backed gulls, Lesser Black-backed gulls and Herringgulls in specific circumstances and for other gull species, individual licencescan be sought from the Scottish Executive.

The Scottish Executive has also committed £20,000 to a research project - Review of Urban Gullsand their Management in Scotland - to look at the issues raised by increasing seagullpopulations in towns and cities. The research is expected to be completed by early2005 and is intended to provide a basis for new guidance to local authorities onbest practice.

Question reference: S2W-08034

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when its programme of safety improvements at the A90 junctions at Laurencekirk will be completed and how much it will cost.

Question reference: S2W-08033

Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 May 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 May 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will refund Aberdeenshire Council for any damage to the B979 road between Stonehaven and Maryculter resulting from the closure of the A90 at Muchalls Bridge and, if so, when.