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: S3W-36528

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide the names of the special advisers currently in post; what their responsibilities are; what their pay bands are for 2010-11; how many special advisers are in each pay band, and what the total salary cost of employing special advisers was in 2009-10.

There are currently 10 special advisers including one part-time. The Special Advisers and their specific responsibilities are as follows:

Name	Specific Responsibilities
Kevin Pringle Senior Special Adviser	Strategic co-ordination across all portfolios, political spokesperson and senior adviser on communications issues.
Noel Dolan Senior Special Adviser	Senior policy adviser to the Deputy First Minister on Health, Wellbeing, and Housing policy.
Alex Bell Senior Special Adviser	Senior adviser on policy matters, First Minister''s Questions, constitutional issues and renewable energy issues.
Geoff Aberdein Special Adviser	Liaison with FM''s Private office; adviser on FM diary issues. Lead on sports issues and 2014 Commonwealth Games including legacy.
Jennifer Erickson Special Adviser	Support on Policy for Economic Issues (Part time)
Stephen Gethins Special Adviser	Support on policy for Finance & Sustainable Growth, Europe and External Relations, Environment & Rural Affairs, Energy and Climate Change.
Colin McAllister Special Adviser	Policy support for Education and Culture issues.
John McFarlane Special Adviser	Policy Adviser on justice issues, Parliamentary liaison working with Minister for Parliamentary Business and the Parliamentary Liaison Officers
Will McLeish Special Adviser	Political spokesperson, advice on communications issues and liaison with broadcasters.
Stuart Nicolson Special Adviser	Political spokesperson, advice on communications issues.

The number of salaried special advisers in each pay band from 1 April 2010 is:

Pay Band	Pay Range	Number of salaried Special Advisers
1	£39,445 “ £52,904	5
2	£51,041 - £67,709	2
3	£65,017 - £83,963	3
3 (premium)	£83,549 - 100,942	0
4	£86,965 - 104,462	0

The total salary cost for the 10 salaried Special Advisers in post in 2009-2010 including ERNIC and employer pension contributions was £701,627. By comparison the cost of the 12 Special Advisers employed by the previous administration in
2006-07 was £854,376.

Question reference: S3O-10347

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 April 2010
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 April 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding proposals to increase national insurance contributions.

Besides the impact on Scottish employers in the private sector the increase in national insurance contribution rates will result in approximately £104 million of the Scottish Government''s budget being returned to the Treasury in the form of higher tax payments. Were the money to stay in Scotland it could pay for approximately 2,300 more police officers or 4,000 more nurses each year.

We have made it clear that we disagree with this increase especially when the country is emerging from a long and severe recession. We will continue to protest that this cut should be reversed to avoid further burdens on Scottish employers and protect front line public services in Scotland.

Question reference: S3O-10052

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2010
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to encourage businesses to recycle.

Question reference: S3W-31411

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each NHS board spent on implementing the Gold Standards Framework Scotland in 2008-09.

This information is not held centrally. The Gold Standards Framework Scotland (GSFS) programme ended in October 2006. The GSFS was funded in partnership by the Big Lottery Fund, Macmillan Cancer Relief and NHS Scotland via the three cancer networks (South East of Scotland Cancer Network, North of Scotland Cancer Network and West of Scotland Cancer Network).

In October 2008, Living and Dying Well (L&DW) a national action plan for palliative care in Scotland was published by the Scottish Government and accessible from:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/NHS-Scotland/LivingandDyingWell.

Whilst L&DW reflects the ethos of the GSFS programme it also builds on it, to develop a single, comprehensive approach to the provision of palliative care to enable it to be embedded across Scotland, regardless of age, condition or care setting.

Question reference: S3W-31410

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each NHS board spent on performance reporting in 2008-09.

Question reference: S3W-30733

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged 30 to 60 were given NHS hearing aids in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S3W-30727

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road accidents involving bicycles and cars have been reported in the last five years, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) parliamentary constituency.

The following tables show the number of reported injury road accidents where at least one bicycle and a car were involved in the accident.

Council Area	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Aberdeen City	18	32	29	21	37
Aberdeenshire	19	13	16	10	15
Angus	21	18	19	12	13
Argyll and Bute	8	7	5	8	9
Clackmannanshire	4	4	10	4	7
Dumfries and Galloway	9	19	7	16	10
Dundee City	17	14	25	14	21
East Ayrshire	16	15	6	7	8
East Dunbartonshire	8	7	9	3	6
East Lothian	15	8	9	15	7
East Renfrewshire	5	11	5	10	8
Edinburgh, City of	123	134	155	131	139
Eilean Siar	2	2	0	0	1
Falkirk	15	23	10	14	19
Fife	31	24	32	35	27
Glasgow City	100	96	96	91	96
Highland	26	22	29	32	27
Inverclyde	8	8	6	5	8
Midlothian	11	14	13	7	6
Moray	9	12	11	10	12
North Ayrshire	10	21	19	14	13
North Lanarkshire	25	15	12	17	16
Orkney Islands	3	2	3	1	1
Perth and Kinross	15	13	13	13	9
Renfrewshire	23	22	23	6	15
Scottish Borders	8	10	11	12	4
Shetland Islands	2	0	1	0	0
South Ayrshire	22	21	12	13	9
South Lanarkshire	29	26	22	23	17
Stirling	20	11	11	11	14
West Dunbartonshire	9	10	11	6	5
West Lothian	10	17	19	15	20
Scotland	641	651	649	576	599

Parliamentary Constituency	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Not known	2	2	4	1	0
Aberdeen Central	5	17	14	9	20
Aberdeen North	2	4	4	3	6
Aberdeen South	11	11	10	9	11
Airdrie and Shotts	6	3	2	4	4
Angus	12	16	15	5	12
Argyll and Bute	5	7	5	6	7
Ayr	13	18	7	7	3
Banff and Buchan	6	7	5	2	5
Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross	2	8	8	10	3
Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley	13	9	11	7	10
Fife Central	4	8	4	10	4
Clydebank and Milngavie	5	7	7	2	1
Clydesdale	9	7	5	8	5
Coatbridge and Chryston	2	4	4	5	1
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	4	3	1	1	3
Cunninghame North	4	10	7	7	7
Cunninghame South	6	11	12	7	6
Dumbarton	7	5	6	6	6
Dumfries	8	12	3	10	7
Dundee East	9	9	10	5	12
Dundee West	8	5	14	10	7
Dunfermline East	5	3	6	6	4
Dunfermline West	4	2	10	5	9
East Kilbride	7	8	8	3	5
East Lothian	13	7	4	9	6
Eastwood	5	11	5	10	8
Edinburgh Central	36	46	49	40	46
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	16	18	21	18	19
Edinburgh North and Leith	21	31	40	21	27
Edinburgh Pentlands	14	9	16	16	12
Edinburgh South	23	19	16	27	18
Edinburgh West	15	12	17	15	17
Falkirk East	8	12	5	4	10
Falkirk West	7	11	5	10	9
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	1	7	4	6	3
Glasgow Anniesland	8	5	8	9	6
Glasgow Baillieston	6	6	6	5	5
Glasgow Cathcart	6	9	6	8	11
Glasgow Govan	7	11	12	15	17
Glasgow Kelvin	30	33	26	14	20
Glasgow Maryhill	16	10	9	13	11
Glasgow Pollok	14	7	6	11	8
Glasgow Rutherglen	7	2	1	3	3
Glasgow Shettleston	6	8	16	6	11
Glasgow Springburn	7	7	7	9	8
Gordon	5	1	6	5	2
Greenock and Inverclyde	6	7	4	4	6
Hamilton North and Bellshill	10	6	7	4	7
Hamilton South	5	6	4	8	3
Inverness East Nairn and Lochaber	19	12	14	16	20
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	12	9	0	6	4
Kirkcaldy	5	6	4	4	2
Linlithgow	3	5	7	6	8
Livingston	7	12	12	9	12
Midlothian	8	9	9	6	6
Moray	9	12	10	10	12
Motherwell and Wishaw	4	2	2	5	2
Fife North East	13	5	8	10	8
Tayside North	13	6	8	9	5
Ochil	8	9	15	6	11
Orkney	2	0	0	0	1
Paisley North	16	8	10	2	6
Paisley South	3	13	9	2	3
Perth	11	7	8	10	7
Ross Skye and Inverness West	5	2	6	6	4
Roxburgh and Berwickshire	4	7	6	6	4
Shetland	1	0	1	0	0
Stirling	16	8	8	9	10
Strathkelvin and Bearsden	8	5	7	3	6
Tweeddale Ettrick and Lauderdale	7	8	10	7	1
Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine	8	5	7	3	8
Renfrewshire West	6	2	6	3	7
Western Isles	2	2	0	0	1
Scotland	641	651	649	576	599

Question reference: S3W-30732

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged over 60 were given NHS hearing aids in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S3W-30728

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road accidents involving motorcycles and cars were reported in the last five years, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) parliamentary constituency.

The following tables show the number of reported injury road accidents where at least one motorcycle and a car were involved in the accident.

Council Area	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Aberdeen City	44	44	33	45	38
Aberdeenshire	26	28	31	20	30
Angus	6	13	14	11	12
Argyll and Bute	19	18	16	21	22
Clackmannanshire	11	3	6	2	7
Dumfries and Galloway	13	16	24	24	13
Dundee City	12	15	12	16	18
East Ayrshire	9	7	10	6	6
East Dunbartonshire	9	6	4	2	5
East Lothian	16	14	6	10	11
East Renfrewshire	5	5	7	2	4
Edinburgh, City of	88	63	72	92	56
Eilean Siar	0	2	0	1	1
Falkirk	14	6	17	21	9
Fife	34	36	44	36	35
Glasgow City	58	63	55	39	38
Highland	41	49	23	33	47
Inverclyde	3	9	13	11	6
Midlothian	9	8	14	11	7
Moray	13	11	7	11	9
North Ayrshire	13	8	5	8	11
North Lanarkshire	16	22	15	28	17
Orkney Islands	3	2	3	0	2
Perth and Kinross	13	31	27	22	18
Renfrewshire	18	12	18	18	19
Scottish Borders	15	19	7	22	20
Shetland Islands	0	2	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	10	13	14	13	12
South Lanarkshire	8	23	16	17	20
Stirling	15	15	21	13	15
West Dunbartonshire	5	7	8	5	7
West Lothian	16	21	16	24	20
Scotland	562	591	558	584	535

Parliamentary Constituency	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Not known	2	4	4	1	4
Aberdeen Central	15	17	7	17	15
Aberdeen North	15	10	12	14	14
Aberdeen South	15	17	15	14	9
Airdrie and Shotts	6	7	4	13	7
Angus	3	12	10	8	9
Argyll and Bute	11	9	9	11	13
Ayr	6	7	7	7	8
Banff and Buchan	3	8	8	6	6
Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross	5	5	6	8	12
Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley	5	9	10	8	5
Fife Central	7	11	4	4	8
Clydebank and Milngavie	4	6	5	3	5
Clydesdale	2	10	3	6	7
Coatbridge and Chryston	2	3	2	4	3
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	2	5	4	5	1
Cunninghame North	8	5	4	5	7
Cunninghame South	5	3	1	3	4
Dumbarton	12	11	10	13	13
Dumfries	6	13	11	14	8
Dundee East	9	5	6	9	9
Dundee West	3	9	6	7	8
Dunfermline East	6	5	13	5	5
Dunfermline West	10	6	7	5	4
East Kilbride	3	6	5	6	4
East Lothian	12	10	5	8	11
Eastwood	5	5	7	1	4
Edinburgh Central	17	13	11	23	13
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	18	13	14	20	5
Edinburgh North and Leith	14	12	15	19	11
Edinburgh Pentlands	13	9	8	9	8
Edinburgh South	13	5	11	11	7
Edinburgh West	17	14	14	12	12
Falkirk East	6	3	8	9	5
Falkirk West	8	4	8	10	4
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	7	3	13	10	5
Glasgow Anniesland	4	8	2	6	3
Glasgow Baillieston	4	4	2	3	3
Glasgow Cathcart	3	5	3	2	4
Glasgow Govan	10	7	10	3	8
Glasgow Kelvin	17	11	10	8	9
Glasgow Maryhill	4	6	5	2	2
Glasgow Pollok	4	3	5	5	1
Glasgow Rutherglen	2	3	5	3	2
Glasgow Shettleston	11	13	6	7	5
Glasgow Springburn	3	6	10	4	4
Gordon	15	13	14	7	15
Greenock and Inverclyde	3	5	10	10	4
Hamilton North and Bellshill	4	5	3	3	8
Hamilton South	0	3	5	1	1
Inverness East Nairn and Lochaber	21	20	11	14	17
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	8	4	7	4	5
Kirkcaldy	4	2	4	6	7
Linlithgow	6	7	9	12	6
Livingston	10	13	8	12	13
Midlothian	6	8	14	9	8
Moray	12	10	6	10	7
Motherwell and Wishaw	4	4	2	4	4
Fife North East	7	12	15	14	9
Tayside North	9	13	14	12	14
Ochil	14	11	10	8	9
Orkney	1	0	0	0	1
Paisley North	9	5	9	8	10
Paisley South	5	6	3	6	5
Perth	6	15	14	12	7
Ross Skye and Inverness West	15	24	6	11	18
Roxburgh and Berwickshire	6	8	4	12	12
Shetland	0	2	0	0	0
Stirling	13	12	20	11	14
Strathkelvin and Bearsden	5	4	4	1	3
Tweeddale Ettrick and Lauderdale	12	11	3	12	8
Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine	8	8	9	8	11
Renfrewshire West	2	5	9	5	5
Western Isles	0	1	0	1	0
Scotland	562	591	558	584	535

Question reference: S3W-30734

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged under 30 were given NHS hearing aids in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.