Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-32070

Asked by: Mr Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the official visits made by Scottish ministers to Orkney since the inception of the Parliament.

The information requested is shown in the following table. The information identified in the table has been gathered from the various Ministerial Private Offices and is as complete as our records allow.

Name of Minister		Title	Date of Visit	Purpose Of Visit Including Organisation Met
Donald Dewar		First Minister	6 August 1999	Launch of Land Reform Website
				Creamery Visit and Announcement
				Exam Results Announcement
				Q and A Event Kirkwall Arts Centre
			24 March 2000	Visit To Balfour Hospital
				Opening of Orkney College
				Signing of Orkney World Heritage Site Contract
Henry McLeish		First Minister	2 March 2001	Official Opening Balfour Hospital
				Glaitness Primary School
				Radio Orkney Interview
Jack McConnell		First Minister	14 May 2005	30^th Anniversary of Islands Council Gala Events
			15 May 2005	Tour of Scapa Flow
			23 April 2006	Service of thanksgiving St Magnus Cathedral
			23 April 2006	Visit to St Magnus Festival Offices
			24 April 2006	Highlands and Islands Convention
				Official Opening of Garson Dental Practice
				Visit to European Machine Energy Centre Offices
				Visit to Firth Primary School
Jim Wallace		Deputy First Minister	3 September 1999	Opening of Orkney Science Festival
			22 November 1999	Speech at Conference for Lifelong Learning
			8 September 2000	Opening of Orkney Science Festival
			10 November 2000	Attending Orkney Disability Forum
			15 February 2001	Speech at Orkney Youth Crime Seminar
			2 March 2001	Opening of Balfour Hospital
			2 March 2001	Visit to Glaitness Primary School
			25 November 2002	Launch of the Orkney drug, Alcohol and Smoking Action Plan
			30 August 2002	Chairing Criminal lecture at Orkney Science Festival
			15 October 2002	Speech at the Renewable Reality Seminar at Stromness Academy
			29 November 2002	Speech at Homelessness Awareness day
			29 November 2002	BBC Question Time, Kirkwall Grammar
			31 May 2003	International Council on Monuments and Sites UK Buffet Supper in Orkney
			2 June 2003	Speech at Orkney’s Health Everyone’s Business Conference
			2 September 2003	Royal Engagement
			14 May 2004	Reception for the success of open university graduates in Orkney
			28 May 2004	Visiting Volunteers Centre Orkney
			1 September 2004	Attending Orkney Science Festival
			3 June 2005	Visiting St Rognvlads Residential Care, Orkney
Nicol Stephen		Deputy First Minister	14 August 2006	Visit to Orkney Industry Committee, Economic Development Group
				Visit to European Machine Energy Centre and Open Hydro
				Meeting with Orkney Renewable Energy Forum
				International Centre for Island Technology
			15 August 2006	Visit to Orkney College
Nicol Stephen		Minister for Transport	25 to 26 August 2003	Visit to Flotta
				Visit to Hatston Ferry Terminal
				Meeting with Orkney Islands Councillors
Margaret Curran		Deputy Minister for Social Justice	17 April 2001	Meeting with Orkney Housing Association
Sam Galbraith		Minister of Education and Young People	26 November 1999	School Visits
Peter Peacock		Minister of Education and Young People	9 June 2006	School Visits and Ministerial Reception
Euan Robson		Deputy Minister for Education & Young People	6 August 2004	Meeting Chairman of Children’s Hearing Panel
				Meeting with Orkney Islands Council
				Meeting with Orkney Pre-School and Play Association
				Meeting with Chief Executive Orkney Islands Council
Ross Finnie		Minister for Environment and Rural Development	8 12 August 2000	Orkney County Show
			9 October 2001	Reception for Ministers, Convention of Highlands and Islands
			10 October 2001	Convention of Highlands and Islands
			6 December 2003	Meeting Orkney Fisherman’s Association
			23 August 2004	Visit to Agronomy Institute, Orkney College
				Visit to Orkney Auction Mart
				Meeting with Orkney Fisherman’s Association
				Meeting with Orkney National Farmers Union
			11 August 2006	Visit to Orkney Herring Company, Stromness
			12 August 2006	Orkney County Show, Kirkwall
Rhona Brankin		Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development	23 24 April 06	Convention of the Highlands and Islands
Tom McCabe		Minister for Finance	24 April 2006	Meeting with Orkney Islands Council Leadership
				Meeting with Jim Wallace & Alistair Buchan
				Speech, Highlands & Islands Convention
Andy Kerr		Minister for Finance	2 August 2004	Mgt with Orkney Community Planning Partners
				Lunch with Orkney Islands Council
				Official opening of Orkney Islands Customer Service one stop shop
				Visit to European Machine Energy Centre
				Press meeting
				Dinner with Orkney Islands Council
			23 May 2002	Modernising Government Fund visit to East Kirk
			23 May 2002	Finance Committee Meeting
			2 August 2004	Orkney Islands Council
Andy Kerr		Minister for Health and Community Care	3 August 2005	NHS Orkney Annual Review 2004 2005
				Meeting with Area Clinical Forum
				Meeting Partnership Forum
				Visit to Balfour Hospital Radiography Dept
			31 July 2006	NHS Orkney Annual Review 2005 2006
				Meeting Chair and Chief exec, NHS Orkney
				Lunch with NHS Orkney Board members
				Meeting Area Partnership Forum
				Meeting Area Clinical Forum
				Meeting Patients / Service Users
				Opening new Renal Unit, Balfour Hospital
				Press Briefing
Tavish Scott		Deputy Minister for Finance	7 August 2003	Meeting with Orkney Council
Tavish Scott		Minister for Transport	28 October 2005	Meeting with Ferries, Transport Grant and Regional Transport Partnerships
				Inter Island Air Service, Orkney Island Council
				Livestock meeting, Orkney Island Council
			29 October 2005	Container Hub Scapa Flow Oil Port, Director of Harbours & Director of Development Services Orkney Orkney Enterprise Ltd
			5 March 2007	Community Council Visit
				Tour of Orkney Ferries
				Kirkwall Travel Centre
George Lyon		Deputy Minister for Finance and Parliamentary Business	7 February 2007	Meeting with Orkney Council
Susan Deacon		Minister for Health and Community Care	22 October 1999	Tour of Balfour Hospital
Susan Deacon		Minister for Health and Community Care	22 October 1999	Tour of New Community Facilities at Glaitness Project for People with Physical Disabilities and Glaitness Very Sheltered Housing
Malcolm Chisholm	Minister for Health and Community Care		6 August 2002	Meeting NHS Orkney Senior Management team
				Visit to Community Social Services, Laing Street, Kirkwall
				Tour of Balfour Hospital
				Visit Health Centre, Kirkwall
				Dinner with NHS Orkney Board members
			7 August 2002	Meeting with Partnership Forum, Balfour Hospital
				Meeting with members of Carers and Users Patient Information Database
				Tour of Balfour Hospital
Frank McAveety	Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care		11 to 12 November 2002	Visit to Westray and Papa Westray, Initiative at the Edge
Dr Richard Simpson	Deputy Minister for Justice		27 May 2002	Visit to Orkney Drug Action Team
Dr Richard Simpson	Deputy Minister for Justice		27 May 2002	Orkney College
Patricia Ferguson	Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport		17 to 18 June 2006	Attendance at St Magnus Festival
Elish Angiolini	Solicitor General		17 May 2004	Installation Sheriff of Grampian, Highlands and Islands
Elish Angiolini	Solicitor General		29 August to 1 September 2004	National Lighthouse Board Inspection
Colin Boyd	Lord Advocate		24 to 28 August 04	National Lighthouse Board Inspection
Colin Boyd	Lord Advocate		23 July 2001	Visit to local Procurator Fiscal Office
Iain Gray	Minister for Social Justice		19 March 2002	Voluntary Action Orkney - Active Communities Conference & Lunch
				Visit Orkney Women’s Aid and Orkney Victim Support
				Orkney Housing Association
Dr Elaine Murray	Deputy Minister for Sport, The Arts and Culture		3 to 4 May 02	Meeting with Orkney Tourist Board
				Launch of Orkney Tourism Strategy
				Visit to Skara Brae Visitor Centre

Question reference: S2W-32234

Asked by: Mr Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 15 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many GP practices had not concluded negotiations for a Section 17C Primary Medical Services contract at 1 March 2007, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested is not routinely collected by the Scottish Executive Health Department.

However, advice obtained from all14 territorial NHS boards indicates that only one GP practice is still innegotiation for a Section 17C Primary Medical Services contract at 1 March2007, and that the practice concerned is located in the NHS Orkney Board area.

I understand that NHS Orkney and the GP practice concernedare aiming to conclude contract negotiations by 31 March 2007.

Question reference: S2W-32071

Asked by: Mr Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 13 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was paid in aggregate external finance (AEF) to Orkney Islands Council in each year since 1987-88 (a) in actual terms and (b) at 1987 prices.

Aggregate external finance(AEF) was first introduced in 1990-91. The available information has beenprovided in the following table at the base year (1990-91) prices to enable alike-with-like comparison to be made.

Year	AEF (£ Million)	AEF at 1990-91 Prices (£Million)
1990-91	22.274	22.274
1991-92	24.566	23.151
1992-93	31.178	28.466
1993-94	34.694	30.870
1994-95	35.758	31.344
1995-96	37.539	31.933
1996-97	37.977	31.254
1997-98	38.208	30.555
1998-99	39.508	30.812
1999-2000	40.424	30.902
2000-01	40.306	30.384
2001-02	43.119	31.751
2002-03	46.212	33.007
2003-04	49.410	34.272
2004-05	52.331	35.326
2005-06	54.836	36.339
2006-07	58.510	37.761
2007-08	61.087	38.386

Notes:

1. What isnow defined as AEF (combining Revenue Support Grant, non-domestic rate income and specific grants within the settlement)did not exist prior to the introduction of the Community Charge. Prior to1990-91, funding was provided on a different basis.

2. Thefigures given are as contained in the annual local government finance settlementfor each year and have not been adjusted for any subsequent transfers ofresponsibility.

3. Forcomparison, figures are at 1990-91 prices and are derived using the GDPdeflators, as published on the Office of National Statistics website.

Question reference: S2W-32187

Asked by: Mr Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 13 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18734 by Mr Andy Kerr on 26 September 2005, what the activity levels of each NHS board were, expressed (a) in per capita spend and (b) by population share in (i) 2004-05 and (ii) 2005-06.

The requested information isprovided in the following tables. The information is taken from the ScottishHealth Service Costs Book for financial years 2004-05 and 2005-06. Specifically,the information comes from Reports 200 to 290: Health Care Expenditure, By Boardof Residence. These include expenditure and activity on Hospital and CommunityHealth Services (HCHS); comprising acute, maternity, geriatric assessment, generalpsychiatry, learning disabilities, geriatric continuing care, younger physicallydisabled and community services. The reports also include expenditure (but not activity)on Family Health Services (FHS) (primary medical, general dental, pharmaceuticaland general ophthalmic services).

The expenditure per head figureshave been presented for HCHS and FHS separately. In previous years (prior to 2004-05)the FHS element has been excluded from this expenditure per head data, hence figuresobtained in the answer to the previous question (S2W-18734 answered on 26 September 2005) should be compared to the HCHS expenditure.

The activity data only takesaccount of HCHS, there are no comparable activity data for FHS. A variety of activitytypes are shown, reflecting the wide range of activity undertaken by healthboards.

Table 1 Expenditure per Headand Activity per Resident. Year ending 31 March 2005

Hospital and CommunityHealth Services

Health Board	Activity Per Person Resident in Health Board							Expenditure Per Head (£)	Family Health Services Expenditure per head (£)
Health Board	In-Patient Cases¹	In-Patient Weeks²	Day Cases³	Day Patient Attendances⁴	Out Patient New Attendances⁵	A&E Attendances⁶	Community Visits⁷	Expenditure Per Head (£)	Family Health Services Expenditure per head (£)
Ayrshire and Arran	0.2	0.1	0.09	0.08	0.3	0.28	2.16	993	379
Borders	0.16	0.06	0.05	0.19	0.56	0.22	1.47	786	327
Argyll and Clyde	0.19	0.12	0.17	0.19	0.55	0.33	1.11	1,100	389
Fife	0.17	0.09	0.1	0.14	1.41	0.25	2.18	911	353
Greater Glasgow	0.2	0.1	0.09	0.04	0.33	0.35	1.36	1,091	404
Highland	0.21	0.06	0.07	0.1	0.38	0.31	1.54	1,015	402
Lanarkshire	0.21	0.08	0.09	0.05	0.25	0.3	1.56	964	367
Grampian	0.19	0.07	0.06	0.08	0.29	0.29	1.45	819	344
Orkney	0.21	0.05	0.07	0.03	0.54	0.17	1.88	1,112	479
Lothian	0.05	0.07	0.07	0.11	0.27	0.23	1	951	334
Tayside	0.2	0.09	0.06	0.17	0.49	0.28	1.94	1,073	378
Forth Valley	0.16	0.1	0.05	0.14	0.32	0.28	1.95	857	378
Western Isles	0.38	0.07	0.02	0.05	0.5	0	1.24	1,191	506
Dumfries and Galloway	0.16	0.09	0.07	0.14	0.26	0.3	1.78	1,050	384
Shetland	0.58	0.07	0.08	0.09	0.28	0.37	2.63	1,088	498
Totals or Averages	0.17	0.09	0.08	0.1	0.42	0.29	1.54	984	372

Source: Scottish Health ServiceCosts Book 2004-05. Reports 200-290.

Notes:

1. Acute, maternity andgeriatric assessment.

2. General psychiatryservices; learning disabilities services; geriatric continuing care services,and younger physically disabled.

3. Acute and maternity.

4. Geriatric assessmentservices; general psychiatry services; learning disabilities services;geriatric continuing care services and younger physically disabled.

5. Acute, maternity, geriatricassessment services; general psychiatry services and learning disabilitiesservices.

6. Acute.

7. Community midwifery;community psychiatry services; community learning disability services andnursing and health visiting.

8. Services with expenditurefigures, but activity data not available are:

Lothian - Maternity –community midwifery visits.

Orkney - Geriatricassessment – out-patient new attendances.

Shetland - Generalpsychiatry – in-patient weeks.

Table 2 Expenditure per Headand Activity per Resident. Year Ending 31 March 2006

Hospital and CommunityHealth Services

Health Board	Activity Per Person Resident in Health Board							Expenditure Per Head (£)	Family Health Services Expenditure Per Head (£)
Health Board	In-Patient Cases¹	In-Patient Weeks²	Day Cases³	Day Patient Attendances⁴	Out-Patient New Attendances⁵	A&E Attendances⁶	Community Visits⁷	Expenditure Per Head (£)	Family Health Services Expenditure Per Head (£)
Ayrshire and Arran	0.21	0.09	0.1	0.07	0.31	0.28	2.19	1,113	404
Borders	0.21	0.06	0.08	0.18	0.25	0.21	1.35	1,059	337
Argyll and Clyde	0.2	0.11	0.17	0.16	0.35	0.33	1.13	1,180	406
Fife	0.18	0.09	0.1	0.1	0.5	0.25	2.28	974	375
Greater Glasgow	0.19	0.1	0.11	0.03	0.34	0.38	1.14	1,168	431
Highland	0.2	0.06	0.07	0.09	0.3	0.26	0	1,138	424
Lanarkshire	0.2	0.08	0.09	0.05	0.42	0.31	1.04	1,003	383
Grampian	0.19	0.07	0.06	0.08	0.32	0.31	1.82	897	364
Orkney	0.23	0.05	0.09	0.05	0.62	0.18	1.81	1,332	520
Lothian	0.05	0.09	0.07	0.11	0.28	0.22	0.97	992	360
Tayside	0.18	0.09	0.06	0.15	0.51	0.28	2.13	1,087	404
Forth Valley	0.16	0.09	0.07	0.14	0.31	0.26	2.01	942	397
Western Isles	0.24	0.07	0.08	0.03	0.73	0.33	1.54	1,583	527
Dumfries and Galloway	0.17	0.09	0.09	0.17	0.24	0.32	2.01	1,119	403
Shetland	0.13	0.07	0.08	0.09	0.37	0.38	0	1,233	506
Totals or Averages	0.17	0.09	0.09	0.1	0.35	0.29	1.43	1,057	394

Source: Scottish Health ServiceCosts Book 2005-06. Reports 200-290.

Notes:

1 – 7. As above.

8. Services with expenditurefigures, but activity data not available are:

Highland - Maternity – Community midwifery visits.

- General Psychiatry – Communitypsychiatric team visits.

- Learning Disabilities – Communitylearning disabilities team visits.

- Community – Nursing and healthvisiting visits.

Lothian - Maternity – Communitymidwifery visits.

Shetland - Maternity – Day cases.

- Maternity – Out-patientnew attendances.

- Maternity – Community midwiferyvisits.

- Geriatric Assessment – In-patientcases.

- General Psychiatry – In-patientweeks.

- General Psychiatry – Out-patientattendances

- General Psychiatry – Communitypsychiatric team visits.

- Learning Disabilities – Learningdisabilities team visits.

- Community – Nursing and healthvisiting visits.

Western Isles - Learning disabilities– in-patient weeks.

Question reference: S2W-31697

Asked by: Mr Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 22 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has undertaken in relation to the use of short-term funding initiatives and the subsequent mainstreaming of such funded activities.

The Scottish Executive has todate not undertaken specific research in relation to the use of short-term fundinginitiatives and the subsequent mainstreaming of such funded activities. There ishowever external research by Audit Scotland (2005) and the UK Strategy Unit (2003)which have considered the use of these initiatives by the Executive. Both reportsare available at:http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/publications/pdf/2005/05pf08ag.pdf.http://www.policyhub.gov.uk/docs/rop.pdf.

TheAudit Committee of the Scottish Parliament also considered this issue. The Executive’sresponse to their report is available at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/audit/reports-06/aur06-01.htm.

Finallyit is Executive policy to evaluate all new spending commitments and any new fundinginitiatives or pilots would be part of that commitment. Published Executive researchis available at the following website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Research/Research/17692/SocialResearchPubs/Introduction.

Question reference: S2W-31696

Asked by: Mr Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 19 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each of its departments allocated to voluntary bodies, including sums channelled through local authorities, in each year from 1999-2000 to 2005-06.

Centrally held details of directScottish Executive financial support to the voluntary sector are only availablefrom 2000-01 and these are shown in the following table. A significant proportionof these monies will be channelled through statutory public bodies. It is not possibleto provide these figures by Scottish Executive Department.

Resources allocated to the voluntarysector from local authorities own resources are additional to these figures andare not calculated centrally.

Year	Amount
2000-01	£34,530,578
2001-02	£38,860,792
2002-03	£228,403,745
2003-04	£262,864,116
2004-05	£319,244,679
2005-06	£387,241,420
2006-07	£496,104,848

In addition to direct ScottishExecutive grants the voluntary sector has received considerable financial supportthrough indirect funding from public bodies such as local authorities, NHSboards, local enterprise bodies and non-departmental public bodies. Resources allocatedthrough these organisations are detailed in the following table.

Year	Amount
2000-01	£265,202,768
2001-02	£304,489,736
2002-03	£131,300,945
2003-04	£112,001,623
2004-05	£85,366,593
2005-06	£136,426,990
2006-07	£159,519,417

Spreadsheets providing a breakdownof the organisations provided with Scottish Executive grant funding are availablefrom the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 40554 (Direct) and40555 (Indirect for 2006-07)).

Question reference: S2W-31243

Asked by: Mr Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals in (a) Orkney and (b) the rest of the Highlands and Islands were registered under the Air Discount Scheme at 1 January 2007.

Question reference: S2W-31434

Asked by: Mr Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 26 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 9 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre the text of the speech delivered by the First Minister at the Scottish Funding Council’s strategic dialogue conference in Glasgow on 22 January 2007.

Question reference: S2W-31378

Asked by: Mr Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Des McNulty on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on consents issued by planning authorities under the Planning (Control of Major-Accident Hazards) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 since the regulations came into force.

The Planning (Control of Major-AccidentHazards) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 amended, amongst other things, theTown and Country Planning (Hazardous Substances) (Scotland) Regulations1993. The Scottish Executive holds statistics on the number of applications madeto planning authorities for consent under regulation 5 of the 1993 regulations.These are collected on a six-monthly basis and are shown in the following table.

Applications for Hazardous SubstancesConsent Dealt with by Planning Authorities 2000-05

Planning Authority*	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Aberdeen City					3
Aberdeenshire	3		1	4
Angus	2
Argyll and Bute					1
Clackmannanshire	3
Dumfries and Galloway	1
Dundee City	1			1	1
East Ayrshire	2	4			2
Edinburgh	4	1	1		1
Falkirk	7	1	1	4	2
Fife		3			1
Glasgow City	7	1	2
Highland	11	1	1	3
Inverclyde	1	1	1
North Ayrshire				2	1
North Lanarkshire		1	2
Renfrewshire	10		1		1
South Lanarkshire		1	2		2
West Dunbartonshire	1			2
West Lothian		3		2
Scotland	53	17	12	18	15

Note: *Only those authoritieswith consents granted during the period have been included in the table.

Question reference: S2W-31379

Asked by: Mr Jim Wallace, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Des McNulty on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it takes to monitor the consent procedure and collect information on consents granted by planning authorities under the Planning (Control of Major-Accident Hazards) (Scotland) Regulations 2000.

The Planning (Control of Major-AccidentHazards) (Scotland) Regulations 2000 amended, amongst other things, theTown and Country Planning (Hazardous Substances) (Scotland) Regulations1993. The Scottish Executive has not yet carried out a review of the operation of the consent procedure set out in the 1993 Regulations.With regard to information onconsents I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31378 on 5 February 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Chamber and committees