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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 528 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S1W-34737

Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2003
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 25 March 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many farms in the East Ayrshire Council area remain under restrictions imposed after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986 and what those restrictions are.

I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that 10 farms in the East Ayrshire Council area remain under restrictions imposed after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.In Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, restrictions were placed in designated areas where levels of radiocaesium in sheep meat exceeded the 1,000 Becquerels per kilogram control level. In order to protect the foodchain, statutory orders were made under terms of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985, which restrict the movement and slaughter of sheep in the designated areas.

Question reference: S1W-34734

Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 March 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in the East Ayrshire Council area are being treated for cancers that could have been caused by radiation.

Question reference: S1W-34736

Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 March 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the causes of the pattern of cancer deaths in the East Ayrshire Council area have changed significantly since 1980.

Since 1980 the population in the East Ayrshire Council areas has increased slightly while the number of cancer deaths has remained relatively stable.The following tables provide detail of the number of deaths for various cancers in the East Ayrshire Council area for the period 1980-2001.

Cancer Type	Year of diagnosis
Cancer Type	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990
Head and Neck	7	8	5	5	3	8	6	5	6	5	11
Oesophagus	8	10	17	12	11	13	10	9	11	15	19
Stomach	26	42	27	21	22	23	23	23	25	18	14
Colorectal	40	47	45	38	42	38	43	36	26	32	42
Pancreas	14	10	20	17	16	12	13	19	17	18	15
Trachea, Bronchus and Lung	76	74	93	94	97	85	96	81	87	98	100
Breast	29	31	21	28	25	33	20	31	18	35	29
Cervix Uteri	4	8	8	4	7	6	4	5	5	10	4
Corpus Uteri	-	8	2	3	3	1	5	6	3	6	2
Ovary	5	9	11	4	6	8	9	6	14	10	7
Prostate	10	17	11	10	6	10	10	13	7	10	17
Kidney	3	2	5	2	5	4	1	4	6	12	7
Bladder	6	11	14	6	11	12	16	9	7	8	11
Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma	5	5	8	7	7	6	8	5	7	8	12
Leukaemias	9	6	9	10	7	8	8	10	10	9	4
All Malignant Neoplasms	286	335	345	296	312	326	328	319	284	338	342

Cancer Type	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Head and Neck	4	8	10	6	17	7	10	8	7	5	7
Oesophagus	20	17	15	19	12	15	24	17	28	21	14
Stomach	17	22	25	20	18	14	14	16	21	17	23
Colorectal	34	37	48	30	26	40	31	43	36	32	36
Pancreas	18	16	12	13	14	17	12	11	15	14	11
Trachea, Bronchus and Lung	102	83	103	91	94	95	98	106	116	89	98
Breast	25	34	25	35	25	38	30	26	34	29	25
Cervix Uteri	4	1	10	3	6	5	4	4	4	7	3
Corpus Uteri	-	1	1	3	2	1	5	2	5	1	3
Ovary	9	3	7	9	10	10	12	7	7	15	15
Prostate	12	21	18	17	16	20	9	14	17	18	27
Kidney	4	6	7	6	11	8	8	7	7	9	6
Bladder	13	14	10	12	11	9	18	11	9	15	10
Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma	9	8	9	5	11	9	13	8	6	10	9
Leukaemias	5	12	5	8	5	8	11	6	6	11	13
All Malignant Neoplasms	325	333	357	332	332	347	365	359	379	353	361

Source: Scottish Cancer Intelligence Unit, Information & Statistics Division, NHSScotland.

Question reference: S1W-34735

Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 March 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in the East Ayrshire Council area have died from cancer that may have been caused from radiation in each year since 1986.

Question reference: S1W-34583

Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 March 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 19 March 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will not proceed with the proposed public charter for the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland in the light of the level of response and content of responses received in respect of its consultation on this matter.

The Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring that enforcement procedures are fair and transparent through the provision of a public charter for the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland. This charter will therefore seek to comply with the Executive's charter policy and the principles of the Cabinet Office Enforcement Concordat. The Executive's commitment started with the publication of the consultation document and will conclude with the publication of the charter itself.

Question reference: S1W-34584

Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 March 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 19 March 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider setting a job specification for the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland that ensures that all requirements of a public service regulatory appointment are met.

The Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland was appointed by Scottish ministers on 1 April 2002 under powers conferred by subsection 7(1) of the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002. The regulator has a job specification in that the terms of his appointment state that the purpose of the appointment is to exercise the functions conferred on him by Part 2 and Schedule 2 of the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002.

Question reference: S1W-34582

Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 March 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 19 March 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been of the consultation on the Public Charter for the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-34570

Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 March 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 18 March 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what public positions Joan Aitken has held since 1 May 1999 and on what dates she started and completed her periods of service for each position.

Question reference: S1O-06561

Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 6 March 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any consideration was given to design and construct contracts for the road improvement schemes recently announced for the Ayr to Stranraer section of the A77.

Question reference: S1W-33776

Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 February 2003
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 February 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the status is of the Draft Route Action Plan Firm Strategy Report for the A77: Ayr to Stranraer, submitted to the Scottish Office by South Ayrshire Council in 1997 at the Scottish Office's request and why the report has not been published.