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-15997

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 20 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to increase the number of specialist multiple sclerosis nurses.

The employment of specialist nurses is a matter for individual NHS Trusts to determine in the light of clinical needs.In the case of multiple sclerosis (MS) nurses, I am aware that the MS Society wrote to Trusts and health boards last November offering assistance by providing information about the needs of people with MS, by facilitating links with local MS communities, by sharing best practice, and through partnership funding of key posts and work. To this end, health boards have been asked by my officials to consider the Scottish Needs Assessment Programme (SNAP) Report on Multiple Sclerosis, particularly in relation to specialist nurses and the part-funding offer that the society has made.

Question reference: S1O-03558

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 14 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that streets are restored to a high standard after utilities works.

Question reference: S1W-15998

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 11 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the Health Technology Board for Scotland to report on the clinical effectiveness of beta interferon.

Question reference: S1W-15999

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 11 June 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to provide good quality cycle training for all primary school children.

The Scottish Road Safety Campaign, funded by the Scottish Executive, oversees the Scottish Cycle Training Scheme. New training materials for the scheme were issued to all Road Safety Units in Scotland in March last year and their use promoted in schools throughout Scotland. A resource for Road Safety Officers to use in training volunteer cycle trainers, developed by the campaign, was issued in March.The provision of cycle training for children is a matter for schools and for police and local authority road safety units.

Question reference: S1W-15647

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 24 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent in the last three years and is planned to be spent in the next three years on provision of disablement adaptations in houses.

Local authority housing expenditure for the last three years on aids and adaptations, including disabled, is shown in table 1. In addition, Scottish Homes spent £1.885 million in 1998-99, £2.727 million in 1999-2000 and £2.352 million in 2000-01 on aids and adaptations to their own and housing association stock. Local authority social work revenue spending on aids and adaptations is shown in table 2.There has also been health board spending on aids and adaptations, including disabled, but this information is not collected centrally.It is not possible to forecast expenditure on housing adaptations for disabled people as this will depend on demand and the amounts earmarked by local authorities in the light of competing demand for resources.Table 1Local Authority Housing Capital Expenditure on Aids and Adaptations (including Disabled)(£ million)

	1998-99		1999-00		2000-01
Local Authority	HRA	Non-HRA	HRA	Non-HRA	HRA	Non-HRA
Aberdeen City	0.467	0.166	0.299	0.119	0.315	0.180
Aberdeenshire	0.290	0.094	0.638	0.014	0.675	0.030
Angus	-	0.129	0.036	0.164	0.001	0.190
Argyll and Bute	-	0.274	-	0.369	-	0.300
Clackmannanshire	0.067	0.016	0.177	0.020	0.215	0.035
Comharlie nan Eilean Siar	0.087	0.147	0.123	0.014	0.080	0.020
Dumfries and Galloway	0.305	-	-	-	-	-
Dundee City	0.182	0.122	0.182	0.107	0.200	0.060
East Ayrshire	-	0.377	0.040	0.157	0.061	0.260
East Dunbartonshire	0.280	0.040	0.300	-	0.300	-
East Lothian	0.243	0.049	0.223	0.018	0.300	0.030
East Renfrewshire	0.040	0.102	0.040	0.102	0.075	0.060
City of Edinburgh	1.200	0.716	1.604	0.874	1.056	0.803
Falkirk	-	0.155	0.031	0.050	-	0.089
Fife	-	-	-	-	-	-
Glasgow City	2.300		2.100	0.430	3.100	0.380
Highland	0.753	0.224	0.860	0.267	1.017	0.253
Inverclyde	-	0.240	-	0.145	-	0.138
Midlothian	0.210	0.086	0.300	0.180	0.200	0.201
Moray	0.183	0.164	0.326	0.159	0.300	0.150
North Ayrshire	0.299	0.128	0.316	0.125	0.450	0.150
North Lanarkshire	0.054	0.169	0.007	0.204	0.090	0.200
Orkney Islands	0.030	-	0.035	-	0.035	-
Perth and Kinross	0.029	0.035	0.002	0.072	0.142	0.100
Renfrewshire	0.379	0.109	0.031	0.096	0.270	0.100
Scottish Borders	0.105	0.070	0.080	0.083	0.090	0.080
Shetland	-	0.120	-	0.100	-	0.150
South Ayrshire	-	0.256	-	0.290	-	0.300
South Lanarkshire	-	0.749	-	0.672	-	0.650
Stirling	0.293	-	0.302	0.183	0.250	0.180
West Dunbartonshire	-	0.051	-	0.083	-	0.100
West Lothian	0.552	0.185	0.537	0.187	0.550	0.206
Scotland	8.348	4.973	8.589	5.284	9.772	5.395

Table 2Net Revenue ExpenditureAids and Adaptations for all community care groups.(£000)

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000
	Total Net Expenditure	Total Net Expenditure	Total Net Expenditure
Aberdeen City	0	325	228
Aberdeenshire	351	428	308
Angus	227	142	224
Argyll & Bute	25	0	0
Clackmannanshire	170	217	304
Dumfries & Galloway	400	389	454
Dundee City	252	271	297
East Ayrshire	207	143	36
East Dunbartonshire	352	431	400
East Lothian	436	415	228
East Renfrewshire	323	293	292
Edinburgh City	1,138	1,420	1,548
Eilean Siar	67	68	61
Falkirk	466	568	525
Fife	592	1,092	1,470
Glasgow City	1,847	2,529	1,765
Highland	676	416	466
Inverclyde	139	68	166
Midlothian	406	257	166
Moray	167	193	192
North Ayrshire	403	432	258
North Lanarkshire	1,936	1,728	2,199
Orkney	95	81	93
Perth & Kinross	248	248	254
Renfrewshire	476	530	555
Scottish Borders	312	306	284
Shetland	44	44	0
South Ayrshire	187	223	56
South Lanarkshire	1,132	1,346	2,201
Stirling	164	142	194
West Dunbartonshire	200	190	77
West Lothian	376	294	302
Scotland	13,814	15,229	15,603

Source: As reported by local authorities on their Local Financial Return for social work (LFR 3).Notes:1. Excludes loan and leasing charges and revenue contributions to capital.

Question reference: S1W-15646

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 24 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses (a) have been provided with disablement adaptations in each of the last three years and (b) will receive disablement adaptations in each of the next three years, broken down by local authority area.

The number of houses provided with aids and adaptations, including disabled, by local authority housing departments is shown in the table. The number of houses provided with aids and adaptations, including disabled, provided by local authority social work departments is not collected centrally.In 1999 we introduced changes to the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990 requiring all new housing to be built to standards suitable for a disabled person to visit. Scottish Homes has introduced new housing design standards that contain barrier-free requirements. In addition, the Programme for Government sets a target of 20,000 new homes and improved homes for affordable renting or low cost owner occupation. These will be built to barrier free standards suitable to all.The 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey found that there were 254,000 dwellings with adaptations.It is not possible to forecast the number of houses that will be adapted in the future. This will depend on demand and priorities set by local authorities in the light of resources at their disposal and competing demands.Local Authority Housing Capital Expenditure on Aids and Adaptations (including Disabled)Number of Houses

Local Authority	1998-99		1999-2000		2000-01
Local Authority	HRA	Non-HRA	HRA	Non-HRA	HRA	Non-HRA
Aberdeen City	700	44	700	34	737	50
Aberdeenshire	577	40	744	42	800	15
Angus	-	62	1	74	1	80
Argyll and Bute	-	193	-	272	-	217
Clackmannanshire	55	11	100	10	120	20
Comharlie nan Eilean Siar	-	32	-	8	-	9
Dumfries and Galloway	1,250	-	-	-	-	-
Dundee City	199	30	169	25	175	24
East Ayrshire	-	156	-	73	-	93
East Dunbartonshire	366	7	402	-	506	-
East Lothian	-	14	-	9	-	15
East Renfrewshire	61	44	61	44	100	30
City of Edinburgh	421	218	552	209	30	200
Falkirk	-	68	1	75	-	-
Fife	-	-	-	-	-	-
Glasgow City	1,867	-	1,750	233	2,550	210
Highland	911	74	812	98	797	94
Inverclyde	-	283	-	270	-	255
Midlothian	42	11	60	10	25	17
Moray	400	43	83	41	90	45
North Ayrshire	829	93	-	76	-	70
North Lanarkshire	2	84	1	112	5	115
Orkney Islands	63	-	60	-	50	-
Perth and Kinross	3	24	-	22	4	30
Renfrewshire	-	45	-	49	-	51
Scottish Borders	55	19	60	27	70	25
Shetland	-	23	-	13	-	20
South Ayrshire	-	129	-	138	-	150
South Lanarkshire	-	372	-	421	-	400
Stirling	544	-	503	87	416	82
West Dunbartonshire	433	25	522	35	400	35
West Lothian	1,031	105	970	86	1,025	95
Scotland	9,809	2,249	7,551	2,593	7,901	2,447

Question reference: S1W-15734

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 22 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to review the Grant for Rent Ownership scheme following the recent European decision on a similar English scheme.

Question reference: S1W-15438

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 27 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 18 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what number of midwives each NHS Trust specified as its desired establishment level and how many midwives each trust actually had in post, in each of the last three years.

Information on the establishment level of midwives for each NHS Trust is not available centrally. Following Trust reconfiguration in 1999, the numbers of whole-time equivalent midwives in post at 30 September 1999 and 2000 are shown in the table below.Midwives employed in NHSScotland by Trust

Staff in Post at 30 September 1999 and 2000Whole-time equivalent

	1999	2000^P
Scotland	2,962.8	2,927.3
Argyll & Clyde Acute Trust	208.9	204.6
Ayrshire & Arran Acute Trust	213.8	211.1
Ayrshire & Arran PCT	3.6	1.0
Borders General NHS Trust	40.5	45.4
Borders PCT	29.0	27.7
Dumfries and Galloway Acute & Maternity	87.4	99.1
Dumfries & Galloway PCT	25.0	14.9
Fife Acute Trust	147.1	153.3
Fife PCT	-	-
Forth Valley Acute Trust	163.7	163.3
Forth Valley PCT	5.4	5.4
Grampian PCT	83.9	87.6
Grampian University Hosps	224.6	225.6
Greater Glasgow PCT	-	-
Highland Acute Trust	92.8	96.8
Highland PCT	121.0	110.8
Lanarkshire Acute Trust	249.8	248.7
Lanarkshire PCT	15.8	12.6
Lomond & Argyll PCT	51.8	48.6
Lothian PCT	1.0	-
Lothian University Hosps	256.0	258.5
N. Glasgow University Hosps	221.5	210.9
Orkney	16.9	16.8
Renfrew & Inverclyde PCT	-	1.0
S. Glasgow University Hosps	146.5	145.7
Shetland	31.2	28.6
Tayside PCT	39.5	14.8
Tayside University Hosps	210.2	219.4
W. Lothian Healthcare	83.1	86.6
Western Isles	33.9	30.6
Yorkhill Trust	158.9	157.7

^P Provisional.Source: National Manpower Statistics from Payroll, ISD Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-15437

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 27 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 18 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive which institutions currently train midwives; how many midwives graduated from each institution in each of the last three years, and how many of these graduates subsequently obtained employment as midwives in the NHS.

The information requested is in the table below. However, the number of graduates finding employment in the NHS as midwives is not collected centrally.Midwifery Completions by Year of Completion

	1997-98			1998-99			1999-2000			All 3 years
Institution	3-year	18-month	Total	3-year	18-month	Total	3-year	18-month	Total	3-year	18-month	Total
Bell College	16	0	16	18	0	18	17	0	17	51	0	51
Glasgow Caledonian University	24	0	24	19	0	19	22	7	29	65	7	72
Napier University	23	28	51	23	26	49	30	14	44	76	68	144
Robert Gordon University	0	20	20	0	17	17	0	17	17	0	54	54
University of Dundee	21	0	21	22	0	22	21	0	21	64	0	64
University of Paisley	31	15	46	27	6	33	28	8	36	86	29	115
University of Stirling	13	13	26	16	11	27	16	11	27	45	35	80
Total	128	76	204	125	60	185	134	57	191	387	193	580

Source: NBS Statistical Supplement to Annual Report 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000.

Question reference: S1W-15640

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 04 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 18 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to encourage the provision of urban green space and to improve its management.