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-05320

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 13 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has issued or plans to issue any guidance to local authorities about their approach to traffic restriction proposals affecting suburban areas.

Question reference: S1O-01531

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the arrangements are for monitoring levels of cycling in Scotland and how it is evaluating progress in meeting the targets set out in the national cycling strategy.

Question reference: S1W-04934

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 31 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4164 by Mr Frank McAveety on 16 February 2000, whether it will specify the number of Warm Deal grants made, in the most recent period for which figures are available, which included an element of funding for (a) cavity wall installation; (b) loft, cold tank and pipe insulation; (c) hot tank insulation; (d) draughtproofing and (e) energy efficient lightbulbs, or whether such information is not available and, if the information is not available, how it plans to monitor the effectiveness of the Warm Deal programme.

Question reference: S1W-05400

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 30 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4863 by Mr Frank McAveety on 15 March 2000, whether it will conduct a review of the Warm Deal which will examine (a) grant levels; (b) the type of work for which grants are available and (c) how to maximise and broaden the uptake of Warm Deal grants.

Question reference: S1W-04863

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 15 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to publish the review of the Warm Deal and whether the review will examine (a) grant levels, (b) the type of work for which grants are available and (c) how to maximise and broaden the uptake of warm deal grants.

Question reference: S1W-04580

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 6 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of beds in the NHS were occupied by people aged over (a) 65 and (b) 75, in each of the last five years.

Information on the percentage of beds in the NHS in Scotland occupied by people aged over (a) 65 and (b) 75, in the acute, long-stay and psychiatric/mental health sectors, for each of the last five years, is shown in the table.

NHS IN SCOTLAND: PERCENTAGE OF INPATIENT BEDS OCCUPIED BY PATIENTS AGED OVER 65 & 75 YEARS¹ (Year Ending 31 March)

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Acute Sector
Over 65	59.3	60.3	61.7	62.4	63.1
Over 75	36.6	37.2	39.1	40.1	40.8

Long Stay Sector
Over 65	96.6	96.1	95.9	95.7	96.0
Over 75	80.5	79.4	78.8	79.6	80.1

Psychiatric/Mental Health Sector²
Over 65	48.3	47.3	45.8	44.4	43.4
Over 75	31.3	30.0	29.8	28.9	28.4

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes:

1. All information is based on the number of beds occupied overnight - day cases and cases where there is no overnight stay are omitted.

2. Information on the Psychiatric/Mental Health Sector for 31 March 1999 is provisional.

Question reference: S1W-04583

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 6 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the number of NHS beds by (a) speciality and (b) health board in each of the last three years.

The information requested is set out in the following two tables.

Reductions in the number of beds over the years reflects medical advances and changes in the pattern of care, including the significant increase in day-ase surgery and reductions in the length of stay for inpatient treatment.

TABLE 1: NHS IN SCOTLAND: AVERAGE AVAILABLE STAFFED BEDS¹ BY SPECIALTY²(Year ending 31 March)

SPECIALTY	1997	1998	1999

Acute Surgical	7,138	6,787	6,604

Anaesthetics	4	3	2
Cardiothoracic Surgery	243	241	233
ENT Surgery	373	342	324
General Surgery	2,708	2,607	2,557
Gynaecology	642	577	534
Neurosurgery	187	188	187
Ophthalmology	217	204	187
Orthopaedic Surgery	1,842	1,756	1,732
Paediatric Surgery	149	140	134
Plastic Surgery	220	211	213
Spinal Paralysis	48	48	48
Urology	505	472	452

Acute Medical	6,018	5,926	5,933

Cardiology	153	191	224
Communicable Diseases	204	173	164
Dermatology	191	174	161
Gastroenterology	83	80	92
General Medicine	3,718	3,607	3,585
Haematology	184	198	200
Homeopathy	17	14	15
Medical Oncology	81	85	99
Metabolic Disease	14	10	8
Nephrology	155	159	148
Neurology	98	97	92
Paediatric Medicine	469	441	450
Rehabilitation Medicine	190	248	264
Respiratory Medicine	346	341	332
Rheumatology	115	108	101

Dental	72	69	71

Oral Surgery and Oral Medicine	72	69	70
Orthodontics and Paediatric Dentistry	-	-	1
Restorative Dentistry	-	-	-

GP Other Than Obstetrics	1,149	1,225	1,239

Obstetrics	1,400	1,354	1,267

Obstetrics - GP	89	102	98
Obstetrics - Specialist Antenatal	1,247	1,165	1,053
Obstetrics - Specialist Postnatal	64	87	116

Geriatric Assessment	3,452	3,570	3,517

Geriatric Long Stay	6,324	5,720	5,118

Geriatric Long Stay	6,076	5,488	4,924
Young Chronic Sick	248	233	194

Psychiatric	9,580	9,076	8,674

Adolescent Psychiatry	45	44	39
Child Psychiatry	32	30	30
Mental Illness	4,367	4,301	4,143
Psychogeriatrics	5,136	4,701	4,462

Learning Disabilities	3,141	2,888	2,597

Other Specialties	1,393	1,383	1,355

Accident and Emergency	95	94	91
Acute Mixed	80	81	72
Diagnostic Radiology	-	-	-
Intensive Therapy Unit	303	315	327
Other Acute	235	250	236
Radiotherapy (Consultative)	276	241	240
Special Care Baby Unit	404	402	389

All Specialities	39,668	37,998	36,376

Source: ISD Scotland.Notes:1. Includes beds in non-NHS locations (e.g. joint users and contractual hospitals) for use by NHS patients.2. Changes in the recording classification of specialities took place during 1996-97. Figures for years ending 31 March 1998 and 31 March 1999 are "mapped-back" to allow comparison with those shown for year ending 31 March 1997.TABLE 2NHS IN SCOTLAND: AVERAGE AVAILABLE STAFFED BEDS BY HEALTH BOARD AREA OF TREATMENT¹(Year ending 31 March)

HEALTH BOARD	1997	1998	1999
Argyll & Clyde	3,479	3,534	3,363
Ayrshire & Arran	2,259	2,234	2,163
Borders	781	754	734
Dumfries & Galloway	1,105	1,076	1,104
Fife	2,228	2,097	2,029
Forth Valley	2,260	2,106	2,028
Grampian	4,135	3,892	3,732
Greater Glasgow	8,256	8,059	7,564
Highland	1,497	1,492	1,450
Lanarkshire	3,882	3,726	3,661
Lothian	5,717	5,117	4,819
Orkney	153	147	131
Shetland	127	116	100
Tayside	3,557	3,374	3,235
Western Isles	232	274	263
Scotland	39,668	37,998	36,376

Source: ISD Scotland.Notes:1. Includes beds in non-NHS locations (e.g. joint users and contractual hospitals) for use by NHS patients.

Question reference: S1W-04479

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 2 March 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the delay by Scottish Homes in completing analysis of fuel poverty from the Housing Condition Survey 1996, what interim results are currently available and what the target date is for completion and publication of this work.

Question reference: S1W-04240

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to bring forward legislation on the law of the tenement.

The management of tenements is governed by rules and conditions set out as rights and real burdens in the relevant title deeds. The Scottish Law Commission will publish their final Report on Real Burdens and Title Conditions later this year. The resultant modernisation and simplification of the law on real burdens will rationalise the application and enforcement of burdens on all property, including tenements. Reforming the Law of the Tenement after the reform of the law relating to Title Conditions should therefore be a much simpler task.The Scottish Law Commission's recommendations on the Law of the Tenement (Scot Law Com. No 162) will therefore be reconsidered in the light of the Commission's recommendations on Title Conditions, with legislation depending on how soon consultation can take place and a suitable legislative opportunity be found.

Question reference: S1W-02457

Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 28 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to encourage cycling and walking and how much financial support it is providing for the promotion of cycling and walking in each of the next three financial years.

The Scottish Executive has a range of plans to encourage cycling and walking.

The Scottish Executive held a major conference on cycling on 6 December, at which I emphasised the important part cycling has to play in an integrated transport policy, and the wider benefits it brings, notably for health.

On 21 December, I launched Cycling by Design. These are the first comprehensive design guidelines for cycling infrastructure to be published by any central government department in the United Kingdom and take Scotland to the fore in implementing the UK National Cycle Strategy.

I also intend to commission a full evaluation of the recent Cycle Challenge Scheme under which the Government awarded some £625,000 to 37 separate cycle projects in Scotland. The outcome of the evaluation will help to identify where resources may be used to best effect in the future.

On walking, I intend to develop guidance for our local authorities on the role walking can play as a mode of transport.

The provision of cycling and walking infrastructure in Scotland is a matter for the roads authorities - the Scottish Executive for trunk roads and the local authorities for other roads. It is for them to determine their priorities within the context of their expenditure plans and programmes. In respect of trunk roads I have endorsed the Trunk Road Cycling Initiative and have also strengthened it financially by raising its original value of £5 million to almost £6 million. This is being used to provide cycling infrastructure related to the trunk road network. Estimates for future work are at present under preparation.Our guidance to local authorities on the development of their Local Transport Strategies made clear that they should produce local walking and cycling strategies as part of their overall transport strategy. In addition, cycling and walking projects are eligible for support from the Public Transport Fund provided they meet the criteria established for the operation of the fund.