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-27224

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 11 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 23 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much biomass for energy production was (a) imported to and (b) exported from Scotland in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S3W-27228

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 11 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 23 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much public money would be required for (a) development and (b) ongoing operation of the new coal-fired power station proposed by Ayrshire Power at Hunterston.

Question reference: S3W-26961

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executivehow many prescriptions for drugs for the treatment of alcohol dependence have been dispensed in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

The following table provides the number of prescriptions dispensed for Disulfiram and Acamprosate Calcium. The data is provided in financial years.

NHS Board	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	2,629	2,818	3,157	3,040	3,030
NHS Borders	487	572	474	531	566
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	701	722	901	1,184	1,549
NHS Fife	1,141	1,105	1,018	951	1,300
NHS Forth Valley	1,584	1,741	1,741	1,741	1,898
NHS Grampian	2,216	2,287	2,290	2,248	2,280
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	6,077	6,662	7,261	7,985	8,622
NHS Highland	1,849	1,963	2,255	2,343	2,834
NHS Lanarkshire	4,716	5,066	5,199	5,556	5,714
NHS Lothian	4,717	5,089	5,281	5,736	6,008
NHS Orkney	64	66	76	90	82
NHS Shetland	87	126	154	146	145
NHS Tayside	2,468	2,900	2,894	3,214	3,409
NHS Western Isles	168	112	141	128	234

Notes:

1. Excludes prescriptions which were written outwith Scotland or where the NHS board is unknown.

2. The data refers to items prescribed in Scotland that were dispensed by community pharmacists or dispensing doctors anywhere in the UK. This excludes the direct supply of medicines to patients from hospitals or clinics.

Question reference: S3W-26962

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 04 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 14 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prescriptions for drugs to aid weight loss have been dispensed in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S3O-07777

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers the proposals by Diageo for its operations in Kilmarnock and Glasgow to be consistent with the principles of sustainable economic growth.

Question reference: S3W-26365

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 07 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, codes (a) Y60.0, (b) Y61.0, (c) Y62.0, (d) Y65.2, (e) T81.2 and (f) T81.5 have occurred in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S3W-26244

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the sites designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 that were not renotified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Details are as follows:

SSSI Name	Local Authority
Aird Torrisdale	Highland
Ardsheal Peninsula	Highland
Gleann nan Caorrunn Wood	Stirling
Kentallen	Highland
Laxford Moors	Highland
Loch Laxford	Highland
Mallaig Coast	Highland
Newhall Glen	Midlothian
Portencross Coast	North Ayrshire
Rudha Cuil-cheanna	Highland
Strontian River	Highland
Tweed River¹	Scottish Borders
Windy Gowl / Carlops Dean	Scottish Borders

Note: 1. The main stem and major tributaries of the Tweed River SSSI were renotified under the 1981 Act as River Tweed SSSI on 02-03-2001. The 1949 act notification has been retained over the remaining tributaries.

Question reference: S3W-26245

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 31 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish Planning Policy relating to Sites of Special Scientific Interest applies to sites notified under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 but not subsequently renotified.

Question reference: S3W-25722

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 10 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have been admitted to hospital after having objects left inside them during surgery in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested is shown in the following table.

Acute NHS hospital (non-obstetric, non-psychiatric) inpatient/day case discharges; number of patients¹ with a diagnosis of foreign object accidentally left in body during surgical operation, years ending 31 March 2004 to 2008:

NHS Board of Residence	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
All areas	56	64	48	53	59
Ayrshire and Arran	9	6	*	6	*
Borders	-	*	*	-	*
Dumfries and Galloway	-	*	*	*	*
Fife	6	5	*	6	8
Forth Valley	7	*	*	5	*
Grampian	-	7	*	9	5
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	13	20	10	15	12
Highland	8	*	5	*	*
Lanarkshire	*	6	5	*	8
Lothian	5	8	9	*	6
Tayside	*	*	*	5	7
Island boards³	*	-	*	*	*

Source: SMR01 acute hospital inpatient and day case discharges.

Notes:

*Indicates values that have been suppressed due to the potential risk of disclosure.

-Zero values.

1. Individual patients are only counted once within any given year. Patients may be counted more than once across years.

2. Cases have been selected using the International Classification of diseases 10th revision.

(ICD10) codes:

Y61.0 Foreign body accidentally left in body during surgical operation.

T81.5 Foreign body accidentally left in body cavity or operation wound following a procedure.

Acute hospital discharge summaries can record up to six diagnoses for each episode, a main diagnosis and up to five additional or supplementary diagnoses. All six positions have been examined to produce the figures shown in the table.

3. Comprises Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles NHS boards.

Question reference: S3W-25785

Asked by: Ross Finnie, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 12 August 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the timescale is for the (a) work and (b) existence of the Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission.