Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-17834

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 11 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of people recruited to teach (a) science, (b) mathematics and (c) modern languages were from (i) the United Kingdom, (ii) the European Union and (iii) other overseas nations in each year from 1994 to 2004.

Question reference: S2W-17978

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the murder rate per 1,000 of the population was in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.

The available information isgiven in the table.

Victims of Homicide^1,2per 1,000 Population, by Police Force Area, 1999-2003

Police Force Area	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Central	0.018	0.011	0.014	0.021	0.011
Dumfries and Galloway	0.020	0.047	0.041	0.007	0.014
Fife	0.003	0.009	0.006	0.009	0.003
Grampian	0.013	0.023	0.013	0.013	0.013
Lothian and Borders	0.019	0.011	0.015	0.015	0.019
Northern	0.004	0.014	0.018	0.022	0.007
Strathclyde	0.036	0.027	0.031	0.037	0.033
Tayside	0.010	0.015	0.013	0.026	0.008
Scotland	0.023	0.021	0.022	0.025	0.021

Notes:

1. Currently(as at 10 November 2004) recorded as homicide.

2. Theinitial classification of a case as homicide is made by the police; it willgenerally be murder.

Question reference: S2W-17972

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 11 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list primary schools have (a) opened and (b) closed in each year since 1997.

The primary schools openedand closed in each year since 1997 are set out in the following tables. Bothlocal authority and independent schools are included, as well as schools thathave merged to form new schools or have moved site. The information has beenderived from information collected annually by the Scottish Executive EducationDepartment on the opening and closing of schools.

Table 1:Primary Schools Opened, By Year

Education Authority Area	School
1997
Dundee City	Sidlaw View Primary School
Fife	Bellyeoman Primary School
1998
Aberdeen City	Newhills Primary School
Edinburgh City	St Margaret's School *
1999
Aberdeen City	Charleston School
Eilean Siar	Lewis Independent Christian School *
Glasgow City	Iqra Academy *
Glasgow City	Glasgow Gaelic Primary School
Inverclyde	Cedars School of Excellence *
North Lanarkshire	Alexander Peden Primary
2000
Angus	Rosemount Primary School
Highland	Strathpeffer Primary School
North Ayrshire	Lawthorn Primary School
North Lanarkshire	St Margaret of Scotland Primary School
2001
West Lothian	Livingston Village Primary School
2002
Edinburgh City	Craigroyston Primary School
Highland	Strathdearn Primary School
Renfrewshire	Living Waters School-Bellshill *
West Lothian	Linlithgow Bridge Primary School
2003
Edinburgh City	Craigour Park Primary
Edinburgh City	Castleview Primary School
Edinburgh City	Forthview Primary
Fife	Anstruther Primary School
Highland	Moray Firth School *
North Lanarkshire	St Andrew's Primary School
2004
2005 (to date)
Dundee City	Claypotts Castle Primary School
Edinburgh City	Currie Primary School
Edinburgh City	Canal View Primary School
Edinburgh City	Pentland Primary School
West Lothian	Cawburn Community Primary School

Note: *DenotesIndependent School

Table 2: Primary Schools Closed, By Year

Education Authority Area	School
1997
Aberdeenshire	Fraserburgh Infant School
Argyll & Bute	Ardentinny Primary School
Argyll & Bute	Dalavich Primary School
Argyll & Bute	Kerrera Primary School
Dumfries & Galloway	Kilquhanity House School *
Dundee City	Gillburn Primary School
Dundee City	West March Primary School
Glasgow City	Levern Primary School
Glasgow City	Queenslie Primary School
Glasgow City	St Bonaventure's Primary School
Highland	Lieurary Primary School
Highland	Scotsburn Primary
Moray	Abbeylands School
Moray	The Green School *
Scottish Borders	Foulden Primary School
Shetland Islands	Haroldswick Primary School
West Lothian	Almondbank Primary School
1998
Aberdeen City	The Hillocks School
Aberdeen City	Cloverfield School
Aberdeen City	Deeview Nursery/Infant School
Aberdeen City	Walker Dam Nursery/Infant School
Aberdeenshire	Greeness School
Aberdeenshire	Corgarff School
Argyll & Bute	St John's Episcopal Primary School
Argyll & Bute	Rashfield Primary School
Edinburgh City	St Denis and Cranley School *
Edinburgh City	St Margaret's School for Girls *
Highland	Kensaleyre Primary School
Perth & Kinross	Amulree Primary School
Stirling	Kinbuck Primary School
Stirling	Kinlochard Primary School
1999
Aberdeen City	Kingswood Nursery/Infant School
Aberdeenshire	Crossroads School
Aberdeenshire	Glen Morven School *
Angus	The Sidlaw School *
Argyll & Bute	Park Lodge School *
Argyll & Bute	Portnahaven Primary School
East Dunbartonshire	Gask House School *
Edinburgh City	Craigmillar Primary School
Glasgow City	Torass Emess Jewish Day School *
North Lanarkshire	Benhar Primary School
North Lanarkshire	Harthill Primary School
Perth & Kinross	Edradour School *
2000
Aberdeen City	Ashgrove Children's Centre
Aberdeenshire	Maryculter East School
Angus	Craigo Primary School
Angus	Hillside Primary School
Dumfries & Galloway	Westerkirk School
Dumfries & Galloway	Auldgirth School
East Dunbartonshire	Atholl Preparatory School *
Eilean Siar	Manish Primary School
Highland	Loch Choire Primary
Highland	Contin Primary School
Highland	Fodderty Primary School
Moray	Boharm School
Moray	Edinville School
Moray	Glenrinnes School
North Lanarkshire	Glenhead Primary School
North Lanarkshire	Langlands Primary School
North Lanarkshire	Melrose Primary School
North Lanarkshire	Sacred Heart Primary School
North Lanarkshire	St Joseph's Primary School
Orkney Islands	Egilsay Primary School
Perth & Kinross	Croftinloan School *
Scottish Borders	Traquair Primary School
West Dunbartonshire	Keil School *
West Dunbartonshire	Keil Junior School *
2001
Angus	St Vigean's Primary School
Dumfries & Galloway	Cademuir International School *
Eilean Siar	Fidigarry Primary School
Eilean Siar	Knockiandue Primary School
Fife	Kingdom Christian School *
Glasgow City	Laurel Park School *
Highland	Assynt Primary School
Highland	Glenborrodale Primary School
West Lothian	Abercorn Primary School
2002
Dumfries & Galloway	All Souls RC Primary School
Dumfries & Galloway	Laurieston School
Dumfries & Galloway	St Cuthbert's RC School
Edinburgh City	Muirhouse Primary School
Edinburgh City	Silverknowes Primary School
Edinburgh City	Fernieside Primary School
Edinburgh City	Moredun Primary School
Eilean Siar	Dunskellar Primary School
Glasgow City	Broadholm Primary School
Glasgow City	St Clare's Primary School
Glasgow City	St Pius' Primary School
Glasgow City	Hawthorn Primary School
Glasgow City	St Colette's Primary School
Glasgow City	Netherton Primary School
Highland	Moy Primary School
Highland	Raigbeg Primary School
Perth & Kinross	Rannoch School *
2003
Aberdeen City	Greenfern Nursery/Infant School
Aberdeenshire	Kildrummy School
Argyll & Bute	Newton Primary School
Dumfries & Galloway	Corsock School
Edinburgh City	Greendykes Primary School
Edinburgh City	Peffermill Primary School
Edinburgh City	Craigmuir Primary School
Edinburgh City	Inchview Primary School
Fife	Cellardyke Primary School
Fife	Anstruther Wester Primary School
Fife	Inchkeith School *
Glasgow City	Iqra Academy *
Highland	Dulchreichard Primary School
Perth & Kinross	Butterstone School *
Renfrewshire	Living Waters Christian School *
2004
Angus	Careston Primary School
Argyll & Bute	Bridge Of Orchy Primary
Dumfries & Galloway	Dundrennan School
Edinburgh City	Orwell Primary School
Glasgow City	London Road Primary School
Glasgow City	Leithland Primary School
Glasgow City	Braeside Primary School
Glasgow City	Lochgoin Primary School
Glasgow City	Ruchazie Primary School
Glasgow City	St Philip's Primary School
Glasgow City	St Julie's Primary School
Glasgow City	Springfield Primary School
Glasgow City	St Elizabeth Seton Primary School
Glasgow City	Lamlash Primary School
Glasgow City	Littlehill Primary School
Glasgow City	Bonnyholm Primary School
Glasgow City	Barrowfield Primary School
Highland	Achnasheen Primary School
Inverclyde	Holy Cross Primary School
Inverclyde	St Mungo's Primary School
Inverclyde	Springfield Primary School
Inverclyde	Boglestone Primary School
Inverclyde	Holy Family Primary School
Midlothian	Howgate Primary School
Moray	Aberlour House Preparatory School *
Perth & Kinross	St Fillans Primary School
Scottish Borders	Oxnam Primary School
Scottish Borders	Teviothead Primary School
Scottish Borders	Cranshaws Primary School
Shetland Islands	Quarff Primary School
Stirling	Holy Trinity Episcopal Primary School
West Dunbartonshire	Milton Primary School
2005 (to date)
Angus	Dun Primary School
Dumfries & Galloway	Wamphray School
Edinburgh City	Comiston Primary School
Edinburgh City	Dumbryden Primary School
Edinburgh City	Hailesland Primary School
Edinburgh City	Hunter's Tryst Primary School
Edinburgh City	Curriehill Primary School
Edinburgh City	Riccarton Primary School
Eilean Siar	Berneray Primary School
Fife	Kemback Primary School
Glasgow City	Holmlea Primary School
Glasgow City	St Margaret Mary's Primary School
Glasgow City	Simshill Primary School
Highland	Soay Primary School
Inverclyde	King's Glen Primary School
North Lanarkshire	St James' Primary School
Scottish Borders	Glen Douglas Primary School
Scottish Borders	Burnmouth Primary School
Scottish Borders	Hutton Primary School
West Lothian	Pumpherston Primary School
West Lothian	Uphall Station Infant School

Note: *DenotesIndependent School.

Question reference: S2W-17907

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average bed occupancy rate was of each acute hospital in each of the last five years.

The following table details percentage bed occupancy for acute specialties in Scottish hospitals. Hospitals with 25 or more average available staffed beds in acute specialties have been included in the table. While the occupancy of the large hospitals providing most of the acute care remains reasonably stable across the 5 years, some small, generally rural hospitals show changing occupancy figures as the provision of service changes due to service redesign. For example, Stracathro Hospital is being redeveloped as Scotland’s first Ambulatory Diagnostic and Treatment Centre and any spare inpatient capacity is to be used in partnership with the independent sector to help reduce waiting times in Tayside, Grampian and Fife.

NHSScotland - Percentage Acute¹ Bed Occupancy²by Hospital³; Years Ending 31 March 2001 - 2005²

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005^p
Scotland - All Acute Specialties	81.1	81.3	81.8	81.7	81.7
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary	80.5	83.5	84.7	83.5	82.1
Ashludie Hospital	89.9	90.6	91.9	90.8	76.2
Astley Ainslie Hospital	80.9	82.2	82.1	84.7	86.1
Ayrshire Central Hospital	78.0	73.2	69.8	66.0	62.7
Balfour Hospital	59.4	65.2	70.7	62.4	58.2
Belford Hospital	75.8	76.5	73.3	73.7	66.8
Biggart Hospital	96.0	91.8	89.4	91.0	88.2
Blairgowrie Community Hospital	88.0	78.0	83.0	82.1	85.3
Borders General Hospital	78.6	78.8	80.4	82.5	81.3
Caithness General Hospital	71.9	74.4	78.7	78.0	75.9
Campbeltown Hospital	78.9	81.1	75.8	78.0	73.7
Canniesburn Hospital	70.3	68.1	55.7	60.9	63.6
Chalmers Hospital	58.2	64.5	58.8	59.3	59.5
City Hospital, Edinburgh	61.1	54.1	-	-	-
Coathill Hospital	83.9	93.5	81.8	84.0	79.5
Cowglen Hospital	80.5	26.0	-	-	-
Crieff Community Hospital	67.7	74.1	74.0	75.8	71.1
Crosshouse Hospital	82.8	81.9	82.1	81.1	81.8
Davidson Cottage Hospital	70.2	71.1	72.8	70.6	63.5
Dr Gray's Hospital	81.2	78.3	79.5	73.9	74.4
Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary	77.7	78.3	80.5	81.2	83.9
Dunoon and District General Hospital	88.3	82.8	80.4	76.5	82.9
Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary	89.2	87.5	90.0	91.6	91.7

NHSScotland - Percentage Acute¹ Bed Occupancy²by Hospital³; Years Ending 31 March 2001 - 2005²

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005^p
Forth Park Hospital	59.7	48.1	48.3	52.1	46.3
Fraserburgh Hospital	67.6	67.5	65.6	75.9	63.1
Garrick Hospital	51.2	53.7	55.4	46.8	35.7
Gilbert Bain Hospital	66.3	70.6	64.6	59.4	53.9
Glasgow Royal Infirmary	86.6	86.8	87.0	84.6	85.1
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	-	-	-	-	100.0
Hairmyres Hospital	81.9	84.1	89.3	90.6	91.7
Hawick Cottage Hospital	68.5	73.3	73.6	78.4	63.5
Hay Lodge Hospital	99.8	100.0	100.0	97.2	93.0
Inverclyde Royal Hospital	79.5	80.6	79.2	78.4	82.7
Jubilee Hospital	67.8	64.8	60.2	61.9	60.5
Kings Cross Hospital	85.6	79.1	-	-	-
Law Hospital	70.7	72.1	-	-	-
Lawson Memorial Hospital	68.4	61.6	55.5	59.6	53.3
Leanchoil Hospital	94.7	98.9	97.1	91.0	92.6
Liberton Hospital	94.2	93.0	91.7	90.6	90.1
Lightburn Hospital	88.6	90.8	87.7	85.8	84.7
Lockhart Hospital	73.8	74.1	73.2	73.0	66.1
Lorn & Islands District Gen Hospital	77.5	73.3	65.4	66.6	69.2
Monklands Hospital	81.0	84.2	85.5	85.9	86.4
New Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh	-	60.8	71.4	85.2	88.9
Ninewells Hospital	80.6	83.6	83.0	81.8	83.6
Perth Royal Infirmary	83.6	84.8	88.4	86.0	87.0
Peterhead Community Hospital	76.0	75.4	80.4	78.0	76.8
Princess Margaret Rose Hospital	76.3	64.0	-	-	-
Queen Margaret Hospital	90.0	87.6	88.5	90.7	92.2
Raigmore Hospital	80.9	81.7	79.6	79.9	79.4
Ravenscraig Hospital	81.8	37.9	51.8	88.4	87.2
Roodlands General Hospital	89.2	90.2	87.9	89.3	89.0
Ross Memorial Hospital	76.4	77.0	74.8	76.1	75.8
Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital	54.5	55.0	55.0	51.5	55.4
Royal Alexandra Hospital	85.8	85.6	85.3	84.3	84.1
Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh	64.2	66.4	64.8	64.3	65.7
Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow	63.7	63.8	70.5	66.8	68.0
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh	88.4	86.8	85.4	81.5	-
Royal Northern Infirmary	83.2	86.1	72.0	77.5	84.7
Royal Victoria Hospital, Edinburgh	96.5	96.9	96.8	95.5	97.4
Royal Victoria Hospital, Dundee	88.0	86.2	77.6	84.9	83.1
Seafield Hospital	88.8	93.9	100.0	100.0	100.0
Southern General Hospital	80.1	82.2	81.5	80.1	76.6

NHSScotland - Percentage Acute¹ Bed Occupancy²by Hospital³; Years Ending 31 March 2001 - 2005²

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005^p
Spynie Hospital	85.3	85.4	86.0	82.3	42.0
St Columba's Hospice	80.4	88.1	84.0	87.0	74.9
St John's Hospital At Howden	83.2	81.6	81.9	82.7	81.8
Stirling Royal Infirmary	75.0	74.0	74.1	74.5	76.8
Stobhill Hospital	77.5	80.1	82.2	83.4	81.1
Stonehouse Hospital	58.8	100.0	-	-	-
Stracathro Hospital	79.5	74.1	68.7	65.6	61.7
Strathclyde Hospital	-	75.0	72.1	81.5	77.6
The Ayr Hospital	82.5	82.9	81.1	83.4	83.1
Tor-Na-Dee Hospital	70.6	62.9	77.2	-	-
Udston Hospital	90.0	90.3	94.6	87.3	88.9
Vale of Leven District General Hospital	88.3	88.5	82.9	81.4	80.4
Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy	81.4	79.5	79.2	81.8	82.5
Victoria Infirmary	87.2	85.7	88.6	88.4	88.7
Victoria Infirmary Geriatric Unit	94.5	92.1	91.0	90.3	91.3
Wester Moffat Hospital	-	86.3	86.3	74.8	75.0
Western General Hospital	85.3	77.9	84.6	87.1	88.4
Western Infirmary/Gartnavel General	77.2	77.5	78.8	78.8	80.8
Western Isles Hospital	77.1	77.4	71.1	68.0	62.8
Wishaw General Hospital	-	78.1	81.0	85.8	86.7
Woodend General Hospital	88.3	91.0	91.5	90.6	90.1

Note: ^pProvisional.

Question reference: S2W-17573

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of computer (a) hacking, (b) fraud and (c) theft have been recorded and on how many occasions computer systems (i) within and (ii) outwith the Executive have been illegally accessed by computer hackers in each year since 1999.

The recorded crime statisticsavailable centrally do not differentiate the circumstances of the crime and as suchit is not possible to distinguish cases where a computer was involved incommitting a fraud or theft.

Inrelation to computer hacking, two types of crime and offence may be recorded bythe police under the Computer Misuse Act 1990; Section 3(1) of the act coversthe unauthorised modification of the contents of any computer while Sections1(1) and 2(1) relate to securing unauthorised access to any data or programheld in any computer.

Thenumbers of crimes and offences relating to computer hacking, recorded by thepolice in Scotland under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, are shown in thefollowing table.

Year	Number of offences recorded
1999	0
2000	5
2001	8
2002	13
2003	7

There have been no knowninstances of hacking into computers within the Executive since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-18203

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average student nurse bursary has been in each year since 1999.

Information on the totalexpenditure on bursaries is not collected in such a way as to provide averagebursary payments for these academic years. Lower and higher rates of bursaryfor the academic years 1999-2000 to 2005-06 are set out in the following table.Where applicable, nursing and midwifery students can also apply for a lone parent’sgrant, lone parent’s childcare grant and income-assessed dependants’ allowancesfor dependant children.

Academic Year	Lower Rate (students under 26)	Higher Rate (students over 26)
1999-2000	4,686	5,277
2000-01	4,803	5,409
2001-02	5,302	5,971
2002-03	5,430	6,115
2003-04	5,566	6,268
2004-05	5,700	6,418
2005-06	5,845	6,580

Question reference: S2W-17830

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 10 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people were not in employment, education or training, broken down by (a) constituency and (b) local authority (i) in total and (ii) as a percentage of each age group ranked in descending order and grouped by region, in the last year for which figures are available.

Young people not inemployment education or training is usually defined by the Scottish Executiveas those aged 16-19 not in employment, education or training (NEET). Data on theNEET group are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The most up to datedata available are for 2004. The LFS is a survey and is based on a sample of the population, therefore data are only available at certain geographies due tosmall sample sizes resulting is unreliable estimates. For this reason it is notpossible to provide data on NEET at constituency level. Table 1 gives the numberof 16-19 year olds not in employment, education or training broken down byLocal Authority Areas, grouped by region and ranked within each region. Table 2gives the age breakdown for areas where data is reliable.

Table 1 Number of 16-19 yearolds not in employment, education or training for each Local Authority Area,grouped by region, 2004

	Ages 16-19
	Number	Percentage
Scotland	35,000	13.5%
Borders
Scottish Borders, The	1,000	12.0%
Central
Stirling	1,000	16.0%
Clackmannanshire	..	..
Falkirk	..	..
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway	..	..
Fife
Fife	..	..
Grampian
Aberdeen City	..	..
Aberdeenshire	..	..
Moray	..	..
Highland & Islands
Highland	..	..
Orkney Islands	..	..
Shetland Islands	..	..
Eilean Siar (Western Isles)	..	..
Lothian
Midlothian	1,000	15.9%
East Lothian	..	..
Edinburgh, City of	..	..
West Lothian	..	..
Strathclyde
Glasgow City	7,000	23.0%
West Dunbartonshire	1,000	17.7%
East Ayrshire	1,000	16.6%
East Dunbartonshire	1,000	9.8%
Inverclyde	1,000	17.4%
North Ayrshire	1,000	18.6%
South Ayrshire	1,000	18.5%
Argyll & Bute	..	..
East Renfrewshire	..	..
North Lanarkshire	..	..
Renfrewshire	..	..
South Lanarkshire	..	..
Tayside
Angus	1,000	11.5%
Dundee City	..	..
Perth and Kinross	..	..

Estimate is belowreliability threshold as defined by the Office for National Statistics.

Notes:

1. Estimates are rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. The total may not equal the sum of the individualcomponents due to rounding.

3.Percentages are calculated as the number of NEET divided by the totalpopulation for the relevant age group.

Table 2 Age breakdown of NEET, 2004

	Number	Percentage
	Age 16	Age 17	Age 18	Age 19	Age 16	Age 17	Age 18	Age 19
Scotland	6,000	7,000	10,000	12,000	10.0%	11.1%	15.3%	17.5%
North Ayrshire	..	..	..	1,000	..	..	..	28.6%

Source: Annual ScottishLabour Force Survey, 2004

.. Estimate is belowreliability threshold as defined by the Office for National Statistics

Notes:

1. Estimates are rounded to the nearest thousand.

2. The total may not equal the sum of the individualcomponents due to rounding.

3. Percentages arecalculated as the number of NEET divided by the total population for therelevant age group.

Question reference: S2W-18032

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people (a) requested and (b) received an appointment to see a GP within 48 hours in the last period for which figures are available.

The information requested isnot available centrally.

The Scottish Executivepublished a commitment in the Partnership Agreement that from April 2004 anyonecontacting their GP practice would have guaranteed access to a GP, nurse orother healthcare professional within 48 hours.

Access is defined asincluding appointments, but also includes other arrangements which areappropriate to the patient’s circumstances and clinical need. The target focuses on access rather than GPappointments and a range of healthcare professionals, not just GPs.

The 48 hour access target isincluded in the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) under the new GP contractarrangements. In 2004-05, 97% of Scottish practices qualified for and receivedthe ‘access bonus’ through the QOF. Similarly high levels of compliance havebeen reported by NHS boards through the 2004-05 Performance AssessmentFramework.

Information on the targetand the guidance issued to NHS boards is available publicly from the 48 HourAccess website:

http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/48houraccess.

Question reference: S2W-17977

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, people (a) admitted to and (b) discharged from hospital were malnourished in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by age.

Centrally held information can provide details for those patients where malnourishment is explicitly identified on their hospital records. These figures may represent an undercount of the true number of cases because even though a patient may be malnourished on admission to hospital, another condition may be the primary cause of the hospital admission and in such cases the malnourishment may not be recorded.

Figures presented in Table 1 are based on non-obstetric and non-psychiatric discharges from hospital with a diagnosis of malnourishment. Patients with more than one admission in a year are only counted once. It is not possible to identify whether a diagnosis of malnourishment was made before admission or during a stay in hospital.

Table 1 - Number of Patients Discharged with Diagnosis of Malnourishment in NHSScotland, 2000-2004^p

	Year ending 31 December
Age group (years)	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004^p
0-24	101	69	83	100	93
25-34	115	72	104	89	80
35-44	167	140	153	153	131
45-54	199	171	176	201	160
55-64	199	207	223	208	224
65-74	307	275	281	326	298
75-84	399	354	388	437	412
85 & over	262	283	270	329	293
Total	1,749	1,571	1,678	1,843	1,691

Notes:

1. These statistics are derived from the linked database containing linked discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) records in Scotland.

2. Up to 6 diagnoses (1 principal, 5 secondary) are recorded on the SMR01 return. All diagnostic positions have been used to identify patients.

3. There is not one single, specific International Classification of Disease (ICD), tenth revision, code for malnourishment and this analysis is based on thefollowing ICD10 codes: E40-E46, E50-E64, E12, O25, D51.3, D52.0, D53.2, D53.8,D53.9, M83.3, O24.2, F50.0, F50.1 & T73.0.

4. Age group is assigned on the first discharge for each patient.

^PProvisional.

Table 2 presents the patients in Table 1 as a percentage of all non-obstetric and non-psychiatric patients.

Table 2 - Percentage of Patients Discharged with Diagnosis of Malnourishment in NHSScotland, 2000-2004^p

	Year ending 31 December
Age group (years)	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004^p
0-24	0.08	0.05	0.07	0.08	0.08
25-34	0.15	0.10	0.16	0.15	0.14
35-44	0.20	0.17	0.19	0.20	0.17
45-54	0.23	0.20	0.22	0.26	0.21
55-64	0.22	0.23	0.25	0.23	0.25
65-74	0.30	0.27	0.29	0.33	0.31
75-84	0.48	0.42	0.47	0.51	0.48
85 & over	0.76	0.81	0.78	0.97	0.89
Total	0.25	0.23	0.26	0.29	0.27

Notes:

1. These statistics are derived from the linked database containing linked discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) records in Scotland.

2. Up to 6 diagnoses (1 principal, 5 secondary) are recorded on the SMR01 return.

3. There is not one single, specific International Classification of Disease (ICD), tenth revision, code for malnourishment and this analysis is based on thefollowing ICD10 codes: E40-E46, E50-E64, E12, O25, D51.3, D52.0, D53.2, D53.8,D53.9, M83.3, O24.2, F50.0, F50.1 & T73.0.

4. Age group is assigned on the first discharge for each patient.

5. Percentage is calculated by dividing the number of patients discharged with a diagnosis of malnourishment by the total number of patients discharged.

^PProvisional.

Question reference: S2W-18007

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact of 48-hour access targets for general practitioners on availability of pre-booked routine appointments and how many patients it estimates do not have the opportunity to book advance appointments within 48 hours.

The information requested isnot available centrally.

The Scottish Executivepublished a commitment in the Partnership Agreement that from April 2004 anyonecontacting their GP practice would have guaranteed access to a GP, nurse orother healthcare professional within 48 hours.

Access is defined asincluding appointments, but also includes other arrangements which areappropriate to the patient’s circumstances and clinical need. The target focuses on access rather than GPappointments and a range of healthcare professionals, not just GPs.

The 48 hour access target isnot intended to preclude the ability of patients and practitioners to pre-bookroutine appointments. We expect eachprimary medical services practice to establish appropriate access arrangementsin accordance with local circumstances and to meet the requirement of thetarget. Access to primary medical services is determined by a number of factorsincluding clinical need.

Information on the targetand the guidance issued to NHS boards is available publicly from the 48 HourAccess website:

http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/48houraccess.

Chamber and committees