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: S2W-17806

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 3 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many public sector IT projects costing over £1 million have been started in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Executive does not hold a central repository of all public sector IT projects that have been started in each year since 1999 and the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The following figures refer specifically to IT projects approved by the Scottish Executive Information Systems Steering Group.

There were 12 such projects started since 1999 as detailed.

IT Projects costing over £1 million started since 1999
Financial Year:	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Number:	2	1	2	3	3	1

Question reference: S2W-17942

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost of the crimes of (a) shoplifting, (b) domestic burglary, (c) non-domestic burglary, (d) theft from motor vehicle, (e) robbery, (f) fraud, (g) theft of motor vehicle, (h) stranger & acquaintance violence, (i) muggings, (j) murder, (k) culpable homicide and (l) death caused by driving that have taken place when motivated by drug use has been in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Question reference: S2W-17943

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the share of the estimated cost of crimes by drug users was of crimes committed by the most offending 10% of offenders in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Question reference: S2W-17880

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 3 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many mobile phones have been reported by ministers as (a) lost and (b) stolen in each year since 1999.

The numbers of mobile phones that have been reported by ministers as (a) lost and (b) stolen in each year since 1999 are as follows:

Mobile phones reported by Ministers as lost and stolen in each year
Financial Year:	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
(a) lost	0	0	0	0	0	1
(b) stolen	0	0	0	0	0	0

These figures relate only to those phones procured through Scottish Executive contracts.

Question reference: S2W-17659

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 2 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the 10 most common reasons for calls to NHS 24 were in the last 12 months for which information is available.

Between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2005 the 10 most common reasons for calls to NHS 24, based on the use of algorithms, were:

	Reason
1	Abdominal Pain Adult
2	Vomiting
3	Chest Pain
4	Breathing Difficulty Adult
5	Sore Throat
6	Abdominal Pain
7	Fever Toddler (Age 1-4 years)
8	Headache Adult
9	Rash Toddler (Age 1-4 years)
10	Cough Adult

Question reference: S2W-17835

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 2 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital admissions on mental health grounds in the last three years have resulted from the use of (a) pharmaceutical drugs, (b) heroin, (c) cocaine, (d) cannabis, (e) alcohol, (f) nicotine and (g) magic mushrooms

Admissions to mental illness hospitals and psychiatric units for the last three years where information is available and where substances are listed on hospital record summaries is shown in Table 1. In cases of multiple drug use, specific drugs are not always reported.

Table 1. Scottish Mental Illness Hospital and Psychiatric Unit^1,2 Discharge Records with an Explicit Diagnosis of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. Source SMR04.

Diagnosis³	Discharge Period
Mental and Behavioural Disorders Due to the Use of :	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01
Alcohol	5,121	5,269	4,789
Multiple drug use and use of other psychoactive substances	991	1,058	848
Opioids	460	522	520
Sedatives or Hypnotics	147	147	142
Cannabinoids	120	112	129
Hallucinogens	16	23	13
Cocaine	4	12	9
Tobacco	1	1	0

Notes:

1. Excludes acute hospitals and maternity hospitals.

2. Information on hospital discharges relates to episodes of care rather than individual patients. The same patient may account for several hospital admissions during the course of a year (or across years) and will be counted each time in the attached table.

3. Diagnostic information is defined by using the World health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases 10 revision (ICD10). The following ICD10 codes have been used; Mental & Behavioural Disorders Due to The Use of Alcohol F10, Multiple Drug Use & Use of Other Psychoactive Substances F19, Opioids F11, Sedatives or Hypnotics F13, Cannabinoids F12, Hallucinogens F16, Cocaine F14, Tobacco F17.

Question reference: S2W-17886

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 2 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which drugs have been removed from the NHS prescription blacklist in each year since 1997.

Question reference: S2W-17666

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 1 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meat inspectors were employed in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

The following table details the numbers of staff employed as meat hygiene inspectors and senior meat hygiene inspectors in Scotland in each of the last three years as at 1 April

Post	1 April 2003	1 April 2004	1 April 2005
Meat Hygiene Inspectors	121	123	125
Senior Meat Hygiene Inspectors	23	24	23
Total	144	147	148

Question reference: S2W-17661

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 1 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many alcohol-related incidents required a response by ambulance services in each year since 1997, broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S2W-17577

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 1 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average daily number of general and acute beds open overnight was in each of the last five years in (a) Scotland and (b) each NHS board area and what the bed occupancy rate was.

The information requested is shown in the following tables.

Table 1 shows information on average available staffed beds. This indicates the average daily number of beds, which were staffed and were available for the reception of inpatients and day cases. Borrowed and temporary beds are included; beds in day bed units are excluded.

Table 1

NHSScotland – Average Available Staffed Acute¹ Beds²; by NHS Board Area: Years Ending 31 March 2001 - 2005

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005p
Argyll and Clyde	1, 402	1, 394	1 ,337	1, 273	1, 229
Ayrshire and Arran	1, 175	1, 201	1 ,205	1, 209	1, 221
Borders	379	384	372	381	371
Dumfries and Galloway	423	421	425	419	420
Fife	844	848	837	818	837
Forth Valley	725	733	724	702	699
Grampian	1, 921	1, 892	1 ,879	1, 856	1, 870
Greater Glasgow	4, 008	4, 011	3 ,995	3, 976	3, 888
Highland	845	853	874	872	872
Lanarkshire	1, 665	1, 640	1 ,620	1, 606	1, 551
Lothian	2, 525	2, 569	2 ,531	2, 478	2, 450
Orkney	59	61	63	63	65
Shetland	58	58	58	58	58
Tayside	1, 516	1, 458	1 ,499	1, 495	1, 448
Western Isles	165	152	153	158	161
Scotland³	17, 711	17, 676	17 ,571	17, 363	17, 184

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes: ^pProvisional.

1. Acute care refers to specialties primarily concerned in the surgical, medical and dental sectors. Specifically excluded are the obstetric, psychiatric and long stay sectors.

2. Includes joint-user and contractual hospitals.

3. For the year ending 31 March 2005, the Scotland total includes Golden Jubilee National Hospital which had 44 average available staffed beds. The Scotland total may not exactly equal the sum of the NHS board figures due to rounding.

Table 2 shows information on bed occupancy, which is the proportion of available staffed beds that were occupied by inpatients at midnight. Patients that are not present at the midnight census, such as day cases, are not included.

Table 2

NHSScotland - Percentage Acute¹ Bed Occupancy²; by NHS Board Area: Years Ending 31 March 2001 - 2005

	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005p
Argyll and Clyde	82.8	82.0	79.8	79.9	80.7
Ayrshire and Arran	82.1	81.2	80.5	80.3	79.5
Borders	79.7	80.0	81.3	83.2	80.5
Dumfries and Galloway	74.9	76.1	76.3	76.6	78.9
Fife	84.0	81.5	81.8	83.2	81.5
Forth Valley	81.5	80.1	81.4	82.4	83.8
Grampian	79.8	81.3	82.7	81.7	80.8
Greater Glasgow	80.7	81.4	81.8	81.0	80.9
Highland	77.0	78.3	76.7	77.2	75.5
Lanarkshire	78.0	82.2	84.2	86.0	86.4
Lothian	85.5	82.8	84.7	85.3	86.8
Orkney	59.4	65.2	70.7	62.4	58.2
Shetland	68.9	72.1	65.9	60.6	54.2
Tayside	81.7	82.7	82.5	81.5	82.0
Western Isles	74.6	77.9	71.2	68.1	65.6
Scotland³	81.1	81.3	81.8	81.7	81.7

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes:

^pProvisional.

1. Acute care refers to specialties primarily concerned in the surgical, medical and dental sectors. Specifically excluded are the obstetric, psychiatric and long stay sectors.

2. Includes joint-user and contractual hospitals.

3. For the year ending 31 March 2005, the Scotland total includes Golden Jubilee National Hospital which had a 100% occupancy rate.