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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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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 completed in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Executive does not hold a central register of all public sector IT projects and therefore could only provide the information requested at disproportionate cost.This answer covers IT projects approved by the Scottish Executive Information Systems Steering Group.

There were 10 such projects completed as detailed.

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

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 budgeted to cost over £1 million are currently in progress.

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

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 (a) completed within 10% of the original budget, (b) completed outwith 10% of the original budget and (c) abandoned in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Executive does not hold a central register of all public sector IT projects and therefore could only provide the information requested at disproportionate cost. This answer covers IT projects approved by the Scottish Executive Information Systems Steering Group.

Since 1999 eight IT projects costing over £1 million have been completed within 10% of the original budget; two completed outwith 10% of the original budget (both under-budget); and none abandoned.

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

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.

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.

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 1 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have had to sell their homes to pay for their long-term elderly care in each year since 1997.

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 1 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether occupied Crown property is exempt from council tax.

IT Projects costing over £1 million completed within/without 10% of budget

(a) within 10%

(b) outwith 10%

(c) abandoned

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