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-15540

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 19 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many whole-time equivalent NHS dentists there have been per capita in each year since 1997 and how many offered NHS treatment in (a) Scotland and (b) each NHS board.

Information is collected centrally on whole-time equivalent NHS dentists per capita working in hospital, community and public health services since 1997. However, information on the whole-time equivalent status of dentists working in the General Dental Service and how many offered NHS treatment is not held centrally.

Given the amount of detail required to answer the question, I will write to the member separately and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 36143).

Question reference: S2W-15721

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many recorded offences there have been under section 4 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 for causing or allowing persons under 16 to be used for begging in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area.

Question reference: S2W-15539

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 18 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pedestrian casualties occurring on a footway resulted from a collision with a (a) motor vehicle and (b) pedal cycle in each year since 1997.

The information which is available is given in the following table . This was produced from data about injury road accidents which were reported to the police and then provided to the Scottish Executive using the "Stats 19" statistical returns. The pedestrian casualties counted are those for whom "Pedestrian location" was coded as "on footway or verge". The "Stats 19" returns do not distinguish between pedestrian casualties who were on a footway and those who were on a verge at the time of the accident.

Pedestrian Casualties Whose Location Was "on footway or verge", in Road Accidents which were Reported to the Police

	The type of the (first) vehicle which struck the pedestrian
	Motor vehicle	Pedal cycle	Other or not known	All vehicles
1997	211	5	3	219
1998	205	4	0	209
1999	234	6	0	240
2000	206	3	1	210
2001	245	1	2	248
2002	227	1	0	228
2003	242	4	0	246

Question reference: S2W-15537

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 18 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) fatal, (b) serious and (c) slight casualties among cyclists took place on (i) urban and (ii) rural roads in each year since 1997.

Police Forces' "Stats 19"statistical returns provide the Scottish Executive with statistical informationabout road accidents, in which one or more people have been injured, which havebeen reported to the police.

The numbers of pedal cyclistcasualties in such road accidents, for each year from 1993 to 2003 inclusive, brokendown by severity of injury and type of road (built-up and non-built-up), are givenin Table 23 of Road Accidents Scotland 2003, published by the Scottish Executivein 2004, copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib.number 34523).

Question reference: S2W-15538

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 18 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of (a) fatal, (b) serious and (c) slight casualties among riders of motorcycles in (i) urban and (ii) rural areas occurred (1) at signal-controlled junctions, (2) at other junctions and (3) while overtaking in the last period for which figures are available.

The information requested is given in the following tables. They were produced from data about injury road accidents which were reported to the police and then provided to the Scottish Executive using the "Stats 19" statistical returns. It should be noted that any motorcycle riders who were injured while overtaking at junctions are counted under the appropriate type of junction in the first table, and under "overtaking" in the second table.

Motorcycle Riders who were Casualties in Road Accidents in 2003

Percent of Total (Rounded)
	Severity of Rider's Injury
	Fatal		Serious		Slight
	Built-up	Non Built-up	Built-up	Non Built-up	Built-up	Non Built-up
Signal controlled junction	0	0	9	0	10	2
Other junction	64	30	54	33	63	31
Not at junction	36	70	38	67	27	67
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Motorcycle Riders who were Casualties in Road Accidents in 2003

Percent of Total (Rounded)
	Severity of Rider's Injury
	Fatal		Serious		Slight
	Built-up	Non Built-up	Built-up	Non Built-up	Built-up	Non Built-up
Overtaking	18	22	9	11	10	13
Not overtaking	82	78	91	89	90	87
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100

Question reference: S2W-15339

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4792 by Mr Andy Kerr on 17 May 2004, how many pensioner households live on an annual income of (a) less than '10,000, (b) '10,001 to '15,000, (c) '15,001 to '20,000 and (d) above '20,000 expressed also as a percentage of the total number of such households in 2003-04.

The following table presents the results from the 2003-04 Households Below Average Income data on the proportion and number of pensioner families with annual net income in each income band.

Table: Annual Net Household Income¹ for All Pensioner Families² 2003-04³

	2003-04
N	%
Less than £10,000	270,000	39
£10,001 to £15,000	200,000	28
£15,001 to £20,000	100,000	15
Over £20,000	120,000	18
Total	700,000	100

Source: Households Below Average Income.

Notes:

1. Includes wages and salaries, self employment income, pensioners income, all state benefit, payable tax credits and investment income, net of: income tax, National Insurance, Council tax, contributions to occupational pensioners and maintenance payments.

2. A family (or benefit unit) is a single adult or a couple together with any dependent children, so a household can contain more than one family. It is assumed that all families in the household benefit equally from the combined net income of the household.

3. Figures may not add up to the totals due to rounding.

The figures are estimates based on a sample survey and are therefore subject to sampling variation.

The 2003-04 figures are not comparable with the 2002-03 figures previously published, as the 2003-04 figures are based on the new grossing regime which was introduced this year - for more information on this, please see the Households Below Average Income, 2003-04:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/03/29170611/06123.

Question reference: S2W-15338

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average (a) annual income, (b) secured debt and (c) unsecured debt per person was in each year since 1997.

(a) The following table presents estimates of the median total individual income, based on a three year rolling average, from 1996-97 - 1998-99 to 2000-01 - 2002-03.

Table: Median Total Individual Income, Scotland, Averages for Three Rolling Years, 1996-97 – 1998-99 to 2000-01 - 2002-03 (£ Annual) (2002-03 Prices)

Year	All Adults
1996-97 – 1998-99	8,840
1997-98 – 1999-2000	9,048
1998-99 – 2000-01	9,048
1999-2000 – 2001-02	9,516
2000-01 – 2002-03	9,932

Source: Family Resource Survey Individual Incomes Analysis

Note: 1. Excludes any income which is not accrued directly to the individual in their own right, but also excludes student loans, Social Fund loans and benefits in kind.

Total income includes all elements of income that are accrued to the individual in their own right. This includes income from earnings, self-employment, occupational pensions, investments, social security benefits and tax credits. Elements of income that are generally accrued by a household rather than an individual are excluded, e.g. housing benefit and council tax benefit, and income from letting/sub-letting.

(b)/(c) The Executive does not currently collect information on the debt of individuals. It is planned that the proposed ONS survey on wealth and assets will collect information on household debt. The survey is in its early development stages. If it goes ahead, some data for Scotland should be available from this source.

Question reference: S2W-15536

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many males were convicted of drink-driving offences in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area.

The available information is given in the table.

Males with a Charge Proved in Scottish Courts for Drink Driving¹, by Police Force Area, 1997-2003

Police Force Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003²
Central	392	349	332	347	267	555	476
Dumfries and Galloway	190	173	187	144	184	195	208
Fife	436	382	339	311	322	611	508
Grampian	846	802	767	680	699	802	868
Lothian and Borders	1,272	1,213	1,066	994	1,046	1,299	1,182
Northern	599	485	482	451	499	602	642
Strathclyde	3,405	2,624	2,622	2,563	2,478	3,041	2,665
Tayside	583	545	495	509	567	684	700
Total	7,723	6,573	6,290	5,999	6,062	7,789	7,249

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes estimated data.

Question reference: S2W-15725

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 13 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15259 by Colin Boyd on 29 March 2005, how many prosecutions there have been for offences of driving while using a hand-held mobile phone, broken down by police force area.

Since 1 December 2003, 625 reported charges under regulation 110 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 in respect of driving while using a mobile telephone have been the subject of criminal proceedings in court. The figures for each police force are shown in the table below.

Police Force	Number Of Reported Charges Subject To Criminal Proceedings in Court
Central Scotland Police	50
Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary	10
Fife Constabulary	6
Grampian Police	53
Lothian and Borders Police	71
Northern Constabulary	18
Strathclyde Police	326
Tayside Police	91
Total	625

Question reference: S2W-15146

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 30 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of the early retirement scheme for civil servants was in each of its departments and agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 1998-99, (c) 1999-2000, (d) 2000-01, (e) 2001-02, (f) 2002-03 and (g) 2003-04 and what the estimated cost is for (h) 2004-05, (i) 2005-06, (j) 2006-07 and (k) 2007-08.

Department	Early Retirement Costs
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
Scottish Office/Scottish Executive	217,612	686,898	1,554,361	2,710,776	1,858,516
General Register Office for Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	23,021	23,408
Scottish Record Office/National Archives Scotland	N/A	23,385	55,481	64,055	64,408
Royal Commission on the Ancient Monuments of Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	40,899	17,756
Scottish Agricultural Science Agency	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Student Awards Agency for Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	18,417	9,035
Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Total Costs	217,612	710,283	1,609,842	2,857,168	1,973,123

Department	Estimated Early Retirement Costs
	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Scottish Office/ Scottish Executive	3,136,535	2,930,242	3,665,952	2,000,000	2,000,000	1,500,000
General Register Office for Scotland	15,655	116,277	75,233	50,000	50,000	50,000
Scottish Record Office/National Archives Scotland	66,915	44,216	37,383	50,000	50,000	50,000
Royal Commission on the Ancient Monuments of Scotland	17,756	18,368	18,996	19,000	19,000	19,000
Scottish Agricultural Science Agency	25,192	47,513	106,377	75,000	75,000	75,000
Student Awards Agency for Scotland	9,112	9,342	9,598	10,000	10,000	10,000
Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency	16,838	17,122	125,493	60,000	60,000	60,000
Total Costs	3,288,003	3,183,080	5,639,032	2,264,000	2,264,000	1,764,000