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-15079

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths have occurred on motorways in (a) total and (b) each local authority area in each year since 1997.

The information requested is given in the following table. This was produced from data, about injury road accidents, which were collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the Stats 19 statistical returns. Information for 2004 is not yet available. In accordance with the normal definitions of road accident statistics, motorways include A(M) roads.

Local Authority	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Dumfries and Galloway	1	0	1	0	0	5	3
East Renfrewshire	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Edinburgh, City of	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	4	2	0	0	3	5	1
Fife	0	0	0	0	1	2	0
Glasgow City	2	1	1	10	3	0	1
North Lanarkshire	2	1	0	0	2	1	4
Perth and Kinross	0	0	0	0	1	4	0
Renfrewshire	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	4	0	5	5	0	6	1
Stirling	1	0	2	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	0	2	0	0	1	1	1
Scotland	15	7	9	17	11	24	12

Question reference: S2W-15153

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 21 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) undergraduate and (b) postgraduate students declared themselves bankrupt in 2004.

Question reference: S2W-15077

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 18 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) primary school teachers were on permanent contracts and (b) unfilled primary schoolteacher vacancies there were in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority.

The estimated number full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers on permanent and temporary contracts in 1998 is given in the table below.

Data for 2003 is published in Teachers in Scotland, 2003, which is available on the Executive’s website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00352-00.asp or in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33785).

Data for other years is not available.

Estimated FTE of Teachers, by Mode of Employment, 1998

Local Authority	Permanent	Temporary
Aberdeen City	1,652	147
Aberdeenshire	2,173	183
Angus	1,008	67
Argyll and Bute	805	97
Clackmannanshire	430	26
Dumfries and Galloway	1,413	114
Dundee City	1,317	85
East Ayrshire	1,030	123
East Dunbartonshire	1,012	126
East Lothian	716	56
East Renfrewshire	787	108
Edinburgh, City of	2,874	226
Eilean Siar	372	39
Falkirk	1,254	71
Fife	3,263	200
Glasgow City	4,559	502
Highland	2,287	97
Inverclyde	745	90
Midlothian	770	53
Moray	817	83
North Ayrshire	1,198	110
North Lanarkshire	2,961	382
Orkney Islands	245	21
Perth and Kinross	1,127	81
Renfrewshire	1,485	155
Scottish Borders	981	66
Shetland Islands	371	22
South Ayrshire	926	116
South Lanarkshire	2,620	302
Stirling	774	55
West Dunbartonshire	869	109
West Lothian	1,443	90

The available information on teacher vacancies by local authority is in a set of tables Full-time Equivalent Teacher Vacancies in Schools which is in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 32903). The latest information available, at February 2004, shows the number of vacancies is around 1.6% of the total numbers of teachers.

Question reference: S2W-15080

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 18 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of career was for teachers retiring from the profession and what percentage of teachers retired in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area.

From the Teacher Flow survey which is part of the annual teacher workforce planning exercise it is possible to estimate the average length of service of teachers retiring. This is based on the last registration date with the General Teaching Council for Scotland of such teachers. It does not take account of possible career breaks. On this basis the average length of service is set out below for the financial years concerned.

Average Number of Years from Latest Date of Registration to Retiral -Includes Age Retirement, Early Retirement and Ill Health Retirement

	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Aberdeen City	33	32	33
Aberdeenshire	32	34	35
Angus	33	30	33
Argyll and Bute	32	34	36
Clackmannanshire	30	34	36
Dumfries and Galloway	30	31	32
Dundee City	33	34	34
East Ayrshire	32	33	36
East Dunbartonshire	23	34	34
East Lothian	33	34	28
East Renfrewshire	34	33	32
Edinburgh City of	32	33	31
Eilean Siar	35	35	32
Falkirk	33	32	34
Fife	32	33	32
Glasgow City	31	29	33
Highland	31	35	35
Inverclyde	31	-	32
Midlothian	34	35	31
Moray	31	33	35
North Ayrshire	34	32	32
North Lanarkshire	31	31	34
Orkney Islands	38	33	28
Perth and Kinross	27	34	34
Renfrewshire	31	32	35
Scottish Borders	35	33	31
Shetland Islands	32	29	32
South Ayrshire	29	31	33
South Lanarkshire	30	32	31
Stirling	30	29	34
West Dunbartonshire	30	33	32
West Lothian	28	33	34

Information on the percentage of teachers retiring by local authority since 1997 is set out in the following table.

Percentage of School Teachers Retiring - Includes Age Retirement, Early Retirement ad Ill Health Retirement

	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Aberdeen City	7%	2%	1%	2%	1%	2%	3%
Aberdeenshire	5%	1%	1%	5%	1%	1%	2%
Angus	5%	3%	2%	2%	2%	2%	4%
Argyll and Bute	4%	1%	1%	1%	1%	2%	2%
Clackmannanshire	8%	1%	1%	2%	2%	3%	2%
Dumfries and Galloway	3%	1%	1%	2%	1%	3%	2%
Dundee City	7%	2%	2%	1%	1%	3%	2%
East Ayrshire	2%	2%	2%	3%	2%	3%	4%
East Dunbartonshire	5%	1%	2%	2%	1%	1%	1%
East Lothian	6%	0%	1%	2%	2%	2%	0%
East Renfrewshire	4%	1%	2%	1%	2%	2%	2%
Edinburgh, City of	3%	2%	1%	2%	1%	1%	2%
Eilean Siar	5%	2%	2%	1%	2%	1%	4%
Falkirk	7%	1%	1%	2%	1%	2%	4%
Fife	5%	1%	1%	2%	3%	3%	3%
Glasgow City	6%	1%	1%	1%	1%	2%	1%
Highland	8%	1%	2%	2%	1%	2%	2%
Inverclyde	1%	0%	1%	1%	1%	0%	1%
Midlothian	4%	2%	1%	1%	1%	1%	3%
Moray	5%	2%	2%	3%	2%	3%	3%
North Ayrshire	2%	2%	2%	2%	1%	3%	1%
North Lanarkshire	3%	2%	2%	3%	2%	2%	3%
Orkney Islands	7%	2%	1%	0%	0%	1%	5%
Perth and Kinross	7%	2%	1%	2%	1%	0%	2%
Renfrewshire	3%	1%	1%	1%	2%	5%	1%
Scottish Borders	7%	1%	0%	2%	1%	1%	2%
Shetland Islands	3%	1%	2%	4%	2%	2%	4%
South Ayrshire	2%	2%	2%	2%	2%	2%	1%
South Lanarkshire	8%	1%	1%	3%	1%	1%	8%
Stirling	6%	3%	1%	4%	2%	1%	2%
West Dunbartonshire	6%	1%	1%	2%	2%	2%	2%
West Lothian	3%	1%	1%	2%	1%	2%	3%

Question reference: S2W-14993

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 17 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports procurators fiscal received from each police force in 2003-04 and, of these, how many (a) were marked "no proceedings" on account of delay on the part of the reporting agency, (b) proceeded to trial, (c) resulted in a conviction and (d) are currently pending.

Question reference: S2W-15083

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many in-patients were waiting for (a) less than three months, (b) less than six months, (c) less than nine months, (d) less than 12 months and (e) more than 12 months for an NHS appointment in June 1999, broken down by individual speciality and NHS board.

Question reference: S2W-15084

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many in-patients were waiting for (a) less than three months, (b) less than six months, (c) less than nine months, (d) less than 12 months and (e) more than 12 months for an NHS appointment, broken down by individual speciality and NHS board, in the most recent quarter for which figures are available.

Question reference: S2W-15081

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9744 by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 August 2004, how many out-patients were waiting for (a) less than nine weeks, (b) less than 13 weeks, (c) less than 26 weeks, (d) more than 26 weeks and (e) more than 52 weeks for an NHS appointment, broken down by individual speciality and NHS board, in the most recent quarter for which figures are available.

Question reference: S2W-15150

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of NHS boards are experiencing staffing shortages in midwifery.

The Scottish Executive is committed to building workforce capacity within NHSScotland.

Under the banner of Facingthe Future, a number of recruitment and retention initiatives have beenlaunched to specifically build capacity across the nursing and midwifery workforce.These include a review of workload, a review of nurse bank arrangements in Scotland as wellas additional funding for clinical leadership programmes.

Presently we are unaware of anyspecific concerns relating to a shortage of midwives in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-15151

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of midwifery students left their course before completion in each of the last five years.

The most recent data showingthe percentage of pre-registration midwifery students, who leave their course eachyear, is detailed in the table below.

Year	Midwifery
1996-97	31.2%
1997-98	21.7%
1998-99	29.1%
1999-2000	25.4%
2000-01	23.9%

Source: ISD.

It should be noted that not allwill necessarily be lost to the service as some students choose to transfer to othernursing categories during training.