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-21123

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospitals are in debt, showing the amount in each case.

Question reference: S2W-21126

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people stayed in hospital overnight on Christmas Day in each NHS board area in each year since 1999.

The numbers of patients admitted to non-obstetric/non-psychiatric acute specialties on or prior to Christmas Day and discharged on or after Boxing Day are presented in the table. The data are broken down by health board of treatment and shown by year, 1999 to 2004.

Number of Patients Staying Overnight in Hospital Between Christmas and Boxing Day, by Health Board of Treatment and Year: 1999-2004

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Argyll and Clyde	1,009	936	951	842	819	826
Ayrshire and Arran	823	752	778	722	745	776
Borders	255	231	290	271	268	244
Dumfries and Galloway	289	214	249	272	220	182
Fife	631	549	562	542	541	504
Forth Valley	500	468	476	487	464	467
Grampian	1,250	1,178	1,131	1,212	1,107	1,116
Greater Glasgow	2,559	2,407	2,376	2,544	2,525	2,146
Highland	497	486	464	540	543	501
Lanarkshire	1,024	985	1,140	1,106	1,087	987
Lothian	1,746	1,659	1,635	1,646	1,577	1,602
Orkney	31	24	37	38	29	29
Shetland	21	39	29	24	22	23
Tayside	1,058	1,014	979	985	897	894
Western Isles	107	104	104	90	93	68
Scotland	11,800	11,046	11,201	11,321	10,937	10,365

Question reference: S2W-20940

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses have been working in the NHS in each year since 1999, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Information on doctors and nurses working in the NHS broken by parliamentary constituency is not available centrally.

Information on staff in post by NHS board in NHS Scotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics, at www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Section B gives details of medical staff employed in NHS Scotland. In particular, tables B1 and B2 shows the whole-time equivalent and headcount number of medical staff, for years 1999–2004, broken down by NHS board. Section E gives details of nursing and midwifery staff employed in NHS Scotland. In particular, tables E1 and E2 show the whole-time equivalent and headcount number of nursing and midwifery staff employed, for years 1999–2004, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S2W-20942

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital mergers have taken place in the last five years; what the projected effects of each merger were on costs, and what actual savings have been achieved in each case in the last relevant financial year.

There have been no hospital mergers, although services originally provided in some hospitals have been re-provided elsewhere as part of the continual process of modernising and improving the whole range of services that the NHS provides. Where a board proposes to close a hospital or make major changes to services, it must consult on the proposals and seek ministerial approval.

It is for each board to arrange the provision of a full range of services to its population within the resources made available to it. Records of the costs and financial benefits of individual board level projects are not maintained centrally.

Boards make changes to services, including re-provision and merging of services, for quality of service and sustainability reasons as well as for value for money reasons. For example, a board might bring stand-alone maternity services onto an acute hospital site so that there could be immediate access to adult intensive care facilities.

Question reference: S2W-21190

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it and its agencies have spent on (a) the design and production of new logos and (b) employing external (i) public relations and (ii) graphic design agencies in each year since 1999, broken down by project.

Question reference: S2W-21127

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 5 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions for domestic violence there have been in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.

The latest available information on incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police is included in the statistical bulletin Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland, 1 January-31 December 2004 published by the Scottish Executive in September 2005, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37594). Incidents which result in a conviction are not separately identifiable.

Question reference: S2W-20938

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 1 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive in how many deaths obesity was a contributory factor in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

The information available is given in the following table.

Deaths in Scotland Where Obesity¹ was Mentioned on The Death Certificate, 1995–2004

1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
95	100	99	111	91	107	119	140	147	139

Note: 1. 1995-1999, ICD9 code 278.0; 2000-04, ICD10 code E66

It is likely that the figures quoted under-estimate the true figure because such information may not always be recorded by the doctor completing the medical certificate of cause of death.

Question reference: S2W-20939

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 30 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive in how many deaths it estimates obesity will be a contributory factor over the next 10 years.

Question reference: S2W-20999

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average pay of (a) primary and (b) secondary teachers holding a (i) degree, (ii) master’s degree and (iii) doctorate was in 2004-05.

Question reference: S2W-20945

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 29 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences have been committed by offenders released on home detention curfew, broken down by (a) offence and (b) police force area.