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-20557

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

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2357 by Mr Tom McCabe on 17 September 2003, how many dental practices have now received “Golden Hello” payments, broken down by NHS board area.

Question S2W-2357, answered on 17 September 2003 referred to question S1W-26819, answered on 1 July 2002 which referred to the grants of up to £10,000 which are available as part of the “Golden Hello” package to dentists establishing new vocational training practices and offering a training place. The information requested is in the table:

NHS Board Area	Number of Practices Receiving Grant¹
Argyll and Clyde	2
Ayrshire and Arran	1
Borders	0
Dumfries and Galloway	2
Fife	1
Forth valley	4
Grampian	3
Greater Glasgow	8
Highland	1
Lanarkshire	3
Lothian	5
Orkney	0
Shetland	0
Tayside	6
Western Isles	0
Scotland	36

Note: 1. Total claims to October 2005.

Question reference: S2W-20387

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to compile an estimate of the size of the illegal drugs trade in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-20388

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it had with the Home Office to assist the Home Office in determining the size of the drugs trade in the United Kingdom.

Question reference: S2W-20386

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what bodies hold the information needed to compile a reliable estimate of the size of the illegal drugs trade in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-20389

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has ever (a) contacted or (b) been contacted by interested parties who were willing to provide information or conduct research into the drug trade in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-20270

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of public spending per head was in Scotland in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area, and what comparative information it has on the equivalent figures for the rest of the United Kingdom.

The level of total identifiable expenditure on services per head in Scotland (on both devolved and reserved matters) and the UK as a whole since 1997 is shown in the following table.

Total Identifiable Spend per Head of Population

Year	Scotland (£ Per Head)	UK (£ Per Head)
1997-98	4,861	4,101
1998-99	5,019	4,214
1999-00	5,377	4,562
2000-01	5,692	4,832
2001-02	6,308	5,280
2002-03	6,667	5,640
2003-04	7,346	6,164
2004-05	7,786	6,617

Source: HM Treasury’s Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2005.

The Treasury document does not give figures for the UK excluding Scotland, nor is information by local authority area held centrally.

Question reference: S2W-20253

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 18 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the change in gross domestic product per hour worked was in each year since 1975.

Data on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per hour worked are produced by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Data are available on a regional basis since 1996, therefore changes in GDP per hour can only be expressed from 1997 to the most recent year available (2003). Table 1 highlights the respective growth in GDP per hour per year over the period.

Table 1: Output (Gross Value Added) per hour worked in Scotland

Year	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Index	100	101.5	102.2	104.0	107.1	106.2	108.6	111.8
Growth rate		1.5%	0.8%	1.7%	3.0%	-0.8%	2.3%	2.9%

Sources: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/tsdataset.asp?vlnk=4841,

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/Product.asp?vlnk=8095

Although GDP per hour is widely recognised as a more accurate measure than GDP per worker, there are difficulties in making this data internationally comparable. For this reason the ONS recommends that the data are treated as experimental and that GDP per worker continues to be used as the standard measure for productivity.

Question reference: S2W-19922

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) press releases and (b) consultation documents it has issued in each year since 1999.

Individual news releases and consultation documents are listed on the Scottish Executive website at - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/ and

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/.

A quick tally of the news release and consultation figures are set out in the following table:

	1999¹	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005²
News Releases³	1,103	2,068	2,184	1,954	1,881	1,702	1,268
Consultation Documents	89	141	165	169	157	175	132

Notes:

1. Figures since devolution.

2. Covers the period up to 8 November 2005.

3. The news release figures cover mainly national releases. Versions of national releases amended for issue to local media are generally not included in the figures.

Question reference: S2W-20391

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 17 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the biggest single payment is in respect of legal aid that has not been recouped.

Question reference: S2W-20367

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) location and (b) capacity is of each completed private finance initiative hospital project; what the cost was of each such project, and what the (i) location, (ii) planned capacity and (iii) expected cost is of each planned project.

PFI is an additional source of funding which contributes substantially to capital investment in NHSScotland. It makes more of resources available, giving immediate access to significant sums and delivering new services more quickly than would be possible with a publicly funded capital programme alone.

Improved value for money is achieved by risk allocation, competition and innovation and the inclusion in some cases of services such as portering and cleaning allows the NHS body to focus on its core business of providing health care. A high standard of building maintenance throughout the life of the contract ensures that the facilities are handed on to the NHS in an excellent condition.

The following table provides the information requested in respect of completed private finance initiative hospital projects:

Project and Location	NHS Board	Capacity	Capital Value
Larkfield Geriatric and young disabled assessment facility	NHS Argyll and Clyde	118 beds	10.0m
East Ayrshire Community Hospital, Cumnock	NHS Ayrshire and Arran	98 beds	8.6m
Saltcoats Health Centre, provision of frail elderly and elderly mental illness care	NHS Ayrshire and Arran	90 beds	2.5m
Day case and Maternity services, Dumfries	NHS Dumfries and Galloway	28 beds, 11 cots,	10.0m
Kincardine Community Hospital, Stonehaven	NHS Grampian	49beds	3.8m
Provision of geriatric medicine and assessment facility at Southern General Hospital, Glasgow	NHS Glasgow	210 beds	11.0m
Mearnskirk, new care of the elderly building at Southern General Hospital, Glasgow	NHS Greater Glasgow	72 beds	2.4m
Easter Ross County Community Hospital, Invergorden	NHS Highland	44 beds	8.8m
New Craigs Hospital, Inverness	NHS Highland	234 beds	16.5m
Hairmyers District General Hospital	NHS Lanarkshire	364 beds	68.0m
Wishaw District General Hospital	NHS Lanarkshire	633 beds	100.0m
Stonehouse Hospital	NHS Lanarkshire	40 beds	3.9m
New Edinburgh Royal Infirmary	NHS Lothian	812 beds	180.0m
Reprovision of care of the elderly services, Tippethill Hospital, West Lothian	NHS Lothian	60 beds	2.3m
Forfar and Kirriemuir Community Resource Centre, Forfar	NHS Tayside	60beds	22.5m
Carseview Psychiatric Unit, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee	NHS Tayside	84 beds	10.0m

The clinical models for hospital projects in development have not yet been finalised so final bed numbers are not yet known. However, details of the location and cost are shown in the following table:

Project and Location	NHS Board	Capital Value
Mid Argyll Hospital, Lochgilphead	NHS Argyll and Clyde	19.2m
Crosshouse Maternity Services	NHS Ayrshire and Arran	20.0m
St Andrews Community Resource Project	NHS Fife	20.0m
Fife General Hospital and Maternity Services, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy	NHS Fife	114.5m
Clackmannan Community Health Services - Alloa Health Centre	NHS Forth Valley	19.0m
New Forth Valley acute hospital, Larbert	NHS Forth Valley	269.5m
Local Forensic Unit, Stobhill, Glasgow	NHS Greater Glasgow	17.9m
Psychiatric Hospital, Gartnavel, Glasgow	NHS Greater Glasgow	19.5m
Ambulatory Care Centres at Stobhill and Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow	NHS Greater Glasgow	124.0m
Royal Edinburgh Hospital	NHS Lothian	65.0m