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-19956

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 17 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive in how many deaths malnutrition was recorded as a cause in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (a) age and (b) NHS board.

The information requested is given in the following table which covers all deaths where malnutrition was recorded on the death certificate. Malnutrition was selected as the underlying cause of death for some 15% of these cases.

Deaths in Scotland Where Malnutrition¹ was Recorded on the Death Certificate

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
(a) by age group
All ages	40	73	55	65	75	79	86	96	81	99
<15	-	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
15-29	1	1	1	-	2	-	1	-	3	1
30-44	-	3	4	-	3	5	1	2	6	5
45-59	4	4	8	9	5	2	12	16	15	14
60-74	9	26	20	16	25	26	27	25	25	38
75+	26	38	22	40	40	45	45	53	32	41
(b) by NHS Board Area
Argyll and Clyde	1	6	5	2	4	4	6	6	7	11
Ayrshire and Arran	4	8	6	5	4	10	8	7	4	6
Borders	-	2	2	-	3	2	3	3	4	3
Dumfries and Galloway	1	-	-	1	2	2	-	1	2	3
Fife	2	6	5	6	4	1	7	3	8	5
Forth Valley	1	2	1	4	4	6	1	7	6	5
Grampian	-	3	6	5	4	7	9	5	6	4
Greater Glasgow	16	20	8	13	16	27	13	19	15	21
Highland	3	1	1	7	3	2	2	2	1	5
Lanarkshire	3	7	6	2	6	2	4	7	6	11
Lothian	6	7	8	11	17	8	21	22	14	15
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
Shetland	-	1	-	1	-	1	1	2	1	1
Tayside	3	10	7	7	7	7	11	12	6	8
Western Isles	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	1	-

Notes:

1. International classification of diseases:

1995-99: Ninth revision (ICD9), codes 260 - 263

2000-04: Tenth revision (ICD10), codes E40 - E46.

Question reference: S2W-19964

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting times have been for cancer patients from (a) diagnosis and (b) urgent GP referral to start of treatment in each of the last 12 quarters.

The average is affected disproportionately by a small number of waits that may be clinically appropriate. As NHS Scotland makes progress towards meeting the Executive’s waiting time targets and treats more patients who have had longer waits, median waiting times will rise

This can be demonstrated from the information in Table 1. in Q2 2002 the median wait was 18 days and 73% of patients were treated within one month of diagnosis; in Q1 2005 the median wait was 20 days and 81% of patients were treated within one month of diagnosis.

(a) Diagnosis to Start of Treatment

Breast Cancer

Information is collated centrally to report performance against the Scottish Executive target that by October 2001, women who have breast cancer and are referred for urgent treatment will begin that treatment within one month of diagnosis, where clinically appropriate.

Table 1:

Period of Diagnosis	Median Wait (Days)
Q2 2002	18
Q3 2002	16
Q4 2002	16
Q1 2003	16
Q2 2003	20
Q3 2003	20
Q4 2003	22
Q1 2004	18
Q2 2004	20
Q3 2004	20
Q4 2004	21
Q1 2005	20

Other Cancers

New systems were put in place from Q4 2004 to monitor compliance against the national cancer waiting times target that by the end of December 2005 the maximum wait from urgent referral to treatment for all cancers will be two months. These systems are being developed to include different types of cancer.

Table 2:

Period of Diagnosis	Median Wait (Days)
Q4 2004	19
Q1 2005	17

Note: Q4 2004 includes colorectal, lung and ovarian cancers initially (and from Q1 2005 also includes melanoma).

(b) Urgent Referral to Start of Treatment

Table 3:

Period of Referral	Median Wait (Days)
Q4 2004	41
Q1 2005	41

Note: Q4 2004 includes breast, colorectal, lung and ovarian cancers initially (and from Q1 2005 also includes melanoma).

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-20411

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made regarding the Waste Incineration Directive, with specific reference to burning tallow as a fuel.

Question reference: S2W-20410

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with officials of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regarding the Waste Incineration Directive, with specific reference to burning tallow as a fuel.

Question reference: S2W-20409

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with EU officials regarding the Waste Incineration Directive, with specific reference to burning tallow as a fuel.

Question reference: S2W-19912

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 16 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidences of tuberculosis there were in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

The total number of cases and the population incidence of TB in Scotland have remained relatively stable over recent years (less than 400 cases each year and an incidence less than eight per 100,000). We are now targeting BCG vaccination programmes to those parts of the population at most risk of exposure to TB.

The information requested is shown in the following table.

	Number of TB case Reports
NHS Board of Notification	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004*
Argyll and Clyde	35	29	30	34	17
Ayrshire and Arran	21	12	11	10	6
Fife	19	16	10	17	15
Forth Valley	7	5	4	12	5
Grampian	21	30	33	18	23
Greater Glasgow	170	154	195	167	171
Highland	15	12	5	7	9
Lanarkshire	22	30	35	29	35
Lothian	59	47	53	53	80
Tayside	24	11	11	11	16
All other NHS Boards †	10	5	6	8	7
Scotland	403	351	393	366	384

	TB Rate (per 100,000)
NHS Board of Notification	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004*
Argyll and Clyde	8.3	6.9	7.2	8.2	4.1
Ayrshire and Arran	5.7	3.3	3.0	2.7	1.6
Fife	5.5	4.6	2.9	4.8	4.2
Forth Valley	2.5	1.8	1.4	4.3	1.8
Grampian	4.0	5.7	6.3	3.4	4.4
Greater Glasgow	19.6	17.7	22.5	19.3	19.7
Highland	7.2	5.7	2.4	3.3	4.3
Lanarkshire	4.0	5.4	6.3	5.2	6.3
Lothian	7.6	6.0	6.8	6.8	10.2
Tayside	6.1	2.8	2.8	2.8	4.1
All other NHS Boards†	3.1	1.6	1.9	2.5	2.2
Scotland	8.0	6.9	7.8	7.2	7.6

Notes:

*Data is provisional.

†To avoid deductive disclosure from small numbers, the data for Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles NHS Boards is aggregated.

Question reference: S2W-19916

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 16 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average funding was per pupil in special schools in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority.

Local authority reported expenditure on special education is published in Expenditure on School Education in Scotland, 2005, table 4.1, which is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00389-20.asp.

These figures include all aspects of expenditure on special education, including where pupils are in mainstream schools. It is therefore not possible to calculate per pupil expenditure figures for special schools.

Question reference: S2W-20451

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 16 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to each NHS board of legal fees for defending equal pay claims has been in each year since 1997.

Question reference: S2W-20452

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 16 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulances there were in the NHS in each year since 1995.

The Scottish Ambulance Service’s fleet establishment for accident and emergency and non-emergency vehicles in each year since 1995 is listed in the following table:

Year	Accident and Emergency	Non-Emergency
1995-96	448	449
1996-97	443	449
1997-98	443	456
1998-99	443	456
1999-2000	441	460
2000-01	444	465
2001-02	448	488
2002-03	447	499
2003-04	450	520
2004-05	450	520
2005-06 (to October 2005)	450	520

New accident and emergency units and non-emergency vehicles are introduced into the fleet each year as part of the ambulance service’s vehicle replacement programme.

Since 2002-03, the Scottish Ambulance Service has been enhancing its service to patients by rolling out its priority based dispatch system across Scotland, whereby those patients with the greatest need receive the quickest response. In addition to these accident and emergency ambulances, the ambulance service has 46 vehicles which are used as rapid response vehicles. These vehicles are manned by a paramedic who responds to Category A life threatening calls, mostly in urban areas, and treats the patient until an ambulance arrives.

As well as the rapid response units, first responder schemes have been set up across some of the more remote and rural areas of Scotland. These schemes are staffed by volunteers trained by the ambulance service to provide patient care in serious cases until an ambulance arrives. Currently there are around 30 first responder schemes in Scotland.