- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the trend for road traffic offences to increase and what action it is taking to address this issue.
Answer
The overall number of road trafficoffences recorded by the police in Scotland is lower in 2002 than in each of the previous three years.Between 1999 and 2002, the number of offences fell by 3%. There were decreases incareless driving offences, speeding offences and vehicle defect offences, thoughincreases were recorded in drink-driving and unlawful use of a vehicle.
A range of measures is being taken forward to addressdrink-driving as set out in the answer to question S2W-611 on 16 June 2003. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website,the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide encouragement and funding to local authorities to fund people who provide foster care for their grandchildren and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.
Answer
I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2O-221 on 19 June2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/sch/search
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the number of lives lost through the unavailability of organs for transplant over the last five years.
Answer
The information requested isset out in the following table. The figures relate to Scottish patients on the waitinglists for all organs.
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
| 51 | 51 | 58 | 48 | 44 |
Source: UK Transplant.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have been held in each of Scotland's prisons in each of the last four years, broken down into remand and convicted prisoners.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:
The requested informationhas been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number: 29263).
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the annual (a) gross and (b) net revenue that would be generated if the Parliament used its power to increase general taxation by (i) one pence, (ii) two pence and (iii) three pence in the pound and what the estimated annual cost of applying such a tax increase would be.
Answer
Asthe Executive has made it clear that is has no plans to use the power to varythe rate of income tax in either the last or this Parliament, we have notcommissioned our own estimates.
HM Treasury publish anannual estimate as part of the Financial Statement and Budget Report at budgettime. Their latest estimate was published in April 2003, as follows: “A onepenny change in the Scottish variable rate in 2003-04 could be worthapproximately plus or minus £260 million in a full year”.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to establish a commission to investigate an opt-out system for organ retention to replace the current system and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.
Answer
The Scottish Transplant Groupconsidered the possibility of an opt-out system for organ donation when developingits Organ Donation Strategy for Scotland. The group concluded, however, thatthere is no strong evidence that a system of opting out leads to higher donationrates and that such a move did not command the support of a majority of the publicor health professionals. Consultation on the strategy showed that most people favoureda strengthening of the present arrangements through a greater emphasis on the importanceof fulfilling the known wishes of the deceased in respect of organ donation.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prison officers have been employed in each prison in each of the last four years, broken down into (a) part-time and (b) full-time staff, and whether there are recommended numbers of officers for each prison, based on health and safely requirements and prisoner numbers, and, if so, what these numbers are, broken down by individual prison.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is contained inthe following table:
| | As at 1 September 2000 | As at 1 September 2001 | As at 1 September 2002 | As at 1 September 2003 |
| (A) | (B) | Complement | (A) | (B) | Complement | (A) | (B) | Complement | (A) | (B) | Complement |
| Aberdeen | | 98 | 98 | | 106 | 111 | | 108 | 111 | 1 | 103 | 119 |
| Barlinnie | | 392 | 378 | | 416 | 413 | | 430 | 425 | | 417 | 414 |
| Castle Huntly | | 31 | 31 | | 43 | 39 | | 42 | 39 | | 39 | 40 |
| Cornton Vale | | 148 | 154 | 5 | 151 | 160 | 7 | 176 | 182 | 9 | 172 | 181 |
| Dumfries | | 95 | 97 | 1 | 106 | 106 | 5 | 103 | 106 | 5 | 105 | 105 |
| Edinburgh | | 294 | 303 | | 314 | 330 | 3 | 331 | 328 | 1 | 327 | 308 |
| Glenochil | | 286 | 287 | 1 | 307 | 337 | 3 | 314 | 336 | 3 | 274 | 261 |
| Greenock | | 108 | 108 | 1 | 120 | 124 | 1 | 126 | 123 | 3 | 128 | 129 |
| Inverness | | 60 | 61 | 2 | 66 | 70 | 1 | 71 | 71 | 1 | 69 | 71 |
| Low Moss | | 91 | 90 | | 106 | 112 | 2 | 122 | 112 | | 116 | 112 |
| Noranside | | 31 | 32 | | 42 | 36 | | 39 | 36 | | 40 | 36 |
| Perth | | 256 | 252 | | 279 | 272 | | 282 | 288 | 1 | 290 | 289 |
| Peterhead | | 141 | 144 | | 149 | 165 | | 140 | 159 | | 143 | 150 |
| Polmont | | 204 | 203 | 3 | 227 | 228 | 2 | 224 | 231 | 5 | 282 | 293 |
| Shotts | | 281 | 270 | | 297 | 303 | | 306 | 304 | 1 | 293 | 287 |
| SPS Totals | 0 | 2,516 | 2,508 | 13 | 2,729 | 2,806 | 24 | 2,814 | 2,851 | 30 | 2,798 | 2,795 |
The staff complement for eachprison is not based on health and safety or prisoner numbers, but on a general managementassessment of the preferred number needed to help operate the prison.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the take-up for the MMR triple vaccine has been in Glasgow for each of the last five years.
Answer
In each of the last five yearsMMR uptake figures in the area served by NHS Greater Glasgow were:
| Year | % Uptake of One Dose of MMR at Age Two Years | % Uptake of Two Doses of MMR at Age Six Years |
| 1998 | 92.5 | 84.5 |
| 1999 | 93.0 | 91.4 |
| 2000 | 92.7 | 91.2 |
| 2001 | 86.3 | 89.4 |
| 2002 | 86.0 | 91.1 |
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would cost annually to provide all residential care and home provision for elderly people in the public sector and whether bringing such provision fully into the public sector would improve the standards of care and security for elderly people.
Answer
Complete costings relating tothe provision of residential care and the provision of care at home services isnot currently available. The great majority of care home places are, however, alreadyfunded by local authorities, to varying levels depending on the financial assessmentof individual residents' resources. A range and capacity review of community careservices for older people is also currently under way, which will include a financialreview.
Under the Regulation of Care(Scotland) Act, the Care Commission is required to regulate a range of care services.Care homes have been regulated by the Care Commission since April 2002 and we expectthe regulation of care at home services to commence around December 2003. All careservices are, or will be, regulated by the commission against the appropriate NationalCare Standards which apply equally to the public and independent sector.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the capacity of each of Scotland's prisons is, specifying how much of this capacity is for single cell and multiple occupancy cell use.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:
The figures in the followingtable are for the period ending 31 March 2003.
| Establishment | Capacity | Single Occupancy | Multiple Occupancy |
| Aberdeen | 154 | 126 | 28 |
| Barlinnie | 1,009 | 1,005 | 4 |
| Castle Huntly | 156 | 81 | 75 |
| Cornton Vale | 238 | 230 | 8 |
| Dumfries | 178 | 129 | 49 |
| Edinburgh | 643 | 621 | 22 |
| Glenochil | 670 | 670 | 0 |
| Greenock | 254 | 248 | 6 |
| Inverness | 108 | 86 | 22 |
| Kilmarnock | 595 | 595 | 0 |
| Low Moss | 343 | 0 | 343 |
| Noranside | 135 | 97 | 38 |
| Perth | 593 | 436 | 157 |
| Peterhead | 306 | 306 | 0 |
| Polmont | 521 | 411 | 110 |
| Shotts | 528 | 528 | 0 |
