- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 10 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost would be of (a) a feasibility study into diversification of the white fish fishing sector and (b) paying tied-up boats to help re-seed the fishery with young farmed cod.
Answer
It is not possible to supply estimated costs without a more detailed specification of the work envisaged. However, it is important to note that there are only limited opportunities available in terms of new species to exploit onto which fishing effort could be diverted.In relation to re-seeding, our scientists believe that the current levels of farmed cod stocks are insufficient to make any such scheme a realistic proposition. There are also likely to be genetic differences between groups of farmed and wild cod stocks that make the value and sustainability of such schemes questionable.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of annual pay it considers reasonable for a firefighter.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no direct locus in fire service pay and conditions of service issues. These are matters for the local authority employers and are negotiated on a UK basis through the National Joint Council.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31153 by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 November 2002, what the current monetary value is of the nursing and midwifery student bursary; whether this bursary level adequately provides for the living costs of nursing and midwifery students that receive the bursary; how many such students have received the bursary in each of the last three years; how many such students are currently receiving the bursary, and how much would it cost annually, based on current information, to replace the bursary with a salary system providing (a) #10,000 and (b) #15,000 per year.
Answer
The Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary scheme is demand-led but in 2001-02 cost £35.7 million. A non-repayable bursary of £5,430 (for students under 26 at the start of the course) or £6,115 (for students over 26) is awarded to cover day-to-day living costs. The bursary has increased by 21% since 1998 and is supplemented by other allowances including single parents' allowance (currently £1,100), an income assessed allowance for dependant children, excess costs for travel to placement and Disabled Students Allowance. Other health care students receive a partly income assessed package totalling £3,980, including student loan, for their living cost support, plus other allowances where appropriate. Other students receive up to £3,905, plus allowances. According to the data collected by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, the number of students who have received bursaries in the current and previous three years is set out in the following table:
| Year | Students |
| 2002 | 8,660 |
| 2001 | 7,755 |
| 2000 | 7,404 |
| 1999 | 6,764 |
A salary of £10,000 (which would be taxable) for each student would cost around £86 million a year and a salary of £15,000 would cost around £130 million.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 3 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new jobs were promised by foreign investors and companies and how many such jobs were actually created in each of the last 10 years.
Answer
The number of planned new jobs through foreign direct investment announced over the last 10 years is as follows:
| Year | Total Number of Planned New Jobs |
| 1992-93 | 5,342 |
| 1993-94 | 7,688 |
| 1994-95 | 9,114 |
| 1995-96 | 10,136 |
| 1996-97 | 11,148 |
| 1997-98 | 14,524 |
| 1998-99 | 9,041 |
| 1999-2000 | 14,995 |
| 2000-01 | 9,742 |
| 2001-02 | 4,902 |
As a guide, a detailed analysis carried out on all projects announced between April 1991 and March 1998 showed that 73% of the planned jobs had come to fruition over that period.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 28 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many unfilled vacancies currently exist in the NHS, broken down by department and field of work; how long these vacancies have existed, and what action it intends to take to address unfilled vacancies.
Answer
Information on vacancies for consultant medical and dental staff, nursing and midwifery staff and professions allied to medicine (PAMs) staff can be found on ISD's website accessible from the following link:
http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/NHSiS_resource/Workforce/workforce_statistics.htm.Table B16 shows Consultant Medical and Dental staff vacancies by specialty and length of vacancy. Tables E13 -E15 show nursing and midwifery staff vacancies by specialty and length of vacancy.Tables F9 - F11 show PAMs staff vacancies by profession and length of vacancy. The latest information on the number of unfilled vacancies in NHSScotland for staff grade medical and dental staff in all specialties is contained in the following table:Staff Grade Medical and Dental Vacancies Existing in NHSScotland at 30 September 2001 by Specialty
| | Headcount | Percentage of Establishment |
| Establishment | Total vacancies | Vacant less than 6 months | Vacant 6 months or more | Total vacancies | Vacant less than 6 Months | Vacant 6 months or more |
| Scotland | 418 | 28 | 23 | 5 | 6.7 | 5.5 | 1.2 |
| Accident and Emergency Medicine | 33 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9.1000004 | 6.0999999 | 3 |
| Anaesthetics | 54 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3.7 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
| Clinical Laboratory Specialties | 10 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Blood Transfusion | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Clinical Genetics | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Haematology | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Histopathology | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Medical Microbiology and Virology | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Medical Specialties | 121 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 5.8000002 | 5 | 0.8 |
| Dermatology | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| General Medicine (Group) | 54 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5.5999999 | 3.7 | 1.9 |
| Genito-Urinary Medicine | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Geriatrics | 22 | 2 | 2 | - | 9.1000004 | 9.1000004 | - |
| Homeopathy | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Medical Oncology | 3 | 1 | 1 | - | 33.299999 | 33.299999 | - |
| Paediatrics | 25 | 1 | 1 | - | 4 | 4 | - |
| Neurology | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Palliative Medicine | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Clinical Oncology | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Rehabilitation Medicine | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Obstetrics and Gynaecology | 23 | 1 | 1 | - | 4.3000002 | 4.3000002 | - |
| Psychiatric Specialties | 73 | 7 | 7 | - | 9.6000004 | 9.6000004 | - |
| Child and Adolescent Psychiatry | 6 | 1 | 1 | - | 16.700001 | 16.700001 | - |
| General Psychiatry | 51 | 5 | 5 | - | 9.8000002 | 9.8000002 | - |
| Psychiatry of Learning Disability | 5 | 1 | 1 | - | 20 | 20 | - |
| Old Age Psychiatry | 9 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Psychotherapy | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Radiology | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Clinical Radiology | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Surgical Specialties | 73 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4.0999999 | 1.4 | 2.7 |
| Cardiothoracic Surgery | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| ENT Surgery | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| General Surgery | 28 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10.7 | 3.5999999 | 7.0999999 |
| Neurosurgery | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ophthalmology | 13 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery | 19 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Urology | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dental Specialties | 30 | 5 | 5 | - | 16.7 | 16.7 | - |
| Oral Medicine | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Oral Surgery | 12 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Orthodontics | 5 | 1 | 1 | - | 20 | 20 | - |
| Paediatric Dentistry | 4 | 1 | 1 | - | 25 | 25 | - |
| Restorative Dentistry | 5 | 1 | 1 | - | 20 | 20 | - |
| Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Surgical Dentistry | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 100 | 100 | - |
| Community Dental Specialties | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 100 | 100 | - |
We have recently launched Working for Health, the Workforce Development Action Plan for NHSScotland, which has set a critical path for creating a robust development function integrating workforce planning and service planning across all services in NHSScotland.Implementation of the action plan will be taken forward by a National Workforce Committee supported by a National Workforce Unit in Scottish Executive Health Department. The National Workforce Committee (NWC) will set strategic direction and monitor progress for workforce development. The membership of the committee is currently being finalised and the group should meet before the end of the year. In addition to the NWC, a Short Life Working Group will be set up in order to find solutions to the most pressing workforce challenges.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 27 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs have been transferred from the public sector to the private sector as a direct result of private finance initiative and public private partnership (PPP) projects in each of the last five years.
Answer
Exact data is not held centrally. However, we estimate that fewer than 10,000 staff have transferred in the 79 PPP deals signed so far in Scotland in the 10 years that PPP has been in existence. This represents under 2% of public sector employees in Scotland.The Protocol and Guidance Concerning Employment Issues announced earlier this month embodies current good practice on transferring employees in PPP deals and also eliminates the scope for a two tier work force in PPP deals. The protocol provides for information to be collected on the terms and conditions for transferred employees and also for those employees recruited to work on the contract after the transfer, including sub-contracted areas of work.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost to the public sector would be of introducing the Low Pay Unit's minimum wage level of #7.32 per hour, showing the cost to local government and the NHS separately.
Answer
The information on the costs to all parts of the public sector in Scotland is not held centrally. However, as an illustration of the anticipated costs it is estimated that it would cost around an extra £189 million a year to introduce a wage level of £7.32 per hour for NHSScotland staff.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 26 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of foreign disinvestment and company closures with associated job losses was in each of the last five years and what level of public financial support was provided to each company involved.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.For internal purposes, reports of job losses by companies, local enterprise companies and newspapers are monitored. However, the Executive cannot vouch for the accuracy and completeness of this information and therefore does not consider that it should form the basis of a response to the question.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 26 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many workers are paid less than the minimum wage and what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government on the impact that the implementation of minimum wage legislation will have on eradicating poverty.
Answer
Responsibility for employment matters, including the National Minimum Wage (NMW), is reserved to the UK Government.The Scottish Executive has recently been asked to give evidence to the Low Pay Commission's fourth annual report on the NMW.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in Scotland were the subject of interception of communications warrants in each of the last three years, and what information it has on how many of the 1,314 authorisations for interception of communications granted by the Home Secretary in 2001 were in respect of people resident in Scotland.
Answer
Information regarding the number of interception of communication warrants issued is contained in the reports of the Interception of Communications Commissioner, which are laid before Parliament annually and are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre. The latest report, for 2001, was laid in the Parliament on 31 October 2002 (Bib. number 24816).We have no information on how many of the 1,314 interception warrants authorised by the Home Secretary in 2001 were in respect of people resident in Scotland. The issue of such warrants is a reserved matter.
