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-31499

Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 16 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what categories of prisoner are eligible for transfer to open prison and at what point in a sentence prisoners are routinely transferred to an open prison.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

Short-term prisoners may be transferredat anytime in their sentence. Long-term prisoners are subject to a minimum periodin secure conditions, which varies according to their sentence. No prisoners areroutinely transferred to open prisons; such transfer is dependant on an assessmentof risk.

Question reference: S2W-31498

Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many open prisons there are and how many prisoners are held in each.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

The SPS Open Estate consistsof two sites offering a total of 452 spaces. In addition, HM Prison Cornton Valeoffers 24 similar spaces in independent living units, and HM Prison Perth offersa varying number of open-type spaces for young adults at the Friarton site. On today’sdate there were 14 prisoners in open conditions at Friarton.

Question reference: S2W-31500

Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any open prisons receive prisoners immediately after sentencing and what guidelines exist on the use of open prisons.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

Open prisons are used to prepareprisoners for release, and for other prisoners not considered to present a risk.Prisoners must be assessed as requiring only low supervision, and in the case oflong-term prisoners to have served an appropriate portion of their sentence.

Prisoners sentenced to less thanfour years may serve their sentence in an open prison at the outset if all othercriteria are met.

Question reference: S2W-31566

Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 14 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how the average salary of emergency workers compares with that of employees in the private sector with similar skills and experience.

The preferred source for earningsestimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which is carried outby the Office for National Statistics. The latest earnings estimates available arefor April 2006.

Table 1 shows the median full-timehourly earnings excluding overtime for selected Standard Industrial Classification(SIC) codes which encompass the emergency services.

Estimates of earnings of employeesin the private sector with similar skills and experience are not available as detailsof skills and experience are not collected by the ASHE survey.

Table 1 – Median Full-TimeHourly Earnings Excluding Overtime by Emergency Services Industry

SIC code	Median Hourly Earnings Excluding Overtime
75.24–Public security, law and order activities	£14.36
75.25–Fire service activities	£11.96
85.14–Other human health activities¹	£10.73

Source: Annual Survey of Hoursand Earnings.

Notes:

1. SIC 85.14 – Other human healthactivities includes ambulance transport of patients.

2. The estimates are based onthe pay excluding overtime for employees on adult rates whose pay for the surveypay-period was not affected by absence.

3. The estimates are based on a samplesurvey, and as such, are subject to sampling error.

Question reference: S2W-31497

Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what written contract has been entered into between NHS Lothian and Consort Healthcare to allow the reduction of parking charges at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh from a maximum of £10 per day to £7 and whether it will publish any such contract.

Question reference: S2W-30727

Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 29 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether extra resources will be made available to reduce the backlog of audiology appointments in NHS Lothian.

An additional £19.3 million fundingwas provided by the Executive to support the four year project of modernisationof NHS audiology services across Scotland (2003-07). A financial audit of the modernisation projectwas recently completed and the report includes data showing that the funds allocated,by category, to NHS Lothian are as follows:

Aids	£762,196
IT	£72,062
Equipment	£5,741
Facility	£473,378
Staff	£209,042
Total	£1,522,419

Recurring funding of £5 millionis allocated to NHS boards on an Arbuthnott basis and ring-fenced for 2006-07 and2007-08. Lothian’s allocation for 2006-07 was £365,713. In future years this willbecome part of each NHS board’s general allocation. It is a matter for boards tomeet the needs of their patients and this should include ensuring that waiting timestargets for audiology services are met.

Question reference: S2W-31034

Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 15 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 29 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to publish the evaluation and review of free personal care.

Question reference: S2W-30722

Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will investigate releasing for sale NHS-owned land in south Edinburgh to allow new schools to be built.

Responsibility for theidentification of surplus land rests with NHS boards, in this case NHS Lothian.I can, however, confirm that officials from the Health Department willinvestigate with NHS Lothian what land in South Edinburgh has been identifiedas surplus to operational need and that which is likely to become surplus inthe near future and will liaise with colleagues within the Executive who areresponsible for the provision of new schools.

Question reference: S2O-11725

Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 18 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how it is encouraging public transport use among hospital visitors and staff in the Lothians.

We expect each individual hospital,local authority and Regional Transport Partnership to work in partnership to encouragepublic transport access to hospitals.

To improve access to hospitals,the Scottish Executive Health Department policy places a mandatory requirement onNHS health boards to promote more sustainable travel choices through the implementationof green travel plans.

In addition, the Executive hasprovided £1 million to the Regional Transport Partnerships to assist local authoritiesand health boards deliver green travel plans, and through the Energy Saving Trustis providing advice to organisations to develop and implement travel plans.

Question reference: S2W-30604

Asked by: Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 15 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 16 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to educate young people about the risks of contracting HIV/Aids.

The National Sexual Health StrategyRespect and Responsibility, published in January 2005, includes a numberof recommendations on the importance of educating the general public, includingyoung people, on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS.

NHS boards are delivering educationthrough their locally appointed health promotion managers. In addition, informationon HIV is included within the Sexual Health and Relationships Education (SHARE)programme in secondary schools as part of the work with young people on sexuallytransmitted infections looking at risk and protection. The Healthy Respect SchoolsSexual Relationships Education Framework also includes sessions on HIV for thoseschools in Lothian not delivering SHARE or for those who want to deliver more thanSHARE.