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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1063 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S3W-31908

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-23670 by Kenny MacAskill on 18 May 2009, whether it has information on how many (a) crimes and (b) violent crimes were committed in the Lothian and Borders Police Force area in 2008-09 and, if not, when this information will be available.

Information on the number of (a) crimes and (b) violent crimes, recorded by the police in the Lothian and Borders police force area in 2008-09 is given in table 4a of the statistical bulletin Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2008-09 which can be obtained at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/09/28155153/0.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) collects information from victims of crime regardless of whether they reported the incident to the police and therefore provides an estimate of victimisation which is complementary to that collected by police recorded figures.

The SCJS can provide an estimate of the number of victims of (a) crimes and (b) violent crimes by police force area. Estimates for Lothian and Borders police force area calculated from the 2008-09 SCJS are given in Table 104 of Volume 4 of the SCJS data tables at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/Datasets/SCJSVol4pfacja.

Question reference: S3W-31943

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many acute occupied bed days in NHS Lothian were directly connected with drug-related conditions in each of the last three years for which information is available, also broken down by age of patient.

Information on the number of acute occupied bed days which are directly attributable to drug-related conditions is not held centrally.

Information on acute occupied bed days is recorded on the SMR01 dataset. SMR01 has space for up to six diagnosis codes to be recorded, a main diagnosis and up to five secondary diagnoses. Drug related problems will be recorded as either a main or a secondary diagnosis, so it is not possible to identify the cases where drugs were directly attributed to the length of the admission.

Table 1: Total Length of Stay (Bed Days) of Patients Treated in General Acute hospitals^1,2 in NHS Lothian³ for Drug-Related Conditions^4,5,6by Age Group:
2005-06 to 2007-08

Age Group	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
19 years and under	193	93	154
20 - 24 years	230	340	362
25 - 29 years	425	469	564
30 - 34 years	409	581	617
35 - 39 years	934	695	826
40 - 44 years	638	883	1,137
45 - 49 years	887	842	816
50 - 54 years	707	631	723
55 - 59 years	917	1,159	652
60 years and over	2,478	2,666	3,280

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01).

Notes:

1. Excludes mental illness hospitals, psychiatric units and maternity hospitals.

2. Figures in this table relate only to those individuals who are treated as inpatients or day cases in an acute hospital. They do not include individuals managed as outpatients.

3. Note that these figures include residents from other health boards that were treated in Lothian hospitals but do not include Lothian residents treated in other health boards.

4. Discharges where alcohol-related diagnosis is recorded as primary or secondary reasons for admission to hospital.

5. Diseases recorded using the World Health Organization''s International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD10).

- Drug-related: F11, F12, F13, F14, F15, F16, F17, F18, F19.

6. Caution is necessary when interpreting these figures. The recording of drug-related problems may vary from hospital to hospital.

Due to the way drug related conditions are recorded, it is not possible to determine whether or not the reason for admission is directly attributable to drugs. Therefore, this figure may be an overestimate.

Information in the table above relates to discharges from acute non-obstetric, non-psychiatric hospitals. It should be noted that patients with drug-related conditions may be admitted to mental illness hospitals. Statistics for these admissions are not included in the table.

Question reference: S3W-31944

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many acute occupied bed days in NHS Lothian were directly connected with alcohol-related conditions in each of the last three years for which information is available, also broken down by age of patient.

Information on the number of acute occupied bed days which are directly attributable to alcohol-related conditions is not held centrally.

Information on acute occupied bed days is recorded on the SMR01 dataset. SMR01 has space for up to six diagnosis codes to be recorded, a main diagnosis and up to five secondary diagnoses. Alcohol-related problems will be recorded as either a main or a secondary diagnosis, so it is not possible to identify the cases where alcohol was directly attributed to the length of the admission.

Table 1: The Total Length of Stay (Bed Days) of Patients Treated in General Acute Hospitals^1,2 in NHS Lothian³ for Alcohol-Related Conditions^4,5,6by Age Group: 2006-07 to 2008-09^P

Age Group	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09^p
19 years and under	256	245	185
20 - 24 years	430	324	241
25 - 29 years	760	646	590
30 - 34 years	552	784	773
35 - 39 years	1,206	1,519	1,243
40 - 44 years	2,541	2,185	2,165
45 - 49 years	3,024	3,773	3,433
50 - 54 years	3,908	4,362	4,300
55 - 59 years	5,703	5,663	4,591
60 years and over	16,443	16,708	16,033

^PProvisional.

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01).

Notes:

1. Excludes mental illness hospitals, psychiatric units and maternity hospitals.

2. Figures in this table relate only to those individuals who are treated as inpatients or day cases in an acute hospital. They do not include individuals managed as outpatients.

3. Note that these figures include residents from other health boards that were treated in Lothian hospitals but do not include Lothian residents treated in other health boards.

4. Discharges where alcohol-related diagnosis is recorded as primary or secondary reasons for admission to hospital.

5. Diseases recorded using the World Health Organization''s International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD10).

- Alcohol-related: F10, K70, X45, X65, Y15, Y90, Y91, E24.4, E51.2, G31.2, G62.1, G72.1, I42.6, K29.2, K86.0, O35.4, P04.3, Q86.0, T51.0, T51.1, T51.9, Y57.3, R78.0, Z50.2, Z71.4, Z72.1. These codes were defined in a recent in-depth review of ISD''s core alcohol related code set. Further information about the review and resulting consultation process is available at:

http://www.alcoholinformation.isdscotland.org/alcohol_misuse/3986.html

6. Caution is necessary when interpreting these figures. The recording of alcohol-related problems may vary from hospital to hospital.

Due to the way alcohol related conditions are recorded, it is not possible to determine whether or not the reason for admission is directly attributable to alcohol. Therefore, this figure may be an overestimate.

Information in the table above relates to discharges from acute non-obstetric, non‘psychiatric hospitals. It should be noted that patients with alcohol-related conditions may be admitted to mental illness hospitals. Statistics for these admissions are not included in the table.

Question reference: S3W-31907

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-28453 by Kenny MacAskill on 5 November 2009, how many human rights cases are pending against the Scottish Prison Service from prisoners at HMP Edinburgh, broken down by type of claim.

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

This information is not available. However, SPS records show that there are 398 live claims relating to slopping out which includes periods held in HMP Edinburgh. There are also six claims relating to segregation which include periods held in HMP Edinburgh and two personal injury claims where the prisoners allege a breach of their human rights.

Question reference: S3W-31656

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 2 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the business start-up rate was in 2001, expressed as VAT/PAYE registrations per 10,000 adult population.

Question reference: S3W-31662

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 2 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the business start-up rate was in 2007, expressed as VAT/PAYE registrations per 10,000 adult population.

Question reference: S3W-31664

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 2 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the business start-up rate was in 2009, expressed as VAT/PAYE registrations per 10,000 adult population.

VAT/PAYE registrations are released annually by the Office for National Statistics. VAT/PAYE registrations per 10,000 resident adults are now used to monitor the business start-up rate in Scotland.

VAT/PAYE registrations are currently only available from 2002 to 2008 - VAT/PAYE registrations for 2009 will be published in November 2010. The following table shows VAT/PAYE registrations per 10,000 resident adults in Scotland from 2002 to 2008.

VAT/PAYE Registrations per 10,000 Resident Adults, Scotland, 2002-08

Year
2002	35
2003	37
2004	35
2005	41
2006	36
2007	43
2008	38

Source: Business Demography 2008, Office for National Statistics, Mid-Year Population Estimates, General Register Office for Scotland.

The registration figures for 2007 were particularly high, and it is likely that these figures partly reflect the impact of changes in tax rules in April 2007 surrounding managed service companies.

VAT/PAYE registrations do not represent a complete picture of start-up activity as only companies with an annual turnover above the VAT threshold or who have employees on a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme are required to register.

More information on monitoring business start-ups in Scotland, including information on the recent change in source from VAT only registrations to VAT/PAYE registrations, is available from the Scotland Performs website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/About/NotesSP/TechnicalNotesSPNI2.

Question reference: S3W-31658

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 2 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the business start-up rate was in 2003, expressed as VAT/PAYE registrations per 10,000 adult population.

Question reference: S3W-31660

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 2 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the business start-up rate was in 2005, expressed as VAT/PAYE registrations per 10,000 adult population.

Question reference: S3W-31657

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 2 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what the business start-up rate was in 2002, expressed as VAT/PAYE registrations per 10,000 adult population