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: S3W-29904

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners have been (a) known and (b) estimated to have drug dependency issues at HMP Edinburgh in each year since 1970.

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

This information is not available, however SPS addiction testing information, relating to HMP Edinburgh, is published annually within the Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland report. This information is available from 1999 onwards and can be accessed using the following link:

http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/publications/abstracts/ISDbull.htm.

Question reference: S3W-29753

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 21 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what representation Scotland has at the World Business Angels Association conference being held in Beijing.

Question reference: S3W-29752

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 21 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of the World Business Angels Association conference being held in Beijing.

Question reference: S3O-08853

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Investment Bank will begin to make investments.

Scottish Enterprise is already making investments in innovative high growth potential Scottish companies through the Scottish Co-investment, Venture and Seed Funds. These three funds will comprise the initial interventions of the Scottish Investment Bank. From April to November 2009 these funds invested in 60 different Scottish firms in deals totalling £64.8 million, of which the public sector element was some £18 million.

Question reference: S3W-29323

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many primary school pupils in the Lothians region have received hospital treatment as a result of alcohol misuse in each of the last five years.

The number of patients aged 12 years or under, admitted to acute hospitals with a diagnosis of alcohol misuse, resident in the NHS Lothian area 2003-04 to 2007-08 is shown in the following table.

Number of Patients Discharged from General Acute Hospitals with an Alcohol-related Diagnosis Aged 12 Years or Under, Resident in NHS Lothian 2003-04 to 2007-08

	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
NHS Lothian	12	9	5	8	7

Source: Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland.

Note: Data for 2007-08 are provisional.

Question reference: S3W-29408

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS prescriptions for antibiotics were dispensed in NHS Lothian in each year since 1999, broken down by antibiotic.

The information requested is provided in the following table. The data show the number of prescribed items for antibiotics dispensed in NHS Lothian in the community by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors for the years ending 31 March 2000 to 2009. The data exclude the direct supply of medicines to patients from hospitals or hospital-based clinics.

Approved Drug Name	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Amikacin	0	0	0	23	5
Amoxicillin	176,895	177,456	173,113	175,004	172,119
Ampicillin	1,727	1,286	1,006	843	524
Azithromycin	484	762	1,263	1,670	1,955
Aztreonam	9	15	18	*	7
Benzylpenicillin	238	237	288	318	342
Cefaclor	2,308	2,516	2,441	2,029	1,610
Cefadroxil	13	*	7	13	5
Cefalexin	41,992	41,859	40,388	37,587	38,606
Cefixime	302	279	195	142	110
Cefotaxime	54	79	79	122	155
Cefpirome	*	0	0	0	0
Cefpodoxime	*	*	7	5	*
Cefprozil	*	0	*	0	0
Cefradine	856	710	614	593	486
Ceftazidime	55	53	49	42	21
Ceftibuten	*	0	0	0	0
Ceftriaxone Sodium	*	*	5	7	*
Cefuroxime	1,911	1,438	1,264	1,116	1,174
Chloramphenicol	*	13	14	24	38
Cinoxacin	*	*	0	0	0
Ciprofloxacin	15,273	15,353	15,418	15,007	14,755
Clarithromycin	18,328	19,580	19,704	21,647	22,714
Clindamycin	636	699	776	974	929
Clofazimine	*	*	16	*	0
Co-Amoxiclav	41,157	38,736	35,360	35,406	34,580
Co-Fluampicil	893	643	495	385	323
Colistin	248	227	248	263	228
Co-Trimoxazole	1,227	1,074	976	848	800
Cycloserine	227	222	194	147	136
Dapsone	504	478	462	454	405
Demeclocycline Hydrochloride	31	25	35	48	86
Doxycycline	14,568	14,613	12,962	11,914	10,800
Ertapenem	0	0	0	0	0
Erythromycin	55,564	53,322	48,972	48,033	46,110
Ethambutol Hydrochloride	357	237	248	238	166
Flucloxacillin	44,701	47,622	49,921	52,563	54,323
Fusidic Acid	211	777	638	465	516
Gentamicin	58	45	48	30	37
Grepafloxacin	0	0	0	0	0
Hexamine Hippurate	68	64	71	43	0
Imipenem with Cilastatin	*	0	0	0	0
Isoniazid	103	104	50	172	193
Levofloxacin	37	22	22	70	46
Lymecycline	782	1,252	1,403	1,499	1,778
Meropenem	20	15	18	20	11
Methenamine Hippurate	0	0	0	36	54
Metronidazole	20,931	20,186	20,896	23,863	23,300
Metronidazole with Nystatin	33	17	5	12	*
Minocycline	6,641	6,194	5,929	5,914	5,090
Moxifloxacin	0	0	0	0	8
Nalidixic Acid	339	292	246	208	165
Neomycin Sulphate	14	15	11	15	7
Netilmicin	*	0	0	0	0
Nitrofurantoin	2,291	2,502	2,831	3,559	3,091
Norfloxacin	3,995	3,931	4,184	4,095	4,002
Ofloxacin	275	309	435	651	650
Oxytetracycline	21,776	20,152	19,860	20,610	21,012
Phenoxymethypenicillin	48,178	47,843	44,476	44,396	42,138
Piperacillin	*	0	0	0	0
Piperacillin with Tazobactam	*	0	*	*	*
Pivmecillinam	0	12	*	*	*
Procaine Penicillin	7	*	0	0	0
Pyrazinamide	70	49	39	19	6
Rifabutin	5	*	20	*	6
Rifampicin	592	573	643	551	560
Rifampicin with Isoniazid	294	231	283	322	249
Streptomycin	0	*	0	0	0
Sulfadiazine	11	39	71	*	23
Sulfametopyrazine	*	0	*	0	0
Sulphadimidine	0	0	0	0	0
Sulphapyridine	0	0	*	8	*
Teicoplanin	0	0	0	8	0
Telithromycin	0	0	0	0	*
Tetracycline	1,365	1,146	1,146	1,108	968
Tetracycline, Chlortetracycline and Demeclocycline	297	145	101	78	47
Thalidomide	*	0	0	0	0
Tinidazole	33	44	62	28	38
Tobramycin	105	83	69	49	31
Trimethoprim	41,345	42,219	43,156	43,676	44,170
Vancomycin	24	19	26	19	39
All antibiotics	570,490	567,835	553,288	559,001	551,761

Approved Drug Name	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Amikacin	0	0	0	0	0
Amoxicillin	173,383	175,319	178,489	184,385	191,133
Ampicillin	464	359	344	214	161
Azithromycin	2,188	2,592	2,843	2,958	3,400
Aztreonam	*	5	*	*	*
Benzylpenicillin	236	292	316	273	277
Cefaclor	1,488	1,453	1,220	1,166	1,037
Cefadroxil	*	6	13	6	*
Cefalexin	39,772	39,719	38,500	36,574	34,583
Cefixime	114	113	94	110	115
Cefotaxime	149	142	182	204	267
Cefpirome	0	0	0	0	0
Cefpodoxime	0	*	*	5	*
Cefprozil	0	0	0	0	0
Cefradine	381	317	221	186	160
Ceftazidime	28	18	23	21	14
Ceftibuten	0	0	0	0	0
Ceftriaxone Sodium	*	*	7	7	10
Cefuroxime	1,113	1,078	902	990	846
Chloramphenicol	18	16	27	16	12
Cinoxacin	0	0	0	0	0
Ciprofloxacin	15,022	15,110	15,476	16,875	18,929
Clarithromycin	23,310	23,217	23,871	26,339	28,290
Clindamycin	1,129	1,175	1,308	1,564	1,228
Clofazimine	*	0	0	0	0
Co-Amoxiclav	33,456	32,986	32,946	34,075	34,168
Co-Fluampicil	314	424	428	337	324
Colistin	208	212	204	233	244
Co-Trimoxazole	774	737	631	639	682
Cycloserine	132	102	115	92	76
Dapsone	344	310	322	358	390
Demeclocycline Hydrochloride	74	106	114	135	180
Doxycycline	10,900	10,468	10,336	10,262	10,724
Ertapenem	0	0	0	0	0
Erythromycin	43,982	43,444	43,311	42,551	42,817
Ethambutol Hydrochloride	311	413	486	378	504
Flucloxacillin	54,682	54,864	57,043	56,983	61,416
Fusidic Acid	417	317	300	201	213
Gentamicin	71	89	70	91	89
Grepafloxacin	0	0	0	0	0
Hexamine Hippurate	0	0	0	0	0
Imipenem with Cilastatin	0	0	0	0	0
Isoniazid	289	366	177	143	272
Levofloxacin	42	31	50	56	48
Lymecycline	1,950	2,238	2,685	3,569	4,548
Meropenem	8	9	10	5	6
Methenamine Hippurate	38	23	33	30	43
Metronidazole	22,026	22,108	22,791	24,740	25,389
Metronidazole with Nystatin	0	0	0	0	0
Minocycline	4,672	4,074	3,376	2,516	2,236
Moxifloxacin	12	24	38	31	15
Nalidixic Acid	162	113	10	13	11
Neomycin Sulphate	30	52	73	90	82
Netilmicin	0	0	0	0	0
Nitrofurantoin	3,278	3,643	5,007	6,206	7,287
Norfloxacin	4,057	3,995	4,163	2,668	2,208
Ofloxacin	717	788	708	768	887
Oxytetracycline	20,493	20,013	20,462	21,500	23,145
Phenoxymethypenicillin	38,803	40,146	37,746	37,555	36,244
Piperacillin	0	0	0	0	0
Piperacillin with Tazobactam	*	*	*	*	0
Pivmecillinam	*	0	0	0	0
Procaine Penicillin	0	0	0	0	0
Pyrazinamide	0	0	0	0	0
Rifabutin	7	13	7	12	7
Rifampicin	546	600	572	513	503
Rifampicin with Isoniazid	338	324	269	261	327
Streptomycin	0	0	0	0	0
Sulfadiazine	24	13	13	21	10
Sulfametopyrazine	0	0	0	0	0
Sulphadimidine	0	0	0	0	0
Sulphapyridine	*	*	0	0	0
Teicoplanin	0	0	*	0	0
Telithromycin	0	0	8	0	0
Tetracycline	913	977	899	824	791
Tetracycline, Chlortetracycline and Demeclocycline	35	25	8	*	0
Thalidomide	0	0	0	0	0
Tinidazole	41	33	42	33	38
Tobramycin	45	57	75	74	55
Trimethoprim	44,261	45,291	47,630	50,853	54,069
Vancomycin	48	33	56	96	105
All antibiotics	547,308	550,401	557,056	570,809	590,622

Notes:

1. *Indicates values that have been suppressed due to the potential risk of disclosure of individuals.

2. The information in the table has been provided by NHS National services Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-29407

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were unemployed in the Lothians region at the end of each month since November 2008, broken down by local authority area.

Monthly estimates of unemployment at local authority level are available from the claimant count. This gives the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits and is published monthly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The claimant count normally refers to the second Thursday of each month.

The table below shows the number of people on the claimant count for each local authority in the Lothians region, from November 2008 to October 2009 (the latest data available).

Claimant Count Levels by Local Authority, Lothians Region, November 2008 to October 2009 (not Seasonally Adjusted)

	East Lothian	Edinburgh City	Midlothian	West Lothian
November 2008	993	6,545	1,058	2,936
December 2008	1,136	6,974	1,168	3,266
January 2009	1,332	7,682	1,363	3,735
February 2009	1,575	8,850	1,587	4,309
March 2009	1,615	9,374	1,623	4,478
April 2009	1,588	9,448	1,681	4,530
May 2009	1,609	9,521	1,549	4,542
June 2009	1,619	9,729	1,601	4,573
July 2009	1,701	10,022	1,665	4,578
August 2009	1,737	10,215	1,752	4,747
September 2009	1,671	9,995	1,730	4,651
October 2009	1,719	10,245	1,795	4,736

Source: Office for National Statistics.

Question reference: S3W-29324

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 8 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many primary school pupils in the Lothians region have been sent home from school as a result of alcohol misuse in each of the last five years.

In the annual national statistics report on exclusions, published on 26 January 2009, it was recorded that there were five or less cases of primary school pupils being temporarily excluded from Lothian primary schools during the school year 2007-08 as a result of alcohol misuse. The figure in the previous four years has been zero.

The publication uses five or less to reduce the risk of individuals being identified through the publication of the statistics. The actual figure will be between one and five.

Question reference: S3W-29080

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 3 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of racism have been recorded in the Lothians region in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested is given in Table 2 on page 12 of the statistical bulletin Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland 2004-05 to 2007-08, published by the Scottish Government in March 2009, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre (Bib. number 49726).

Statistics on racist incidents recorded by the police in Scotland in 2008-09 are due to be published in March 2010.

Question reference: S3W-29141

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 2 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings of the Small Business Consultative Group took place in 2007.