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: S4W-20907

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS Grampian patients have (a) been offered and (b) received treatment from NHS boards outwith Scotland in each of the last five years.

Information is not available centrally on how many NHS Grampian residents have been offered treatment outwith NHS Grampian or on how many NHS Grampian residents received treatment outwith Scotland.

Information, although limited is however available on NHS Grampian patients who had elective treatments in other health board areas within Scotland over the last five years to the end of 2013 and the number of patients who had elective treatment within NHS Grampian for the same period is shown in the following table.

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013p
Patients treated in other Health Board areas	971	1,178	1,354	1,501	1,418
Patients treated within NHS Grampian	41,448	42,248	47,426	47,300	49,290

Source: ISD Scotland acute hospital records SMR01

p 2013 figures provisional and the data is for booked patients only

The number of patients having elective treatment in NHS Grampian increased by 7,802 between 2009 and 2013. The number of Grampian patients having elective treatment in other NHS boards in Scotland is under 3% and this includes patients going for highly specialised treatment to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Question reference: S4W-20908

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many construction workers were employed in (a) Aberdeen and (b) Aberdeenshire in (i) 2012 and (ii) 2013.

The preferred source for employment estimates by industry at local authority level is the Business Register Employment Survey. The latest available data are for 2012.

In 2012, there were 5,600 people working in the construction sector in Aberdeen City and 8,800 in Aberdeenshire.

These data are rounded to the nearest hundred. Estimates include all employee jobs within VAT/PAYE registered enterprises, and also working owners of VAT/PAYE registered enterprises.

Note that there are construction jobs out-with registered enterprises, in the smallest enterprises that are not registered for VAT/PAYE (so called “unregistered” enterprises). The latest data from Businesses in Scotland 2013, show that 21% of all construction employment in Scotland is in unregistered enterprises, these ‘unregistered’ jobs would include, for example, self-employed plumbers, electricians, joiners etc. Estimates of employment in unregistered construction enterprises are not available by local authority area.

Question reference: S4W-20909

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many construction companies were registered in (a) Aberdeen and (b) Aberdeenshire in 2013.

The latest official statistics for enterprises operating in Scotland by local authority are available from the Scottish Government Businesses in Scotland 2013 publication. The publication shows that:

As at March 2013, there were 650 registered enterprises in the construction sector in Aberdeen City and 1,405 in Aberdeenshire.

These data are taken from the Inter-Departmental Business Register and are rounded to the nearest five. Data refer to VAT/PAYE registered enterprises only. Unregistered enterprises, sole traders and partnerships who are not registered for PAYE or VAT, are not included.

Note that the majority of construction enterprises are not registered for VAT/PAYE. The latest data from Businesses in Scotland 2013, show that 64% of all construction enterprises operating in Scotland are not VAT/PAYE registered (so called ‘unregistered’ enterprises). These ‘unregistered’ enterprises would include, for example, self-employed plumbers, electricians, joiners etc. Data on unregistered construction enterprises are not available by local authority area.

Although unregistered construction enterprises are significant in number, data from Businesses in Scotland 2013 show that unregistered construction enterprises only account for 8% of total construction turnover generated in Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-03076

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to NHS Grampian to address waiting times for treatment.

Question reference: S4W-19451

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide a substantive response to question S4W-17791, which received a holding answer on 8 November 2013.

Question reference: S4W-19856

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 4 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time for arthritis treatment is in Grampian and how this compares with other NHS boards.

The information requested is not collected centrally. Information is only available at speciality level. Most patients with arthritis will be treated in primary care. For those who do require to be referred to an acute hospital they will be covered by the current waiting time standards and guarantee.

The Scottish Government’s overarching target is for 90% of patients to be seen and treated within 18 weeks from initial GP referral. Information on performance for the month of December 2013 (latest published) by NHS board is provided in table 1 below. Within the 18 weeks referral to treatment time standard the Scottish Government also has a standard that patients should receive a first outpatient consultation within 12 weeks from referral. Performance against this standard for 31 December 2013 is provided in table 2.

Table1: NHS boards’ performance against 18 weeks referral to treatment standard for the month of December 2013

NHS Board	Performance against 18 weeks referral to treatment standard
Ayrshire and Arran	92.9%
Borders	92.0%
Dumfries and Galloway	93.0%
Fife	92.2%
Forth Valley	81.0%
Grampian	89.7%
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	91.1%
Highland	91.2%
Lanarkshire	93.7%
Lothian	87.2%
Orkney	98.0%
Shetland	97.1%
Tayside	93.8%
Western Isles	93.4%
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	100%
NHSScotland	90.8%

Table 2: NHS boards’ performance against 12 weeks first outpatient consultation standard

NHS Board	Performance against 12 weeks first outpatient standard
Ayrshire and Arran	97.2%
Borders	98.2%
Dumfries and Galloway	96.4%
Fife	96.4%
Forth Valley	80.0%
Grampian	96.5%
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	99.9%
Highland	89.6%
Lanarkshire	98.9%
Lothian	90.2%
Orkney	89.4%
Shetland	98.1%
Tayside	97.9%
Western Isles	82.6%
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	100%
NHSScotland	95.3%

Source: ISD Scotland

Question reference: S4W-19859

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff there were in each (a) local authority, (b) executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), (c) advisory NDPB, (d) public corporation, (e) tribunal office, (f) executive agency, (g) non-ministerial department, (h) NHS board and (i) other significant national body in each year from 2007 to 2012 and what information it has on the staff of each commissioner's and ombudsman's office.

The information requested on staff numbers is as follows:

(a) Local Authorities

Information on the number of staff in each local authority in each year from 2007 to 2012 is published as part of the public sector employment quarterly estimates. The latest version is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment/PSEwebtables

(b) executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), (c) advisory NDPB, (d) public corporation, (e) tribunal office, (f) executive agency, (g) non-ministerial department, (i) other significant national body

Information on the number of staff in each category of public body (executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), advisory NDPB, public corporation, tribunal office; executive agency, non-ministerial department and other significant national bodies) in each year from 2007 to 2012 is published as part of the public sector employment quarterly estimates. The latest version is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment/PSEwebtables

It is not possible readily to dis-aggregate the statistics to provide reliable and consistent historic staffing levels for each (b) executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), (c) advisory NDPB, (d) public corporation, (e) tribunal office, (f) executive agency, (g) non-ministerial department, (i) other significant national body. The figures provided are aggregated statistics.

(h) NHS Boards

Information on the number of staff in each NHS board in each year from 2007 to 2012 is published by Information Services Division, NHS National Services Scotland. The latest version is available at:

https://isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2013-11-26/Overall_Trend_S2013.xls?67889911

Information on the number of staff in commissioners’ and ombudsmen’s offices is also published as part of the public sector employment quarterly estimates. The latest version is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/PublicSectorEmployment/PSEwebtables

Question reference: S4W-17791

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many engagements have been undertaken by ministers in Aberdeen in each of the last three years and how this compares with visits to other cities in Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-02977

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with the procurement process and construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.

Question reference: S4W-19380

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its assessment is of the financial criteria considered by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in presenting options for the future of control room services.

<>Ministers set out their priorities for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) in the Fire Framework approved by the Parliament in March 2013 which makes clear that SFRS must ensure that communities can access fire and rescue services through a robust and resilient command, control and communications provision. The Fire Framework can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/11/3822.

The Governance and Accountability Framework sets out the responsibilities of the SFRS Chair and Board Members and can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/03/2213.