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-02226

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 September 2011

The exact information requested on the number of nurses and doctors employed in the accident and emergency wards of hospitals in NHS Grampian in (a) 2007 (b) 2008 (c) 2009 and (d) 2010 is not centrally available.

There is information on headcount and whole time equivalent of medical staff by specialty, including emergency medicine, broken down by NHS board at 30 September 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 which can be found on the workforce statistics website at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2011-06-28/HCHS%20by%20specialty_2011.xls.

Headcount and whole time equivalent of nursing and midwifery staff, broken down by NHS board at 30 September 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 can be found on the workforce statistics website at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2011-06-28/Nursing%20and%20Midwifery.xls.

This data is not available by specialty.

Question reference: S4W-02222

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 September 2011

Type of heart disease is not specified in the question. On the advice of the National Records of Scotland medical advisor, the figures below use ICD-10 codes I00-I52. These codes cover the following causes: Acute rheumatic fever (I00-I02), Chronic rheumatic heart diseases (I05-I09), Hypertensive diseases (I10-I15), Ischaemic heart diseases (I20-I25), Pulmonary heart disease and diseases of pulmonary circulation (I26-I28), Other forms of heart disease (I30-I52). This is not a commonly used definition of heart disease and, for this reason, these figures cannot be compared with other published figures for coronary/ischaemic heart disease (ICD-10 codes I20-I25).

The question asks for deaths in Grampian hospitals therefore the figures may include people who lived outwith the Grampian area but who died in a Grampian hospital, but exclude Grampian residents who died outwith the area. It should also be noted that the requested figures are for hospital deaths which account for less than half of all deaths from heart disease in Grampian.

Number of Deaths from Heart Disease (ICD-10 codes I00-I52) in Hospitals in the NHS Grampian Area, 2008-10:

Year	Number of Deaths
2008	533
2009	504
2010	508

Source: National Records of Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-02225

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many doses of methadone were dispensed in the NHS Grampian area in each of the last two years.

Question reference: S4O-00136

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to support the promotion of the visual arts in Aberdeen.

Question reference: S4W-01993

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 30 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of new starts on the modern apprenticeship programme in 2008-09 (a) progressed into long-term employment and (b) completed the apprenticeship.

Question reference: S4W-02218

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 30 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided to NHS Grampian to purchase new ambulances and the up-to-date mobile equipment these require, in each of the last three financial years.

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) provides services on a national basis to territorial boards in the NHS in Scotland. Capital funding is therefore given by Scottish Government to SAS to fund the provision of ambulances as part of a replacement programme and to meet equipment needs including medical and IT equipment.

The capital funding provided to SAS for the last three financial years to fund the investment in property, vehicles and equipment was:

2008-09 £14.2 million

2009-10 £13.2 million

2010-11 £19.5 million.

Question reference: S4W-02138

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has carried out an analysis of how much the Scottish budget would lose if corporation tax in an independent Scotland was reduced to 12.5%.

The Scottish Government is currently engaging with businesses, investors, trade unions, academics and leaders from the third sector and the public sector on the best corporation tax regime for Scotland. Our discussion paper sets out the issues and opportunities for setting a more competitive corporation tax rate in Scotland. This includes a discussion of both the potential short and long-term impacts on the Scottish budget. Experience of other countries has shown that a more competitive corporation tax system, if used wisely, can increase tax revenues.

Question reference: S4W-02136

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether an independent Scotland would pay toward the continuation of the monarchy as Head of State.

Question reference: S4W-01992

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) cars were confiscated and (b) licences were removed from young people (i) racing or (ii) speeding in cars in the Grampian Police force area in 2010-11.

Information for 2010-11 will not be available until publication of the Criminal Proceedings in Scotland, 2010-11 Statistical Bulletin. This is due to be published in December 2011.

Information on the numbers of cars confiscated or young people racing is not held centrally.

The dates of all Scottish Government Official and National Statistics publications are pre-announced, and the up to date list of future publications can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Search/Forthcoming.

Question reference: S4W-01952

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth is taking to ensure that the next spending review implements the proposals in Low Carbon Scotland (the Report on Proposals and Policies).