Questions and answers

Question reference: S3O-00629

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 20 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it appropriate for staff working in the NHS to pay car parking charges at their places of work.

Question reference: S3W-04246

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many drug deaths there have been since 1997, broken down by local authority area.

The figures in thefollowing table on the numbers of drug-related deaths in Scotland since 1997 were compiled by the General Register Officefor Scotland (GROS).

Information on theproportion that led to a custodial sentence is not available as court proceedingsstatistics held centrally do not uniformly contain detailed information on circumstancesof the original offence.

Drug-Related Deaths¹in Scotland, Numbers, Local Authority Area, 1997-2006

Council Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Scotland	224	249	291	292	332	382	317	356	336	421
Aberdeen City	13	20	22	22	32	34	21	27	11	26
Aberdeenshire	7	6	11	6	14	9	13	8	10	16
Angus	2	4	2	3	1	4	5	8	8	11
Argyll and Bute	-	1	1	3	1	5	3	4	3	1
Clackmannanshire	1	2	-	-	-	7	2	5	3	7
Dumfries and Galloway	7	4	7	7	8	9	9	7	7	5
Dundee City	22	12	12	7	13	6	9	11	11	16
East Ayrshire	1	2	6	3	10	12	3	4	4	9
East Dunbartonshire	3	5	2	4	3	1	6	5	1	2
East Lothian	4	1	2	1	2	6	4	2	5	3
East Renfrewshire	-	3	3	4	3	5	3	5	1	3
Edinburgh, City of	33	29	25	28	39	27	26	17	41	30
Eilean Siar	-	-	1	-	1	1	1	-	1	1
Falkirk	2	-	5	1	7	8	6	7	8	10
Fife	8	13	9	12	11	12	12	17	21	19
Glasgow City	59	83	91	96	84	111	93	106	75	113
Highland	3	1	7	1	5	8	7	8	10	11
Inverclyde	5	9	12	11	12	8	7	9	7	9
Midlothian	4	4	4	3	5	2	3	5	5	6
Moray	2	-	5	3	-	4	3	4	2	5
North Ayrshire	2	2	5	11	15	14	9	13	6	11
North Lanarkshire	7	12	11	18	12	28	22	20	25	24
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
Perth and Kinross	6	7	-	4	5	4	5	4	7	8
Renfrewshire	6	10	11	11	5	9	11	14	10	17
Scottish Borders	1	1	-	1	1	-	2	2	7	2
Shetland Islands	-	1	-	1	1	1	-	-	1	2
South Ayrshire	3	-	4	6	10	7	7	3	5	5
South Lanarkshire	7	11	17	12	16	14	8	17	16	22
Stirling	1	-	3	3	2	9	4	4	3	7
West Dunbartonshire	8	3	5	5	6	13	6	8	15	12
West Lothian	7	3	8	5	8	4	7	12	7	7

Source: http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/drug-related-deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland-2006/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland-2006-tables.html(Table 2a).Note: 1 Further informationon the definitions of drug related deaths can be found at Annex A of the GROS publicationDrug Related Deaths in Scotland 2006: http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files1/stats/drug-related-deaths-2006/drug-related-deaths-2006.pdf.

Question reference: S3W-04109

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were employed by each quango in each year since 1995.

Question reference: S3W-04112

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the recent outbreak of E. coli O157 in Paisley, what plans it has to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents of food poisoning across Scotland.

An expert group,under the Chairmanship of Professor Hugh Pennington, was established inDecember 1996 to examine the circumstances which led to the e.coli outbreak incentral Scotland and to advise on the implications for food safety and lessonsto be learned. This group made a total of 32 recommendations, all of which wereaccepted and actioned by the Scottish Government.

The group’srecommendations focussed mainly on improving hygiene standards andstrengthening enforcement controls in fresh meat plants and butcher shops. Therewere also recommendations around consumer education and awareness, improvingsurveillance methods, research and outbreak management.

A leafletentitled Shedding Light on Ecoli 0157 – What you need to know wasproduced by the Scottish Government in 2005 to raise awareness and give adviceto those visiting the outdoors and enjoying outdoor activities such as farmsand petting zoos. The document is available electronically on the dedicatedwebsite www.handsclean.info/ and isdistributed once a year to a range of interested parties such as Directors ofPublic Health, Scouts and Girl Guides and outdoor organisations.

The ScottishGovernment also continues to promote a Hand Hygiene Campaign to ensure that allhealth workers, the general public and young children are made aware of theimportance of good hand washing in preventing the spread of infection.

Question reference: S3W-04108

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many quangos there have been in each year since 1995, giving the name of each.

The following tableshows the trend in the number of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) from1999 to 2006.

Number of NDPBs: 1999to 2006

1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
186	184	183	151	144	140	142	140

Information on thenumber of NDPBs was maintained by the Cabinet Office prior to formation of the Scottish Parliament.

The Public Bodiesand Appointment pages of the Scottish Government website provide details of allcurrent NDPBs in Scotland and includes financial and staffing data.

The site isregularly updated and is the main source of publicly available information onNDPBs in Scotland. The site’s address is http://www.scotland.gov.uk/government/publicbodies/.Prior to thewebsite’s establishment in 2002, detailed historical information on NDPBs waspublished in the annual Cabinet Office document Public Bodies. Copies of the 1998 to 2006 versions of the document are available at http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/other/agencies/public_bodies/index.asp.

The 1997 versionis available from:

http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/caboff/bodies97/contents.htm.

Question reference: S3W-04113

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost of governing Scotland has been in each year from 1979 to 2007 in (a) cash and (b) real terms.

Since Devolution,the cost of governing Scotland could be deemed to comprise a number ofdifferent elements, including: the cost of running the Scottish Parliament(further information can be found within the Scottish Parliamentary CorporateBody’s accounts); a proportion of the administration costs for the ScottishGovernment; and an element of the expenditure by Scottish local authorities.

Prior toDevolution, such costs would have been a matter for the Secretary of State forScotland.

Question reference: S3W-04106

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much local authority (a) capital and (b) revenue expenditure was in the West of Scotland parliamentary region in each of the last two years, broken down by single transferable vote ward.

The informationrequested is only collected at council level. The West of Scotland regionalconstituency does not match an exact aggregation of whole council areas.

The following tablecontains 2004-05 and 2005-06 revenue and capital expenditure for each of thelocal authorities covered by the constituency. Councils which are only partlycovered by the constituency are noted by an asterisk.

LocalAuthority Expenditure of Local Authorities Covered Wholly or Partly* by West ofScotland Regional Constituency

Local Authority	Net Revenue Expenditure ¹		Gross Capital Expenditure
Local Authority	2004-05	2005-06	2004-05	2005-06
Argyll and Bute*	197,401	220,834	32,673	37,719
East Dunbartonshire*	186,049	205,050	13,990	19,043
East Renfrewshire	165,397	179,479	15,691	21,045
Inverclyde	174,868	199,085	14,789	21,792
North Ayrshire*	245,404	292,333	24,753	46,371
Renfrewshire*	309,942	349,563	37,161	50,581
West Dunbartonshire	194,726	203,470	31,561	33,945

Sources: Councilscovered wholly or partly* by West of Scotland regional constituency. Capital -CR FINAL returns.

Note: 1.Expenditure on police, fire, registration of electors and council tax andnon-domestic lands valuation is apportioned to councils using the amount thatthe joint boards requisition from them.

Question reference: S3W-04110

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost of running quangos has been in each year since 1995, also giving staffing costs in (a) cash and (b) real terms.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-4108 on 19 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Non-departmentalpublic body annual reports and accounts also provide cost information. Copiesare available directly from individual organisations.

Question reference: S3W-04111

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken, or plans to take, as a result of the BBC's Whistleblower programme on 22 May 2007 which highlighted health and safety concerns relating to supermarkets selling food products beyond their sell-by date.

I have beenadvised by the Food Standards Agency that the supermarkets concerned in the BBCprogramme were not based in Scotland and therefore were not under the directresponsibility of any Scottish local authority environmental health department.

It is the legal responsibility of food businesses toensure that food is safe and this includes correct use of labelling.

The“Use-by” date is the key date in terms of food safety. “Sell by” and “displayuntil” dates are to help shop staff know when to remove a product from sale.“Best before” dates are focused on quality rather than safety.

Question reference: S3W-04247

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of all its funded public relations and marketing campaigns in each year since 1999, also showing how much of each campaign’s annual spend was paid to external public relations and marketing agencies.

the Scottish Executive put in place a framework contract for Public Relations (PR)on the 1 August 2004. Prior to this, all PR workwas sub-contracted by the creative advertising agencies on the ScottishGovernment contract. Since the 1 August 2004 the following campaigns have received PR support:

1 August 2004 to 31 March 2005

PR Spend by Campaign	Net	Gross
Alcohol	£42,891.00	£50,397.00
ASB	£39,798.00	£46,763.00
Care	£22,155.00	£26,032.00
Child Protection on Internet	£8,511.00	£10,000.00
Children's Charter Original	£9,011.00	£10,588.00
Children's Hearings	£15,948.00	£18,739.00
Debt Management	£8,511.00	£10,000.00
Determind to Succeed	£0.00	£0.00
Domestic Abuse	£31,456.00	£36,961.00
Drugs	£22,848.00	£26,847.00
E-Coli	£8,511.00	£10,000.00
Environment	£26,139.00	£30,713.00
Fire	£29,787.00	£35,000.00
Flu	£28,422.00	£33,396.00
GP Out-Of-Hours	£4,255.00	£5,000.00
Health Service Recruitment	£17,798.00	£20,912.00
Healthy Living	£119,149.00	£140,000.00
Landlord	£8,511.00	£10,000.00
Mental Health	£6,624.00	£7,783.00
Organ Donation	£10,312.00	£12,062.00
Race	£46,631.00	£54,792.00
Road Safety	£83,181.00	£97,729.00
Safer Scotland	£0.00	£0.00
Smoking in Public Places (consultation)	£5,596.00	£6,575.00
Smoking in Public Places (Health Dept)	£70,000.00	£82,250.00
Teacher Recruitment	£22,049.00	£25,908.00
Travel Awareness	£29,787.00	£35,000.00
Valuing Parents	£0.00	£0.00
Violence Against Public Sector Workers	£26,403.00	£31,023.00
Total	£770,071.00	£904,770.00

2005-06

PR Spend by Campaign	Net	Gross
Alcohol	£48,990.36	£57,563.67
ASB	£36,296.60	£42,648.50
Children's Hearings	£17,205.89	£20,216.92
Domestic Abuse	£34,040.00	£39,997.00
Drugs	£52,717.89	£61,943.53
Environment	£42,553.19	£50,000.00
Fire Safety	£17,025.00	£20,004.38
Flu	£25,155.74	£29,557.99
Healthy Living	£25,531.59	£29,999.62
Mental Health	£19,577.19	£23,003.20
NHS Recruitment	£68,085.00	£79,999.88
Organ Donation	£21,276.00	£24,999.30
Race	£49,954.96	£58,697.08
Road Safety	£69,208.50	£81,319.99
Smoking in Public Places	£169,000.00	£198,575.00
Teacher Recruitment	£42,550.00	£49,996.25
Violence Against Public Sector Workers	£34,045.00	£40,002.88
Volunteering	£12,760.00	£14,993.01
Total	£785,972.91	£923,518.20

2006-07

PR Spend by Campaign	Net	Gross
Air Discount Scheme	£10,217.65	£12,005.74
Choices for Life	£4,255.32	£5,000.00
Older Person's Consultation	£8,510.64	£9,999.99
Salmon Parasite	£16,994.25	£19,968.24
Social Care PR	£12,766.00	£15,000.10
Alcohol	£38,444.82	£45,172.64
ASB	£51,062.00	£59,997.87
Children's Hearings	£17,021.26	£20,000.00
Domestic Abuse	£34,042.55	£39,999.99
Drugs	£44,721.43	£52,547.66
Fire Safety - Domestic	£17,021.28	£19,999.97
Fire Safety - Legislation	£17,021.28	£19,999.97
Flu	£27,359.00	£32,146.86
Healthy Living	£38,302.00	£45,004.85
Hep C	£38,302.00	£45,004.85
Lay Justice Appointments	£0.00	£0.00
Mental Health	£17,621.18	£20,704.87
NHS Recruitment	£86,772.34	£101,957.50
Organ Donation	£33,964.53	£39,908.30
Race	£67,047.23	£78,780.50
Road Safety	£47,393.00	£55,686.75
Smoking	£28,000.00	£32,900.00
Sustainable Development	£38,058.64	£44,718.90
Teacher Recruitment	£42,553.19	£49,999.96
Violence Against Public Sector Workers	£34,042.55	£40,000.03
Volunteering	£17,021.18	£19,999.87
Vote Scotland (previously Single Transferable Vote)	£81,965.31	£96,309.21
Total	£870,480.63	£1,022,814.62

1 April 2007 to 13 September 2007

PR Spend by Campaign	Net	Gross
Children's Hearings	£18,000.00	£21,150.00
Flu	£10,212.80	£12,000.04
Organ Donation	£8,000.00	£9,400.00
Road Safety	£17,031.33	£20,000.07
Vote Scotland	£1,500.00	£1,62.50
Total	£54,734.13	£64,312.61

For spend on advertising campaigns ineach year since 1999, I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-3693 on4 September 2007. All answersto written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website,the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

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