Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-15959

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Did Not Attends (DNAs) there were for (a) in-patient appointments and (b) out-patient appointments in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board.

Information on “did not attend” (DNA) rates for new out-patient appointments for the three latest available financial years is shown in the table below. Information on DNA rates for inpatient appointments is not collected centrally at present.

New Out-Patient Appointments : DNAs by NHS Board of Treatment for Years Ending 31 March 2002 to 2004

	2002 New Appointments Number	Did not Attend (DNA)		2003 New Appointments Number	Did Not Attend (DNA)		2004 New Appointments Number	Did Not Attend (DNA)
	2002 New Appointments Number	Number	%	2003 New Appointments Number	Number	%	2004 New Appointments Number	Number	%
Scotland	1,403,154	167,310	11.9	1,410,551	169,540	12.0	1,394,961	163,966	11.8
Argyll and Clyde	98,049	11,639	11.9	98,713	11,797	12.0	101,510	12,190	12.0
Ayrshire and Arran	96,024	11,005	11.5	98,511	11,427	11.6	97,860	11,146	11.4
Borders	24,521	1,437	5.9	25,213	1,587	6.3	26,216	1,720	6.6
Dumfries and Galloway	31,460	2,251	7.2	31,902	2,177	6.8	29,702	2,097	7.1
Fife	80,503	8,655	10.8	81,911	8,529	10.4	81,047	9,048	11.2
Forth Valley	65,214	6,776	10.4	62,412	6,270	10.0	64,637	6,682	10.3
Grampian	112,506	10,195	9.1	110,299	9,714	8.8	111,990	9,326	8.3
Greater Glasgow	34,3331	55,398	16.1	350,196	5,7203	16.3	334,461	53,040	15.9
Highland	54,448	3,736	6.9	54,508	3,865	7.1	56,929	4,135	7.3
Lanarkshire	116,184	16,522	14.2	126,700	18,556	14.6	126,426	16,752	13.3
Lothian	211,441	23,604	11.2	209,248	23,010	11.0	205,543	22,850	11.1
Orkney	2,881	152	5.3	2,981	151	5.1	2,632	146	5.5
Shetland	5,043	176	3.5	4,862	254	5.2	5,210	309	5.9
Tayside	149,395	15,056	10.1	142,030	14,232	10.0	137,912	13,843	10.0
Western Isles	6,521	511	7.8	6,982	595	8.5	7,242	511	7.1
Other¹	5,633	197	3.5	4,083	173	4.2	5,644	171	3.0

Note: 1.Includes domiciliarylocations, Golden Jubilee National Hospital and locations not otherwise coded.

Thesource for new outpatients data is SMR00, which records new out-patientappointments to consultant-led out-patient clinics (excluding accident and emergencyand genito-urinary medicine). SMR00 is developing to include non-consultant-ledactivity (eg nurse-led clinics).

The “patient focused booking”process for out-patients, now operating in some Scottish hospitals and beingrolled out in others, is a move to reduce outpatient DNA rates by ensuring thepatient is offered a choice of appointment dates and that choice is made aroundsix weeks before the appointment.

Question reference: S2W-15561

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when the new computer system to replace the current criminal history system database, originally due for implementation in March 2004, will now be introduced; what the original estimated costs were and what the current estimated costs are for the system, and what additional functionality will be provided which was not in the original system specification.

The criminal history system (CHS)is the central record of people convicted of an offence in Scotland andforms an important part of the criminal justice system. It is used by the policeand other law enforcement agencies and by the courts and other criminal justicepartners in day to day operations and it supports Disclosure Scotland checks.

The CHS replacement project isbeing undertaken by the Scottish Police Information Strategy (SPIS) working in liaisonwith the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) who maintain and house the database.Since the work was progressed in-house by SPIS a separate budget was not defined.

The project was expected to becompleted in March 2004. This was not achieved and some consultancy work was undertakento examine the adequacy of the software and hardware supporting the replacementproject. Although the output from these consultancy projects was reassuring, thereplacement project continued to be delayed. In January 2005 and following a competitivetendering exercise, further consultancy was commissioned to develop a plan whichidentified key outputs and milestones for the successful delivery of the CHS replacementproject including an informed assessment of the required human, financial and physicalresources necessary to implement the plan. The consultancy report was deliveredin April 2005.

The consultants concluded thatwhilst a significant proportion of the required functionality of the current CHSsystem exists in the replacement system, too little attention has been paid to performancerequirements and that this aspect of the project will be urgently addressed. Theconsultants recommend that roles and responsibilities of those involved in the projectshould be sharpened and that fresh project management would be beneficial.

The consultants identified anearly three to four month phase of work which includes mobilising new project managementinput, clarifying the specification for functional and performance requirementsat the point at which the replacement system will become operational, and undertakingsome performance testing. The output from this early phase of work will be a revisedproject initiation document. They estimate that there will then be around ninemonths work to deliver the first phase of the replacement project which will achievea ‘like for like’ replacement for the current CHS system. In addition to existingSPIS and SCRO resources, the consultants estimate that around £1.3 million of additionalresource will be required to achieve this.

A further phase of work willthen be required to improve the user interface, introduce enhancements to the databasein line with demands from the police and wider criminal justice community, and toimprove the technical architecture of the database. The consultants estimate thatthis will take in the order of a further 12 months and around £2 million.

As a contingency plan and toguard against any risks with respect to performance specification, the consultantsrecommend that preparations are undertaken for a procurement exercise for a replacementcriminal history system. The expectation is that this will be stood down once therevised project initiation document is developed.

The Common Police Services ProgrammeBoard, which exercises strategic governance of SCRO and SPIS, considered the consultant’sreport on
12 April 2005 and accepted the recommendations as set out above.

Whilst it is disappointing thata project which was due to deliver in March 2004 will not deliver until March 2006,it is more important that we get this key project right than we get it quickly.In the interim, the current mainframe system is functioning effectively for usersin the Scottish criminal justice community and it will continue to be used untilwe are satisfied that a replacement system is ready for service.

Question reference: S2W-15960

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 21 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many antisocial behaviour orders were issued in each local authority area in each of the last five years up to the end of the financial year 2004-05.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-11134 on 28 October 2004. This answer provides the requested information up to the end of 2003-04. A survey will be undertaken in the summer which will identify the number of antisocial behaviour orders issued in each local authority in 2004-05. All answers to 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.

Question reference: S2W-15273

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what studies it has completed, is currently undertaking or is planning to undertake relating to the number of people arrested who test positively for alcohol.

Question reference: S2W-15873

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 April 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in the last five years have been found to have been driving with a blood alcohol concentration from 50mg to 79mg per 100ml, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-15276

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 12 April 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) offenders committing and (b) victims of violent offences have tested positively for alcohol when the offence was committed since 1997, broken down by police force area.

Information on the number of homicide victims and accused who were reported as being drunk at the time of the offence is given in the table. Similar information in respect of other types of offence is not collected centrally.

Accused and Victims in Homicide Cases Recorded in Scotland:

Total Number and Percentage Recorded as Drunk at Time of Homicide, 2000-03

Local Authority Area	Accused	Victims
Total Number of Accused	% Recorded as Drunk at Time of Homicide	Total Number of Victims	% Recorded as Drunk at Time of Homicide
Central	17	53	16	57
Dumfries and Galloway	15	46	16	50
Fife	12	58	9	56
Grampian	42	31	33	42
Lothian and Borders	69	53	53	51
Northern	16	25	17	47
Strathclyde	395	46	283	50
Tayside	32	34	24	38
Scotland	598	45	451	50

Note: Information on the drink level of homicide accused and victims was not collected prior to 2000.

Question reference: S2W-15781

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 April 2005
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many antisocial behaviour orders were issued in each local authority area in each of the last five years up to the end of the financial year 2004-05.

Question reference: S2W-14450

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 24 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-13942, S2W-13944, S2W-13946, S2W-13948, S2W-13950, S2W-13952, S2W-13954 by Rhona Brankin on 11 February 2005 and in light of the calculation of costs for hospitalisation days by total ICD-10 code in Cost to Society of Alcohol Misuse in Scotland: An Update to Alcohol Misuse in Scotland Trends and Costs, published on 20 January 2005, why it is not possible to calculate the cost of hospitalisation days against individual ICD-10 codes in each of the answers.

NHS costs are available at speciality level only. It is therefore not possible to provide costs for individual alcohol related conditions and/or by ICD-10 codes.

The costs quoted in Cost to Society of Alcohol Misuse in Scotland: An Update to Alcohol Misuse in Scotland Trends and Costs are an approximation based on all alcohol related hospitalisations (which include a wide range of diagnostic conditions). It is not possible to use this figure to provide information on the cost of hospitalisation days against individual ICD-10 codes.

Question reference: S2W-15155

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 21 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring has taken place of the dental health initiatives funded by the Health Improvement Fund and what improvements in dental health have been achieved as a result of these initiatives.

Monitoring of the dental health initiatives funded by the Health Improvement Fund has measured the numbers of toothbrushes/toothpaste distributed, changes to dental registrations and the dental health of five year olds. This work has also informed the Action Plan for Improving Oral Health and Modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotland which was published on 18 March 2005.

Data which is due to be published within the next three months will show a small but significant improvement in the dental health of five year olds in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-15154

Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 21 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13634 by Rhona Brankin on 25 February 2005, to which organisations the £15.118 million from the Health Improvement Fund, initially retained by the Scottish Executive, was distributed and how much each organisation received.

The proportion of the Health Improvement Fund retained by the Scottish Executive was subsequently subsumed within a number of other health budgets. It is not therefore possible to give any further breakdown of expenditure other than the general proposals detailed in Putting the Pieces In Place, the publication to which I referred in the answer given to question S2W-13047, answered on 18 January 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.search.

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