- Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 1 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to specify levels of concentration of drugs, both legal and illegal, that would impair driving ability.
Answer
Legislation on drugs and driving is the responsibility of the UK Government. I understand that the UK Government has no plans to specify such levels.
- Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 August 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by John Scott on 27 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether cleaning staff at Holyrood will be given a choice in respect of whether they clean the proposed smoking room, given the presence of environmental tobacco smoke.
Answer
The SPCB’s cleaningcontractor has asked all cleaning staff whether or not they would be willing toclean the smoking room. A number of volunteers, who happen to be smokersthemselves, have volunteered. Staff who are unwilling to clean the room willnot be asked to do so.
The majority of cleaning atHolyrood is carried out between 10 pm and 6 am. This means that the room willnot be in use when the major daily clean is performed. Waste removal will bethe only task undertaken during office hours. This will limit cleaning staff’sexposure to the room’s environment. The room is also well ventilated, with 15air changes per hour.
- Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to make all government buildings smoke-free and to end the provision of smoking rooms, similar to the ban on smoking in government departments in Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Office, excluding prisons.
Answer
The Scottish Executive will introduce a smoke-free policy within all Scottish Executive occupied buildings on 30 August 2004. All internal smoking rooms will be closed on this date.
- Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total health expenditure per capita has been in each year since 1997.
Answer
The information requested is set out in the table:
| Year | Health Expenditure Per Capita (Cash) |
| 1997-98 | £850 |
| 1998-99 | £896 |
| 1999-2000 | £967 |
| 2000-01 | £1,053 |
The above figures are on a cash basis. In 2001-02 the basis of Government accounting was changed from cash to resource, the following figures are on a resource basis:
| Year | Health Expenditure Per Capita (Resource) |
| 2001-02 | £1,237 |
| 2002-03 | £1,335 |
| 2003-04 | £1,443 |
The figures for 2001-02 and 2002-03 include capital charges at 6% while the figures for 2003-04 include capital charges at a revised rate of 3.5%.
- Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the healthy life expectancy at birth has been in each year since 1997, broken down by gender.
Answer
Information on healthy life expectancy is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under the Consultancy Service, at
http://www.isdscotland.org/consultancy. The “Healthy Life Expectancy in Scotland” report considers three health measures but recommends the use of self-assessed health if a single measure of health status is required.
These data have not been produced for 1997 and 1999. Data for 2000 is the latest available. A summary table of the information available from the “Healthy Life Expectancy” report is as follows:
Annual Estimates of Healthy Life Expectancy at Birth Using “Good” or “Fairly Good” Self-Assessed Health1,2 : 1998 and 20003
| | Male | Female |
| 1998 | 65.2 | 68.2 |
| 2000 | 65.3 | 67.3 |
Notes:
1. Self-assessed health is a measure of perceived health status that has also been collected in many surveys (including the General Household Survey).
2. The Healthy Life Expectancy report recommends that a single measure of healthy life expectancy be defined as “The number of years that an individual at birth can expect to live in “Good” or “Fairly Good” general health”.
3. Separate figures for males and females have been produced for Scotland from the 1998 and 2000 waves of the General Household Survey.
- Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total health expenditure as a percentage of GDP has been in each year since 1997.
Answer
Table 1 – Level of public health expenditure as a % of GDP, 1997 to 2002
| Year | Level of Health Expenditure as a % of GDP |
| 1997 | 6.3 |
| 1998 | 6.4 |
| 1999 | 6.7 |
| 2000 | 7.0 |
| 2001 | 8.0 |
| 2002 | 8.2 |
(a) The table shows only the levels of public health expenditure as a proportion of GDP in Scotland since 1997. The level of total health expenditure is unknown because the level of private health expenditure is not quantifiable.
(b) GDP figures are estimates using market prices.
- Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the mortality rates of children aged under five years per 1,000 have been in each year since 1997, broken down by gender.
Answer
The mortality rates for children 0 to 4 years old, per 1,000 and by gender are as follows:
| Males | Females |
| Year | Rate Per 1,000 | Year | Rate Per 1,000 |
| 1997 | 1.4 | 1997 | 1.0 |
| 1998 | 1.4 | 1998 | 1.1 |
| 1999 | 1.3 | 1999 | 1.0 |
| 2000 | 1.4 | 2000 | 1.1 |
| 2001 | 1.2 | 2001 | 1.2 |
| 2002 | 1.5 | 2002 | 1.0 |
Source:General Register Office for Scotland,2003
Further details on mortality rates can be found on the General Register for Scotland website at: http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/grosweb/grosweb.nsf/pages/library.
- Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 13 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the mortality rates of people aged from five to 59 per 1,000 have been in each year since 1997, broken down by gender.
Answer
The information requested is shown in the following table:
Death Rates in Scotland Ages 5 to 59 per 1,000Population
| Year of Registration | Female | Male |
| 1997 | 1.57 | 2.72 |
| 1998 | 1.54 | 2.74 |
| 1999 | 1.55 | 2.80 |
| 2000 | 1.53 | 2.70 |
| 2001 | 1.55 | 2.81 |
| 2002 | 1.55 | 2.80 |
| 2003 | 1.55 | 2.66 |
- Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 13 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the life expectancy at birth has been in each year since 1997, broken down by gender.
Answer
A table of life expectancies for the years in question is available from the General Register Office for Scotland’s website at:
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/grosweb/grosweb.nsf/pages/03reference-table5.
- Asked by: Stewart Maxwell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 July 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 9 August 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the guidelines for the Integrated Transport Fund will allow major cycle infrastructure projects to be financed through the fund.
Answer
There are no current plans to issue guidance for the Integrated Transport Fund. However, Executive officials are always available to discuss at an early stage proposals from local authorities and others for transport projects, which might include cycle infrastructure projects. Officials can provide an initial view on what detailed information might be required and the likelihood of funding being made available.
