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: S2W-12589

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what aspects of health provision it plans to contract out to the private sector; how many contracts will be awarded, and what the timetable is for (a) award and (b) implementation of such contracts.

Question reference: S2W-12591

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, before contracting out health provision to the private sector, it will seek to debate the issue in the Parliament.

Question reference: S2W-12556

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 9 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12101 by Mr Andy Kerr on 23 November 2004, what action it has taken in response to the detailed complaints within the correspondence.

On receipt of your letter of 21 March 2002, when you wrote as the Secretary of the North Glasgow Hospitals Branch of UNISON, the Executive contacted the North Glasgow University Hospitals Trust and heard that that you had visited the Glasgow Royal Infirmary with Alan Boyter, Director of Human Resources to examine the areas of concern. Mr Boyter wrote to you on 5 March 2002 confirming that three rapid response teams had been established and detailing action taken by the Trust on specific issues.

In August this year the Chair of NHS Greater Glasgow gave a personal assurance to ministers that he would keep cleanliness and infection rates under review. I pay tribute to the staff of the NHS, and the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in particular, who are working hard to improve cleanliness and infection rates – issues to which I give very high priority.

Question reference: S2W-12553

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 9 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many places are available in local authority residential homes, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-12551

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 9 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authority residential homes there are in each local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-12552

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 9 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authority residential homes there have been in each of the last 10 years, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested is given in the table:

Local Authority run Care Homes: 1995-2004

Local Authority Area	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Aberdeen City	22	20	21	20	20	18	15	14	13	14
Aberdeenshire	18	19	20	20	18	18	21	20	20	21
Angus	12	12	9	8	8	6	6	6	6	6
Argyll and Bute	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Clackmannanshire	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Dumfries and Galloway	13	13	13	13	2	2	2	2	2	1
Dundee City	21	22	17	18	15	15	10	9	9	10
East Ayrshire	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
East Dunbartonshire	2	2	2	2	2	1
East Lothian	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	4
East Renfrewshire	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1
Edinburgh, City of	24	24	23	24	24	23	26	29	29	30
Eilean Siar	16	16	15	15	16	16	14	14	14	14
Falkirk	8	8	8	9	8	8	8	7	7	7
Fife	43	41	43	45	42	49	12	12	12	12
Glasgow, City of	29	29	28	28	27	27	25	24	22	22
Highland	22	22	21	22	23	23	25	24	24	24
Inverclyde	4	4	4	5	5	5	3	2	2
Midlothian	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Moray	8	8	9	8	7	6	2	2	1	1
North Ayrshire	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	8	8
North Lanarkshire	16	16	15	14	13	13	12	12	12	12
Orkney Islands	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4
Perth and Kinross	12	12	6	6	5	5	4	4	4	4
Renfrewshire	9	9	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	8
Scottish Borders	9	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	7
Shetland Islands	4	4	4	5	5	4	4	4	4	4
South Ayrshire	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	5
South Lanarkshire	17	16	16	15	14	13	12	12	12	11
Stirling	7	8	7	5	5	5	5	4	4	4
West Dunbartonshire	10	10	10	9	9	9	8	8	8	8
West Lothian	7	7	7	7	7	7	5	5	5	5
Scotland	378	374	358	356	333	331	276	273	268	267

Source: 1995-2002 Residential Care Homes Census.

2003-2004 Scottish Care Homes Census.

Please note that the data for 1995-2000 is not directly comparable with the data for 2001-2004. Since 2002, a total of 52 local authority run care homes have deregistered to become housing support services. These homes have been excluded from the 2001-04 data but are included in earlier years.

Question reference: S2W-12554

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 9 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many places have been available in local authority residential homes in each of the last 10 years, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested is given in the table:

Local Authority run Care Home Places: 1995-2004

Local Authority Area	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Aberdeen City	532	472	489	466	462	425	336	317	281	324
Aberdeenshire	414	395	360	367	367	365	381	368	368	364
Angus	260	255	213	211	211	155	155	155	155	154
Argyll and Bute	199	194	194	194	153	145	140	144	144	144
Clackmannanshire	75	34	71	71	71	71	71	52	52	52
Dumfries and Galloway	301	297	297	297	19	19	13	13	13	11
Dundee City	494	495	441	423	328	328	272	220	206	217
East Ayrshire	156	150	128	127	129	128	116	116	116	114
East Dunbartonshire	53	53	53	53	44	14	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	169	169	169	161	148	113	112	111	110	135
East Renfrewshire	44	44	49	49	55	49	49	49	34	34
Edinburgh, City of	719	735	731	747	710	686	784	733	732	751
Eilean Siar	205	196	192	188	191	197	172	174	178	178
Falkirk	226	225	219	199	182	187	179	176	178	178
Fife	548	519	473	474	475	506	349	349	363	371
Glasgow, City of	1,203	1,211	1,198	1,184	1,128	1,062	946	920	886	883
Highland	407	388	377	367	354	342	350	342	345	350
Inverclyde	84	80	80	82	82	81	67	54	54	0
Midlothian	158	160	160	137	127	129	131	126	131	131
Moray	185	183	168	158	148	133	44	44	4	4
North Ayrshire	7	137	137	136	137	136	136	142	142	142
North Lanarkshire	502	502	464	444	412	413	410	408	406	406
Orkney Islands	82	81	81	74	79	84	79	84	89	85
Perth and Kinross	1,280	264	196	196	148	147	144	143	145	145
Renfrewshire	294	289	257	250	252	261	258	257	264	240
Scottish Borders	272	233	231	216	217	204	204	206	213	213
Shetland Islands	79	73	69	82	77	59	56	61	62	62
South Ayrshire	181	178	178	177	176	176	108	120	119	104
South Lanarkshire	514	481	481	469	436	375	366	343	345	335
Stirling	133	170	127	113	107	113	113	74	79	79
West Dunbartonshire	282	274	254	251	252	247	238	232	227	227
West Lothian	229	229	229	229	231	199	156	156	159	156
Scotland	9,421	9,166	8,766	8,592	7,908	7,549	6,935	6,689	6,600	6,589

Source: 1995-2002 Residential Care Homes Census.

2003-2004 Scottish Care Homes Census.

Please note that the data for 1995-2000 is not directly comparable with the data for 2001-04. Since 2002, a total of 52 local authority run care homes have deregistered to become housing support services. These homes have been excluded from the 2001-04 data but are included in earlier years.

Question reference: S2O-04497

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 9 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to prevent companies found to be causing environmental pollution from avoiding Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) enforcement notices by making multiple appeals while continuing to pollute the environment.

Question reference: S2W-12072

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 26 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Social Work Statistics Branch Audit of Services for People with Autistic Spectrum Disorder which found that over 3,400 children have been identified as having autistic spectrum disorder and given that the condition was previously significantly less prevalent, whether the Minister for Health and Community Care will make a statement on this issue.

In May 2002, during a parliamentarydebate on Autism Awareness Week, the then Deputy Minister for Health and CommunityCare made a statement about the Scottish Executive’s commitment to improving servicesfor people with autistic spectrum disorders and their families, through implementationof the Public Health Institute of Scotland’s Needs Assessment Report. That reportrecommended the service audit to which the member refers. This work is on-going,making a further statement from the minister unnecessary at this time.

Question reference: S2W-12070

Asked by: Carolyn Leckie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 26 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the Social Work Statistics Branch Audit of Services for People with Autistic Spectrum Disorder which found that over 3,400 children have been identified as having autistic spectrum disorder and given that the condition was previously significantly less prevalent, what steps are being taken to clinically examine these children to establish the cause of their condition.

Information from this baselinestudy indicated that over 3,400 children and young people were identified as havingbeen diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. The figures provided produce aprevalence rate of 35 children per 10,000, which is less than the estimated prevalencerate of 60 per 10,000 in the Public Health Institute of Scotland’s Autistic SpectrumDisorders Needs Assessment Report.

The Medical Research Council(MRC) has been given £2.75 million to take forward the research agenda set out inthe MRC Review of Autism. As this agenda will encourage a programme of researchacross all aspects of autism, this is the appropriate vehicle for testing hypothesesabout possible causes and treatment.