Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-03451

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what number and percentage of people aged 16 to 19 and not in education, employment or training had a disability in each year since 1999 .

The official sourcesfor estimates of the number of people aged 16 to 19 not in employment, educationor training are the Labour Force Survey and the Annual Population Survey. Table1 shows the estimates of the number of people aged 16 to 19 and not in employment,education or training who have a disability and the estimates of the proportionof people who are aged 16 to 19 and not in employment, education or training whoare disabled.

As these estimatesare taken from sample surveys they are subject to a degree of error.

Table 1 Number andProportion of People who are Aged 16 to 19 and Not in Employment, Education orTraining with a Disability.

	Number	Percentage
1999	8,000	20.4%
2000	6,000	15.3%
2001	6,000	14.5%
2002	**	**
2003	7,000	19.6%
2004	6,000	17.4%
2005	8,100	22.3%
2006	6,900	21.7%

Source: Labour Force Survey (LFS),Quarters combined for 1998-2002. Annual Scottish LFS (ASLFS) for 2003. Annual PopulationSurvey 2004 onwards

Notes:

1. Data for 1999-2003 are based on a seasonal year (March to February) whereasdata for 2004 onwards are based on a calendar year (January to December).

2. Disability is self determined.

** Data are unreliable.

Question reference: S3W-03455

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 5 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a uniform definition of dyslexia across Scotland.

There is no singleor commonly agreed definition of dyslexia across Scotland. However, the Scottish Executive is in the early stages of taking forwardwork to develop a working definition of dyslexia which can be readily understoodby parents and be of practical use to teachers in the classroom.

Whatever definitionis used, education authorities and schools should have appropriate arrangementsin place for identifying and meeting the needs of each individual pupil.

Question reference: S3W-02986

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what average rainfall has been each year since 1950.

Figures on rainfallin Scotland are published by the Met Office at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/seriesstatistics/scotrain.txt.The average annual rainfall in Scotland since 1950 has been extracted from thissource and is set out in the chart and following table:

Average Annual Rainfall (mm) 1950-2006

Year	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959
Average annual rainfall (mm)	1,556.9	1,450.6	1,275.7	1,340.0	1,706.1	1,131.3	1,422.6	1,456.8	1,318.3	1,315.9

Year	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969
Average annual rainfall (mm)	1,268.3	1,401.6	1,409.2	1,215.6	1,234.7	1,346.6	1,426.2	1,526.8	1,216.2	1,185.8

Year	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Average annual rainfall (mm)	1,441.3	1,161.9	1,154.0	1,245.1	1,449.3	1,217.2	1,271.3	1,385.5	1,352.0	1,472.7

Year	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Average annual rainfall (mm)	1,460.5	1,472.5	1,578.7	1,442.6	1,401.5	1,439.9	1,572.3	1,296.1	1,529.7	1,428.9

Year	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Average annual rainfall (mm)	1,819.7	1,402.1	1,663.4	1,424.6	1,551.9	1,432.7	1,226.5	1,371.0	1,676.9	1,666.3

Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Average annual rainfall (mm)	1,625.8	1,307.7	1,618.5	1,206.5	1,685.6	1,582.2	1,646.5

Source: Met Office.

Notes:

The average annualrainfall figure includes snow that has been melted by the observer.

The average valueshave been derived from 5km grids.

Allowances have beenmade for topographic, coastal and urban effects where relationships are found toexist.

Question reference: S3W-03513

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many assaults on fire and rescue services’ staff were reported in each year since 1990, broken down by fire and rescue service area.

Question reference: S3W-03508

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many assaults were reported in each year since 1990, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) police board area.

The requested informationis shown in the following tables. The figures are for total crimes of assault, whichincludes serious assaults, minor assaults and – since 2005 – minor assaults of anemergency worker.

Number of AssaultsRecorded by the Police, by Local Authority, 1990 to 1994

Local Authority	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Aberdeen City	2,653	2,654	2,533	2,637	2,996
Aberdeenshire	1,363	1,517	1,511	1,573	1,852
Angus	824	716	857	822	819
Argyll and Bute	631	637	641	635	715
City of Edinburgh	3,860	4,305	4,292	4,187	4,655
City of Glasgow	9,086	9,828	10,497	9,670	9,930
Clackmannanshire	478	420	421	511	536
Dumfries and Galloway	939	926	1,101	1,045	1,105
Dundee City	1,293	1,431	1,496	1,330	1,431
East Ayrshire	1,129	1,080	1,136	1,078	1,086
East Dunbartonshire	550	597	609	658	703
East Lothian	484	453	422	446	567
East Renfrewshire	352	377	467	439	506
Eilean Siar (W.Isles)	113	126	121	127	151
Falkirk	1,515	1,400	1,414	1,336	1,410
Fife	2,495	2,290	2,552	2,642	3,098
Highland	1,338	1,385	1,536	1,473	1,613
Inverclyde	804	863	812	834	995
Midlothian	616	609	658	592	646
Moray	793	812	767	789	864
North Ayrshire	1,222	1,359	1,365	1,217	1,177
North Lanarkshire	3,325	3,625	3,841	3,442	3,531
Orkney Islands	92	71	77	67	84
Perth and Kinross	892	946	935	891	913
Renfrewshire	1,600	1,702	1,879	1,681	1,974
Scottish Borders	537	567	501	479	589
Shetland Islands	81	84	100	94	92
South Ayrshire	748	745	786	869	896
South Lanarkshire	2,936	3,054	3,284	2,989	3,164
Stirling	645	606	617	675	769
West Dunbartonshire	902	1,010	950	977	994
West Lothian	1,044	1,124	1,127	933	1,139
Scotland	45,340	47,319	49,305	47,138	51,000

Number ofAssaults Recorded by the Police, by Local Authority, 1995-96 to 2006-07

Local Authority	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01
Aberdeen City	3,075	2,813	3,100	3,225	3,467	3,233
Aberdeenshire	1,818	1,734	1,672	1,718	1,907	1,875
Angus	933	818	908	1,014	1,012	842
Argyll and Bute	733	758	660	675	776	702
City of Edinburgh	5,164	5,990	7,060	7,143	7,629	7,789
City of Glasgow	9,950	9,864	10,018	10,630	11,867	11,624
Clackmannanshire	550	510	443	423	428	434
Dumfries and Galloway	1,339	1,382	1,496	1,561	1,401	1,239
Dundee City	1,418	1,572	1,577	1,885	2,177	2,046
East Ayrshire	1,252	1,191	1,117	1,274	1,409	1,212
East Dunbartonshire	777	746	751	708	564	617
East Lothian	578	637	829	864	1,086	896
East Renfrewshire	515	465	414	404	431	374
Eilean Siar (W.Isles)	138	199	171	154	138	151
Falkirk	1,522	1,336	1,256	1,429	1,579	1,533
Fife	3,330	3,313	3,279	3,214	3,506	3,528
Highland	1,779	1,886	1,931	2,146	1,857	2,017
Inverclyde	828	952	839	931	870	984
Midlothian	672	811	956	930	1,062	978
Moray	886	967	922	871	924	940
North Ayrshire	1,438	1,400	1,345	1,264	1,391	1,339
North Lanarkshire	3,606	3,378	3,107	3,215	3,228	3,405
Orkney Islands	96	91	101	120	101	80
Perth and Kinross	961	984	874	1,027	959	1,011
Renfrewshire	2,089	2,023	2,039	1,965	2,036	2,095
Scottish Borders	658	836	995	922	1,045	1,146
Shetland Islands	127	120	119	129	108	121
South Ayrshire	1,123	1,190	1,188	1,229	1,161	1,033
South Lanarkshire	3,176	2,756	2,888	2,766	2,991	2,783
Stirling	804	737	697	691	722	704
West Dunbartonshire	1,102	1,103	1,111	1,089	1,144	1,080
West Lothian	1,243	1,589	1,787	1,929	2,059	2,389
Scotland	53,680	54,151	55,650	57,545	61,035	60,200

Local Authority	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05¹	2005-06	2006-07
Aberdeen City	3,580	3,171	3,300	4,387	4,626	4,415
Aberdeenshire	1,811	1,594	1,596	2,271	2,425	2,442
Angus	1,281	1,214	1,315	975	1,154	1,409
Argyll and Bute	640	795	842	1,182	1,207	1,259
City of Edinburgh	7,409	6,382	6,202	7,821	7,469	8,591
City of Glasgow	12,001	12,406	12,514	15,218	14,647	15,001
Clackmannanshire	587	580	628	730	714	959
Dumfries and Galloway	1,272	1,524	2,127	2,231	1,939	2,132
Dundee City	2,070	2,142	2,268	1,864	2,298	2,877
East Ayrshire	1,426	1,322	1,142	2,158	1,740	1,841
East Dunbartonshire	607	575	589	945	867	848
East Lothian	860	770	709	786	779	993
East Renfrewshire	400	387	477	624	557	632
Eilean Siar (W.Isles)	120	179	197	308	323	346
Falkirk	1,706	1,728	1,891	2,097	1,923	2,085
Fife	3,710	3,985	4,264	5,919	5,637	5,982
Highland	2,240	2,291	2,426	2,971	2,874	3,303
Inverclyde	1,053	1,006	1,121	1,282	1,031	1,053
Midlothian	952	843	821	1,076	1,141	1,311
Moray	1,032	1,035	1,012	1,196	1,271	1,431
North Ayrshire	1,360	1,480	1,534	2,267	2,304	2,426
North Lanarkshire	3,670	3,794	4,203	5,758	5,485	5,539
Orkney Islands	87	84	116	107	158	118
Perth and Kinross	976	995	1,091	1,188	1,336	1,516
Renfrewshire	2,018	1,922	1,963	2,471	2,372	2,746
Scottish Borders	1,022	1,089	1,064	1,120	1,180	1,171
Shetland Islands	115	150	162	194	162	206
South Ayrshire	1,113	1,134	1,019	1,670	1,413	1,647
South Lanarkshire	2,931	2,972	3,230	4,201	3,942	4,119
Stirling	874	979	1,044	1,233	1,179	1,433
West Dunbartonshire	1,171	1,172	1,378	1,646	1,725	1,845
West Lothian	1,983	1,910	1,735	2,590	2,723	3,016
Scotland	62,077	61,610	63,980	80,486	78,601	84,692

Number ofAssaults Recorded by the Police, by Force, 1990 to 1994

Police Force	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Central	2,638	2,426	2,452	2,522	2,715
Dumfries and Galloway	939	926	1,101	1,045	1,105
Fife	2,495	2,290	2,552	2,642	3,098
Grampian	4,809	4,983	4,811	4,999	5,712
Lothian and Borders	6,541	7,058	7,000	6,637	7,596
Northern	1,624	1,666	1,834	1,761	1,940
Strathclyde	23,285	24,877	26,267	24,489	25,671
Tayside	3,009	3,093	3,288	3,043	3,163
Scotland	45,340	47,319	49,305	47,138	51,000

Number ofAssaults Recorded by the Police, by Force, 1995-96 to 2006-07

Police Force	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01
Central	2,876	2,583	2,396	2,543	2,729	2,671
Dumfries and Galloway	1,339	1,382	1,496	1,561	1,401	1,239
Fife	3,330	3,313	3,279	3,214	3,506	3,528
Grampian	5,779	5,514	5,694	5,814	6,298	6,048
Lothian and Borders	8,315	9,863	11,627	11,788	12,881	13,198
Northern	2,140	2,296	2,322	2,549	2,204	2,369
Strathclyde	26,589	25,826	25,477	26,150	27,868	27,248
Tayside	3,312	3,374	3,359	3,926	4,148	3,899
Scotland	53,680	54,151	55,650	57,545	61,035	60,200

Police Force	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05¹	2005-06	2006-07
Central	3,167	3,287	3,563	4,060	3,816	4,477
Dumfries and Galloway	1,272	1,524	2,127	2,231	1,939	2,132
Fife	3,710	3,985	4,264	5,919	5,637	5,982
Grampian	6,423	5,800	5,908	7,854	8,322	8,288
Lothian and Borders	12,226	10,994	10,531	13,393	13,292	15,082
Northern	2,562	2,704	2,901	3,580	3,517	3,973
Strathclyde	28,390	28,965	30,012	39,422	37,290	38,956
Tayside	4,327	4,351	4,674	4,027	4,788	5,802
Scotland	62,077	61,610	63,980	80,486	78,601	84,692

Note: 1. Figures from2004-05 onwards shows the impact of the implementation of the Scottish Crime RecordingStandard, which was expected to increase the numbers of minor crimes – includingminor assault – recorded by the police.

Question reference: S3W-03460

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to ensure wider understanding in society of dyslexia.

The Scottish Governmentrecognises that people with dyslexia can be covered by the definition of disabilityin the Disability Discrimination Act. While we have no plans at present for anyspecific initiatives to ensure wider understanding in society of dyslexia, our workon disability equality is inclusive of all forms of disability.

In addition, the ScottishGovernment, through Learning Connections, has provided funding to Dyslexia Scotland to organise the first Scottish adult dyslexia conferencedue to take place in Stirling on 27 October 2007. This conference is intended for tutors and trainers(particularly from literacy work and the STUC) and for adults with dyslexia. Thiswill help to increase understanding of dyslexia within adult literacy and numeracy.

Question reference: S3W-03479

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence is of cancer, broken down by age group, and what comparative information it has for (a) the United Kingdom as a whole, (b) each EU member state and (c) each OECD nation.

Irefer the member to the answer to question S3W-3483 on 4 September 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.Dataon cancer incidence in Scotland are available by age group and year (1980 to 2004) on the InformationServices Division website at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/files/cancer_all_types_inc.xls.

(a)Comparative data on cancer incidence in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland (2002-04) are available onthe website of the Office of National Statistics at:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/UK_inc_mort_charts_tables2002_04.xls,

TheCancer Atlas of the United Kingdom and Ireland 1991-2000 at:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=14059.

(b)Comparative data on cancer incidence in Scotland and each EU member state are held inthe Scotland and European Health for All(HfA) Database, which can be accessed from the website of the Scottish Public HealthObservatory at:

http://www.scotpho.org.uk/web/site/home/Comparativehealth/InternationalComparisons/Scotland_and_European_HfA.asp(see indicators Morbidity, disability and hospital discharges).

(c)Data on cancer incidence worldwide are held by CANCERMondial in two databases:GLOBOCAN 2002 and CI5 I-VIII. GLOBOCAN2002 contains estimates of cancer incidencefor all the countries of the world, although data for the four constituent countriesof the UK are not included separately.The database CI5 I-VIII contains cancer incidence data collected by cancer registriesworldwide, including Scotland, although not aggregated to country level.

Bothof these databases can be accessed from the website of CANCERMondial at http://www-dep.iarc.fr/.

Question reference: S3W-03483

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the death rate was from cancer in each year since 1980.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-3479on 4 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Trends in cancer mortalityover time are best interpreted using European Age Standardised Rates (EASR). EASRensure that differences observed do not simply reflect variations in the age structureof the populations being compared. This is important when considering rates of cancer,because cancer is a disease that predominantly affects the elderly.

EASR for cancer arepublished by the Information Services Division (ISD) at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/1508.html.

(See Annual Mortalityat the bottom of the page.)

The published tableincludes data for 1980-2005. These tables will be updated with 2006 data in September2007.

Question reference: S3W-03481

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence is of heroin addiction, broken down by age group, and what comparative information it has for (a) the United Kingdom as a whole, (b) each EU member state and (c) each OECD nation.

For estimated numbersof problem drug users (opiates and/or benzodiazepines only) in Scotland in 2000 and 2003, I refer the member to the answerto question S3W-3089 on 28 August 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Comparative informationfor the United Kingdom, EU member states and OECD nations is notheld centrally. Prevalence information on the use of opiate drugs internationallyis available in the United Nations 2007 World Drug Report, Chapter 3, StatisticalAnnex, Section 3.5: Consumption:

http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/wdr07/WDR_2007_3.5.1_annual_prevalence.pdf.

Question reference: S3W-03510

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many assaults on doctors in the workplace were reported in each year since 1990, broken down by NHS board area.

Chamber and committees