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: S4W-06309

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the police can insist on undertaking escort duties for haulage company vehicles on public roads and, if so, under what legislation.

Where a haulage company vehicle’s laden dimensions exceed a defined overall width, length or weight the police in the interest of public safety will decide whether an escort vehicle is required and whether the escort is provided by the police or the haulier. There are currently no legal requirements for abnormal loads to be escorted; however there are legal requirements for the haulier to provide an attendant dependent on the dimensions of the load.

Question reference: S4W-06437

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 30 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the position of the Scottish Court Service is on a judge sitting on a criminal appeal who is related to either the counsel of the appellant or representatives of the Crown.

Question reference: S4W-06096

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support it has provided to facilitate the development of marine power in each of the last five years.

The first research and development grants to marine projects were awarded in February 2007, under the Wave and Tidal Energy Scheme (WATES). Payments under the scheme have been as follows (based on financial years):

2007-08	£1,204,355
2008-09	£573,752
2009-10	£888,462
2010-11	£4,455,003
2011-12	£675,519
Total	£7,797,091

The Scottish Government has also released over £5.5 million during this period to help develop the infrastructure needed to accommodate WATES projects located at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney. In addition to this, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) have spent just under £20 million to develop the marine energy sector over the equivalent period.

HIE has also contributed £8.8 million towards infrastructure developments closely associated with marine renewables activity.

Question reference: S4W-06097

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what energy production is forecast for (a) marine and (b) wind power under its plans to generate 100% of electricity by renewable sources.

While we have not forecast specific outcomes for individual technologies in the context of our renewables targets for 2020, we would expect wind energy - on and offshore - to make a major contribution. We are also continuing to support and encourage marine renewables, with new initiatives such as our £18 million Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund aimed at proving wave and tidal technologies, driving down costs and enabling them to play a significant part in meeting our energy needs in 2020 and beyond.

Question reference: S4W-06095

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much energy has been produced by (a) wave and (b) tidal power in each of the last five years.

The information requested on electricity generation from wave and tidal stream generating stations is not held centrally. Scottish renewable electricity statistics for renewable electricity from 2000 onwards are collated by the UK Government Department of Energy and Climate Change. Wind, wave and tidal statistics cannot be published in a disaggregated form because to do so could disclose data that relate to individual companies.

Question reference: S4W-05664

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have died from complications associated with hip-replacement operations and what the cause of death was in each case in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

ISD Scotland collects hospital data (SMR01 records) from which hip-replacement operations can be identified, and utilises National Records of Scotland (NRS) data from which causes of death (from the death certificate) can be identified. The Scottish Arthroplasty Project combines these data, but due to quality and completeness of recording it is not possible to definitively identify deaths due to complications from hip-replacement operations.

Table 1 shows the number of patients who have undergone one or more hip-replacement operations from 1999 to 2010 and have a subsequent cause of death, as identified from the death certificate, as a complication due to surgical implant. These figures are likely to slightly underestimate the actual number of deaths, due to the complexities of death in a generally elderly population (those receiving hip implants). It may not always be possible for the certifying doctor to definitively record each and all of the causes of death, and complications due to implants may not always be wholly evident.

Information has been provided for 1999 to 2010 combined instead of by individual year to avoid disclosing small numbers.

Table 1. Number of patients who have undergone one or more hip-replacement operations 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2010 and have a subsequent cause of death as a complication due to surgical implant, with total number of hip operations by NHS board

NHS Board of Treatment	Total Number of Hip Replacement Operations	Total Number of Patients who Have a Subsequent Cause of Death as a Complication due to Surgical Implant	%
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	4,489	28	0.62
NHS Borders	2,084	15	0.72
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	1,503	16	1.06
NHS Fife	4,329	13	0.30
NHS Forth Valley	2,602	13	0.50
NHS Grampian	9,311	31	0.33
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	17,577	82	0.47
NHS Highland	4,318	14	0.32
NHS Lanarkshire	4,645	23	0.50
NHS Lothian	10,783	83	0.77
NHS Tayside	8,810	54	0.61
NHS Western Isles	490	6	1.22
NHS National Waiting Times Unit	5,275	6	0.11
Scotland	76,216	384	0.50

Source: ISD SMR01 data.

1. Table 1 shows the number of instances where a patient has undergone one or more hip-replacement operation (including total hip replacements, revisions, resurfacings, hybrid and emergency operations) from 1999 to 2010, has subsequently died and where the ICD10 code Y83.1 “Surgical operation with implant of artificial internal device as the cause of abnormal reaction of the patient, or of later complication, without mention of misadventure at the time of the procedure” is recorded as a cause of death on NRS data, derived from the death certificate.

2. OPCS4 codes for hip arthroplasty, hip resurfacing, hybrid hip replacement, hip revision or hybrid hip revision have been selected. For further information please see:

http://www.arthro.scot.nhs.uk/OPCS_codes_summary_150710.pdf. Emergency admissions are included.

3. It is possible that a patient may have had an additional implant other than that fitted in the hip-replacement operation, and that it is this from which the complication (noted as cause of death) arose. Without recourse to the patients medical notes, it is not possible to differentiate between multiple implants and subsequent complications as cause of death.

4. Further information on the quality of NRS death data is available here:

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/vital-events/deaths/bckgr-info/quality-of-nrs-data-on-deaths.html.

5. Further information on the quality of SMR01 data is available here:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Products-and-Services/Data-Quality/.

Question reference: S4W-05695

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact on the Scottish economy has been of the gas produced by the Rhum gas field and what the impact is expected to be over the forecast lifespan of the field.

Question reference: S4F-00539

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2012

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will provide further information on its plans to improve childcare for pre-school children.

Question reference: S4W-05693

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 12 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the (a) monthly productivity since 2005 and (b) current productivity of the Rhum gas field; how this compares with the forecast productivity, and what the impact on jobs has been in Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-00811

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions the Minister for Local Government and Planning has had with local government about the issue of youth employment.