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-02234

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether public funds may be used to secure a change in the ownership of a football club.

Question reference: S4W-02317

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-01608 by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 August 2011, of the partial hand amputations that took place, how many patients could have been considered for prosthetics had they been available.

Question reference: S4W-02298

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 2 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many sunbed operators have been prosecuted under the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 for not displaying the relevant health and safety signage, in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority.

The sunbed provisions of the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 came into force in December 2009. Details on enforcement of the new legislation by individual local authorities is not held centrally.

However, in December 2010, the Scottish Government commissioned Health Protection Scotland to survey local authorities on the enforcement of the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 (Sunbed) Regulations 2009.

The anonymised survey showed that no reports have been made to the Procurator Fiscal and only one fixed penalty notice had been served. Additional informal options had been used such as issuing of advisory or warning letters.

Question reference: S4O-00123

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what it considers the impact will be on ferry services and regeneration in the West of Scotland of the proposal to close the Clyde Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

Question reference: S4W-02117

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of debt is for each local authority in the west of Scotland.

The following table shows the loans fund debt outstanding for each of the local authorities wholly or partly within the West of Scotland regional constituency. This is the latest information available.

Loans Fund Debt Outstanding at 31 March 2010 (£ million)

Local Authority
Argyll and Bute*	191.110
East Dunbartonshire	126.715
East Renfrewshire	116.662
Inverclyde	183.641
North Ayrshire*	234.895
Renfrewshire*	295.730
West Dunbartonshire	214.044

Source: Local authority Final Capital Returns 2009-10.

Note: 1. Asterisks denote councils that are not entirely within the constituency boundary.

Question reference: S4W-02102

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of debt was of each local authority in the west of Scotland on 30 June 1999.

The following table shows the loans fund debt outstanding for each of the local authorities wholly or partly within the West of Scotland regional constituency. Information as at 30 June 1999 is not available and so that at 31 March 1999 has been provided.

Loans Fund Debt Outstanding at 31 March 1999 (£ million)

Local Authority
Argyll and Bute*	223.665
East Dunbartonshire	126.767
East Renfrewshire	86.864
Inverclyde	217.926
North Ayrshire*	211.535
Renfrewshire*	299.276
West Dunbartonshire	188.906

Source: Local authority Capital Debt Outstanding Return 1999.

Note: 1. Asterisks denote local authorities not entirely within the constituency boundary.

Question reference: S4W-02100

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money each local authority in the west of Scotland has borrowed in each year since 1999.

The following table shows the new loans fund advances for each of the local authorities wholly or partly within the West of Scotland regional constituency for financial years 1999-2000 to 2010-11. The information does not reflect any repayment of existing borrowing by local authorities.

Loans fund advances (£m)	Argyll and Bute*	East Dunbartonshire*	East Renfrewshire	Inverclyde	North Ayrshire*	Renfrewshire*	West Dunbartonshire
1999-00	14.102	5.618	4.441	9.461	9.592	16.091	11.784
2000-01	15.137	7.973	5.993	9.127	9.723	18.836	10.482
2001-02	19.105	11.830	3.944	11.258	10.971	18.828	14.197
2002-03	20.864	10.405	10.127	13.274	25.141	20.034	12.530
2003-04	23.127	9.898	8.824	15.664	12.125	17.132	12.773
2004-05	29.303	6.568	8.286	8.305	3.529	19.041	16.305
2005-06	36.507	6.119	10.267	10.799	17.086	26.837	17.506
2006-07	25.404	14.771	5.436	11.160	17.843	37.486	16.776
2007-08	18.881	1.770	10.893	32.721	15.800	21.305	14.267
2008-09	33.644	27.807	18.108	26.130	36.014	65.605	34.649
2009-10	15.291	12.520	9.374	7.167	24.282	27.474	24.937
2010-11	13.312	7.507	12.478	10.348	29.787	24.839	24.111

Sources: 1999-2000 to 2005-06 local authority capital debt outstanding returns, 2006-07 onward local authority Capital Returns.

Notes:

1. Capital debt outstanding returns collected data on a cash basis. Capital Returns collect data on an accruals basis.

2. Asterisks denote local authorities not entirely within the constituency boundary.

Question reference: S4W-01608

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) partial and (b) full hand amputations have taken place in each of the last eight years; what the age ranges were of the patients, and what the primary reason was for each operation.

The number of a) partial and b) full hand amputations that have taken place in each of the last eight years by age band are provided in Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1: Number of inpatient and day case full hand amputations¹ performed in NHS Scotland, financial years ending 31 March 2003 to 2010 by age band.

Age Band	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
0 to 24	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
25 to 44	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
45 to 64	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-
65+	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	1
All Ages	2	1	4	1	-	1	-	1

Table 2: Number of inpatient and day case partial hand amputations¹ performed in NHS Scotland, financial years ending 31 March 2003 to 2010 by age band.

Age Band	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
0 to 24	129	113	120	121	133	125	128	117
25 to 44	125	123	144	128	119	102	124	116
45 to 64	151	150	151	148	151	158	140	166
65+	103	94	92	86	84	92	76	96
All Ages	508	480	507	483	487	477	468	495

Notes:

1. Up to four procedures (one main and three other) are recorded on SMR01 returns. All four procedure positions have been used to identify full and partial hand amputations. The following OPCS4 codes have been used to identify the required procedures:

Partial Amputation

- X08.1 Amputation of hand at wrist with a supplementary procedure code of Y05.2 (no cases)

- X08.2 Amputation of thumb

- X08.3 Amputation of phalanx of finger

- X08.4 Amputation of finger NEC

- X08.8 Other specified amputation of hand

- X08.9 Unspecified amputation of hand

- X21.5 Amputation of duplicate thumb

- X21.6 Amputation of supernumerary finger

Full Amputation

- X08.1 Amputation of hand at wrist

Table 3 lists the main diagnosis for each SMR01 return which contains a full hand amputation procedure.

Table 3: Main Diagnosis for Inpatient and Day case episodes with a full hand amputation recorded in any procedure position. Financial Years 2002-03 to 2009-10 combined.

ICD10 Code	ICD10 Description
A41	Other septicaemia
C44	Other malignant neoplasms of skin
M79	Other soft tissue disorders, not elsewhere classified
Q81	Epidermolysis bullosa
R02	Gangrene, not elsewhere classified
S62	Fracture at wrist and hand level
S69	Other and unspecified injuries of wrist and hand
T87	Complications peculiar to reattachment and amputation

Table 4 lists the top 10 main diagnoses for each SMR01 return which contains a partial hand amputation procedure for financial year 2009-10. The order of the top 10 main diagnoses across financial years 2002-03 to 2009-10 is similar each year. In 2009-10, the 10 listed diagnoses represent 78% of all main diagnosis recorded.

Table 4: Top 10 Main Diagnoses for Inpatient and Day case episodes with a partial hand amputation recorded in any procedure position. Financial Year 2009-10.

No. of Inpatient and Day Case Partial Hand Amputations

ICD10 Code	ICD10 Description
S68	Traumatic amputation of wrist and hand	157
Q69	Polydactyly	67
S61	Open wound of wrist and hand	49
M72	Fibroblastic disorders	30
S67	Crushing injury of wrist and hand	25
S62	Fracture at wrist and hand level	21
R02	Gangrene, not elsewhere classified	11
S69	Other and unspecified injuries of wrist and hand	11
M20	Acquired deformities of fingers and toes	9
Z42	Follow-up care involving plastic surgery	9

Source ISD SMR01.

Question reference: S4W-01376

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what marketing awards VisitScotland has received in the last year.

VisitScotland’s marketing activities consistently win various highly-acclaimed marketing industry awards. VisitScotland has achieved awards across 9 categories at the Marketing Society in 2010 and 6 categories in 2011. 2011 awards include Gold in the Tourism and Leisure Category for the Meet the Scots campaign and Silver Star Marketing Team Award. In 2011 the effectiveness of VisitScotland’s Winter White 2010 campaign won over the judges of the Institute of Promotional Marketing awards. VisitScotland won 8 of these awards including their Grand Prix Award. These awards pay tribute to the effectiveness of VisitScotland’s campaigns in generating additional revenue for Scotland’s tourism industry and contributing to our international image.

Question reference: S4W-01069

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times rail services have been affected by cabling theft in each of the last four years.