Chamber and committees

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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: S3W-28837

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 19 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will allow flexibility in the placing of a-frame advertising boards on pavements adjacent to trunk roads in order to safeguard free passage while allowing the provision of important information to visitors and residents.

Guidance on a-frame advertising boards is set out in Transport Scotland''s Disability Discrimination Act Good Practice Guide for Roads, which was published in October 2009. This is available on the Transport Scotland website at:

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/reports/road/j11185-00.htm.

As a roads authority, Scottish ministers'' first responsibility is to ensure safety for all road users. The presence of advertising boards on narrow footpaths can cause a hazard to pedestrians, people pushing prams and disabled people, including wheelchair users or visually impaired people. In addition, these signs can obscure visibility and distract drivers.

Transport Scotland and its operating companies, along with the planning authority, can advise businesses in small communities how they can advertise goods and services legally and safely.

Question reference: S3W-28134

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital emergency admissions were recorded for diabetic ketoacidosis and hypoglycaemic coma in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09, broken down by (i) age, (ii) gender, and (iii) NHS board area.

The information requested is given in the following tables.

Table 1: Number of emergency admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis (without coma) by age group, gender and NHS board of residence for financial year ending 31 March 2008 and provisional data for financial year ending 31 March 2009:

NHS Board	Age	Male		Female
NHS Board	Age	2007-08	2008-09	2007-08	2008-09
Ayrshire and Arran	Total	64	58	73	82
	0-24	37	36	36	32
	25-44	15	13	18	38
	45-64	9	6	12	8
	65+	3	3	7	4
Borders	Total	19	14	11	7
	0-24	2	4	2	4
	25-44	11	5	5	2
	45-64	2	1	3	-
	65+	4	4	1	1
Dumfries and Galloway	Total	13	17	12	38
	0-24	9	5	6	13
	25-44	2	4	4	16
	45-64	1	7	1	6
	65+	1	1	1	3
Fife	Total	68	55	62	72
	0-24	21	21	24	37
	25-44	27	22	17	17
	45-64	13	10	15	16
	65+	7	2	6	2
Forth Valley	Total	52	62	60	49
	0-24	33	38	27	20
	25-44	6	15	22	23
	45-64	7	6	8	5
	65+	6	3	3	1
Grampian	Total	104	76	83	90
	0-24	44	29	58	59
	25-44	29	24	13	13
	45-64	25	17	4	8
	65+	6	6	8	10
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	Total	267	222	279	271
	0-24	117	87	119	100
	25-44	97	71	75	83
	45-64	40	55	52	53
	65+	13	9	33	35
Highland	Total	64	57	62	59
	0-24	31	33	34	30
	25-44	19	17	19	16
	45-64	11	5	6	7
	65+	3	2	3	6
Lanarkshire	Total	122	127	95	114
	0-24	49	55	36	39
	25-44	44	43	31	33
	45-64	21	23	14	27
	65+	8	6	14	15
Lothian	Total	156	116	142	134
	0-24	61	49	79	75
	25-44	51	44	35	34
	45-64	35	19	20	15
	65+	9	4	8	10
Orkney	Total	2	-	4	3
	0-24	-	-	4	3
	25-44	1	-	-	-
	45-64	-	-	-	-
	65+	1	-	-	-
Shetland	Total	1	2	2	4
	0-24	-	1	2	3
	25-44	-	-	-	1
	45-64	-	-	-	-
	65+	1	1	-	-
Tayside	Total	85	85	70	62
	0-24	36	34	38	34
	25-44	27	29	17	15
	45-64	13	16	10	4
	65+	9	6	5	9
Western Isles	Total	1	4	3	2
	0-24	1	-	2	1
	25-44	-	3	1	1
	45-64	-	1	-	-
	65+	-	-	-	-
Scotland	Total	1,018	895	958	987
	0-24	441	392	467	450
	25-44	329	290	257	292
	45-64	177	166	145	149
	65+	71	47	89	96

Source: SMR01, ISD Scotland.

Table 2: Number of Emergency Admissions for diabetic coma (including ketoacidotic coma, hypoglycaemic coma and other coma) by age group, gender and NHS board of residence for financial years ending 31 March 2008 and provisional data for financial year ending 31 March 2009:

NHS Board	Age	Male		Female
NHS Board	Age	2007-08	2008-09	2007-08	2008-09
Ayrshire and Arran	Total	5	4	4	5
	0-24	-	1	-	-
	25-44	1	-	-	-
	45-64	1	2	1	2
	65+	3	1	3	3
Borders	Total	7	8	3	1
	0-24	-	2	-	-
	25-44	2	1	1	1
	45-64	2	2	-	-
	65+	3	3	2	-
Dumfries and Galloway	Total	3	3	1	-
	0-24	1	-	-	-
	25-44	-	-	-	-
	45-64	-	1	-	-
	65+	2	2	1	-
Fife	Total	2	2	-	4
	0-24	-	1	-	-
	25-44	-	-	-	-
	45-64	1	-	-	2
	65+	1	1	-	2
Forth Valley	Total	8	6	4	4
	0-24	5	1	1	2
	25-44	3	3	1	-
	45-64	-	1	1	1
	65+	-	1	1	1
Grampian	Total	8	10	9	9
	0-24	3	1	-	1
	25-44	1	1	-	1
	45-64	1	5	3	-
	65+	3	3	6	7
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	Total	40	40	43	48
	0-24	2	5	2	5
	25-44	6	8	3	8
	45-64	7	10	9	6
	65+	25	17	29	29
Highland	Total	18	12	13	10
	0-24	3	-	-	2
	25-44	1	1	4	1
	45-64	6	6	4	2
	65+	8	5	5	5
Lanarkshire	Total	14	14	8	16
	0-24	5	3	2	-
	25-44	2	3	-	-
	45-64	1	2	-	3
	65+	6	6	6	13
Lothian	Total	10	5	5	5
	0-24	1	-	1	-
	25-44	-	-	-	3
	45-64	5	1	1	1
	65+	4	4	3	1
Orkney	Total	1	-	-	-
	0-24	-	-	-	-
	25-44	-	-	-	-
	45-64	-	-	-	-
	65+	1	-	-	-
Shetland	Total	2	1	-	1
	0-24	-	-	-	-
	25-44	-	-	-	-
	45-64	1	1	-	-
	65+	1	-	-	1
Tayside	Total	11	12	12	16
	0-24	-	1	2	-
	25-44	1	1	2	2
	45-64	6	3	1	2
	65+	4	7	7	12
Western Isles	Total	3	5	11	9
	0-24	-	-	-	1
	25-44	1	2	3	3
	45-64	2	1	7	-
	65+	-	2	1	5
Scotland	Total	132	122	113	128
	0-24	20	15	8	11
	25-44	18	20	14	19
	45-64	33	35	27	19
	65+	61	52	64	79

Source: SMR01, ISD Scotland.

Notes

1. Data are based on information contained within SMR01 discharge records from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric NHS hospitals in Scotland.

2. The basic unit of analysis for these figures is a continuous stay in hospital. Probability matching methods have been used to link together individual SMR01 discharge episodes for each patient, thereby creating linked patient histories.

3. The main diagnosis of the emergency admission record has been used to identify cases of diabetic ketoacidosis and diabetic coma.

4. Diabetic ketoacidosis has been defined using ICD10 codes E101, E111, E121, E131 and E141.

5. Diabetic comas, including hypoglycaemic coma, has been defined using ICD10 codes E100, E110, E120, E130 and E140.

6. Age is based on the patient''s age on admission to hospital.

7. Data includes Scottish residents only.

Question reference: S3W-28117

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the terms of reference are for the Scotland Transerv report regarding congestion on the Kessock Bridge.

Question reference: S3W-28119

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to resurface the Kessock Bridge before 2012 and, if so, when it will appoint the contractor; when the work will start; when the work will conclude, and whether it anticipates that the work will involve the closure of one or two lanes on the bridge for north and southbound traffic.

Question reference: S3W-28120

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what duration it anticipates for lane closures on the Kessock Bridge during any resurfacing work.

Question reference: S3W-28121

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether a park-and-ride scheme will be put in place in North Kessock prior to any major roadworks taking place on the Kessock Bridge.

Question reference: S3W-28123

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the impact of rerouting traffic from the Kessock Bridge onto the old A9 through Clachnaharry and Beauly on congestion in Inverness and the communities along the old A9 route.

During the resurfacing works, traffic flow will be restricted to one lane in each direction on the Kessock Bridge. Traffic modelling exercises have been carried out to assess the impact of the works on both the trunk road and local roads network. Workshops have also been held with the Highland Council to review the impact on the local roads network. Traffic will not be signed to follow the old A9 (A862), however some traffic is expected to divert along this route.

Question reference: S3W-28118

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether provisional financial resources have been set aside to take account of any work identified in the Scotland Transerv report regarding congestion on the Kessock Bridge.

Question reference: S3W-28124

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what provision has been made for access to the Kessock Bridge for emergency services during any period of resurfacing.

Question reference: S3W-28125

Asked by: David Stewart, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any resurfacing of the Kessock Bridge will be programmed to take place during a summer period.

Yes. The resurfacing work cannot take place during the winter. The bridge is very exposed and some of the operations required, including bridge deck waterproofing and surfacing, cannot be carried out at low temperatures, in wet conditions or during high winds. It is therefore necessary to carry out the work between March and October to minimise the probability of excessive weather delays. Consultation on mitigation measures to reduce disruption is already underway with the Highland Council and other stakeholders.