Parliamentary questions
Christine Grahame
3,532 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
28 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware that NHS Lothian has no funding available at the Department of Sleep Medicine at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to provide a gum shield device for my constituent, Mr Neil Waugh, to prevent extreme snoring and that he is therefore unable to undertake his employment on…
Answer · Andy Kerr: the Scottish Executive is investing record resources in the NHS in Scotland. Healthboards have received uplifts in resources with an average 7.25% increase in fundingin 2006-07, well above the rate of inflation. It is for each NHS board to plan anddeliver ser…
24 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce seasonal cash grants to help low-income families.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: We currently have no plans tointroduce seasonal cash grants. However, we will discuss the proposal with our colleaguesin the UK Government as part of our on-going dialogue with them about how to tacklechild poverty across the UK.</p>
23 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average household incomes have been in each year since 1999, also broken down by parliamentary constituency.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The following income estimatesare based on the Family Resources Survey. As such, year-on-year changes should betreated with caution due to sampling variation. Identification of trends must bebased on data for several years. The Scottish Executive has funded a…
23 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many lone parent households there have been in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.
Answer · George Lyon: The following table shows thenumber of households containing one adult with children, according to the householdestimates and projections made by the General Register Office for Scotland. Thiswill exclude households where an adult with children lives with oth…
23 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the population have been in receipt of income support in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The following table shows thepercentage of population aged 16 to 59 claiming Income Support by Scottishlocal authority. </p><p>Percentage of the PopulationAged 16 to 59 Claiming Income Support, 1999-2006</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead…
23 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of child mortality has been in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.
Answer · George Lyon: The information requested isgiven in the following table. To aid comparison, the table also gives an averagerate for the period 1999-2005.</p><p>Deaths Aged Under 16, by CouncilArea, 1999-2005</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <t…
21 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided for the rehabilitation of offenders addicted to (a) alcohol and (b) drugs in each year since 1999.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive has providedfunding to local authorities for the rehabilitation of offenders with substancemisuse problems in two main ways:</p><p>The following figures are forsection 27(1) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 which provides funding …
21 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what rehabilitation programmes have been in place for individuals discharged from custody with (a) alcohol addiction and (b) alcohol or drug addiction in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive provideslocal authorities with funding to provide the offender rehabilitation programmes,which they consider necessary in their local areas. Information on the programmesin the form requested is not held centrally. The answer to questio…
21 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people have been charged with committing offences while under the influence of alcohol or drugs in each year since 1999, broken down by police authority area.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Information on the drink or drugsstatus of accused persons is not generally available from the statistics collectedcentrally on court proceedings. The exceptions to this are offences where by definitionthe accused was drunk or under the influence of drink or …
21 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 1,426 young people referred to the Children’s Reporter in 2005-06 on grounds of misuse of alcohol or drugs are currently on rehabilitation programmes.
Answer · Robert Brown: This information is not heldcentrally.</p>
21 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what data it holds on the number of young people aged 16 and under who receive rehabilitation treatment as a result of alcohol misuse.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Information on the number ofyoung people undergoing rehabilitation as a result of alcohol misuse is not heldcentrally.</p>
21 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-24528 by Hugh Henry on 11 April 2006, what funding was provided for residential rehabilitation services in each year since 2001-02.
Answer · Johann Lamont: The Executive provided £6.8million per annum to local authorities in the three years 2001-02 to 2003-04 specificallyto support drug rehabilitation services. Thereafter this funding was incorporatedinto Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE).</p><p>In addition, we prov…
21 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-24528 by Hugh Henry on 11 April 2006, how many individuals were unable to access residential drug rehabilitation places in each year since 2001-02 due to insufficient numbers of beds.
Answer · Johann Lamont: This information is not heldcentrally.</p>
21 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-26185 by Hugh Henry on 16 June 2006, whether it intends that information on the number of young people undergoing rehabilitation as a result of alcohol misuse will be held centrally and, if so, when this will be achieved.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: We are currently in discussionwith the National Alcohol Information Resource (NAIR) about the information thatis collected about people in contact with alcohol services.</p>
20 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated or actual cost has been to the public purse of dealing with individuals who commit drink-driving offences in terms of (a) costs to the courts, (b) associated health resources for dealing with the victims of such offences and (c) police and other emergency services' clea…
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: (a) The following table showsestimated court running costs for hearing cases involving drink driving relatedoffences, the majority of which are prosecuted through the courts by way of summarycriminal procedure.</p><p>The costs used in the table havebeen estim…
20 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were (a) killed and (b) injured by a driver who was under the influence of alcohol and who also had a previous conviction for drink driving, broken down by (a) year since 1996 and (b) police force area.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information onthe numbers of drink-drive accidents and casualties in Scotland is derivedfrom the GB-wide estimates compiled by the Department for Transport. The latestestimates are included at table 22 of <i>Road Accidents Scotland</i> <i>2005</…
20 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many drivers directly responsible for causing death or injury whilst under the influence of alcohol had a previous conviction for drink driving, broken down by (a) year since 1996 and (b) police force area.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30027 on 5 December 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…
20 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has undertaken into the effectiveness of ignition interlock systems for convicted drink drivers as a way to reduce this type of repeat offending, lower the rate of death and injury on Scotland’s roads and reduce pressure on the resources on police and emergency health pro…
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Road traffic legislation is reserved and as such is the responsibility of the Department for Transport.</p><p>The Department for Transport will shortly be completing a two and a half year research project (in Manchester and West Midlands) on the operation of …
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children, who would previously have been dealt with by a children’s hearing panel, it estimates will not now be dealt with as a result of the decision by the Principal Reporter of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration to prioritise cases by risk, in light of the decisio…
Answer · Robert Brown: We are not in a position to providesuch an estimate.</p><p>While there has been a steepincrease in the number of referrals in the last year in particular, the percentageof those going to a hearing has remained proportionately similar. At present only10% of re…
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional financial resources it plans to allocate to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration in each of the next three years to address the rising number of referrals on both offence and non-offence grounds.
Answer · Robert Brown: The SCRA’s overall annual grant-in-aid has increased by over£10 million since 2001 to over £24 million in 2006-07 and 2007-08. It is not possibleto provide details of grant-in-aid funding beyond 2007-08 until the outcomes of the next Spending Review are known…
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on possible sales of children’s hearing centre premises by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration to address a financial shortfall resulting from the decision of Scottish ministers to refuse a request for £20 million of additional funding to support its fr…
Answer · Robert Brown: The Scottish Executive is unawareof any such proposal.</p><p>The SCRA is being resourced bythe Scottish Executive to upgrade and, where necessary, replace hearings centres.</p><p>Where a centre is no longer fitfor purpose and has been replaced by new premises…
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it assesses the performance of members appointed by Scottish ministers to the boards of non-departmental public bodies and what powers it has to remove board members who it considers consistently underperform.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Under the terms and conditionsof their appointment, board members and chairs of regulated non-departmentalpublic bodies are subject to annual performance appraisal. Board members are normallyassessed by their board chair who in turn is normally assessed by a …
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has to link the number of offence referrals to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration to children living in the 10 most deprived communities, as determined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Answer · Robert Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-27307 on 2 August 2006 which stated that the Scottish Children’sReporter Administration (SCRA) does not hold information on children referred asdefined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.</p><p>All a…
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it estimates that the number of referrals to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on non-offence grounds will peak.
Answer · Robert Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-29846 on 22 November 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/…
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it estimates that the number of referrals to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on offence grounds will peak.
Answer · Robert Brown: The Scottish Executive has madeno such estimates for either offence or non-offence grounds, nor are we in a positionto do so.</p><p>The multi-agency MinisterialTask Group, which was set up in the summer, has been developing a new way of workingfor the referra…
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland in respect of a request from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration for £20 million of additional funding to support front-line services.
Answer · Robert Brown: The Executive has not receivedany representations from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland in respectof additional funding for the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration.</p>
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how regularly it monitors the number of referrals to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on (a) care and protection and non-offence grounds and (b) offence grounds and how many referrals there were in each category in the last six months, also showing how these figures compare…
Answer · Robert Brown: The SCRA publish data quarterlyas well as an annual report which are analysed by the Scottish Executive to informaction.</p><p>The information requested onthe number of referrals for the six months in 2005 can be found in the ScottishChildren’s Reporter Admin…
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of its external consultants will be used to validate offence ground referral datasets produced by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration.
Answer · Robert Brown: No.</p>
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the number of children referred to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration in the last six months on offence grounds has increased compared with the corresponding six months of 2005.
Answer · Robert Brown: This information is not yet available.</p><p>We expect the SCRA to publishthe second quarterly performance monitoring report in respect of 2006-07 early inDecember, thereafter it will be laid in the Scottish Parliament InformationCentre in the normal way.</p>
14 Nov 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what requests it has received from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration for additional funding to support front-line services between February and November 2006.
Answer · Robert Brown: Scottish Children’s ReporterAdministration submitted four proposals forfunding. All were in response to requests from the Scottish Executive.</p>