Christine Grahame

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff work for ministers in their private offices and what the annual cost is of employing these staff.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Sixty-four staff currently work in ministerial private offices at an estimated annual staff cost of £1,990,000. This figure includes ERNIC and overtime.</p><p>There are a further three Scottish Executive staff who are assigned to the Crown Office and one Crow…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the ages of people appointed to public bodies in each of the last five years.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested is as follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Age Range</p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Number</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <p> </p> </td> <td> <p>April 1999 – March 2000</p…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9291 by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 August 2004, how many patients have had their planned admissions for in-patient and day-case treatment cancelled more than once in each of the last five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not available. It is not possible to identify from centrally collected data, the number of patients who have had their planned admissions to hospitals for in-patient or day-case treatment cancelled on more than one occasion.</p><p…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police stations were closed in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Information on the number of police stations closed in each of the last five years is not held centrally. The total number of stations closed in seven out of the eight police force areas over the past five years are shown in the following table. The figure fo…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are guidelines regarding the number of emergency ambulances per head of the population and, if so, how often they are reviewed.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: It is for the Scottish Ambulance Service to determine how best to deploy its ambulance resources to achieve the response time standards agreed with the Scottish Executive. The Ambulance Service constantly monitors its performance to ensure that resources meet…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest response figures are for ambulances responding to emergencies (a) in total and (b) broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The figures requested, which represent the performance of the Scottish Ambulance Service in July 2004, are listed in the following tables:</p><p>Boards where Priority Based Dispatch is in operation (the Ambulance Service is working towards reaching the Catego…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 21 received a custodial sentence in each of the last five years (a) in total and (b) broken down by sheriff court district.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the table.</p><p>Persons Aged Under 21 Given a Custodial Sentence in Scottish Courts, by Court, 1998-2002</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td rowspan=2> <p align=right> </p> </td> <td…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children were born with HIV in each of the last five years (a) in total and (b) broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Between 1999 and 2003, three children, who were born in Scotland, were reported with a confirmed HIV infection, transmitted from mother to child. Two of these infections were reported in 2000 from NHS boards in the East of Scotland, while 1 was reported in 20…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies there are for nurses, broken down by NHS board and expressed also as a percentage of the whole-time equivalent complement of the workforce.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information on vacancies in NHSScotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under workforce statistics, at <a href="http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce">www.isdscotland.org/workforce</a>.Information on vacancies for nursing staff is publis…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are registered with a dentist, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The information requested is provided in the following table.</p><p>Number of People Registered with an NHS General Dental Practitioner; 30 June 2004</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=396> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Health Board Area</p> <…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have to travel outwith their own NHS board area for renal dialysis, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information is set out in the following table.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>NHS Board Area</p> </td> <td> <p>Total no. of Patients on Hospital Haemodialysis</p> </td> <td> <p>Patients Treated Outwi…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospitals have closed their lists (a) permanently or (b) temporarily to new patients over the last year, broken down by NHS board and speciality.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: As far as I am aware, no NHSScotland waiting lists have been closed in the last year.</p><p>In December 2001, the Chief Executive of NHSScotland and the Chief Medical Officer issued guidance to the Health Service in Scotland instructing NHS Chief Executives t…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what change there has been in the number of accident and emergency cases in NHS board areas where NHS 24 is in operation.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Evaluation results to date suggest no significant impact on accident and emergency cases in areas where NHS 24 is in operation.</p>

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what change there has been in the number of call-outs for GPs in NHS board areas where NHS 24 is in operation, in total and broken down by area.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Evaluation has shown that in Greater Glasgow the introduction of NHS 24 has been associated with a reduction in GP home visits from 15.5% to 12.3% of calls to out-of-hours services, and in Aberdeen has been associated with a reduction in GP home visits from 2…

12 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of medical negligence claims against the NHS was in each of the last five years, in total and broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The cost of medical negligence claims paid by NHSScotland in the last five financial years is:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td rowspan=2> <p>NHS Board</p> </td> <td colspan=3> <p>1999-2000</p> </td> </tr> <tr> …

10 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what national guidelines have been issued regarding the restraint of children when a party is acting in loco parentis; what duty there is on local authorities or other agencies to issue such guidelines; which local authorities and agencies have done so, and what monitoring is done in rela…

Answer · Peter Peacock: The Executive has commissioned guidance on restraint from the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care, which is due to be published before the end of the year. Currently all residential care services children are required to have a written restraint pol…

6 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many locum consultant (a) doctors and (b) surgeons are working in the NHS, broken down by NHS board area and expressed also as a working-time equivalent (WTE) percentage of the total headcount.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Table 1 provides details of locum consultants employed in NHS Scotland at 30th September 2003 broken down by NHS board area and shows WTE as a percentage of headcount for each NHS board area.</p><p>Table 1: NHS Locum Consultants by NHS Board (Headcount, Whole…

6 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average Scottish Ambulance Service response time was in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is set out in the following table:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Health Board</p> </td> <td> <p align=center>1999-2000</p> </td> <td> <p align=center>2000-01</p> </td> <td>…

6 Aug 2004 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what percentage of products in the shop at Holyrood will be manufactured in Scotland.

Answer · Andrew Welsh: The products for sale in theshop at Holyrood are being procured at present so it is not possible to give anaccurate percentage yet. All products are being procured in line with theRetail Policy adopted by the SPCB in April 2004. Consideration is being givento…

6 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children left school with no qualifications in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Due to the volume of information requested, the table “Number and percentage of school pupils with no qualifications at Standard Grade (or equivalent) or better on leaving school” has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33501). The d…

6 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9477 by Nicol Stephen on 2 August 2004, whether it has made specific representations to Her Majesty's Government regarding the prohibition of the adaptation of vehicle exhausts that are to be used on public highways.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-9477 on 2 August 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/s…

6 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes of assault (a) were reported, (b) were proceeded against and (c) had a charge proved in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Information on crimes reported to (as opposed to recorded by) the police is not available centrally. The available information on the number of crimes of serious assault recorded by the police and on the number of persons proceeded against is given in the tab…

6 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes of robbery (a) were reported, (b) were proceeded against and (c) had a charge proved in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Information on crimes reported to (as opposed to recorded by) the police is not available centrally. Information on crimes of robbery recorded by the police broken down by police force area is published for each year in Table 4A of the relevant statistical bu…

6 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people convicted of a sexual offence were under (a) 18 and (b) 21 when the offence occurred in each of the last five years.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The data on convictions held centrally does not include date of offence and so it is not possible to provide information in the form requested. The available statistics, which relate to age at date of sentence, are given in the table.</p><p>Persons Aged Under…

28 Jul 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been distributed through the Change and Innovation Fund in each of the last two years, broken down by NHS board and hospital.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The answer to the question askedis set out in the following table. </p><p>Information is not availablecentrally on how funding for change and innovation is distributed within NHS boardareas. Each board’s Change and Innovation Plan details the activity that th…

28 Jul 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards have developed change and innovation plans and, of these plans, which have been (a) accepted and (b) referred back for revision and what the reasons were for such referrals

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Eighteen NHS boards have developedchange and innovation Plans. Fifteen are Unified NHS boards and three arespecial boards (the State Hospital, National Services Scotland and the Scottish AmbulanceService). </p><p>All 2003-04 plans were acceptedwith only minor…

28 Jul 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new cases of sexually transmitted infections have been reported in each of the last five years in each NHS board area, broken down by disease.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The total number of laboratory reports of sexually transmitted infections in Scotland reported to the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) from 1999 to 2003 by NHS board is as follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 w…

27 Jul 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length was of sentences for crimes of indecency in each of the last five years, broken down by main offence and sheriff court district.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the table.</p><p>Persons given a Custodial Sentence in Scottish Courts for a Crime of Indecency¹, 1998-2002</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=584> <thead> <tr> <td rowspan=2> <p>Main off…

27 Jul 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7347 by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2004, how many people were on the sex offenders register in each of the last five years.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The numberof sex offenders recorded by the Scottish Criminal Record Office as being registeredwith Scottish Police Forces is available for the last four years, and isshown in the following table.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> …

27 Jul 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers were on long-term sick leave in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The number of officers on long-termsick leave at any given time is not held centrally. Information on the number oflong-term sick absences, defined as periods of sick leave of more than 28 days duration,for each the last five years available, is shown in the …