Parliamentary questions

Roseanna Cunningham

965 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

15 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the functions and terms of reference are of the Quality and Practice Review Unit of the Crown Office/Procurator Fiscal Service; what arrangements have been made to ensure its independence and impartiality, and to whom it is accountable.

Answer · Colin Boyd: The functions and remit of the Quality and Practice Review Unit are described in the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service Annual Report 1999-2000, which was circulated to all members of the Scottish Parliament. The Quality and Practice Review Unit was…

15 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Crown Office or Procurator Fiscal Service will publish a list of the categories under which cases are marked and recorded as "no proceedings".

Answer · Colin Boyd: The statement made by Lord Mackay of Drumadoon to the Scottish Grand Committee and reported at 1996 SLT (News) 51 remains accurate. For statistical purposes, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service computer system recognises the following categories:<P…

15 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many legal staff below senior civil service grade in (a) the Crown Office and (b) the Procurator Fiscal Service have (i) less than one year, (ii) between one and two years, (iii) between two and three years, (iv) between three and four years, (v) between four and five years, (vi) betw…

Answer · Colin Boyd: The numbers of legal staff by length of service are shown in the table.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=548><TR><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Length of service</TD><TD WIDTH="26%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="CENTER">Crown Office</TD><TD WIDTH="22%…

15 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Crown Office will publish the Extract of the Staff Survey 2000.

Answer · Colin Boyd: A staff survey has been held for a number of years within this department, under the direction and analysis of independent consultants. The last such internal exercise, agreed in partnership with the TUS, was held last summer. It served a number of purposes i…

15 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ad hoc legal staff and casual contract administrative staff, below senior civil service grade, have been employed in the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service, by region, in each year since 1997 and including the first two months of 2001, to cover (a) in the case of ad h…

Answer · Colin Boyd: The numbers of casual administrative staff employed by region in each year since 1997 are given in the table. The numbers of ad-hoc legal staff are not readily available.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=609><TR><TD WIDTH="43%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>R…

15 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many legal staff employed in the Crown Office (CO) and Procurator Fiscal Service (PFS), excluding Crown Counsel but including senior civil service grades, have been seconded to work on the Lockerbie trial in each year since 1997 and how many are currently seconded, categorised in each…

Answer · Colin Boyd: The numbers, grades and years of experience of staff seconded to the case during the relevant years are as shown in the table. The details for 2001 also show the details for those currently seconded, who since 1999 have constituted the core group of seconded …

15 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total complement of legal staff in the Crown Office (CO) and Procurator Fiscal Service (PFS), below senior civil service grade, was in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999, (d) 2000 and (e) the first two months of 2001, categorised by (i) grade and (ii) number of years of service in the …

Answer · Colin Boyd: There is no fixed complement of staff, however the legal staff below senior civil service level in post (full-time equivalent figures) at 1 February for each of the last five years is shown in the table.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=608><TR>…

15 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many legal staff in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, below senior civil service grade, resigned or transferred to other departments within the civil service in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999, (d) 2000 and (e) the first two months of 2001, broken down by (i) grade and (ii)…

Answer · Colin Boyd: The numbers of legal staff below senior civil service level who resigned or transferred to other departments are shown in the table. The leavers represent a turnover of between 2% and 4% for this group of staff. It is not our policy to divulge personal detail…

9 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Health and Community Care will reply to letters from Tayside Health Council dated 4 July 2000, 20 July 2000, 24 August 2000, 1 September 2000, 4 October 2000, 31 October 2000 and 23 January 2001.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Following a number of personal discussions with representatives of Tayside Health Council, a written response has now been sent to both Mrs Barclay and Mrs Woore.

9 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the final report of the Tayside Task Force.

Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-11574 on 5 March 2001.

8 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12411 by Susan Deacon on 25 January 2001, how many times the protocols agreed between the Scottish Ambulance Service and health boards and NHS Trusts have been amended in each of the last five years, broken down by health board area.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not available centrally. This is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service and you may wish to write to Mr Adrian Lucas, Chief Executive, Scottish Ambulance Service, National Headquarters, Tipperlinn Road, Edinburgh…

7 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many residential nursing homes (a) opened and (b) closed in each (i) local authority area and (ii) parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the number of private nursing homes which opened or closed in each year are not available centrally.<P>However, a census of private nursing homes is carried out as part of an annual return for each private nursing home. The table shows the numb…

7 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients currently held in the State Hospital, Carstairs are on the transferral list for local services and how long each has been waiting for transfer.

Answer · Susan Deacon: There are at present 18 patients receiving care and treatment within the State Hospital who have waited more than three months since clinical agreement was reached that they no longer needed to be in the hospital.

7 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital beds in each health board area are currently designated for mentally disordered offenders referred under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 or the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 and what the equivalent figures were for each of the last five years.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The information is not available centrally in the form requested. However, information on the number of general psychiatry beds by Health Board area of treatment for each of the last five years is set out in the following table. A small proportion of these …

7 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many beds there were in residential nursing homes in each of the last five years, what the annual occupancy rate of such beds has been in each of the last five years and how many unoccupied beds there are currently are in such homes, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) par…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: A census of private nursing homes is carried out as part of an annual return for each private nursing home. The table shows the number of homes, the number of beds, the number of residents and the occupancy rate at 31 March in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000, split…

7 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals were employed in residential nursing homes in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) parliamentary constituency.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The specific information requested is not available centrally.<P>A census of private nursing homes is carried out as part of an annual return for each private nursing home. This census collects information on nursing staff only. The table shows the number of …

7 Feb 2001 · Written Question

Answer · Jim Wallace: This information is not held centrally.

5 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list, for each local authority area, how much money was collected by each District Court in each year since 1995-96 and how much of this was (a) remitted to the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer and (b) retained by each local authority.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The available information, from the annual statistical returns made by the district courts, is shown in the table. Only incomplete data are available in respect of 1995-96 and 1996-97. No money collected by the district courts is remitted to the Queen's and L…

11 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many two and a half hour sessions of nursery provision are made available to three-year-olds in each local authority area, specifying in each case what flexibility exists in the number of sessions per week which may be taken up compared to the number of sessions available and whether…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Our aim is to have a place available, offering five sessions of around 2 1/2 hours of pre-school education per week, for all eligible children, whose parents wish it, by the end of school year 2002. Local authorities are responsible for developing places and …

11 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list for each of the hospitals in the Tayside Health Board area for each of the past five years how many (a) beds were in use, (b) staff were based in the hospital pharmacy and (c) laboratory services staff were based at the hospital.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The information is not available centrally in the form requested. Information about staffed beds is available at hospital level. Information about staff numbers is available only at board and Trust level.

11 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines are issued by the Scottish Ambulance Service on the criteria to be applied in deciding which categories of patients should be conveyed to accident and emergency departments other than the one which is geographically closest.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Ambulance Service does not issue such guidelines. However, it agrees protocols with health boards and NHS Trusts on the most appropriate transfer of patients into the hospital network.