Parliamentary questions
Richard Lochhead
2,448 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many grams of fat are recommended to be eaten by the average child daily.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The dietary reference value (DRV) for total dietary fat intake is expressed as a percentage of dietary energy and not directly as grams, and is set at 35% of food energy.</p><p>Using estimated average energy requirements the DRV can be converted to grams of t…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many grams of fat are eaten by the average child daily.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey of Children and Young People Aged four to 18 years in Great Britain (Gregory et al, 2000), showed that the reported mean daily intake of total fat was 74.1grams for boys and 63.1grams for girls. Boys derived a …
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9485 by Hugh Henry on 28 July 2004, how many drug-related deaths there were in 2003 (a) broken down by NHS board area and (b) in total.
Answer · Hugh Henry: There were 317 drug related deaths in 2003, compared to 382 in 2002. A breakdown by NHS board is as follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>NHS Board Area</p> </td> <td> <p>Number</p> </td> </tr> </thead> <…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many hours of exercise the average adult undertakes weekly.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The minimum amount of physical activity required for health is 30 minutes a day of moderate activity on five or more days a week. In Scotland, 41% of men and 28% of women meet this minimum requirement.</p>
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many hours of exercise the average child undertakes weekly.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The minimum amount of physical activity required for health in children is one hour a day of moderate activity on five or more days a week. In Scotland, 73% of boys and 60% of girls meet this minimum requirement.</p>
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in (a) each NHS board area and (b) total were classified as clinically obese in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the population and giving the percentage change on a year-on-year basis.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the prevalence of adult information in Scotland by NHS board for the last five years is not centrally available. The latest source of this information is from the 1998 Scottish Health Survey and is shown in the following table.</p><p>Percentage…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children in (a) each NHS board area and (b) total were classified as clinically obese in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the child population and giving the percentage change on a year-on-year basis.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information for all NHS boards in Scotland is currently not available.</p>
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children in (a) each local authority and (b) total were defined as living in a state of poverty in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the child population and giving the percentage change on a year-on-year basis.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The following table presents the number and proportions of children living in low income in Scotland in each of the last five years. Estimates are available at Scotland level only, not by local authority area.</p><p>Proportion and Number of Children in Low-In…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many pensioners in (a) each local authority and (b) total were defined as living in poverty in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the pensioner population and giving the percentage change on a year-on-year basis.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The table presents the number and proportions of persons living in low-income in Scotland in each of the last five years. Estimates are available at Scotland levelonly, not by local authority area.</p><p>Proportion and Number of Pensioners in Low-Income House…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in (a) each local authority area and (b) total were defined as living in poverty in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the population and giving the percentage change on a year-on-year basis.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The following table presents the number and proportions of persons living in low income in Scotland in each of the last five years. Estimates are available at Scotland level only, not by local authority area.</p><p>Proportion and Number of Individuals in Low …
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to change the formula for calculating police force funding.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Yes. Today I am publishing the findings of the Police Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) Working Group which was set up to consider how best to distribute police funding between Scottish forces. The working group has produced a new formula which aims to ensure tha…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its response to the review of drug rehabilitation services.
Answer · Hugh Henry: I refer the member to the answer to S2W-10713, answered on 29 September 2004. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at: <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/weba…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers were employed in each local authority area in each of the last five years, giving the percentage change on a year-on-year basis.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Information on how many teachers were employed in each local authority area in each of the last five years can be obtained from the Teacher Census Results 2003 and can be accessed using the following hyperlink:</p><p><a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths as a result of cold temperatures there were in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area and giving the percentage change on a year-on-year basis.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The information requested onnumbers of deaths is given in the following table. Because of the small numbersinvolved, year-on-year percentage changes have not been presented.</p><p>Deaths Resulting fromLow Temperatures<sup>1 </sup></p><table class=MsoNormalTab…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average student debt in Scotland has been in each of the last five years.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answers given to S2W-8222 answered on 9 June 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/weba…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were employed in agriculture in each of the last five years, giving the percentage change on a year-on-year basis.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Statistics on the number of people employed in agriculture in each of the last five years are published in the <i>Abstract of Scottish Agricultural Statistics 1982 to 2003</i>. This report is available on the Scottish Executive website at <a href="http://www.…
20 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to promote debating in schools as both a curricular and extra-curricular activity.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The National Guidelines on English Language 5-14 recommend that schools should provide structured and stimulating opportunities to use language with increasing precision in contexts appropriate to the needs of individuals and the world in which they live.</p>…
17 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times each minister has travelled overseas on official duties since being appointed, detailing the destination and date of each visit.
Answer · Andy Kerr: For the period 1 July 1999 to 31 March 2004, I refer the member to the answers given to S1W-29052, S2W-2904 and S2W-9345 answered on 9 September 2002, 25 September 2003 and 25 June 2004 respectively. Information for the current financial year will be publishe…
17 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of expenditure was on developing renewable energy in each of the last three years, expressed also on a per capita basis, and how this expenditure compares to similar expenditure in other European countries.
Answer · Allan Wilson: The information is not available in the form requested. A separate budget for renewable energy was not introduced until 2003-04, when direct spending from within the Executive’s energy budget amounted to £1.6 million. This compares to an estimated £0.4 millio…
17 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what cabinet sub-committees have been established since 1999, detailing for each sub-committee (a) the dates of each meeting, (b) its membership, (c) when it was established and (d) where it meets.
Answer · Jack McConnell: There have been 10 cabinet sub-committees established since 1999. All meetings have been held in Edinburgh. The remaining information requested is set out in the following tables. </p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p alig…
17 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding has been provided for the development of clean technologies in each of the last five years, detailing the source of funding in each case.
Answer · Allan Wilson: Funding for the development of technologies is available from a wide range of public and private sources, including (but not limited to) the Scottish Executive, the Department of Trade and Industry, the enterprise networks, the Carbon Trust and the Energy Sav…
16 Sep 2004 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether there are any plans to acquire the Mercy and Justice statues that were situated in the pre-1707 Parliament for Holyrood.
Answer · George Reid: There are no plans to acquire these statues. Phase 1 of the Parliament’s Art Strategy is now complete and decisions on the nature of phase 2 will be considered by the SPCB next year.</p>
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many visitors from the European Union’s accession states to the United Kingdom have visited Scotland in each of the last two years, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of visitors.
Answer · Frank McAveety: This information comes from the International Passenger Survey, but statistics on the number of visitors to Scotland from the European Union’s accession states in each of the last two years is not available. From the latest information that is available from …
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Irish visitors to the United Kingdom visited Scotland in the most recent year for which data is available, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of visitors.
Answer · Frank McAveety: In 2003, the number of visitors who came to Scotland from the Republic of Ireland totalled 48,000. These visitors represented 3.1% of the total number of tourists who visited Scotland last year from overseas.</p>
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) household, (b) commercial and (c) total waste was recycled by each local authority in each of the last three years.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Figures available from the Accounts Commission are:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Authority</p> <p> </p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Household Waste Recycled (%)</p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Commercia…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9973 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 September 2004, what percentage of the total number of police stations each figure represents.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The number of police stations closed as a percentage of the number of stations closed plus the current number of stations, for each police force area, is shown in the following table.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new homes have been financed by Communities Scotland, expressed as a percentage of the estimated overall demand in each local authority area.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to reply. Her response is as follows:</p><p>Working in close partnership with its key stakeholders, including local authorities, RSLs and other agencies, Communities Scotland bases its in…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients were waiting for digital hearing aids to be fitted in each NHS board area in each of the last three years, expressed also as a percentage of the number of overall requests in each area, and what the average waiting time was in each year in each board area.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: These details are not held centrally. NHS boards should be approached directly for this information.</p><p>I also refer the member to the answer to S2W-10218, on 16 November 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament'…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much, and by what percentage, each NHS board budget increased (a) in total and (b) per capita and what the average increase was in each board in each year from 1999-2000 to 2004-05.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Details are as follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>NHS Board</p> </td> <td> <p align=center>1999-2000</p> <p align=center>Total</p> <p align=center>Budget</p> <p align=center>Increase</p> <p align=c…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent any link has been established between the building of additional roads and bridges and increased car use.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: This issue was addressed in the 1994 report by the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment: <i>Trunk Roads and the Generation of Traffic</i>. A copy of the report is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre – Bib number 33938.</p>