Parliamentary questions
Richard Lochhead
2,448 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
29 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been made available to each health board for hospital consultant services in (a) restorative dentistry, (b) oral and maxillofacial surgery and (c) orthodontics in the current financial year and each of the previous three years.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Details of the level of funding for hospital consultants in restorative dentistry, oral and maxillofacial surgery and orthodontics are not held centrally. Health boards are given a unified budget to meet the health care needs of their resident populations. It…
29 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for (a) an initial consultation with and (b) treatment by a consultant in (i) restorative dentistry; (ii) oral and maxillofacial surgery and (iii) orthodontics in each health board area.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The median waiting time for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant in restorative dentistry, oral surgery and orthodontics, by health board of residence, for the year to 30 June 2000 is given in table 1.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Most orthodontic and restor…
29 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many consultants in (a) restorative dentistry, (b) oral and maxillofacial surgery and (c) orthodontics there are in each health board area in 2000-01, expressed in both numerical terms and as a ratio of consultants to head of population in the health board area, and what the equivalen…
Answer · Susan Deacon: Provisional Information on staff numbers at 30 September 2000 will not be available until January 2001. The information requested for the years 1997 to 1999, apart from maxillofacial surgeons who are not separately identified, is shown in tables 1 and 2. Thes…
29 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7005 by Susan Deacon on 22 June 2000, how many consultant posts were vacant as at 30 September 2000, broken down by health board area and speciality.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Information on the number of consultant posts vacant by health board and specialty at 30 September 2000 is not yet available. The annual survey carried out by ISD is nearing completion and provisional data should be available in January 2001.
29 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its strategy is to improve general professional training opportunities for newly qualified dental graduates in Grampian.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive, through the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education (SCPMDE), aims to provide General Professional Training (GPT) opportunities for dental graduates in Scotland. Two year GPT is widely recognised as being benefic…
29 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Information Statistics Division records outpatient waiting times and, if not, whether it intends to do so in future.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Information on waiting times for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant, following referral by a General Medical Practitioner/General Dental Practitioner, is collected centrally by the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agenc…
21 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the Ministerial Committee on Rural Development has met, when it will next meet and what steps have been taken to communicate information on its activities to the Parliament.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Ministerial Committee on Rural Development has met eight times since its first meeting in September 1999. The next meeting is scheduled for 30 January 2001. I announced the formation of the committee to the Parliament on 22 June 1999 and reported progress…
21 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to make representations to the Independent Television Commission regarding ITV's plans for Scottish regional news slots following the rearrangement of the schedules.
Answer · Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive has no plans to make representations to the ITC on this subject.
21 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the Scottish Enterprise national budget, expressed in monetary, percentage and per capita terms, was allocated to each local enterprise company in (a) the current financial year and (b) each of the last three financial years.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and I have asked the Chairman to reply to the member. A copy of the reply will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.
15 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance is being given to encourage the film and television industry outside Glasgow and what proportion of Scottish Screen's annual budget was spent outside Glasgow in the last three years.
Answer · Allan Wilson: Scottish Screen aims to promote film and television production across Scotland wherever it will have the greatest economic and cultural effect. While the film and television industry in Scotland is concentrated in Glasgow, Scottish Screen estimates that about…
12 Nov 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to increase the availability of physiotherapy and speech and language therapy services for children in north east Scotland.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I look to NHSboards in the north east to determine the need for local therapy services and toprovide the services required. We are supporting that at a national levelthrough a range of initiatives and investment stemming from the <i>Future Directions</i>strat…
9 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs are dependent on the fishing industry, in particular on (a) the catching sector, (b) the processing sector, (c) other related sectors; what these figures were for each of the last three years; how much government and European funding has been made available for the industry …
Answer · Rhona Brankin: The number of fishermen is shown in table 2 of the publication <I>Sea Fisheries Scotland 1999</I> which is available in SPICe. The number employed in the processing of fish, including farmed fish, was:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=410><TR><T…
9 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many farmers there are, what the corresponding figures were for each of the last three years, how much government and European funding has been made available for the industry in each of the last three years and how much it estimates will be made available in each of the next three ye…
Answer · Ross Finnie: The annual June Agricultural Census collects information on occupiers rather than farmers. The information, including figures for minor holdings, for the years 1997 to 2000 are given in the table below<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=630><TR><T…
9 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated level of profit of the pig industry is in the current year, what the level of profit was in each of the last three years and what assistance has been made available to the sector to ensure its long-term future.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive does not maintain profitability series on the Scottish pig industry. However, I have commissioned a study into the current profitability of this sector, the results of which will be available in late summer 2001. The market price data …
9 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many pig producers there are and how many there were in each of the last three years.
Answer · Ross Finnie: There are currently 842 pig Units in Scotland. The data shown below gives details covering the period 1997-99. The number of Units represents those holdings on which pigs are held for breeding and finishing purposes and includes holdings on which other l…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what fishing rights are owned by (a) absentee landlords and (b) landowners who own adjacent land.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: This information is not held centrally.
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent by each local authority on supply teaching staff for each of the last three years.
Answer · Jack McConnell: I have today sent the Convenor of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee a report on the supply of teachers. A response to your specific question can be found at paragraphs 39-45 of the report.<P>Copies of the report have been placed in the Parliament's R…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the number of teaching staff was for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools by local authority area for each of the last three years, including the figures for this year.
Answer · Jack McConnell: I have today sent the Convenor of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee a report on the supply of teachers. A response to your specific question can be found at Annex F of the report.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>Copies of the report have been placed in t…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of violence and aggression against school staff have been recorded, by local authority area, for each of the last three years.
Answer · Jack McConnell: Information on violence against local authority school staff has been collected centrally since 1997-98. In that year the total number of incidents reported across Scotland was 743. In 1998-99 a total of 1,898 incidents were reported. Figures covering the 199…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the number of cases marked "no proceedings" were for each district and regional procurator fiscal's office for each of the last three years.
Answer · Colin Boyd: The figures are shown in the attached table.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=602><TR><TD WIDTH="37%" VALIGN="MIDDLE" HEIGHT=13><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=1><P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P> <P>Total Cases 'No Proceedings'</TD><…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the number of (a) solemn cases and (b) summary cases was for each of the last three years, listed by district and regional procurator fiscal's office.
Answer · Colin Boyd: The figures are as shown in the attached tables.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 BORDERCOLOR="#000000" CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=596><TR><TD WIDTH="38%" VALIGN="MIDDLE" HEIGHT=13><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Total Solemn Disposals</TD><TD WIDTH="21%" VAL…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, for each district and regional procurator fiscal's office, what the weighted workload was for each of the last three years and what the projections are for the next three years, and what the corresponding allocated resources are for each year.
Answer · Colin Boyd: The figures are shown in the attached table. Average time (weighted unit) values exist for all disposal avenues - these values are national averages which do not take account of varying local circumstances. In addition, the values do not yet take account of t…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why a Ministerial Statement was not made to announce the new safety improvement scheme for the fishing industry.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: The intention to establish a new Scottish Seafishing Safety Scheme was first announced by John Home Robertson during the Fisheries Debate on 8 December last year. Following the discussions with the industry which were promised at that time, I announced the de…
1 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what input and influence the National Farmers' Union had in relation to the remit of the former Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The selection of those proposed for appointment as junior Scottish Ministers last year was a personal decision of the late First Minister and current Executive Ministers are not in a position to comment on it.
1 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why the circumstances surrounding the remit of the Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs as referred to in Mr John Home Robertson's speech in the Parliament on 1 November 2000 were not made public at the time.
Answer · Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-10847.
1 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6754 by Ross Finnie on 7 August 2000, and in the light of its Comprehensive Spending Review, whether it will provide updated information for the same figures for the next three years.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The information requested, in respect of Rural Development portfolio spending by the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department (SERAD) is shown in the table below.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=609><TR><TD WIDTH="47%" VALIGN="TOP"> </T…
1 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive by what percentage the budget of each of its Departments increased as a result of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), and what percentage of any additional funds made available by the CSR increase each Department received.
Answer · Angus MacKay: I refer to the following table. For ease this is set out in a similar format to Table 1 in <I>Making a Difference for Scotland</I>.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Table 1: Increased budgets by Portfolio as a % of 2000-01 budget and increase in 20…
1 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the occasions last year and so far this year when ministers have appeared on news bulletins or current affairs programmes to explain Scottish Executive policy and what its policy is on responding to requests for (a) studio interviews and (b) any other type of intervi…
Answer · Tom McCabe: The listing requested is not available. Arrangements for interviews are made with media organisations on a case by case basis.
1 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the Scottish fishing fleet's allocated quota for each species is expected to be caught this year.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: The "Scottish fishing fleet" is not allocated fish quotas. Quotas are allocated to three fishing groups in the UK - producer organisations (20); the non-sector and the 10 metre and under fleet. There are around 70 UK quota stocks which are allocated…
1 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the overall spending block (a) its total rural affairs budget; (b) that part of the rural affairs budget which is not tied to European funding; (c) its total fisheries budget, and (d) that part of the fisheries budget which is not tied to European funding will represent…
Answer · Ross Finnie: In the table below "overall spending block" figures are the Scottish Executive's Total Managed Expenditure as shown in Table 2 of <I>Making a Difference for Scotland</I>. Figures for the "rural affairs budget" are the plans for Rural Affai…