Parliamentary questions
Stewart Stevenson
2,358 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
19 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each local education authority have outdoor toilets that are still in use.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The information requested isnot collected centrally.</p>
19 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the required ratio is of toilets to (a) male and (b) female staff in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools.
Answer · Peter Peacock: In relation to staff toilets,the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations1967 specify only that such facilities be provided in every school.</p>
19 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the required ratio is of toilets to (a) male and (b) female pupils in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The School Premises (GeneralRequirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967 specify the minimum requirements fortoilet provision in both primary and secondary schools, as follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td val…
19 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) permanent and (b) fixed period exclusions were imposed for bullying in each local education authority in each of the last 10 years.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p><p>However, statistical informationon exclusions where the reason for the exclusion is bullying is held for the periodof 2003-04. This is contained within table 14 of the publication <i>Exclusions fromSchools…
19 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children (a) took up and (b) were eligible for free (i) nursery, (ii) playgroup and (iii) day-care provision for three and four-year-olds in each year since 1999.
Answer · Robert Brown: All children are legallyentitled to free pre-school education. The age at which they are eligible isset down in The Provision of School Education for Children under School Age(Prescribed Children) (Scotland) Order 2002. Free provision in nurseries, playgroups…
19 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) nursery, (b) playgroup and (c) day-care providers charged a fee to make up the difference between the money received from the Executive to fund provision for three and four-year-olds and the cost of provision in each year since 1999.
Answer · Robert Brown: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>
19 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average life expectancy was in (a) 1994 and (b) 2004, broken down by (i) local authority and (ii) NHS board area, and what projected average life expectancies are in each area in (1) 2024, (2) 2034 and (3) 2044.
Answer · George Lyon: Life expectancy figures are normallycalculated for a three year period, to provide large enough numbers to ensure accuracy.</p><p>Information on life expectancyat birth for the period 1993-95 is available from the Office for National Statisticswebsite through…
18 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dental practices have (a) opened and (b) closed in each NHS board area since 1997.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The number of dentalpractices that began providing NHS general dental services and the number that ceasedproviding NHS general dental services are shown in the following tables. Noinformation is held on private practices.</p><h5>The number of dentalpractices …
18 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many DNA profiles are held of individuals aged (a) under 16, (b) 16 to 18, (c) 19 to 21 and (d) over 21, broken down by police force area.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The following table providesa breakdown of the DNA profiles as held on the Scottish DNA database on 8 August 2006*:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=160> <p align=center>Force</p> </td> <td width=69> <p align=c…
18 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact on obesity levels of children (a) watching television and (b) using computers and other game consoles.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Health Surveyin 2003 <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/11/25145024/50251">http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/11/25145024/50251</a>found that the time children spend sitting at a screen (other than at school)is a sign…
18 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the year-end financial position was for each NHS (a) hospital and (b) board in each of the last five financial years.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The year-end financialposition for each NHS board in each of the last five financial years was asfollows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=559> <tr> <td width=199 nowrap colspan=2 valign=bottom> <p>Under/(Over)spend Against </p> <p>Rev…
18 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many carbon emissions permits have been allocated to hospitals and what the levels of emissions were for each NHS hospital included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in its first year of operation.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The 19 NHS hospitals in Scotlandcurrently holding greenhouse gas emissions permits, and associated installationID, are listed in the following table. For future reference, this informationis available through a link on the EU Emissions Trading pages of theExe…
18 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of skin cancer there have been in each parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) age and (b) gender.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested isgiven in tables entitled <i>– Number of registrations of skin cancer byScottish Parliamentary Constituency (1999 – 2003) by age, gender</i> <i>andtype</i> copies of which have been placed in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centr…
18 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated for the provision of literature and equipment for partially sighted and blind students in (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c) further and (d) higher education in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Robert Brown: Informationon the funding for provision of literature and equipment for partially sightedand blind students in primary and secondary schools is not held centrally. Itis for local authorities, taking account of their own individual circumstances,to decide how …
18 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it maintains a list of buildings such as Duff House in Banff which are available to it at no charge and what use has been made of such buildings in each of the last five years.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive doesnot maintain a central list of buildings which are available to it at nocharge, other than for consumed resources, directly attributable to such use,for conferences and functions. </p><p>DuffHouse is available for use by Scottish Mi…
18 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it makes use of buildings such as Duff House in Banff which are available to it at no charge other than for consumed resources directly attributable to such use and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-27470 on 14 August. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.sear…
14 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of women on discharge from prison have had intervention while in prison to address (a) misuse of alcohol, (b) misuse of drugs, (c) mental ill-health and (d) any one of these in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>The information requested isnot available but all female prisoners at HMP & YOI Cornton Vale areoffered, on admission, a range of interve…
14 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of women on reception at prison were assessed as (a) being misusers of alcohol, (b) being misusers of drugs, (c) suffering mental ill-health and (d) any one of these in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>The information requested isnot available. Our estimate is that 99% of female prisoners admitted to HMP& YOI Cornton Vale are illicit dru…
14 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of sheriff court convictions of women were in respect of any offence related to misuse of (a) alcohol and (b) drugs in each of the last three years for which figures are available, broken down by sheriff court.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information isgiven in the following table:</p><p>Women with a Charge Proved inScottish Sheriff Courts for Drug and Alcohol Related Offences<sup>1</sup>, 2002-03to 2004-05, Expressed as a Percentage of the Total Number of Women with aCharge Prov…
14 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what form any advice provided for sheriffs in relation to alternatives to custody for women takes and whether it includes information regarding availability of alternatives in the area local to particular sheriff courts.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The Executive established theSentencing Information for Scotland website in 2005 to provide all courts in Scotland withon-line information on the range of statutory based community disposals and localoffender programmes available, including those specifically…
14 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many women were sentenced to a term of imprisonment of (a) any length, (b) no more than six months, (c) no more than one month in each of the last three years for which figures are available, broken down by sheriff.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Information is not availablecentrally on persons proceeded against in Scottish courts by individual sheriff.</p>
14 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many women were sentenced to a term of imprisonment of (a) any length, (b) no more than six months and (c) no more than one month in each of the last three years for which figures are available, broken down by sheriff court.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information isgiven in the following table.</p><p>Women Receivinga Custodial Sentence in Scottish Sheriff Courts, 2002-03 To 2004-05, by Lengthof Sentence<sup>1</sup></p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=93 n…
11 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of cases of each category of crime, as reported to the police or other authority, resulted in a (a) conviction in Scottish court, (b) reference to a children’s panel and (c) conviction in a jurisdiction outwith Scotland, in each year since 1999.
Answer · Hugh Henry: This information is notcentrally available. Figures for the numbers of crimes recorded by the policeare published annually in the statistical bulletin <i>Recorded Crime in </i>Scotland. Figuresfor the numbers of convictions in Scottish Courts are published an…
5 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients waited more than (a) three, (b) six, (c) nine, (d) 12, (e) 15, (f) 18 and (g) 24 months for (i) heart operations, (ii) cancer treatment and (iii) hip replacements in 1997 and 1998, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The majority of patients whorequire in-patient and day case treatment, including heart operations and hipreplacement surgery, are treated quickly. Over 53% of patients treated inNHSScotland hospitals receive immediate treatment and never join a waitinglist. O…
5 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17919 by George Lyon on 9 September 2005, in how many deaths (a) heroin, (b) ecstasy, (c) amphetamines, (d) other illicit substances, (e) alcohol and (f) tobacco were recorded as causes in each year since 1990, broken down by NHS board.
Answer · George Lyon: Available information on thenumber of drug-related deaths involving heroin, ecstasy, or amphetamines isgiven in tables a to c below. As individual deaths may involve a number ofdrugs, it is not possible to say how many deaths were caused by each specificdrug.…
5 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18263 by Mr Andy Kerr on 9 September 2005, what the average response time to an emergency call to the ambulance service was in each NHS board area in each year since 1990.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The average response timesto all emergency calls broken down by Health Board area are only available from1992-93. The figures requested up to 1996-97 are listed in the following table.It should be recognised that in the mid 1990s the Scottish Ambulance Servic…
5 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17976 by Mr Andy Kerr on 16 August 2005, how many operations were cancelled on (a) the day of and (b) the day after admission and how many of the patients involved were not readmitted within a month in each quarter of the last ten years for which fig…
Answer · Andy Kerr: The specific information requestedis not available centrally.</p><p>Limited information is availablecentrally on the number of in-patient/day case episodes where operations/procedureswere not carried out following admission. However, it is not possible to ide…
5 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19410 by Cathy Jamieson on 29 September 2005, how many offences of (a) perjury, (b) resisting arrest and (c) wasting police time and how many bail offences other than absconding and re-offending were committed in (i)1997, (ii) 1998, (iii) 2004 and (i…
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information isgiven in the following tables. Figures for 2005 will be available following thepublication of the statistical bulletin <i>Recorded Crime in </i><i>Scotland</i><i>, 2005-06 </i>in September.</p><p>Selected Crimes Recorded by thePoli…
3 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many violent crimes were recorded in each year since 1990, broken down by police force area.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The requested information isshown in the following table.</p><p>Number of Non-Sexual Crimes ofViolence Recorded by the Police, 1990 to 2004, by Police Force Area</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=616> <thead> <tr> <td valign=bottom> <p…
3 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions in each of the last 25 years convicted murderers released from (a) psychiatric institutions and (b) prisons have committed murders after release.
Answer · Hugh Henry: Four individuals have committedmurder following release on life licence over the last 25 years as follows: onein each of the following years - 1987/1992/1993/2003. All had been released fromprison.</p>