Parliamentary questions
Stewart Stevenson
2,358 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
2 Dec 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths have been caused by the (a) consumption of animal products, except those caused by contaminated products, and (b) use of prescription drugs in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001, (iii) 2002 and (iv) 2003.
Answer · Tavish Scott: Causes of death are categorised using the World Health Organisation’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (Tenth Revision: ICD10). This classification does not separately identify deaths caused by the consumption o…
30 Nov 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will give a substantive answer to question S2W-11019 lodged on 29 September 2004.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: S2W-11019 was answered on 1 December 2004.</p>
25 Nov 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many PFI/PPP contracts for schools allow or require the contractor to operate food or drink vending machines.
Answer · Peter Peacock: This matter is for consideration by local authorities entering into such contracts. The information requested is not held centrally.</p>
24 Nov 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for access to NHS dental services.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: Waiting times for access to NHS general dental services are not held centrally.</p><p>Information is available for dental treatment undertaken in a hospital setting. The median waiting time in the dental specialties in the year ending 31 March 2004, was 64 da…
17 Nov 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its staff costs were in respect of (a) accommodation, (b) travel, (c) transport, (d) stationery and (e) hospitality in each department in each year since 1999.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The information requested is set out in the following table. Restructuring of Departments in the Scottish Executive over the period affects some of the year on year comparisions.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td rowspan=2> …
15 Nov 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the cost of fraud to its departments in each of the last five years.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The following table shows the amount of fraud by staff in the Scottish Executive’s core departments in each of the last five years; as reported under the Executive’s Fraud Response Plan.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> …
15 Nov 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many reported incidents of race hate crimes there have been against (a) people with learning disabilities, (b) people with disabilities, (c) gay, lesbian and bisexual people in each local authority area in each year since 1999 and, in each case, what percentage (1) was brought to cou…
Answer · Hugh Henry: The information requested is not held centrally.</p>
4 Nov 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to upgrade the Balmedie to Tipperty section of the A90 to dual carriageway status.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: It is too early to say. We are committed to consult the North East Scotland Transport Partnership (NESTRANS) on the conclusions of the final report on this section of the A90. This is due to take place shortly. I will then take a decision on what upgrading sh…
4 Nov 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many sexual offences prevention orders have been granted by each sheriff court in each year since their introduction, broken down into persons who were already on the Sex Offenders’ Register and those who were not.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information, which is by police force area, is given in the following table. All of the offenders were subject to registration prior to application for the Order except where indicated.</p><p>Number of Sex Offender Orders/Sex Offender Prevention…
4 Nov 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many child (a) psychologists, (b) psychiatrists and (c) psychotherapists there are in each NHS board area.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Due to the detail required a copy of the data (Bib. number 34428), which provides the position at 30 September 2003, will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre in due course.</p>
28 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many persons currently serve on more than one non-departmental public body (NDPB); what NDPBs these are; what remuneration each of these persons receive from each NDPB; how long each such person has served on each NDPB in each year since 1999, and whether any of these persons are pol…
Answer · Tom McCabe: As at 1 November 2004, there were 868 appointees serving on NDPBs sponsored by the Scottish Executive and regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland’s Code of Practice. Of these, 33 appointees (or 3.8% of the total) serve on more than o…
28 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many planning applications for telecommunication masts have been approved (a) in total and (b) broken down by local authority in each year since 1999.
Answer · Johann Lamont: Statistics on telecommunications developments have only been collected since the introduction of the new controls in July 2001. The following table provides the figures for planning applications for telecommunications infrastructure, including ground-based ma…
28 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what total amount was paid by each of its non-departmental public bodies to employment agencies for the supply of temporary staff in each year since 1999.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The information is not held centrally.</p><p>Employment of staff is an operational matter for individual NDPBs to consider.</p>
20 Oct 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists will be involved in the provision of NHS services in the financial year 2015-16.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: NHS Education Scotland (NES) have undertaken modelling work to consider the size of the future dentist workforce within the General Dental Service, which accounts for the majority of NHS dental services in Scotland. The report, <i>Workforce Planning for Denti…
20 Oct 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to reduce coastal pollution from mineral oil products.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: We work with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in support of the National Contingency Plan for Marine Pollution from Shipping and Offshore Installations, for which they are responsible. </p><p>Discharges from onshore installations are the responsibility of t…
19 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to support an increase in Scottish tourism by 50% within 10 years.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Executive shares with the tourism sector and with VisitScotland the ambition to grow tourism revenues by 50% in the next decade. This will primarily be delivered by the wide range of businesses in the sector, with support from the various public …
19 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what economic contribution is derived from tourism in each area of Scotland.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The estimated average gross annual revenue derived from tourism over the last three years in each of the area tourist board areas of Scotland is shown in the following table:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <tr> <td> <p align=center> </p> …
19 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements there are to allow local events to be listed on visitscotland.com.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Local events are an important way of attracting visitors to different parts of the country. Visitscotland.com has recently improved the management and display of events information by using a Major Events Calendar which is featured prominently on the home pag…
19 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what penalties are applied when visitscotland.com is shown to be carrying information that is (a) obsolete, (b) incorrect and (c) materially incomplete.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: There are no penalty clausesin place for information shown on the visitscotland.com website which is obsolete,incorrect or materially incomplete. But visitScotland.com works hard to ensure thatall of the information shown on its website is correct, and will i…
19 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when visitscotland.com is expected to become profitable.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Visitscotland.com is a world-class information andbooking facility which is playing a vital role in promoting tourism in Scotland. Likemany new businesses of this kind, it was always anticipated that it would take anumber of years before it made profits. The …
19 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what grant funding exists for tourism development.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Resources totalling £90 million per year are currently made available for investment in tourism development through VisitScotland, Historic Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, and other organisations. VisitScotland works closely with the industry to support …
15 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1085 by Hugh Henry on 22 July 2003, how many offences have been committed under sections 47 as amended and 49 of the Criminal law (Consolidation ) (Scotland) Act 1995, and sections 139 and 141 as amended of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 in each year …
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information isgiven in the following table. The recorded crime statistics collected centrallydo not distinguish legislation at the level of detail requested. In consequencesome of the figures given in the tables may include offences recorded und…
15 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies there are for probation officers, broken down by grade and how many probation officers have left the Scottish Prison Service in each financial year.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>SPS do not employ probation officers.</p>
15 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths in custody there were in each of the last 10 years broken down by prison and indicating where these were challenged at the inquest and how many such challenges were successful.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The following table breaks downthe number of deaths in custody in the last 10 years by establishment. A fatalaccident inquiry is held to ea…
15 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of police officers in each police force is (a) female and (b) from an ethnic minority, broken down by rank.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information is as follows:</p><p>Percentage of Female Officers within Each Police Force by Rank as at 31 March 2004</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p align=right> </p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Assistant, De…
15 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of those convicted of crimes involving graffiti in 2003 were repeat offenders and whether common profiles for repeat offenders have been created.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Crimes involving graffiti arenot identified separately from other crimes in the category “vandalism, maliciousdamage and malicious mischief” in the Scottish Executive Justice Department classificationof crimes and offences. In 2002, the latest year for which …
15 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average public sector salary was in each year since 1999.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The following table shows the average gross salary in the public sector in each year since 1999.</p><p>Table 1. Average Annual Gross Pay (£) – for Full-Time Employee Jobs<sup>1</sup>: Scotland, 1999-2004</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead…
15 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in recording allegations and incidents of threatening and intimidating behaviour of staff towards prisoners; how such incidents are broken down for statistical analysis, and how many such incidents there were in the last five years for which figures are availa…
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The SPS collects information which it believes necessary for the running of an effective competitive business. To that end, we carefu…
15 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many hours on average each adult prisoner spent on (a) education, broken down by (i) literacy, (ii) numeracy and (iii) other education-related activities, (b) exercise, (c) vocational work and (d) community work in each year since 1999.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The information is not available.</p><p>The Scottish Prison Service has recorded over the past four years the number of prisoner lear…
15 Oct 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will measure the effectiveness of community wardens as referred to in Building a Better Scotland Spending Proposals 2005-2008.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive is funding a national evaluation of the community warden schemes supported through our antisocial behaviour funding during 2004-06. The findings of the evaluation will assist in developing standards for existing and future warden scheme…