Chamber and committees

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Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-22125

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12029 by Mr Andy Kerr on 19 November 2004, how many psychologists have been employed by each NHS board in each year since 1999, broken down by category and expressed also on a per capita basis.

The following tables show thewhole-time equivalent (WTE) of NHS employed psychologists by NHS board 2001-04.WTE adjusts headcount to allow for part-time working. Information for the years1999 and 2000 is not available centrally.

Table 1: Applied PsychologistsWTE by NHS Board at 30 September 2001

	Clinical Psychologists Grade B	Clinical Psychologists Grade A	Other Applied Psychologists*	Total WTE of all Applied Psychologists	Ratio of per Capita Population to 1 WTE of all Applied Psychologists
Argyll and Clyde	10.60	9.30	3.00	22.90	18,371
Ayrshire and Arran	9.10	12.30	1.80	23.20	15,875
Borders	4.50	3.60	0.00	8.10	13,204
Dumfries and Galloway	6.90	2.20	0.00	9.10	16,240
Fife	9.90	18.30	1.00	29.20	11,976
Forth Valley	7.80	10.60	0.00	18.40	15,176
Grampian	10.30	21.20	1.50	33.00	15,935
Greater Glasgow	33.00	35.50	1.10	69.60	12,474
Highland	4.80	6.00	0.00	10.80	19,344
Lanarkshire	7.50	11.60	4.00	23.10	23,949
Lothian	20.10	26.80	1.80	48.70	15,996
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
State Hospital⁺	-	-	-	-	-
Tayside	11.30	17.80	0.00	29.00	13,405
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-
Scotland	135.80	175.20	14.10	325.10	15,577

Source: ISD Scotland.

Table 2: Applied PsychologistsWTE by NHS Board at 30 September 2002

	Clinical Psychologists Grade B	Clinical Psychologists Grade A	Other Applied Psychologists*	Total WTE of all Applied Psychologists	Ratio of Per Capita Population to 1 WTE of all Applied Psychologists
Argyll and Clyde	11.60	7.20	3.00	21.80	19,298
Ayrshire and Arran	8.00	12.20	1.80	22.00	16,740
Borders	3.50	3.60	0.00	7.10	15,063
Dumfries and Galloway	8.60	3.20	0.00	11.80	12,524
Fife	11.40	20.10	2.00	33.50	10,439
Forth Valley	7.80	9.00	0.00	16.80	16,621
Grampian	9.30	19.40	3.50	32.20	16,331
Greater Glasgow	35.50	49.40	4.00	88.90	9,766
Highland	4.80	6.70	0.00	11.50	18,167
Lanarkshire	7.10	15.10	4.10	26.30	21,035
Lothian	22.20	34.40	2.30	58.90	13,226
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
State Hospital⁺	-	-	-	-	-
Tayside	11.10	17.20	0.00	28.50	13,640
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-
Scotland	141.10	197.50	20.70	359.30	14,095

Source: ISDScotland.

Note:⁺Please note The State Hospital did not participate inthe data collection exercise in 2001 and 2002.

Table 3: Applied PsychologistsWTE by NHS Board at 30 September 2003

	Clinical Psychologists Grade B	Clinical Psychologists Grade A	Other Applied Psychologists*	Total WTE of all Applied Psychologists	Ratio of Per Capita Population to 1 WTE of all Applied Psychologists
Argyll and Clyde	9.70	11.80	2.50	25.00	16,919
Ayrshire and Arran	10.60	7.30	1.80	19.70	18,789
Borders	4.10	4.10	1.00	9.20	11,875
Dumfries and Galloway	7.20	3.60	1.00	11.80	12,719
Fife	16.10	18.50	4.00	38.60	9,205
Forth Valley	11.20	9.80	0.0	21.00	13,429
Grampian	8.80	21.90	4.40	35.00	15,091
Greater Glasgow	33.40	39.80	2.10	75.30	11,627
Highland	4.80	7.30	1.00	13.10	16,075
Lanarkshire	10.10	15.70	3.70	29.50	18,949
Lothian	24.40	30.20	5.20	59.90	13,145
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
State Hospital	1.20	4.00	1.00	6.20	-
Tayside	11.00	16.00	0.0	27.00	14,507
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-
Scotland	152.50	191.00	27.70	371.00	13,633

Source: ISD Scotland.

Table 4: Applied PsychologistsWTE by NHS Board at 30 September 2004

	Clinical Psychologists Grade B	Clinical Psychologists Grade A	Other Applied Psychologists*	Total WTE of all Applied Psychologists	Ratio of Per Capita Population to 1 WTE of all Applied Psychologists
Argyll and Clyde	10.70	12.20	2.00	24.90	16,693
Ayrshire and Arran	11.00	10.30	1.86	23.16	15,872
Borders	3.90	5.10	1.00	10.00	10,927
Dumfries and Galloway	8.20	4.65	1.00	13.85	10,681
Fife	14.00	24.10	3.00	41.10	8,626
Forth Valley	8.50	7.10	0.80	16.40	17,181
Grampian	9.85	27.30	6.01	43.16	12,141
Greater Glasgow	45.45	50.63	4.90	100.98	8,587
Highland	4.80	8.30	-	13.10	16,133
Lanarkshire	9.70	20.60	3.50	33.80	16,453
Lothian	25.04	31.46	4.40	60.90	12,931
Orkney	0	0	0	0	-
Shetland	0	0	0	0	-
State Hospital	2.70	5.45	1.00	9.15	-
Tayside	11.50	16.60	-	28.10	13,805
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-
Scotland	165.34	223.79	29.47	418.60	12,132

Source: ISDScotland.

Note: *OtherApplied Psychologists includes counselling psychologists, health psychologists,forensic psychologists and neuropsychologists.

Question reference: S2W-22141

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals have been on the sex offenders’ register in each year since 2000.

The number of sex offenders recordedby the Scottish Criminal Record Office as being registered with Scottish PoliceForces since 2000 is shown in the following table.

As at:	Number of Registrations
March 2000	1,174
March 2001	1,480
March 2002	1,724
March 2003	1,926
March 2004	2,244
March 2005	2,677
January 2006	3,044

Question reference: S2W-21611

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 18 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much capital debt was owed (a) by each local authority and (b) per capita in each local authority area on the most recent date for which figures are available.

The following table shows the total capital debt and per capita debt (for all services) owed by each local authority as at 31 March 2005.

	Total Debt (£ Million)	Total Debt Per Head (£)
Aberdeen City	389.8	1,916
Aberdeenshire	365.9	1,571
Angus	118.7	1,094
Argyll and Bute	223.3	2,449
Clackmannanshire	81.9	1,698
Dumfries and Galloway	188.1	1,272
Dundee City	303.7	2,141
East Ayrshire	188.9	1,578
East Dunbartonshire	118.4	1,111
East Lothian	112.8	1,232
East Renfrewshire	104.4	1,165
Edinburgh, City of	816.1	1,799
Eilean Siar	181.3	6,905
Falkirk	194.0	1,316
Fife	487.5	1,375
Glasgow City	1,281.1	2,218
Highland	551.5	2,609
Inverclyde	224.2	2,720
Midlothian	84.4	1,061
Moray	160.1	1,825
North Ayrshire	192.4	1,415
North Lanarkshire	387.3	1,200
Orkney Islands	33.8	1,735
Perth and Kinross	159.3	1,158
Renfrewshire	274.7	1,610
Scottish Borders	161.0	1,474
Shetland Islands	51.7	2,358
South Ayrshire	172.2	1,540
South Lanarkshire	399.4	1,308
Stirling	150.5	1,743
West Dunbartonshire	188.9	2,054
West Lothian	188.2	1,156
Total all-Scotland	8,535.8	1,681

Notes:

(i) Individual local authority figures may not sum to the all-Scotland total, due to rounding.

(ii) The figures given exclude the police and fire boards/authorities, Forth Estuary Transport Authority, Tay Bridge and Strathclyde Passenger Transport.

Question reference: S2W-21610

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 18 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of (a) contaminated, (b) derelict and (c) vacant land were reclaimed in each of the last three years and how many hectares of such land remain.

Estimates reported by local authorities in the voluntary Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (SVDLS) are set out in the tables.

Area of Vacant and Derelict Land Brought Back Into Use Since the Previous Survey (Hectares), Scotland, 2002-04^1-5

Area	2002	2003	2004
Reclaimed derelict	293	308	181
- of which formerly contaminated	25	59	37
Reclaimed vacant	391	271	286
Total	684	579	466

Area of Vacant and Derelict Land (Hectares), Scotland, 2002-04^1-5

Area	2002	2003	2004
Derelict	7,767	7,741	7,638
- of which tested and found to be contaminated	2,541	2,489	2,352
Vacant	3,282	3,107	3,023
Total	11,049	10,847	10,661

Notes:

1. Figures may not sum due to rounding.

2. Sites covering less than 0.1 hectares are excluded.

3. The SVDLS includes only that vacant land which is either located within an urban settlement (with a population of 2,000 or more) or which is located within 1km of such settlements, and which would commonly be considered as having the characteristics of urban vacant land.

4. The SVDLS is not a statutory survey. For those councils that did not provide data for a particular year, data from the previous SVDLS has been used.

5. The SVDLS classifies sites as either being vacant or derelict. Any site that has been tested and found to be contaminated is automatically classified as derelict. The term “contamination” used in the survey is anecdotal and refers simply to the presence of a number of potential contaminants. This differs from the statutory definition in the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Information from the 2005 survey will be published on the 31January 2006. Results of the 2004 survey can be viewed on the Scottish Executive website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00381-00.asp.

Question reference: S2W-21757

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on whether files held by the Special Branch on democratic political parties in Scotland are current and active.

Question reference: S2W-21760

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had in 2005 with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland regarding the use of informants obtaining information on democratic political parties in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-21756

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has ever been passed information by police forces in Scotland which has come from Special Branch informants having obtained information on democratic political parties in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-21758

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many surveillance operations it authorised involving electronic listening equipment other than telephone intercepts in each year since 1999, broken down by police force area.

The Scottish Executive does not have jurisdiction to authorise the use of electronic listening equipment.

The Chief Surveillance Commissioner publishes details in his annual report of the number of authorisations given under the Police Act 1997 for property interference, and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000 and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 for directed and intrusive surveillance.

The most recent report – (Bib. number 37809), document number SE/2005/203 – was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 3 November 2005.

Question reference: S2W-21759

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has ever been passed intelligence information or material related to the activities of democratic political parties in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-21755

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Scottish police forces in respect of the use of informants to obtain information on democratic political parties in Scotland.

Information relating to the use of informants by Scottish police forces would, if held by the Scottish Executive, be exempt by virtue of sections 31 (National Security) and 35 (Law Enforcement) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. We believe it would be contrary to the public interest, to confirm whether or not any such information exists or is held by the Scottish Executive. The terms of this refusal are provided for by section 18 (1) of the 2002 act.