Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-18056

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 10 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many referrals to the Reporter to the Children’s Panel regarding children with personal alcohol problems there have been in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Children’sReporter Administration collates data in line with the grounds for referral setout in section 52(2) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. Section 52(2)(j) sets out the ground forreferral where a child has misused alcohol or any drug. The data collected bythe Administration does not differentiate between the two areas of concern. Inthat light the number of referrals under Section 52(2)(j) since 1999 is set outin the following table :

Year	Number of Referrals to the Children’s Reporter under s52(2)(j)
1999-2000	1,260
2000-01	1,272
2001-02	1,697
2002-03	1,854
2003-04	1,969

Question reference: S2W-17820

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of salaries was in each of its departments in each year since 1999.

The information requested isset out in the following table. Restructuring of Departments in the ScottishExecutive over the period affects some of the year on year comparisons.

Department	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)	(£000)
Development	11,242	13,103	14,829	17,228	16,968	10,997
Education	11,962	13,570	8,012	9,373	9,872	10,725
Enterprise, Transport & Lifelong Learning	7,896	8,611	9,409	9,779	11,605	18,610
Environment & Rural Affairs	22,622	24,442	28,996	29,121	30,647	32,688
Finance and Central Services	10,981	13,342	19,318	17,674	18,699	16,465
Health	8,745	10,107	11,426	12,335	13,497	13,758
Justice	7,718	8,780	8,961	6,924	8,089	8,957
Corporate Services (1) (including OPS and LPS)	16,317	17,480	20,605	26,806	31,693	37,651
	97,483	109,435	121,556	129,240	141,070	149,851

Note: 1. OPSIs Office of the Permanent Secretary; LPS is Legal and Parliamentary Services.

Question reference: S2W-17816

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 9 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16432 by Colin Boyd QC on 8 July 2005, how many reported (a) assaults, (b) petty assaults and (c) breaches of the peace, excluding a charge of racial aggravation, there were in each year since 2002-03, broken down by police force.

Petty assault does not existas a classification within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’soperational database. All cases reported by the police which involve an assaultinclude a detailed description of the circumstances and nature of the assault.

The following table providesa breakdown of charges of assault and breach of the peace that did not includea racial aggravation.

Charges not including aRacial Aggravation

Charge	Police Force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Assault	Central	2,768	3,152	3,315
	Dumfries and Galloway	950	1,278	1,140
	Fife	2,567	2,563	3,011
	Grampian	3,013	2,680	2,954
	Lothian and Borders	2,520	2,689	3,304
	Northern	2,071	2,330	2,448
	Strathclyde	16,587	17,365	18,881
	Tayside	3,029	3,360	4,107
Assault Total		33,505	35,417	39,160
Breach of the Peace	Central	5,259	3,845	4,950
	Dumfries and Galloway	1,623	2,229	2,507
	Fife	4,065	3,955	4,227
	Grampian	4,832	4,300	4,278
	Lothian & Borders	8,320	7,928	8,837
	Northern	4,613	4,923	5,229
	Strathclyde	43,219	45,559	47,442
	Tayside	6,694	7,192	7,046
Breach of the Peace Total		78,625	79,931	84,516

Notes:

1. There are 124 separate charge codes containing theword 'assault'. The results in this table are restricted to thefollowing charges - assault; assault injury; assault to danger of life; assaultdisfigurement; assault severe injury; assault severe injury and danger of life;assault to severe injury, disfigurement; assault to severe injury,disfigurement, danger of life; assault to severe injury, disfigurement,impairment; assault to severe injury, impairment; assault to severe injury,impairment, danger of life.

2. The Crown Officeand Procurator Fiscal Service’s operational database is accused-based. The figures in the table therefore relate to the number of persons charged withassault rather than the number of assaults that gave rise to such charges.

Question reference: S2W-17817

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 9 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16432 by Colin Boyd QC on 8 July 2005, how many reported (a) assaults, (b) petty assaults and (c) breaches of the peace, including a charge of racial aggravation, there were in each year since 2002-03, broken down by police force.

Petty assault does not existas a classification within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’soperational database. All cases reported by the police which involve an assaultinclude a detailed description of the circumstances and nature of the assault.

The following table providesa breakdown of the charges of assault and breach of the peace that included aracial aggravation.

Charges Including a RacialAggravation

Charge	Police Force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Assault	Central	4	6	16
	Dumfries and Galloway	0	4	4
	Fife	11	9	8
	Grampian	12	14	18
	Lothian and Borders	52	54	92
	Northern	8	20	11
	Strathclyde	201	239	334
	Tayside	22	30	46
Assault Total	310	376	529
Breach of the Peace	Central	8	7	32
	Dumfries and Galloway	1	13	18
	Fife	39	37	34
	Grampian	16	11	20
	Lothian and Borders	55	33	72
	Northern	27	35	41
	Strathclyde	113	157	207
	Tayside	26	50	63
Breach of the Peace Total	285	343	487

Notes:

1. There are 124 separate charge codes containing theword “assault”. The results in this table are restricted to the followingcharges - assault; assault injury; assault to danger of life; assaultdisfigurement; assault severe injury; assault severe injury and danger of life;assault to severe injury, disfigurement; assault to severe injury,disfigurement, danger of life; assault to severe injury, disfigurement,impairment; assault to severe injury, impairment; assault to severe injury,impairment, danger of life.

2. The Crown Officeand Procurator Fiscal Service’s operational database is accused-based. The figures in the table therefore relate to the number of persons charged withassault rather than the number of assaults that gave rise to such charges.

Question reference: S2W-17815

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 9 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16432 by Colin Boyd QC on 8 July 2005, how many charges involving a statutory racial offence and separately racial aggravation were referred to the Reporter to the Children’s Panel in each year since 2002-03.

Information on the number ofcharges referred by Procurators Fiscal to theReporter to the Children’s Panel is setout in the following table:

Charges Referred to the Reporter to theChildren’s Panel

	Police Force Area	1. FY 02-03	2. FY 03-04	3. FY 04-05	Grand Total
Racial Charge	Central	12	16	44	72
	Fife	7	11	6	24
	Grampian	4	0	5	9
	Lothian and Borders	20	17	19	56
	Northern	1	0	1	2
	Strathclyde	61	124	116	301
	Tayside	0	7	5	12
Charge Total		105	175	196	476
Aggravation	Fife	0	2	2	4
	Lothian and Borders	17	10	16	43
	Northern	0	0	2	2
	Strathclyde	25	55	52	132
	Tayside	2	3	0	5
Aggravation Total		44	70	72	186

Note : The information inthe table relates to the number of charges and not to the number of accusedpersons. The 476 charges involving racial offences involved a total of 399accused. The 186 charges involving a racial aggravation involved a total of 84accused.

Question reference: S2W-18037

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 9 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what allowances or reimbursement of travelling expenses are available to those who have to travel by necessity outwith their NHS board area for dental treatment.

Question reference: S2W-18034

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 9 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) salaried dentists and (b) vacancies for salaried dentists there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S2W-18036

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 9 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients had to travel outwith their NHS board area for dental treatment in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area of residence.

Question reference: S2W-18035

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 9 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been on a waiting list to register for a community dentist in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S2W-17912

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 4 August 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered and unregistered nurses there have been in the NHS Borders area and what the breakdown has been between the hours attributable to nurses employed directly by NHS Borders and the hours attributable to agency nurses in each year since 1999.

Information on nursing staffin NHS Scotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website underWorkforce Statistics, at:

www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

Section E gives details of nursing andmidwifery staff employed in NHS Scotland. In particular, tables E1 and E2 showthe whole time equivalent (WTE) and headcount number of registered and nonregistered nurses, broken down by NHS board area. Latest available figures areat 31 March 2005.

Table E13 shows the average whole timeequivalent (WTE) and actual hours worked for agency nursing staff, broken downby NHS board area, by financial year from 2000-2001 to 2004-2005. WTE adjustsheadcount staff figures to take account of part-time staff.

At March 2005, the total number of nurses and midwives employed by NHS Borders was at a record level of1,446 headcount.

Chamber and committees