Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-10240

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 29 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-33327 by Ross Finnie on 31 January 2003, how the #3 million for local anti-litter initiatives was allocated, broken down by local authority, and how it monitors the effectiveness of these local schemes.

The £3 million for local anti-litter initiatives as answered in question S1W-33327 relates to indicative figures received from local authorities as part of the £95 million End Year Flexibility funding for Quality of Life activities for 2002. Councils made the decisions at a local level on the most appropriate levels of additional spending on improving the local environment and/or services for children and young people.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

Local Environmental Audit and Management System (LEAMS) will provide a performance indicator for street cleanliness to be published by Audit Scotland in 2005. The impact of any additional funding that Councils choose to spend from the Quality of Life funds should be captured within this new performance indicator.

The estimated £3 million spend by local authorities for local anti-litter initiatives in 2002 is set out in the table.

Local Authority	£
Aberdeen, City	112,000
Aberdeenshire	-
Angus	39,000
Argyll and Bute	-
Clackmannanshire	30,000
Dumfries and Galloway	60,000
Dundee	124,000
East Ayrshire	50,000
East Dunbartonshire	70,000
East Lothian	90,000
East Renfrewshire	117,000
Edinburgh, City	240,000
Eilean Siar	50,000
Falkirk	100,000
Fife	280,000
Glasgow	625,000
Highland	9,500
Inverclyde	-
Midlothian	-
Moray	-
North Ayrshire	64,500
North Lanarkshire	290,000
Orkney	-
Perth and Kinross	7,500
Renfrewshire	100,000
Scottish Borders	-
Shetland	80,000
South Ayrshire	143,000
South Lanarkshire	100,000
Stirling	167,000
West Dunbartonshire	165,000
West Lothian	-
Total	3,113,500

Question reference: S2W-10669

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 29 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the social work expenditure on care of the elderly was in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority and expressed also per head of population.

The information requested is given in the following table.

Net Expenditure Per Local Authority on Older People

	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
£000	£ Per Head	£000	£ Per Head	£000	£ Per Head	£000	£ Per Head	£000	£ Per Head
Scotland	263,990	52.05	301,856	59.62	293,192	57.89	316,513	62.62	769,997	152.25
Aberdeen City	3,253	15.15	13,418	62.89	13,412	63.29	14,643	69.97	29,626	143.40
Aberdeenshire	10,796	47.51	11,717	51.61	12,619	55.61	13.219	58.16	29,285	127.70
Angus	8,175	74.61	7,967	73.20	6,919	63.85	8,019	74,16	20,944	194.79
Argyll and Bute	5,252	57.32	5,056	55.53	6,297	68.97	7,119	78.20	16,885	184.94
Clackmannanshire	1,873	38.84	2,938	60.99	1,889	39.30	2,623	54.72	5,710	119.76
Dumfries and Galloway	8,020	54.10	8,583	58.18	7,941	53.73	7,857	53.34	22,326	151.66
Dundee City	9,183	62.06	8,666	59.11	8.941	61.47	9,152	63.48	23,606	164.97
East Ayrshire	5,696	47.25	5,526	46.00	5,684	47.25	6,008	50.17	18,057	156.92
East Dunbartonshire	591	5.44	541	4.98	836	7.73	643	5.99	9,769	91.32
East Lothian	5,127	57.53	4,934	54.87	4,491	49.80	4,751	52.35	13,582	149.11
East Renfrewshire	3,642	41.14	4,482	50.34	4,759	53.22	5,535	61.76	12,416	138.45
Edinburgh City	16,260	36.36	16,218	36.17	17,497	38.97	19,380	43.25	56,934	126.98
Eilean Siar	3,721	136.74	3,852	143.77	3,842	145.25	4,094	156.24	8,379	321.03
Falkirk	9,431	65.23	9,363	64.73	9,380	64.57	10.606	72.87	22,266	138.88
Fife	18,484	53.26	18,842	54.09	18,766	53.65	20,361	58.06	54,532	154.90
Glasgow City	44,964	77.13	60,634	105.08	44,959	77.69	46,835	81.12	102,876	178.27
Highland	13,391	64.01	16,064	76.81	17,764	85.03	17,895	85.98	36,745	175.75
Inverclyde	4,663	54.66	5,034	59.46	5,025	59.72	5,547	66.35	14,315	172.37
Midlothian	3,116	38.65	3,654	45.05	3,878	47.90	3,826	46.52	10,045	126.02
Moray	4,352	50.14	4,952	57.10	5,707	65.60	5,056	58.29	11,458	131.01
North Ayrshire	5,707	41.61	6,173	45.27	6,408	47.18	7,526	55.48	18,102	133.07
North Lanarkshire	16,879	52.39	18,610	57.90	20,463	63.71	21,541	67.03	56,803	176.51
Orkney Islands	1,853	95.44	2,037	105.58	2,081	108.30	2,288	119.10	4,166	215.74
Perth and Kinross	5,952	44.03	7,500	55.57	7,056	52.29	8,003	59.21	22,099	162.50
Renfrewshire	9,366	53.70	8,564	49.31	10,240	59.24	10,731	62.41	23,856	139.53
Scottish Borders	6,367	60.18	5,931	55.82	5,750	53.77	6,080	56.61	15,980	147.58
Shetland Islands	1,321	58.70	1,192	53.75	1,525	69.45	2,147	97.84	4,847	221.63
South Ayrshire	6,736	59.69	8,068	71.85	7,952	70.90	8,793	78.74	19,848	177.88
South Lanarkshire	13,402	44.29	13,489	44.63	13,908	46.00	16,630	55.04	45,319	149.56
Stirling	3,156	36.93	3,570	41.43	3,697	42.89	2,974	34.52	11,163	129.25
West Dunbartonshire	7,049	74.66	7,516	80.02	7,295	78.17	8,361	90.06	13,582	147.12
West Lothian	6,213	40.14	6,767	43.09	6,207	39.03	8.274	51.73	15,766	97.98

Source: LFR 3 returns to the Scottish Executive

Notes:

1. Net expenditure is expenditure to be financed from grants, non-domestic rates, council taxes and balances.

2. All per head figures based on mid-year estimates of Scotland population.

3. For 1998-99 to 2001-02 revenue contributions to capital and support service costs have been apportioned notionally, pro rata to expenditure on operating costs.

4. There are two reasons for the large increase in 2002-03:

(a) Figures from 1998-99 to 2001-02 exclude items such as home care, equipment and adaptations, community alarms, lunch clubs and meals on wheels. There items were included in the older people category from 2002-03 as a result of a review of the local financial returns.

(b) The introduction of free personal care from 1 July 2002.

Question reference: S2W-10666

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 29 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time has been between application, approval and installation of central heating by Eaga Partnership Ltd under the central heating installation programme in each year since the inception of the programme.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

Communities Scotland took over this programme in 2003-04. The average time between application, approval and installation of a central heating system, in each of the years since the inception of the programme, are shown in the table below.

	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Average Waiting Time	5 months	9 months	5 months	5 months
				(April – August)

Question reference: S2W-10664

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 29 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of households was living in property that was below tolerable standard in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish House Condition Survey (SHCS) is the only consistent national source of information on houses below tolerable standard (BTS), and provides the most reliable estimate of numbers of BTS houses in Scotland. The 2002 survey gives an estimate of 20,000 households living in houses below the standard in 2002. This is 0.9% of all households in Scotland. Because of the small number of houses identified in the survey as below the tolerable standard, the survey cannot provide estimates for individual councils.

Councils provide the Executive with annual estimates of the number of below tolerable standard dwellings in the council area. Independent research conducted on behalf of the Executive into the basis for local and national estimates concluded that there were significant variations between councils in the way in which they interpret the standard when compiling their estimates, and identified weaknesses in the estimates. The report is available on the Scottish Executive website at (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/resfinds/drf90-00.asp)

The tables provide councils’ own estimates of total number of occupied dwellings below tolerable standard for each of the past five years, and expresses these as a percentage of the estimated number of households.

Councils’ Estimates of Number of Occupied Dwellings Below Tolerable Standard.

Local Authority	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Scotland	64,540	62,401	53,875	52,544	51,677
Aberdeen City	820	812	702	620	510
Aberdeenshire	2,551	2,551	Not Known	Not Known	599
Angus	586	600	600	600	600
Argyll and Bute	6,515	6,515	6,044	5,988	5,958
Clackmannanshire	248	248	228	145	145
Dumfries and Galloway	484	430	384	342	316
Dundee City	334	475	362	220	198
East Ayrshire	315	300	293	286	278
East Dunbartonshire	10	10	10	10	10
East Lothian	1,039	1,039	972	953	940
East Renfrewshire	59	38	106	93	88
Edinburgh, City of	4,503	4,403	33	33	33
Eilean Siar	2,786	2,786	2,786	2,019	2,019
Falkirk	191	191	191	191	191
Fife	694	648	740	728	734
Glasgow City	22,845	22,213	22,213	22,213	22,213
Highland	4,674	4,070	4,053	4,117	4,139
Inverclyde	1,717	1,674	1,370	1,036	1,005
Midlothian	9	9	9	9	0
Moray	327	332	333	342	347
North Ayrshire	2,548	2,524	2,524	2,509	2,504
North Lanarkshire	574	482	481	502	515
Orkney	965	912	885	789	424
Perth and Kinross	1,699	1,614	1,579	1,568	1,544
Renfrewshire	933	695	677	799	821
Scottish Borders, The	3,786	3,521	3,319	3,139	3,020
Shetland	414	395	383	371	371
South Ayrshire	450	450	454	459	462
South Lanarkshire	1,547	1,547	1,227	1,547	1,227
Stirling	438	438	438	437	437
West Dunbartonshire	450	450	450	450	0
West Lothian	29	29	29	29	29

Source: Scottish Executive Development Department IMP2 returns.

Note: There are weaknesses and inconsistencies in these estimates – see text of reply for background.

Councils’ Estimates of Number of Occupied Dwellings Below Tolerable Standard as a Percentage of Estimated Number of Households in the Council Area.

Local Authority	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Scotland	112	109	100	90	84
Aberdeen City	1	1	1	1	1
Aberdeenshire	3	3	Not Known	Not Known	1
Angus	1	1	1	1	1
Argyll and Bute	17	17	15	15	15
Clackmannanshire	1	1	1	1	1
Dumfries and Galloway	1	1	1	1	0
Dundee City	0	1	1	0	0
East Ayrshire	1	1	1	1	1
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	3	3	3	2	2
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh, City of	2	2	0	0	0
Eilean Siar	24	25	25	18	18
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	0	0	0	0	0
Glasgow City	8	8	8	8	8
Highland	5	5	4	5	5
Inverclyde	5	5	4	3	3
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0
Moray	1	1	1	1	1
North Ayrshire	4	4	4	4	4
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0	0	0
Orkney	12	11	10	9	5
Perth and Kinross	3	3	3	3	3
Renfrewshire	1	1	1	1	1
Scottish Borders, The	8	7	7	6	6
Shetland	4	4	4	4	4
South Ayrshire	1	1	1	1	1
South Lanarkshire	1	1	1	1	1
Stirling	1	1	1	1	1
West Dunbartonshire	1	1	1	1	0
West Lothian	0	0	0	0	0

Note: There are weaknesses and inconsistencies in these estimates – see text of reply for background.

Question reference: S2W-10667

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 29 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many affordable homes are currently required and how many are planned to be built in the next five years, broken down by local authority area.

Preliminary findings from the Executive’s review of affordable housing were published on 7 July 2004. This included work undertaken by Professor Bramley of Heriot Watt University, to assess the national picture of affordable housingneed. Details of the findings and the Bramley Report can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/DD/H3/00019504/page1661430580.aspx.

Our plans for future investment in affordable housing will be announced following the outcome of the Spending Review.

Question reference: S2W-10668

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 29 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support (a) it and (b) its agencies provided to voluntary organisations in each of the last five years (i) in total and (ii) broken down by organisation.

Centrally held details of direct Scottish Executive financial support to the voluntary sector are only available from 2000-01 and these are as follows:

2000-01	£34,530,578
2001-02	£38,860,792
2002-03	£228,403,745
2003-04	£262,864,116

In addition to direct Scottish Executive grants the voluntary sector has received considerable financial support through indirect funding from public bodies such as local authorities, NHS boards, NHS TRUSTS and the enterprise networks. Resources allocated through these organisations are as follows:

2000-01	£265,202,768
2001-02	£304,489,736
2002-03	£131,300,945
2003-04	£112,001,623

Information on financial support earmarked for the voluntary sector in 2004-05 will be published in November 2004.

Tables containing a breakdown of the organisations provided with Scottish Executive grant funding have been placed in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. numbers 33880 - direct and 33881 - indirect).

Question reference: S2W-10665

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients were admitted to hospital suffering from hypothermia in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) age and (b) NHS board area.

The table below shows the numberof discharges from hospital with a diagnosis of hypothermia, by NHS board of residenceand age.

	Year Ending March
Board of Residence	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004^P
All Areas
All Ages	346	320	233	278	239
0-14	12	17	8	13	8
15-24	33	23	24	20	18
25-44	49	61	37	36	34
45-64	86	66	51	83	64
65-74	65	41	43	40	34
75-84	48	49	27	44	40
85+	53	63	43	42	41
Argyll and Clyde
All ages	21	17	27	18	14
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	5	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	7	6	6	*
45-64	6	*	5	*	5
65-74	*	*	5	*	*
75-84	5	*	*	*	5
85+	*	*	6	*	*
Ayrshire and Arran
All ages	52	47	29	31	19
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	5	*
25-44	9	*	6	*	7
45-64	12	9	*	5	*
65-74	11	8	5	7	*
75-84	7	10	7	6	5
85+	9	15	*	7	*
Borders
All ages	*	*	*	*	*
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	*	*	*	*
45-64	*	*	*	*	*
65-74	*	*	*	*	*
75-84	*	*	*	*	*
85+	*	*	*	*	*
Dumfries and Galloway
All ages	11	*	12	*	8
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	6	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	*	*	*	*
45-64	*	*	*	*	*
65-74	*	*	*	*	*
75-84	*	*	6	*	*
85+	*	*	*	*	*
Fife
All ages	23	28	11	19	10
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	8	*	*	*
45-64	5	*	*	13	*
65-74	*	7	*	*	*
75-84	*	5	*	*	*
85+	*	6	5	*	*
Forth Valley
All ages	*	13	*	16	9
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	*	*	*	*
45-64	*	*	*	6	*
65-74	*	*	*	*	*
75-84	*	5	*	*	*
85+	*	*	*	*	*
Grampian
All ages	24	25	23	27	25
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	5	*	*	*	6
45-64	*	5	6	7	*
65-74	*	*	*	*	5
75-84	*	*	*	*	*
85+	*	5	7	9	*
Greater Glasgow
All ages	61	49	33	43	40
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	6	*	*	6	7
45-64	9	13	11	16	8
65-74	16	7	10	7	6
75-84	12	9	*	10	9
85+	15	13	6	*	9
Highland
All ages	27	29	21	25	34
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	10	*	*	*
45-64	10	7	8	7	8
65-74	6	*	*	9	*
75-84	*	*	*	*	*
85+	*	*	*	*	11
Lanarkshire
All ages	17	10	5	8	17
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	*	*	*	*
45-64	7	*	*	*	*
65-74	*	*	*	*	8
75-84	*	*	*	*	*
85+	*	*	*	*	*
Lothian
All ages	17	17	13	29	21
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	*	*	*	*
45-64	*	*	*	5	10
65-74	*	*	5	9	5
75-84	*	*	*	8	*
85+	*	9	*	*	*
Orkney
All ages	*	*	7	6	*
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	*	*	*	*
45-64	*	*	*	*	*
65-74	*	*	*	*	*
75-84	*	*	*	*	*
85+	*	*	*	*	*
Shetland
All ages	*	6	*	*	5
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	*	*	*	*
45-64	*	*	*	*	*
65-74	*	*	*	*	*
75-84	*	*	*	*	*
85+	*	*	*	*	*
Tayside
All ages	50	45	23	34	12
0-14	*	5	*	*	*
15-24	*	6	*	*	*
25-44	5	8	7	*	*
45-64	14	11	*	9	*
65-74	12	*	*	*	*
75-84	8	9	*	6	*
85+	10	*	6	10	*
Western Isles
All ages	*	*	6	*	*
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	*	*	*	*	*
45-64	*	*	*	*	*
65-74	*	*	*	*	*
75-84	*	*	*	*	*
85+	*	*	*	*	*
Other
All ages	26	24	13	16	20
0-14	*	*	*	*	*
15-24	*	*	*	*	*
25-44	10	10	*	6	*
45-64	11	9	6	7	11
65-74	*	*	*	*	*
75-84	*	*	*	*	*
85+	*	*	*	*	*

Notes:

*Numbersunder five have been suppressed in line with ISD(Scotland)’s policy of maintaining patient confidentiality – this reducesthe risk of the indirect identification of patients.

^PInformation for the year ended 31 March 2004 is provisional.

Question reference: S2W-10663

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current level of unemployment is, broken down by local authority area.

There are two measures of unemployment used in the UK. Unemployment (previously know as International Labour Organisation (ILO) unemployment) and the claimant count. There are significant differences between the unemployment level derivedfrom the ILO unemployment measure and the claimant count. The ILO measure of unemployment is a wider definition and includes individuals who are actively seeking work as well as those claiming job seekers benefits, whereas claimant count only includes those claiming job seekers benefits.

Unemployment levels obtained from the Labour Force Survey using the ILO definition is the Executive’s preferred measure of unemployment. However, it is currently less reliable for geographical areas lower than Scotland level. The claimant count is based on administrative records and is more reliable at local authority level.

Table 1: Unemployment Levels by Local Authority Area, Scotland

Area	Unemployment (ILO), Total 16+	Claimant Count August 2004
Scotland	151,000	94,494
Aberdeen City	*	2,683
Aberdeenshire	*	1,915
Angus	*	1,933
Argyll and Bute	*	1,414
Clackmannanshire	*	1,055
Dumfries and Galloway	*	2,208
Dundee City	*	3,889
East Ayrshire	*	3,198
East Dunbartonshire	*	1,199
East Lothian	*	936
East Renfrewshire	*	916
City of Edinburgh	11,000	7,194
Eilean Siar (Western Isles)	*	594
Falkirk	*	2,758
Fife	11,000	7,900
Glasgow City	24,000	16,616
Highland	*	2,927
Inverclyde	*	2,829
Midlothian	*	1,026
Moray	*	1,008
North Ayrshire	*	3,854
North Lanarkshire	13,000	6,562
Orkney Islands	*	177
Perth and Kinross	*	1,566
Renfrewshire	*	3,510
Scottish Borders	*	1,092
Shetland Islands	*	228
South Ayrshire	*	2,208
South Lanarkshire	*	5,039
Stirling	*	1,209
West Dunbartonshire	*	2,454
West Lothian	*	2,397

Source: Labour Force Survey, 2004 Spring Quarter, Seasonally Adjusted.

First Release: Labour Market Statistics, Scotland September 2004.

Note: *Sample size too small for reliable estimate.

Question reference: S2W-10270

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time for a heart-lung transplant has been in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-10268

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been waiting for a heart-lung transplant operation in each year since 1999.

Chamber and committees