Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-09977

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) intensive care unit, (b) cardiac care unit and (c) high dependency unit beds there were in each of the last five years.

The most recent information held on numbers of intensive care, cardiac care and high dependency unit beds, based on hospital returns to ISD (Scotland), is presented in the following table.

NHS Scotland - Average Available Staffed Beds in Intensive Care Units, Cardiac Care Units and High Dependency Units: Years Ending 31 March 2000-04

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004^P
Intensive Care Unit	162	164	165	171	172
Cardiac Care Unit	166	165	166	162	166
High Dependency Unit¹	-	-	-	-	243

^PProvisional.

Source: ISD Scotland [Form ISD(S)1].

Note: 1. Identifiable from code introduced 1st April 2003.

Question reference: S2W-10092

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 6 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes were committed by people on bail in each of the last five years in each sheriff court district, broken down by main crime.

Question reference: S2W-10094

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 6 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers are currently working in the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency.

Question reference: S2W-10097

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 6 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of dangerous driving were proceeded with in each sheriff court district in each of the last five years.

The available information is given in the table.

Persons Proceeded Against for Dangerous Driving¹ in Scottish Courts, by Court, 1998-2002

	Year of Sentence
	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002⁴
Sheriff Courts:
Aberdeen	49	52	26	42	51
Airdrie	10	17	16	18	39
Alloa	1	2	3	2	4
Arbroath	18	5	6	3	15
Ayr	22	28	23	24	18
Banff	4	5	5	1	5
Campbeltown	-	-	1	3	3
Cupar	14	10	7	10	13
Dingwall	14	10	2	14	6
Dornoch	3	1	1	-	-
Dumbarton	14	14	14	16	7
Dumfries	36	43	38	27	51
Dundee	25	27	9	22	26
Dunfermline	17	20	16	14	20
Dunoon	-	3	7	4	4
Duns	-	1	2	3	3
Edinburgh	70	63	47	64	70
Elgin	15	15	9	15	18
Falkirk	6	8	8	13	14
Forfar	15	17	9	12	28
Fort William	1	6	1	5	4
Glasgow	88	100	106	112	112
Greenock	8	13	13	10	5
Haddington	7	5	4	7	10
Hamilton	51	38	35	51	65
Inverness	15	18	11	14	22
Jedburgh	4	1	2	6	4
Kilmarnock	53	53	42	44	42
Kirkcaldy	25	27	20	43	33
Kirkcudbright	2	4	3	3	2
Kirkwall	7	4	1	3	2
Lanark	35	36	49	37	40
Lerwick	2	1	1	2	1
Linlithgow	16	21	23	23	41
Lochmaddy	-	-	-	-	2
Oban	5	2	3	1	1
Paisley	47	57	29	32	33
Peebles	2	2	-	1	2
Perth	19	18	10	25	25
Peterhead	13	7	2	4	8
Rothesay	1	-	2	-	-
Selkirk	7	3	2	3	6
Stirling	11	8	7	8	9
Stonehaven	6	14	7	12	10
Stornoway	2	3	1	3	2
Stranraer	8	6	5	7	14
Tain	2	9	1	4	9
Wick	3	6	2	10	7
Sub-total	773	803	680³	777	906
All courts²	794	811	687	781	910

Notes:

1. Where mainoffence.

2. Includesa small number of cases in High Court and district courts.

3. Includes49 cases where sheriff court unknown.

4. Figures may be underestimates due totime taken to record details of some court proceedings in SCRO system.

All boards received a minimum annual increase of 4.25% in initial unified budget. Total budget increases shown include funds relating to recurring and non-recurring allocations. Annual comparisons are, therefore, not necessarily comparing like with like.

**Adjustment to the method of funding the Scottish Ambulance Service and a reduction in the level of non-recurring bridging finance from 1998-99 to 1999-2000 distorts annual changes although this had no impact on the level of disposable income available to the board.

NHS Board	2000-01 Total Budget Increase (£000)	2000-01 Total Budget Increase (%)	2000-01 Per Capita Increase (£)	2000-01 Per Capita Increase (%)
Argyll and Clyde	29,208	7.3	74	7.8
Ayrshire and Arran	26,734	7.8	75	8.2
Borders	5,698	5.6	49	5.1
Dumfries and Galloway	5,777	3.9	47	4.6
Fife	22,189	7.4	60	7.1
Forth Valley	20,888	8.6	74	8.4
Grampian	32,505	7.1	65	7.5
Greater Glasgow	61,779	6.8	70	7.0
Highland	15,383	7.8	74	7.8
Lanarkshire	35,695	7.5	64	7.5
Lothian	48,377	7.1	56	6.4
Orkney	948	4.4	55	5.1
Shetland	1,854	7.5	97	8.9
Tayside	28,894	7.3	82	8.1
Western Isles	2,888	7.8	125	9.3
Total	338,817	7.2	67	7.3

Note: All boards received a minimum annual increase of 5.1% in initial unified budget. Total budget increases shown include funds relating to recurring and non-recurring allocations. Annual comparisons are, therefore, not necessarily comparing like with like.

NHS Board	2001-02 Total Budget Increase (£000)	2001-02 Total Budget Increase (%)	2001-02 Per Capita Increase (£)	2001-02 Per Capita Increase (%)
Argyll and Clyde	25,190	5.9	67	6.6
Ayrshire and Arran	19,198	5.2	66	6.7
Borders	4,443	4.2	41	4.1
Dumfries and Galloway	8,708	5.7	45	4.2
Fife	14,255	4.5	43	4.7
Forth Valley	11,762	4.4	38	4.0
Grampian	14,945	3.1	24	2.6
Greater Glasgow	62,294	6.4	117	10.8
Highland	17,837	8.4	84	8.2
Lanarkshire	40,983	8.0	89	9.7
Lothian	42,268	5.8	60	6.4
Orkney	2,123	9.5	126	11.0
Shetland	1,603	6.0	99	8.3
Tayside	33,524	7.9	77	7.0
Western Isles	4,078	10.2	195	13.3
Total	303,211	6.0	70	7.0

Note: All boards received a minimum annual increase of 5.5% in initial unified budget. Total budget increases shown include funds relating to recurring and non-recurring allocations. Annual comparisons are, therefore, not necessarily comparing like with like.

NHS Board	2002-03 Total Budget Increase (£000)	2002-03 Total Budget Increase (%)	2002-03 Per Capita Increase (£)	2002-03 Per Capita Increase (%)
Argyll and Clyde	22,421	4.9	59	5.4
Ayrshire and Arran	26,260	6.8	75	7.1
Borders	6,301	5.7	54	5.2
Dumfries and Galloway	10,762	6.6	77	7.0
Fife	19,501	5.8	53	5.6
Forth Valley	18,361	6.6	65	6.6
Grampian	36,112	7.2	74	7.7
Greater Glasgow	83,256	8.0	99	8.3
Highland	15,864	6.9	80	7.3
Lanarkshire	19,657	3.5	36	3.6
Lothian	3,135	0.4	4	0.4
Orkney	1,198	4.9	63	4.9
Shetland	2,735	9.7	126	9.8
Tayside	14,827	3.2	42	3.6
Western Isles	2,646	6.0	117	7.0
Total	283,036	5.3	58	5.5

Note: All boards received a minimum annual increase of 6.8% in initial unified budget. Total budget increases shown include funds relating to recurring and non-recurring allocations. Annual comparisons are, therefore, not necessarily comparing like with like.

NHS Board	2003-04 Total Budget Increase (£000)	2003-04 Total Budget Increase (%)	2003-04 Per Capita Increase (£)	2003-04 Per Capita Increase (%)
Argyll and Clyde	32,803	6.9	83	7.3
Ayrshire and Arran	33,080	8.0	90	8.0
Borders	9,381	8.0	78	7.1
Dumfries and Galloway	11,927	6.9	82	7.0
Fife	29,043	8.2	79	7.8
Forth Valley	18,037	6.1	63	6.0
Grampian	37,761	7.0	72	7.0
Greater Glasgow	57,965	5.2	66	5.1
Highland	19,794	8.0	89	7.5
Lanarkshire	50,008	8.7	89	8.6
Lothian	111,195	14.3	141	14.2
Orkney	1,337	5.2	62	4.7
Shetland	2,334	7.5	111	7.9
Tayside	22,156	4.7	60	4.9
Western Isles	3,750	8.1	150	8.5
Total	440,571	7.8	87	7.7

Note: All boards received a minimum annual increase of 7.4% in initial unified budget. Total budget increases shown include funds relating to recurring and non-recurring allocations. Annual comparisons are, therefore, not necessarily comparing like with like.

NHS Board	2004-05 Total Budget Increase (£000)	2004-05 Total Budget Increase (%)	2004-05 Per Capita Increase (£)	2004-05 Per Capita Increase (%)
Argyll and Clyde	51,597	10.1	124	10.1
Ayrshire and Arran	49,657	11.1	135	11.1
Borders	14,471	11.4	134	11.4
Dumfries and Galloway	20,502	11.1	139	11.1
Fife	43,860	11.5	125	11.5
Forth Valley	28,978	9.3	104	9.3
Grampian	28,202	4.9	54	4.9
Greater Glasgow	88,098	7.5	102	7.5
Highland	33,771	12.7	162	12.7
Lanarkshire	59,729	9.6	108	9.6
Lothian	28,675	3.2	37	3.2
Orkney	2,520	9.3	131	9.3
Shetland	279	0.8	13	0.8
Tayside	36,597	7.4	95	7.4
Western Isles	2,947	5.9	113	5.9
Total	489,883	8.0	97	8.0

Note: All boards received a minimum annual increase of 6.75% in initial unified budget. Total budget increases shown include funds relating to recurring and non-recurring allocations. Annual comparisons are, therefore, not necessarily comparing like with like.

Question reference: S2W-10098

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 6 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of dangerous driving had a charge proved in each sheriff court district in each of the last five years.

The available information is given in the table.

Persons with a Charge Proved for Dangerous Driving¹ in Scottish Courts, by Court, 1998-2002

	Year of Sentence
	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002⁴
Sheriff Courts:
Aberdeen	47	47	25	38	51
Airdrie	5	10	11	13	32
Alloa	1	2	3	2	4
Arbroath	17	4	5	3	12
Ayr	20	24	23	24	17
Banff	4	4	5	1	4
Campbeltown	-	-	1	3	3
Cupar	14	9	7	10	13
Dingwall	14	9	2	14	6
Dornoch	3	1	1	-	-
Dumbarton	13	12	13	14	7
Dumfries	33	41	34	25	51
Dundee	21	23	9	18	20
Dunfermline	17	19	16	14	19
Dunoon	-	3	7	4	4
Duns	-	1	2	3	3
Edinburgh	68	60	44	61	65
Elgin	13	15	9	15	16
Falkirk	6	6	7	12	13
Forfar	14	16	8	11	27
Fort William	1	6	1	5	4
Glasgow	82	87	96	104	109
Greenock	8	12	12	9	5
Haddington	7	5	3	6	9
Hamilton	46	27	27	43	58
Inverness	14	18	11	14	21
Jedburgh	3	1	2	5	4
Kilmarnock	50	49	39	41	40
Kirkcaldy	25	24	19	42	32
Kirkcudbright	2	4	3	2	2
Kirkwall	5	3	1	3	2
Lanark	34	31	47	33	26
Lerwick	2	-	1	2	1
Linlithgow	14	21	21	22	39
Lochmaddy	-	-	-	-	1
Oban	4	1	3	1	1
Paisley	47	42	26	29	31
Peebles	2	2	-	1	2
Perth	17	12	10	20	18
Peterhead	12	7	1	4	8
Rothesay	1	-	2	-	-
Selkirk	7	2	2	3	6
Stirling	11	7	4	7	8
Stonehaven	6	14	6	12	10
Stornoway	2	3	-	3	2
Stranraer	4	6	4	7	11
Tain	2	8	1	4	9
Wick	3	6	2	9	7
Sub-total	721	704	620³	716	833
All courts²	740	711	624	718	837

Notes:

1. Where mainoffence.

2. Includesa small number of cases in High Court and district courts.

3. Includes44 cases where sheriff court unknown.

4. Figures may be underestimates due totime taken to record details of some court proceedings in SCRO system.

Question reference: S2W-09895

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 3 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children left school with no qualifications in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Due to the volume of information requested, the table “Number and percentage of school pupils with no qualifications at Standard Grade (or equivalent) or better on leaving school” has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33501). The data used in this table relates to publicly funded schools only, including special schools.

An updated version of the table “Number and percentage of school pupils who have not attained English or Mathematics Standard Grades (or equivalent) on leaving school”, which was previously supplied in answer to S2W-9631 on 10 August 2004, has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre to allow direct comparison. 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.

The new methodology includes the small number of pupils with no candidate numbers who are assumed to have no qualifications.

Question reference: S2W-09898

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many locum consultant (a) doctors and (b) surgeons are working in the NHS, broken down by NHS board area and expressed also as a working-time equivalent (WTE) percentage of the total headcount.

Table 1 provides details of locum consultants employed in NHS Scotland at 30th September 2003 broken down by NHS board area and shows WTE as a percentage of headcount for each NHS board area.

Table 1: NHS Locum Consultants by NHS Board (Headcount, Whole-Time Equivalent and WTE % of Headcount at 30th September 2003)

	Headcount	Whole-Time Equivalent	WTE % of Headcount
Total¹	Surgical Specialties²	All Other Specialties	Total¹	Surgical Specialties²	All Other Specialties	Total¹	Surgical Specialties²	All Other Specialties
Scotland	127.0	24.0	103.0	90.2	19.2	71.0	71.0%	79.9%	69.0%
NHS Argyll and Clyde	11.0	-	11.0	4.1	-	4.1	37.7%	x	37.7%
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	6.0	-	6.0	4.4	-	4.4	72.7%	x	72.7%
NHS Borders	2.0	-	2.0	2.0	-	2.0	100.0%	x	100.0%
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	2.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
NHS Fife	3.0	-	3.0	3.0	-	3.0	100.0%	x	100.0%
NHS Forth Valley	2.0	-	2.0	2.0	-	2.0	100.0%	x	100.0%
NHS Grampian	21.0	4.0	17.0	14.5	2.1	12.5	69.3%	52.3%	73.3%
NHS Greater Glasgow	29.0	2.0	27.0	22.7	2.0	20.7	78.4%	100.0%	76.8%
NHS Highland	4.0	-	4.0	3.3	-	3.3	81.8%	x	81.8%
NHS Lanarkshire	25.0	11.0	14.0	15.1	8.6	6.5	60.4%	78.5%	46.1%
NHS Lothian	16.0	5.0	11.0	11.6	4.5	7.1	72.4%	89.1%	64.9%
NHS Orkney	-	-	-	-	-	-	x	x	x
NHS Shetland	-	-	-	-	-	-	x	x	x
State Hospital	1.0	-	1.0	1.0	-	1.0	100.0%	x	100.0%
NHS Tayside	2.0	-	2.0	1.5	-	1.5	72.8%	x	72.8%
NHS Western Isles	3.0	1.0	2.0	3.0	1.0	2.0	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes:

1. Includes hospital and community medical specialties, hospital and community dental specialties and public health medicine.

2. Medical surgical specialties.

Question reference: S2W-09777

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 1 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it provides to ENABLE to assist with the Thistle Travel Card Scheme.

Question reference: S2W-09776

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 1 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-994 by Nicol Stephen on 21 July 2003, how many (a) enquiries have been received about and (b) cards have been issued for the Thistle Travel Card Scheme in each year since its launch and what guidelines have been provided for transport staff and companies on the scheme.

The Scottish Executive does not retain figures relating to the ENABLE Thistle Travel Card Scheme.

However, we have been informed by ENABLE that they receive approximately 20 to 30 enquiries per month from a range of potential transport users, transport centres and places like adult day centres, citizen advice bureaus and libraries. Some of these enquiries are requesting more Thistle Cards, others are to ask more about the scheme.

We do not have a record of the number of enquiries which are directed to transport operators or others about the scheme.

200,000 cards have been distributed to potential bus and train users since the launch in 2002. Staff guidelines and posters were distributed to transport operators throughout Scotland in September 2002.

The guidelines are aimed at all transport staff informing them of the needs of card holders and what staff can do to assist.

The Thistle Card Scheme is making a significant difference to the lives of many thousands of people throughout Scotland who are prevented from enjoying a full, active and independent life in their community.

Chamber and committees