Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-09814

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9383 by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 July 2004, how many hospital beds there were in each NHS board area per 1,000 head of population in each year since 1997.

NHSScotland - Average Available Staffed Beds, Rate Per 1,000 Population^1,2; by Health Board Area: Years Ending 31 March

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004^P
Scotland	7.8	7.5	7.2	6.8	6.5	6.3	6.1	5.9
Argyll and Clyde	8.1	8.3	7.9	7.6	7.5	7.3	6.9	6.5
Ayrshire and Arran	6.1	6.0	5.8	5.8	5.8	5.8	5.8	5.6
Borders	7.4	7.1	6.9	6.5	6.2	6.0	5.8	6.1
Dumfries and Galloway³	7.4	7.2	7.4	6.6	5.7	5.5	5.2	5.6
Fife	6.4	6.1	5.9	5.7	5.5	5.2	5.1	4.9
Forth Valley	8.2	7.6	7.3	6.7	6.2	5.8	5.3	4.9
Grampian³	7.8	7.3	7.1	6.8	6.6	6.3	6.2	6.0
Greater Glasgow	9.3	9.2	8.6	8.2	7.8	7.5	7.2	7.1
Highland	7.2	7.2	6.9	6.8	6.5	6.5	6.2	6.1
Lanarkshire	7.0	6.7	6.6	6.5	6.2	5.8	5.5	5.4
Lothian	7.5	6.7	6.3	5.9	5.6	5.7	5.7	5.4
Orkney	7.8	7.4	6.7	5.3	4.9	4.9	4.9	4.9
Shetland	5.6	5.1	4.4	4.5	4.5	4.6	4.6	4.6
Tayside	9.0	8.5	8.2	7.9	7.3	6.7	6.6	6.4
Western Isles	8.1	9.8	9.5	9.1	9.3	8.5	8.5	8.7

^PProvisional.

Source: ISD Scotland [Form ISD(S)1]; Registrar General for Scotland.

Notes:

1. Includes joint-user and contractual hospitals.

2. Crude rates per 1,000 ; mid year population at 30 June.

3. Some information for later years is estimated.

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-09863

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 30 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people convicted of a sexual offence were under (a) 18 and (b) 21 when the offence occurred in each of the last five years.

The data on convictions held centrally does not include date of offence and so it is not possible to provide information in the form requested. The available statistics, which relate to age at date of sentence, are given in the table.

Persons Aged Under 21 with a Charge Proved in Scottish courts for a Sexual Offence¹, 1998-2002

	Age at Date of Sentence
Year of Sentence	Under 18	Under 21
1998	51	147
1999	31	113
2000	35	113
2001	39	121
2002⁽²⁾	26	83

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Figures may be underestimates due to time taken to record details of some court disposals in SCRO system.

Question reference: S2W-09865

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 30 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes of assault (a) were reported, (b) were proceeded against and (c) had a charge proved in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.

Information on crimes reported to (as opposed to recorded by) the police is not available centrally. The available information on the number of crimes of serious assault recorded by the police and on the number of persons proceeded against is given in the tables. Statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim, and a crime may be recorded in one year and proceedings taken in a subsequent year. Charges recorded by the police may also be altered as a result of the judicial process.

Number of Crimes of Serious Assault¹ Recorded by the Police, by Police Force Area, 1998-2003

Police Force Area	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Central	216	209	197	252	260	270
Dumfries and Galloway	78	63	64	99	122	135
Fife	89	184	278	272	284	283
Grampian	337	414	388	301	311	352
Lothian and Borders	853	874	786	740	792	704
Northern	133	152	245	215	225	198
Strathclyde	3,874	4,154	4,056	4,371	4,472	4,571
Tayside	256	273	218	223	219	170
Scotland	5,836	6,323	6,232	6,473	6,685	6,683

Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Serious Assault^1,2, 1998-2002

Police Force Area	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002⁴
Total number proceeded against:
Central	73	88	87	83	108
Dumfries and Galloway	42	28	30	28	49
Fife	80	76	67	98	118
Grampian	93	117	88	76	85
Lothian and Borders	177	195	197	224	293
Northern	47	43	58	47	46
Strathclyde	695	774	726	834	626
Tayside	124	123	153	143	152
Scotland	1,331	1,444	1,407³	1,533	1,477

Police Force Area	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Number with charge proved:
Central	56	63	58	52	80
Dumfries and Galloway	29	26	23	25	38
Fife	57	55	51	70	94
Grampian	72	90	66	62	71
Lothian and Borders	139	135	152	167	218
Northern	37	34	53	40	41
Strathclyde	498	544	486	548	559
Tayside	80	79	92	89	109
Scotland	968	1,026	982³	1,053	1,210

Notes:

1. Contraventions of Scottish criminal law are divided for statistical purposes into crimes and offences. The term "crime" is generally used for the more serious criminal acts; the less serious are termed "offences". An assault is classified as serious if the victim sustained an injury resulting in detention in hospital as an in-patient or any of the following injuries whether or not he was detained in hospital: fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushing, severe cuts or lacerations or severe general shock requiring medical treatment. Incidents not satisfying this definition are classed as offences of petty assault and are not included in the tables.

2. Where main offence.

3 One case where the force is unknown included in total.

4. Figures may be underestimates due to time taken to record court disposals on SCRO.

Question reference: S2W-09864

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 30 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes of robbery (a) were reported, (b) were proceeded against and (c) had a charge proved in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.

Information on crimes reported to (as opposed to recorded by) the police is not available centrally. Information on crimes of robbery recorded by the police broken down by police force area is published for each year in Table 4A of the relevant statistical bulletins “Recorded Crime in Scotland”, copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. numbers 7079, 13119, 35186, 20798, 27678 and 33018).

The available information on the number of persons proceeded against is given in the table. Statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim, and a crime may be recorded in one year and proceedings taken in a subsequent year. Charges recorded by the police may also be altered as a result of the judicial process.

Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts For Robbery¹, by Police Force Area, 1998-2002

Police Force Area	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002³
Total number proceeded against:
Central	19	23	26	30	28
Dumfries and Galloway	7	13	22	22	23
Fife	35	46	42	58	41
Grampian	61	49	41	56	56
Lothian and Borders	101	109	99	90	122
Northern	13	9	2	6	7
Strathclyde	486	539	517	460	388
Tayside	58	60	41	42	38
Scotland	780	848	790	766²	703
Number with charge proved:
Central	17	20	20	25	23
Dumfries and Galloway	6	12	17	22	19
Fife	32	42	36	41	37
Grampian	55	40	33	50	50
Lothian and Borders	84	96	83	79	100
Northern	9	9	2	6	6
Strathclyde	389	425	403	376	344
Tayside	35	38	29	22	30
Scotland	627	682	623	623²	609

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes a small number of cases where the force area is unknown.

3. Figures may be underestimates due to time taken to record details of court disposals on SCRO.

Question reference: S2W-09897

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 30 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average Scottish Ambulance Service response time was in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.

The information requested is set out in the following table:

Health Board	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Argyll and Clyde	9.9	10.0	10.1	10.3	10.2
Ayrshire and Arran	9.1	9.4	9.6	9.5	9.5
Borders	9.7	9.9	9.8	10.1	9.5
Dumfries and Galloway	9.5	9.4	9.2	9.5	9.7
Fife	8.6	8.7	8.6	8.7	8.5
Forth Valley	9.7	9.7	10.0	9.8	9.2
Grampian	8.7	9.4	9.1	9.4	8.3
Greater Glasgow	9.8	10.0	9.5	9.9	9.6
Highland	9.6	9.8	9.7	9.8	9.5
Lanarkshire	10.6	10.9	11.4	11.5	10.0
Lothian	8.8	8.8	8.8	9.2	8.5
Orkney	9.6	11.4	13.3	11.4	10.5
Shetland	11.6	13.7	14.2	13.8	12.2
Tayside	8.7	8.7	8.7	8.9	8.8
Western Isles	10.4	11.1	11.2	11.2	10.5
All Scotland	9.5	9.6	9.5	9.8	9.2

Question reference: S2W-09809

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 27 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people accused had more than one failure to appear warrant issued for the same charge in each of the last five years (a) in total and (b) broken down by sheriff court district.

Question reference: S2W-09808

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 27 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many failure to appear warrants were issued in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriff court district.

The information requested is shown in the following table and does not include fines enquiry and initiating warrants.

Failure to Appear Warrants Issued in Each Sheriff Court

Court	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Aberdeen	2,455	2,984	2,685	3,295	3,020
Airdrie	1,149	998	1,240	1,512	1,483
Alloa	335	401	612	775	759
Arbroath	202	231	275	422	320
Ayr	1,041	1,320	1,149	1,291	1,453
Banff	90	145	110	89	99
Campbeltown	59	48	50	58	76
Cupar	149	277	296	274	244
Dingwall	88	97	106	106	130
Dornoch	16	30	31	23	28
Dumbarton	964	1,246	1,108	1,213	1,363
Dumfries	483	521	429	950	789
Dundee	1,585	2,172	2,499	2,881	3,218
Dunfermline	499	676	769	983	1,005
Dunoon	142	165	168	146	177
Duns	28	6	39	62	63
Edinburgh	5,166	5,521	6,038	5,742	5,029
Elgin	188	181	331	372	401
Falkirk	693	1,001	1,083	1,056	1,124
Forfar	130	158	192	256	269
Fort William	48	52	55	77	79
Glasgow	8,170	8,265	8,710	10,359	8,205
Greenock	951	977	945	1,174	1,239
Haddington	314	419	470	612	410
Hamilton	2,950	3,135	3,956	3,994	3,372
Inverness	565	633	748	669	675
Jedburgh	86	123	176	216	201
Kilmarnock	1,062	1,001	1,155	1,260	1,617
Kirkcaldy	1,058	1,324	1,627	2,154	2,422
Kirkcudbright	69	79	64	93	89
Kirkwall	17	26	12	10	14
Lanark	200	176	244	253	350
Lerwick	19	38	32	39	33
Linlithgow	1,020	1,669	1,931	1,658	1,230
Lochmaddy	8	10	9	5	5
Oban	48	55	61	48	90
Paisley	1,983	2,454	2,334	2,615	2,796
Peebles	33	33	48	63	32
Perth	572	610	672	725	1,042
Peterhead	230	246	357	401	229
Portree	4	5	7	16	11
Rothesay	20	37	57	50	101
Selkirk	66	152	171	233	180
Stirling	437	735	758	842	974
Stonehaven	85	123	141	143	95
Stornoway	27	45	34	39	27
Stranraer	180	218	215	197	226
Tain	146	146	173	206	96
Wick	27	33	15	17	27
Totals	35,857	40,997	44,387	49,674	46,917

Question reference: S2W-09817

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 27 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length was of sentences for crimes of indecency in each of the last five years, broken down by main offence and sheriff court district.

The available information is given in the table.

Persons given a Custodial Sentence in Scottish Courts for a Crime of Indecency¹, 1998-2002

Main offence	Average Sentence Length (Days)					Number of Persons
Main offence	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002⁴	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002⁴
Sexual Assault²
High Court	2,137	2,054	2,113	2,201	1,839	58	49	45	59	42
Sheriff Courts³:
Aberdeen	-	731	-	-	365	-	1	-	-	1
Airdrie	1,096	547	-	912	-	1	1	-	1	-
Ayr	319	-	821	-	-	4	-	3	-	-
Banff	-	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Dingwall	-	-	-	90	91	-	-	-	1	1
Dumfries	-	-	-	731	-	-	-	-	1	-
Dundee	274	91	91	91	547	1	1	1	1	1
Dunfermline	-	274	548	-	-	-	1	2	-	-
Dunoon	-	-	30	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Edinburgh	494	328	91	568	-	4	5	1	3	-
Elgin	-	-	182	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Falkirk	-	-	-	-	731	-	-	-	-	1
Forfar	730	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Glasgow	60	407	438	547	912	1	5	5	3	1
Greenock	122	182	-	547	274	1	1	-	1	1
Haddington	-	91	91	-	-	-	1	1	-	-
Hamilton	-	-	-	1096	274	-	-	-	1	1
Inverness	60	914	-	-	-	1	2	-	-	-
Jedburgh	-	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Kilmarnock	91	274	274	-	365	1	2	3	-	1
Kirkcaldy	579	319	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	-
Lerwick	-	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Linlithgow	-	-	456	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Oban	-	-	-	122	-	-	-	-	1	-
Paisley	274	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Perth	-	220	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-
Stirling	-	-	-	456	-	-	-	-	1	-
Stranraer	-	-	152	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Tain	-	-	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
All courts	1,724	1,416	1,558	1,880	1,616	76	78	66	73	50

Main offence	Average Sentence Length (Days)					Number of Persons
Main offence	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002⁴	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002⁴
Lewd and Libidinous Behaviour
High Court	1,990	1,907	1,717	1,675	1,496	34	27	25	33	34
Sheriff Courts³:
Aberdeen	731	547	274	513	244	1	1	1	7	2
Airdrie	795	547	175	419	639	7	3	4	3	3
Alloa	91	912	638	-	1,461	2	1	1	-	1
Arbroath	91	426	324	42	304	1	3	3	1	3
Ayr	297	194	183	547	441	4	4	2	1	6
Banff	-	-	-	91	-	-	-	-	1	-
Campbeltown	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Cupar	-	914	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-
Dingwall	-	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Dornoch	-	-	-	91	91	-	-	-	1	1
Dumbarton	913	912	-	91	91	4	1	-	2	1
Dumfries	426	-	487	487	-	3	-	3	3	-
Dundee	395	396	122	1,004	-	6	6	4	2	-
Dunfermline	426	319	-	90	548	3	2	-	1	3
Dunoon	-	-	-	731	-	-	-	-	1	-
Duns	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh	416	456	642	434	327	16	17	12	11	8
Elgin	263	-	299	76	-	3	-	3	2	-
Falkirk	136	81	563	-	502	4	3	6	-	4
Forfar	91	-	-	914	-	1	-	-	2	-
Glasgow	495	455	385	572	386	19	22	12	10	13
Greenock	-	912	60	609	-	-	1	1	2	-
Haddington	-	91	122	-	91	-	1	1	-	1
Hamilton	-	479	456	382	517	-	4	5	7	3
Inverness	152	493	547	319	324	3	5	1	2	3
Jedburgh	-	319	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-
Kilmarnock	416	294	237	457	-	6	3	5	2	-
Kirkcaldy	237	495	638	-	639	5	7	1	-	4
Kirkcudbright	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Lanark	60	181	912	81	-	1	1	1	3	-
Lerwick	-	-	547	-	60	-	-	1	-	1
Linlithgow	304	370	140	396	335	5	6	5	3	4
Lochmaddy	-	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Oban	91	-	-	1,096	472	1	-	-	1	4
Paisley	502	479	-	638	433	2	4	-	3	4
Perth	1,096	426	-	319	-	2	3	-	2	-
Peterhead	296	60	-	-	91	4	1	-	-	1
Selkirk	-	548	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-
Stirling	547	731	-	-	486	2	1	-	-	1
Stornoway	1,096	-	-	91	-	1	-	-	1	-
Stranraer	822	-	730	365	-	2	-	2	1	-
Tain	-	547	-	-	1,096	-	1	-	-	1
All courts	793	723	730	822	770	146	137	100	108	106

Main offence	Average Sentence Length (Days)					Number of Persons
Main offence	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002⁴	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002⁴
Other Crimes of Indecency
High Court	1,891	1,666	1,890	2,150	1,976	22	20	20	22	11
Sheriff Courts³:
Aberdeen	-	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Alloa	365	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Arbroath	-	45	-	91	-	-	2	-	1	-
Ayr	-	-	365	365	-	-	-	1	1	-
Dingwall	-	-	-	365	-	-	-	-	1	-
Dumfries	182	731	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-
Dundee	-	-	-	122	-	-	-	-	1	-
Edinburgh	228	-	274	-	1,096	2	-	2	-	1
Elgin	-	60	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Glasgow	-	182	-	639	502	-	1	-	2	2
Haddington	91	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Hamilton	-	-	365	-	365	-	-	1	-	1
Inverness	122	-	-	61	-	1	-	-	1	-
Jedburgh	365	456	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-
Kilmarnock	-	-	-	365	-	-	-	-	1	-
Kirkcaldy	547	639	60	-	-	1	2	1	-	-
Kirkcudbright	-	-	-	731	365	-	-	-	1	2
Lanark	-	-	152	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Oban	-	182	-	-	60	-	3	-	-	1
Paisley	-	-	-	-	61	-	-	-	-	1
Perth	91	-	182	-	882	1	-	1	-	1
Selkirk	-	-	365	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Stirling	-	-	365	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
Tain	-	-	1,094	-	-	-	-	2	-	-
All courts	1,414	1,149	1,367	1,635	1,297	31	32	31	31	20

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes rape, attempted rape and indecent assault.

3. Includes a small number of persons sentenced in the district court.

4. Figures for 2002 may be underestimates due to late recording of disposals on SCRO.

Question reference: S2W-09816

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 27 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7347 by Cathy Jamieson on 14 April 2004, how many people were on the sex offenders register in each of the last five years.

The numberof sex offenders recorded by the Scottish Criminal Record Office as being registeredwith Scottish Police Forces is available for the last four years, and isshown in the following table.

As at:	Number of Registrations
March 2001	1,480
March 2002	1,724
March 2003	1,926
March 2004	2,244

Chamber and committees