Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-32524

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many seizures of (a) heroin, (b) cocaine, (c) crack cocaine, (d) ecstasy and (e) cannabis took place in each police board area in each year since 1999, showing year-on-year percentage changes.

Information on the number ofdrug seizures each year, broken down by police board area and drug type, is givenin the following publications, all of which have been placed in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre.

Publication	Bib. Number	Table	Year
Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland, 2001	20860	104	1999
Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland, 2002	27706	E2.2	2000
Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland, 2003	32141	E2.2	2001
Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland, 2004	36121	E2.2	2002
Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland, 2005	38474	D2.2	2003
Drug Seizures by Scottish Police Forces, 2004-2005 and 2005-2006	42386	9 & 11	2004-05
	42386	12 & 14	2005-06

Question reference: S2W-32385

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of all official engagements undertaken at Bute House by the First Minister since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-32386

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of all events attended by (a) the First Minister and (b) Executive ministers at Bute House since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-32384

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of all official engagements undertaken at Bute House by Executive ministers since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-32526

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 27 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many midwives were employed by each NHS board in each year since 1999, showing year-on-year percentage changes.

The following tables show the headcount formidwives employed by each NHS board in each year since 1999 and year-on-yearpercentage changes (headcount at 30September).

NHS Board	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006

NHS Argyll and Clyde	335	327	313	304	303	287	289	x
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	263	259	257	254	259	273	267	275
NHS Borders	81	86	68	67	70	76	76	67
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	133	132	124	122	124	122	123	125
NHS Fife	190	197	194	190	197	203	193	205
NHS Forth Valley	198	198	203	204	204	210	210	202
NHS Grampian	387	401	397	402	398	391	401	394
NHS Greater Glasgow	624	610	604	590	619	613	625	x
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	856
NHS Highland	270	268	247	247	242	240	242	254
NHS Lanarkshire	323	319	297	291	295	294	303	300
NHS Lothian	426	431	437	446	444	444	452	455
NHS Orkney	19	19	18	15	15	13	11	9
NHS Shetland	34	30	32	29	30	30	26	24
NHS Tayside	300	283	271	278	269	277	282	273
NHS Western Isles	43	40	42	36	33	34	34	31
NHS 24	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	..
NHS National Services Scotland	-	-	-	-		-	-	6
Scotland	3,626	3,600	3,504	3,475	3,506	3,507	3,534	3,476

NHS Board	Change 1999-2000	Change 2000-01	Change 2001-02	Change 2002-03	Change 2003-04	Change 2004-05	Change 2005-06
NHS Argyll and Clyde
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	-2.4%	-4.3%	-2.9%	-0.3%	-5.3%	0.7%	..
NHS Borders	-1.5%	-0.8%	-1.2%	2.0%	5.4%	-2.2%	3.0%
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	6.2%	-20.9%	-1.5%	4.5%	8.6%	0.0%	-11.8%
NHS Fife	-0.8%	-6.1%	-1.6%	1.6%	-1.6%	0.8%	1.6%
NHS Forth Valley	3.7%	-1.5%	-2.1%	3.7%	3.0%	-4.9%	6.2%
NHS Grampian	0.0%	2.5%	0.5%	0.0%	2.9%	0.0%	-3.8%
NHS Greater Glasgow	3.6%	-1.0%	1.3%	-1.0%	-1.8%	2.6%	-1.7%
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	-2.2%	-1.0%	-2.3%	4.9%	-1.0%	2.0%	..
NHS Highland	x	x	x	x	x	x	..
NHS Lanarkshire	-0.7%	-7.8%	0.0%	-2.0%	-0.8%	0.8%	5.0%
NHS Lothian	-1.2%	-6.9%	-2.0%	1.4%	-0.3%	3.1%	-1.0%
NHS Orkney	1.2%	1.4%	2.1%	-0.4%	0.0%	1.8%	0.7%
NHS Shetland	0.0%	-5.3%	-16.7%	0.0%	-13.3%	-15.4%	-18.2%
NHS Tayside	-11.8%	6.7%	-9.4%	3.4%	0.0%	-13.3%	-7.7%
NHS Western Isles	-5.7%	-4.2%	2.6%	-3.2%	3.0%	1.8%	-3.2%
NHS 24	-7.0%	5.0%	-14.3%	-8.3%	3.0%	0.0%	-8.8%
NHS National Services Scotland	x	x	x	x	x	x	..
Scotland	-0.7%	-2.7%	-0.8%	0.9%	0.0%	0.8%	-1.6%

Notes:

1. The figures are presented inthe same groupings as for previous years and the details for employees who havebeen assimilated to Agenda for Change have been “mapped back” as far aspossible to the coding used under Whitley to ensure consistency in trend data.

2. During the preview period forthe release of national statistics, NHS 24 identified a discrepancy with the2006 data which ISD are investigating further, therefore 2006 figures for NHS24 are not shown.

Symbols and abbreviations:

“ - ” nil.

“x” not applicable.

“..” not available.

Question reference: S2W-32532

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many companies ceased trading in each year since 1999, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) rateable value.

Data on the number of VAT de-registrationsare released annually by the Small Business Service, an agency of the Departmentfor Trade and Industry. These figures are used to monitor the number of businessclosures.

Not all VAT de-registrationsare due to business closures, in a minority of cases businesses de-register becauseturnover has fallen below the registration threshold. Not all business closuresshould be interpreted as business failures - it is estimated that only around onein four closures involve bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings.

The following table shows figureson the number of VAT de-registrations in Scotland broken down by local authority area for the period 1999to 2005. This data is not available broken down by rateable value.

Number of VATDe-Registrations by Local Authority, 1999-2005

Local Authority	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Aberdeen City	580	660	710	645	610	590	490
Aberdeenshire	620	640	705	655	635	645	580
Angus	210	195	205	185	200	190	175
Argyll and Bute	235	230	220	195	215	230	205
Clackmannanshire	65	60	75	85	55	75	75
Dumfries and Galloway	325	315	300	275	290	300	315
Dundee City	250	240	255	245	225	245	225
East Ayrshire	205	200	195	195	225	205	185
East Dunbartonshire	205	225	180	185	205	200	170
East Lothian	170	155	170	185	170	175	170
East Renfrewshire	205	160	190	180	165	195	165
Edinburgh, City of	1,360	1,235	1,245	1,285	1,380	1,195	1,210
Eilean Siar	65	75	60	80	65	60	75
Falkirk	215	215	225	220	215	265	210
Fife	610	595	540	560	600	615	545
Glasgow City	1,620	1,580	1,580	1,690	1,630	1,510	1,390
Highland	530	570	555	520	560	620	595
Inverclyde	100	115	95	100	110	115	85
Midlothian	115	100	125	110	120	125	115
Moray	160	135	160	150	165	175	165
North Ayrshire	210	210	215	200	195	205	180
North Lanarkshire	440	450	430	465	420	445	415
Orkney Islands	85	70	80	55	55	80	75
Perth and Kinross	365	345	390	385	350	380	335
Renfrewshire	325	305	330	320	325	310	295
Scottish Borders	250	255	250	250	270	280	280
Shetland Islands	45	60	45	45	60	85	105
South Ayrshire	230	240	235	240	210	240	215
South Lanarkshire	580	535	625	550	610	565	515
Stirling	225	205	215	185	235	230	225
West Dunbartonshire	110	110	95	110	75	90	85
West Lothian	275	270	250	280	290	280	300
Total	10,985	10,755	10,955	10,820	10,930	10,920	10,160

Source: Small Business Service,DTI.

Question reference: S2W-32531

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new companies were registered in each year since 1999, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) rateable value.

Data on the number of VAT registrationsare released annually by the Small Business Service, an agency of the Departmentfor Trade and Industry. These figures are used to monitor the number of businessstart-ups. These figures do not account for all business activity as only companieswith a turnover above the VAT threshold are required to register.

The following table shows figureson the number of VAT registrations in Scotland broken down by local authority area for the period 1999to 2005. This data is not available broken down by rateable value.

Number of VAT Registrations byLocal Authority, 1999-2005

Local Authority	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Aberdeen City	570	590	525	610	545	520	580
Aberdeenshire	555	645	590	600	740	670	710
Angus	210	185	195	175	205	215	215
Argyll and Bute	220	200	225	230	230	275	220
Clackmannanshire	75	75	80	80	100	90	80
Dumfries and Galloway	315	285	300	320	350	345	345
Dundee City	245	275	250	240	245	265	255
East Ayrshire	230	190	215	215	205	210	240
East Dunbartonshire	200	225	205	185	180	215	190
East Lothian	200	190	175	180	215	200	190
East Renfrewshire	185	175	165	155	180	180	170
Edinburgh, City of	1,365	1,465	1,370	1,275	1,410	1,445	1,390
Eilean Siar	60	40	55	55	65	65	65
Falkirk	265	235	225	265	265	305	295
Fife	665	600	580	610	680	665	555
Glasgow City	1,685	1,620	1,585	1,505	1,540	1,525	1,470
Highland	570	525	510	595	620	670	575
Inverclyde	95	110	105	115	140	120	115
Midlothian	145	145	140	145	170	150	160
Moray	145	165	155	140	180	170	165
North Ayrshire	230	235	205	205	230	225	210
North Lanarkshire	490	510	525	520	595	555	570
Orkney Islands	60	65	60	55	50	60	70
Perth and Kinross	390	390	375	375	400	395	360
Renfrewshire	345	310	325	330	365	355	325
Scottish Borders	325	265	260	300	315	300	285
Shetland Islands	80	65	40	60	70	60	65
South Ayrshire	250	255	245	245	270	270	240
South Lanarkshire	605	600	640	655	665	665	660
Stirling	265	255	240	260	300	270	270
West Dunbartonshire	125	115	95	105	125	120	125
West Lothian	345	345	330	325	325	405	370
Total	11,505	11,345	10,980	11,130	11,980	11,980	11,525

Source: Small Business Service,DTI.

Question reference: S2W-32523

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals were charged with possession of (a) heroin, (b) cocaine, (c) crack cocaine, (d) ecstasy and (e) cannabis in each police board area in each year since 1999, showing year-on-year percentage changes.

The statistics held centrallyon recorded crime do not show the number of charges, nor is it possible to breakdown the drug offences by the type of drug involved. The available information isshown in the following tables.

Number of Crimes ofPossession Recorded by Police Force Area from 1999-2000 to 2005-06

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	806	974	1,217	1,505	1,536	1,375	1,429
Dumfries and Galloway	332	299	331	417	561	593	663
Fife	796	838	1,057	1,265	1,344	1,301	1,392
Grampian	1,736	1,601	2,050	2,345	2,177	2,309	2,522
Lothian and Borders	3,415	3,425	3,722	4,366	4,047	3,934	4,204
Northern	1,000	935	1,338	1,330	1,486	1,422	1,818
Strathclyde	12,453	13,241	14,934	17,390	19,023	18,721	19,868
Tayside	1,238	1,157	1,539	1,892	2,289	2,613	2,544
All Scotland	21,776	22,470	26,188	30,510	32,463	32,268	34,440

Annual Increase in theNumber of Crimes of Possession Recorded by Police Force Area from 2000-01 to 2005-06

	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	20.8	24.9	23.7	2.1	-10.5	3.9
Dumfries and Galloway	-9.9	10.7	26.0	34.5	5.7	11.8
Fife	5.3	26.1	19.7	6.2	-3.2	7.0
Grampian	-7.8	28.0	14.4	-7.2	6.1	9.2
Lothian and Borders	0.3	8.7	17.3	-7.3	-2.8	6.9
Northern	-6.5	43.1	-0.6	11.7	-4.3	27.8
Strathclyde	6.3	12.8	16.4	9.4	-1.6	6.1
Tayside	-6.5	33.0	22.9	21.0	14.2	-2.6
All Scotland	3.2	16.5	16.5	6.4	-0.6	6.7

Number of Crimes ofPossession with Intent to Supply Recorded by Police Force Area from 1999-2000 to2005-06

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	291	495	631	508	543	551	585
Dumfries and Galloway	279	194	250	345	426	332	274
Fife	386	506	623	657	544	680	555
Grampian	584	567	724	889	594	695	731
Lothian and Borders	1,304	1,767	1,912	1,948	1,677	1,896	1,884
Northern	377	235	353	294	435	287	388
Strathclyde	4,333	4,710	4,937	4,623	4,293	3,820	4,124
Tayside	478	550	700	676	772	817	752
All Scotland	8,032	9,024	10,130	9,940	9,284	9,078	9,293

Annual Increase in theNumber of Crimes Possession with Intent to Supply Recorded by Police Force Areafrom 2000-01 to 2005-06

	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	70.1	27.5	-19.5	6.9	1.5	6.2
Dumfries and Galloway	-30.5	28.9	38.0	23.5	-22.1	-17.5
Fife	31.1	23.1	5.5	-17.2	25.0	-18.4
Grampian	-2.9	27.7	22.8	-33.2	17.0	5.2
Lothian and Borders	35.5	8.2	1.9	-13.9	13.1	-0.6
Northern	-37.7	50.2	-16.7	48.0	-34.0	35.2
Strathclyde	8.7	4.8	-6.4	-7.1	-11.0	8.0
Tayside	15.1	27.3	-3.4	14.2	5.8	-8.0
All Scotland	12.4	12.3	-1.9	-6.6	-2.2	2.4

Total Number of Crimes ofPossession and Possession with Intent to Supply Recorded by Police Force Area from1999-2000 to 2005-06

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	1,097	1,469	1,848	2,013	2,079	1,926	2,014
Dumfries and Galloway	611	493	581	762	987	925	937
Fife	1,182	1,344	1,680	1,922	1,888	1,981	1,947
Grampian	2,320	2,168	2,774	3,234	2,771	3,004	3,253
Lothian and Borders	4,719	5,192	5,634	6,314	5,724	5,830	6,088
Northern	1,377	1,170	1,691	1,624	1,921	1,709	2,206
Strathclyde	16,786	17,951	19,871	22,013	23,316	22,541	23,992
Tayside	1,716	1,707	2,239	2,568	3,061	3,430	3,296
All Scotland	29,808	31,494	36,318	40,450	41,747	41,346	43,733

Annual Increase in theNumber of Crimes of Possession and Possession with Intent to Supply Recorded byPolice Force Area from 2000-01 to 2005-06

	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	33.9	25.8	8.9	3.3	-7.4	4.6
Dumfries and Galloway	-19.3	17.8	31.2	29.5	-6.3	1.3
Fife	13.7	25.0	14.4	-1.8	4.9	-1.7
Grampian	-6.6	28.0	16.6	-14.3	8.4	8.3
Lothian and Borders	10.0	8.5	12.1	-9.3	1.9	4.4
Northern	-15.0	44.5	-4.0	18.3	-11.0	29.1
Strathclyde	6.9	10.7	10.8	5.9	-3.3	6.4
Tayside	-0.5	31.2	14.7	19.2	12.1	-3.9
All Scotland	5.7	15.3	11.4	3.2	-1.0	5.8

Question reference: S2W-32522

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 23 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals declared themselves bankrupt in each year since 1999, broken down by parliamentary constituency and showing year-on-year percentage changes.

The Accountant in Bankruptcymaintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland. Details of bankruptcies are compiled by financial year.The following table gives the number of individualswho have made themselves bankrupt (debtor petition) for the financial years 1999-2000 to 2005-06 showing percentagechange on the previous year.

Details on the number of awardsof bankruptcy by parliamentary constituencyis not available.

Further information on bankruptciesis available in the Accountant in Bankruptcy’s Annual Report which is availableat www.aib.gov.uk.

Financial Year	Number of Debtor Petition Bankruptcies in Scotland	Percentage Change on Previous Year
1999-2000	2,027	3.90%
2000-01	1,801	-11.10%
2001-02	2,130	18.30%
2002-03	1,798	-15.60%
2003-04	1,715	-4.60%
2004-05	1,655	-3.50%
2005-06	2,314	39.80%

Source: Accountant in Bankruptcy.

Question reference: S2W-32088

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 23 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people applied to enter teacher training in each year since 1999 and how many were accepted, broken down by (a) gender, (b) ethnic background and (c) disability.

The following tables below havebeen provided by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Includedare applicants and acceptances to Scottish Higher Education Institutions for undergraduatestudy in the subject of Education. Most of these applicants will enter teacher trainingcourses. Comprehensive application and acceptance data on entrants to PGCE coursesare not held centrally.

Applicants to Undergraduate Coursesin Education by Gender

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Male	755	780	790	805	915	895	955
Female	2,525	2,490	2,715	3,110	3,175	3,315	3,380
Total	3,280	3,270	3,505	3,915	4,090	4,210	4,335

Source: UCAS.