Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S3W-15880

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 25 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to incentivise energy efficiency at (a) domestic level and (b) utility level for generation and transmission.

The Scottish Government is taking a number of steps to incentivise energy efficiency.

At a domestic level:

We recently launched the Energy Saving Scotland advice network - a one-stop shop for advice on energy including energy efficiency, renewables and personal transport.

We will launch a new home-help service in the autumn, which will remove the hassle factor by offering intensive and tailored face to face support to help people find home installation solutions that are right for them.

We have secured the commitment of the energy companies to funding Scotland''s share of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). This could be worth at least £107 million each year for home energy efficiency improvements and savings of £83 million each year in household fuel bills.

We will be introducing the Home Report in December 2008 to raise awareness of energy efficiency at the point of house sale. This will signpost to the Energy Saving Scotland advice network to help households undertake improvements.

We are committing £45 million each year over the next three years to continue to help tackle fuel poverty. We have already made thousands of Scottish homes warmer and more affordable to heat by installing energy efficiency measures through our fuel poverty programmes.

In addition, the Scottish Government will be launching a consultation on further measures to improve the energy performance of existing homes later in the year.

At the utility level for generation and transmission, this is largely a matter for the companies and organisations involved, although we are keen to see losses minimised and the promotion of energy efficiency wherever possible. We are also due to hold meetings shortly with the main energy supply firms to discuss how they might promote better energy demand and management with their major industrial and large-scale consumers.

Question reference: S3W-15879

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to reduce the current time-lag in aggregate reporting of greenhouse gas emissions.

Question reference: S3W-15881

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it intends to take to speed up the reporting of aggregate greenhouse gases.

Question reference: S3W-16183

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 24 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-15716 by Stewart Stevenson on 10 September 2008, what investment is being made and action taken to ensure that there is no repeat of the flooding incident that took place between Waverley and Haymarket stations during summer 2008.

Question reference: S3W-15882

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 23 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it will make to encourage the UK Committee on Climate Change to allot sufficient time to considering policy and contextual issues specific to Scotland.

As a sponsor of the Committee on Climate Change the Scottish Government will play an active role to ensure that Scottish issues are adequately considered. The UK Climate Change Bill enables the Scottish ministers to request advice in relation to Scottish emissions targets. The bill also requires the committee to take account of differences in circumstances between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland when advising on UK carbon budgets.

Question reference: S3W-15697

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 22 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is committed to reducing carbon emissions across government in Scotland and, if so, by what amount, also expressed as a percentage.

The Scottish Government is committed to reducing carbon emissions across government. In respect of the buildings on the core estate of the Scottish Government, the information requested is provided in Scottish Government Environmental Performance Annual Report for 2006-07, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 44178). The report can also be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/12/06160436/3.

In Scottish Budget Spending Review 2007, we made a commitment to develop a carbon assessment tool that can be applied across Government spending. Work on this initiative is progressing.

Question reference: S3W-16078

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 16 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the bed occupancy rates were for each hospital in the NHS Lothian area in each of the last four years.

The percentage acute bed occupancy for hospitals in NHS Lothian is shown in the following table.

NHSScotland - Average bed occupancy¹, NHS Lothian Area Years Ending 31 March 2005-08

	2005	2006	2007	2008^P
All Locations	85.3	84.4	85.0	85.8
Astley Ainslie Hospital	88.4	86.1	86.2	83.7
Belhaven Hospital	66.6	73.3	73.4	72.8
Corstorphine Hospital	92.9	83.2	88.5	83.3
Craigshill Care Home	89.7	93.4	79.9	87.3
Edenhall Hospital	78.4	77.5	76.4	82.2
Edington Cottage Hospital	78.5	67.9	73.8	86.7
Ellen''s Glen House	94.0	92.5	93.3	96.2
Ferryfield House	96.4	96.9	95.7	87.0
Findlay House	89.8	91.9	88.1	81.1
Herdmanflat Hospital	74.6	72.2	66.3	72.3
Learning Disabilities Service Healthcare Houses	91.7	98.5	95.5	96.5
Liberton Hospital	90.1	91.0	89.2	90.7
Loanhead Hospital	87.1	79.4	86.9	82.0
Murray Park Nursing Home	91.2	96.1	97.5	98.6
Princess Alexandra Eye Pavillion	35.8	36.8	33.6	33.3
Roodlands General Hospital	85.5	82.8	85.1	86.6
Rosslynlee Hospital	56.7	50.3	44.9	60.2
Royal Edinburgh Hospital	86.1	84.3	89.5	87.2
Royal Hospital for Sick Children (Edinburgh)	68.0	66.3	66.0	68.7
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France	85.3	85.7	85.7	87.1
Royal Victoria Hospital	96.0	94.2	96.0	92.7
St Columba''s Hospice	77.1	82.0	79.6	82.7
St John''s Hospital	81.2	79.7	81.3	80.9
St Michael''s Hospital	84.3	82.2	85.6	84.2
The Greenbank Centre	98.4	98.4	95.8	86.4
Tippethill Hospital	84.1	88.8	87.5	91.0
Western General Hospital	88.4	88.6	89.5	90.9
Whitburn House	89.5	88.9	87.5	71.6
William Fraser Centre	99.2	102.7	95.9	98.4

Source: ISD Scotland (ISD(S)1).

^PProvisional, some information is estimated.

Notes:

1. Percentage occupancy is the percentage of available staffed beds that were occupied by inpatients during the year It is derived as total occupied bed days/all available staffed bed days*100.

2. The figures presented in the table include beds for use by NHS patients that are located in non-NHS locations, for example joint-user and contractual hospitals.

Question reference: S3W-15717

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it is investing in research into the incidence of Crohn’s disease.

Crohn''s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is currently funding three projects relating to IBD at a total cost of £492,000. The Scottish Government is not, however, currently funding research looking specifically at the incidence of Crohn''s disease.

The Register of Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease, based at the Institute of Child Health within the University of Liverpool, aims is to establish incidence figures and trends for all patients under the age of 16 who are newly diagnosed with IBD from 47 selected centres in Scotland, England and Wales. One of the aims of the register is to promote research projects.

Question reference: S3W-15718

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is monitoring the incidence of Crohn’s disease and what conclusions it has drawn from any such research.

The Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland collects data on Crohn''s disease relating to the number of people who are discharged from hospital with a diagnosis of Crohn''s disease. As these data do not include people with the condition who are being managed outwith hospital, they cannot shed light on any trends in its incidence.

ISD is developing a Long Term Conditions Information Programme which will underpin a systematic approach to the management in Scotland of conditions such as Crohn''s disease.

Question reference: S3W-15891

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 11 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total spending is on support for farmers engaged in flood management.