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: S2W-06133

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many approved salaried dentist posts there are.

Question reference: S2W-06139

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance is available for dentists wishing to purchase an existing practice.

Question reference: S2W-06163

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out by the Food Standards Agency into any links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heart disease.

The Food Standards Agencyhas not carried out, and is not currently funding, any research investigatingthe links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heartdisease.

Hydrogenation is a processof turning liquid oil into solid fat. During this process, a type of trans fatmay be formed that raises cholesterol levels in the blood. This increases therisk of coronary heart disease. The Food Standards Agency does therefore advisethat as part of a healthy diet, we should try to reduce the amount of saturatedfats and trans fats we eat and replace them with unsaturated fats.

Question reference: S2W-06166

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the labelling of food to include trans fat content in light of scientific information highlighted by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States of America.

Question reference: S2W-06131

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists finished their vocational training last year.

Question reference: S2W-06136

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures there are to track those dentists who qualify in Scotland but do not apply for an NHS list number.

Since 1994-95,data has been collected by the Education, Transport and Lifelong LearningDepartment on the number of dentistry graduates in Scotland in each year. This is brokendown to identify the domicile of the graduates and the first destination of dentistrygraduates from Scottish higher education institutes (categorised into Scotland,rest of the UK, rest of the world, and unknown first destination).

Themost recent information within this “first destination study” is correct as at 2001-02when 80% of these graduates had a first destination in Scotland.

Further tracking is donethrough employment in the NHS. Through this system, first year vocational traineescan be tracked to subsequent jobs in NHSScotland.

Question reference: S2W-06413

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how much methadone was prescribed in each year since 1999 and what percentage was sugar-free.

Methadone hydrochloride can be used as a cough suppressant in terminal disease, an opioid analgesic and as a drug used in substance dependence. It is available in the following formulations: linctus; tablets; powder; injections; and oral solutions.

Only oral solutions used in the treatment of substance dependence are available as sugar free.

The table shows the number of prescribed items for all formulations of methadone hydrochloride for the years ending 31 March 2000 to 2003 inclusive. Data in the tables refer to prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors, but do not take into account medicines dispensed by hospitals or hospital-based clinics.

	2000	2001	2002	2003
Total Prescribed Items	243,120	274,164	319,138	360,326
Total Sugar Free	31,753	39,050	47,469	72,482
Percentage Sugar Free	13.06%	14.24%	14.87%	20.12%

Source: The information in the table has been provided by ISD.

Question reference: S2W-06410

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4807 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, whether it holds the same information on median and mean waiting times for (a) in-patients and day cases and (b) out-patients, stating availability status codes.

Availability Status Codes (ASCs) are not mandatory data items on the in-patient and day case discharge record. For this reason the in-patient/day case table in the answer to S2W-4807 includes all cases, and does not exclude cases with an ASC.

On the out-patient record, Availability Status Codes (ASCs) can be identified. The table provides information on the median and mean waiting times for new out-patients without an ASC and new outpatients with an ASC. The mean and median wait data for new outpatients without an ASC was previously included in the answer to S2W-4807.

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.

	Difference in Median Wait and Mean Wait (days) for New Outpatient Appointments
Quarter Ended	Excludes ASCs			Only ASCs
	Median	Mean	Difference	Median	Mean	Difference
30-Jun-1997	41	54.9	-13.9	81	105.3	-24.3
30-Sep-1997	45	60.5	-15.5	83	101.1	-18.1
31-Dec-1997	44	61.7	-17.7	87	108.6	-21.6
31-Mar-1998	43	60.7	-17.7	84	106.6	-22.6
30-Jun-1998	43	59.3	-16.3	73	97.5	-24.5
30-Sep-1998	48	64.0	-16.0	79	98.2	-19.2
31-Dec-1998	48	64.8	-16.8	83	102.7	-19.7
31-Mar-1999	47	66.2	-19.2	84	104.4	-20.4
30-Jun-1999	46	64.3	-18.3	75	98.0	-23.0
30-Sep-1999	51	69.2	-18.2	78	99.0	-21.0
31-Dec-1999	50	69.6	-19.6	82	104.3	-22.3
31-Mar-2000	48	68.7	-20.7	87	109.2	-22.2
30-Jun-2000	47	65.0	-18.0	80	107.7	-27.7
30-Sep-2000	50	68.3	-18.3	84	108.0	-24.0
31-Dec-2000	50	71.9	-21.9	87	113.1	-26.1
31-Mar-2001	51	78.0	-27.0	91	116.7	-25.7
30-Jun-2001	50	73.4	-23.4	90	119.5	-29.5
30-Sep-2001	56	77.2	-21.2	91	117.5	-26.5
31-Dec-2001	55	79.9	-24.9	98	125.2	-27.2
31-Mar-2002	56	83.3	-27.3	102	130.0	-28.0
30-Jun-2002	54	84.1	-30.1	91	125.6	-34.6
30-Sep-2002	57	87.5	-30.5	93	124.0	-31.0
31-Dec-2002	57	90.8	-33.8	91	123.4	-32.4
31-Mar-2003	56	91.8	-35.8	95	129.9	-34.9
30-Jun-2003	51	84.9	-33.9	88	129.9	-41.9
30-Sep-2003	55	86.9	-31.9	92	131.0	-39.0

Source: Out-patient data issourced from the SMR00 dataset, and covers referrals from a GMP/GDP to a consultantled out-patient clinic.

Note: Data for the mostrecent quarters should be considered provisional

Question reference: S2W-06409

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4807 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, what the difference was in median wait and mean wait, broken down by NHS board and speciality in each quarter.

Question reference: S2W-06416

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have received a community care service from their local authority in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.