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: S1W-26979

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 4 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the relationship is between Better Government for Older People and the Older People's Advisory Group.

Question reference: S1W-26975

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 4 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many older people are involved in Better Government for Older People, broken down by region.

This is a matter for the Better Government for Older People (BGOP) Network. The information requested is not held centrally. I have asked the Network Director to write directly to the member. For information a copy of the latest edition of the network's journal Stratagem (Bib. number 22432) and a briefing note prepared by BGOP (Bib. number 22433) have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

Question reference: S1W-26981

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 4 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the relationship is between Better Government for Older People and the National Pensioners Convention.

Question reference: S1W-26978

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 4 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many seats pensioners' voluntary groups have on the Older People's Consultative Forum.

The following organisations are represented on the Older People's Consultative Forum:Scottish Older People's Advisory Group (3)Scottish Pensioners' Forum (1)Confederation of Scotland's Elderly (1)Scottish Pensions Association (1)West of Scotland Seniors Forum (1)Black and Minority Ethnic Elders Group (1)Help the Aged (1)Age Concern Scotland (1)STUC (1)The number of representatives from each organisation is indicated in brackets. Other organisations and individuals are invited to attend the forum on an ad-hoc basis as necessary.

Question reference: S1W-26627

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 3 July 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what specialist units and local authority support services there were for the care and treatment of (a) anorexia nervosa and (b) bulimia in 1997 and are in the current year, broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S1W-26579

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many dermatologists were employed by each NHS board, expressed as a percentage of whole-time equivalent posts, in each of the last five years.

Information on whole-time equivalent (WTE) of dermatologists in 1995-2000 in each NHS board is shown in the following tables. 2001 data will be available from 17 July 2002.It should be noted that the figures do not reflect directly the availability of dermatology services, because in many instances doctors employed in one health board area also provide service in another. It should also be noted that in 2001 the number of posts for Specialist Registrars currently training for a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST) in dermatology was increased from 14 to 17. Table 1Dermatologists Directly Employed by NHSScotland by NHS Board¹Whole-Time Equivalent (WTE) at 30 September 1996

	All Grades	Consultants	Non-Consultant Career Grades²	Training Grades³	Other⁴
Scotland	87	36.9	6.1	36.8	7.3
Argyll and Clyde	7.7	3	2	2	0.8
Ayrshire and Arran	4.6	3	-	1	0.7
Borders	0.4	0.4	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	1.2	1	-	-	0.2
Fife	2.3	1.7	-	-	0.6
Forth Valley	0.8	0.6	-	-	0.2
Grampian	5.1	3	-	2	0.1
Greater Glasgow	28.6	10.5	-	14.6	3.5
Highland	3.8	2	0.7	1	0.1
Lanarkshire	8	2.9	1	3	1.1
Lothian	14.4	4.8	2.4	7.2	0.1
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
Tayside	10	4	-	6	0.1
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-

Table 2Dermatologists Directly Employed by NHSScotland by NHS Board¹Whole-Time Equivalent (WTE) at 30 September 1997

	All Grades	Consultants	Non-consultant career grades ²	Training Grades³	Other⁴
Scotland	91.7	40.7	6.8	36.3	7.8
Argyll and Clyde	8.3	3	2	2	1.3
Ayrshire and Arran	4.7	3	-	1	0.8
Borders	0.4	0.4	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	1.2	1	-	-	0.2
Fife	2.8	1.7	0.4	-	0.7
Forth Valley	2	1.6	-	-	0.4
Grampian	5.6	3	-	2.5	0.1
Greater Glasgow	28.6	10.5	-	15.6	2.5
Highland	4.1	2	0.7	1	0.4
Lanarkshire	9.6	4.9	1.3	2	1.4
Lothian	12.8	5.4	2.5	4.7	0.2
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
Tayside	11.7	4.1	-	7.5	0.1
Western Isles		-	-	-	-

Table 3Dermatologists Directly Employed by NHSScotland by NHS Board¹Whole-Time Equivalent (WTE) at 30 September 1998

	All Grades	Consultants	Non-consultant career grades²	Training Grades³	Other⁴
Scotland	90.7	40.8	8	35.6	6.4
Argyll and Clyde	8	3	2	2	1
Ayrshire and Arran	4.9	3	-	1	0.9
Borders	0.4	0.4	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	1.1	1	-	-	0.1
Fife	2.9	1.7	0.4	-	0.8
Forth Valley	1.9	1.6	-	-	0.3
Grampian	5.1	3	-	2	0.1
Greater Glasgow	28.3	10.5	-	15.6	2.2
Highland	3.9	2	0.7	1	0.2
Lanarkshire	10.8	4.9	2.1	3.2	0.6
Lothian	13.6	5.5	2.7	5.2	0.2
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
Tayside	9.8	4.1	-	5.6	0.1
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-

Table 4Dermatologists Directly Employed by NHSScotland by NHS Board¹Whole-Time Equivalent (WTE) at 30 September 1999

	All Grades	Consultants	Non-consultant career grades²	Training Grades³	Other⁴
Scotland	89.7	44.7	6.8	32.2	6
Argyll and Clyde	8	2	1	4	1
Ayrshire and Arran	5	3	-	1	1
Borders	0.4	0.4	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	1.1	1	-	-	0.1
Fife	2.8	1.5	0.4	-	0.9
Forth Valley	2.4	2	-	-	0.4
Grampian	4.7	3.6	-	1	0.1
Greater Glasgow	25	11.3	-	12	1.8
Highland	3.8	2	0.7	1	-
Lanarkshire	11.5	4.8	2.2	4	0.5
Lothian	13.7	6.4	2.5	4.6	0.2
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
Tayside	11.4	6.7	-	4.6	0.1
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-

Table 5Dermatologists Directly Employed by NHSScotland by NHS Board¹Whole-Time Equivalent (WTE) at 30 September 2000

	All Grades	Consultants	Non-Consultant Career Grades²	Training Grades³	Other⁴
Scotland	95.2	43.8	6.8	39.1	5.5
Argyll and Clyde	6.4	2	1	3	0.4
Ayrshire and Arran	4.9	3	-	1	0.9
Borders	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	1.2	1	-	-	0.2
Fife	3.8	1.6	0.4	1	0.8
Forth Valley	2.5	2	-	-	0.5
Grampian	9.4	3.6	-	5.7	0.1
Greater Glasgow	25.6	10.6	-	13.6	1.4
Highland	2.9	2	0.7	-	0.2
Lanarkshire	10.5	4.8	2.2	3	0.5
Lothian	13.9	6.4	2.5	4.6	0.4
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
Tayside	14	6.7	-	7.2	0.1
Western Isles		-	-	-	-

Notes:1. Includes honorary appointments.2. Comprises Associate specialist and Staff grades.3. Comprises Specialist Registrar, Senior Registrar, Registrar, Senior House Officer and House Officer grades.4. Comprises Hospital Practitioner and GMP (para 94 appointment) grades.Notes:(a) Data is from the Medical and Dental Census and show staff in post at 30 September in each of the years 1995-2000.(b) Whole-time equivalent is calculated by dividing the contracted hours/sessions by the conditioned (normal) hours for the group of staff.(c) These data are released under National Statistics.

Question reference: S1W-26578

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital beds were available for dermatological conditions in each NHS board in each of the last five years.

Information on the number of average available staffed dermatology beds for the years ending 31 March 1998 to 2002 for each of the health board areas is shown in the following table.

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002^P
Scotland	174	161	153	127	123
Argyll and Clyde	16	15	12	12	12
Ayrshire and Arran	15	15	15	15	15
Borders	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	2	1	1	1	1
Fife	9	7	6	6	5
Forth Valley	-	-	-	-	-
Grampian	21	19	16	14	13
Greater Glasgow	37	36	36	34	31
Highland	8	8	9	8	8
Lanarkshire	30	26	26	15	15
Lothian	16	15	13	7	8
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
Tayside	20	18	18	14	13
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-

Source: ISD Scotland.^PProvisional.Note: The figures indicate the average daily number of beds which were staffed and were available for the reception of in-patients and day cases. Borrowed and temporary beds are included; beds in day bed units are excluded. They include beds for use by NHS patients that are located in non-NHS locations (e.g. joint-user and contractual hospitals).

Question reference: S1W-26628

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what in-patient facilities there were for the care and treatment of people suffering from (a) anorexia nervosa and (b) bulimia in 1997 and are in the current year broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S1W-26580

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting times to be seen by a dermatologist have been in each NHS board in each year from 1997 to the present.

The median waiting times for a first out-patient appointment with a Consultant in Dermatology, following referral by a General Medical Practitioner, by NHS board of residence, for the years ended 31 March 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, and the nine months to 31 December 2001, are given in the following table.NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for a First Out-patient Appointment with a Consultant in Dermatology, Following a General Medical Practitioner Referral, by NHS Board of Residence. Years Ended 31 March 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 and 9 Months to 31 December 2001^P.

	Year Ended				9 Months To
NHS Board	31 March 1998	31 March 1999	31 March 2000	31 March 2001	31 December 2001^P
Argyll and Clyde	56 days	63 days	56 days	60 days	65 days
Ayrshire and Arran	43 days	43 days	56 days	77 days	102 days
Borders	46 days	57 days	56 days	64 days	74 days
Dumfries and Galloway	35 days	42 days	28 days	24 days	54 days
Fife	62 days	66 days	66 days	57 days	65 days
Forth Valley	70 days	93 days	112 days	104 days	104 days
Grampian	62 days	81 days	105 days	117 days	124 days
Greater Glasgow	60 days	49 days	62 days	55 days	60 days
Highland	60 days	66 days	71 days	48 days	31 days
Lanarkshire	67 days	43 days	52 days	56 days	78 days
Lothian	51 days	49 days	64 days	70 days	69 days
Orkney	56 days	32 days	51 days	45 days	39 days
Shetland	28 days	34 days	54 days	46 days	48 days
Tayside	76 days	84 days	48 days	26 days	36 days
Western Isles	67 days	91 days	92 days	41 days	23 days
Scotland	56 days	52 days	61 days	58 days	63 days

^PProvisional.Source: ISD, Scotland. SMR00.

Question reference: S1W-26010

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 10 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive when the outcome of the Cities Review will be presented to the Parliament.