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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

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Question reference: S2W-24093

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are currently diagnosed as suffering from cystic fibrosis in each NHS board area and how many were diagnosed, (a) 5 years ago, (b) 10 years ago, (c) 15 years ago, (d) 20 years ago, (e) 25 years ago, (f) 30 years ago, (g) 35 years ago, (h) 40 years ago and (i) 45 years ago, broken down into those aged (i) under 5, (ii) 5 to 10 (iii) 11 to 16 and (iv) over 16.

Centrally held information canprovide details for patients where cystic fibrosis is identified on their hospitalrecords. These figures may represent an undercount of the true number ofcases because cystic fibrosis could be an underlying reason for admission to hospitaland, as such, will not always be recorded.

Table 1 presents the number ofpatients discharged from acute hospitals in Scotland with a diagnosis of cysticfibrosis broken down by health board of residence and age group. Patients with morethan one discharge in a year are only counted once in each health board and agegroup.

It is not possible to count thenumber of patients prior to 1981 as individual hospital discharge records have notbeen linked before this date.

Table 1. Number of PatientsDischarged with a Diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis in Scotland in LastFinancial Year, Five Years Ago, 10 Years Ago, 15 Years Ago, 20 Years Ago^1,2,3,4

Health Board of Residence	Age Group	Year End 31 March
Health Board of Residence	Age Group	1985	1990	1995	2000	2005⁴
		1	2	3	4	5
Scotland	Under 5	68	66	78	59	71
	5 to 10	66	65	87	87	95
	11 to 16	51	53	86	95	136
	Over 16	75	78	116	168	197
	All Ages	260	262	367	409	499
Argyll and Clyde	Under 5	9	2	6	1	4
	5 to 10	3	7	6	3	6
	11 to 16	8	1	10	5	11
	Over 16	7	4	6	15	20
	All Ages	27	14	28	24	41
Ayrshire and Arran	Under 5	8	8	5	3	5
	5 to 10	5	6	5	7	4
	11 to 16	4	8	10	14	9
	Over 16	3	22	12	16	26
	All Ages	20	44	32	40	44
Borders	Under 5	1	2	1	1	-
	5 to 10	2	-	1	1	2
	11 to 16	1	-	-	2	2
	Over 16	1	1	3	2	4
	All Ages	5	3	5	6	8
Dumfries and Galloway	Under 5	1	7	9	2	1
	5 to 10	-	8	7	10	6
	11 to 16	1	6	9	11	11
	Over 16	-	7	11	14	13
	All Ages	2	28	36	37	31
Fife	Under 5	2	1	1	2	3
	5 to 10	6	2	8	2	2
	11 to 16	8	4	5	6	6
	Over 16	1	1	4	7	9
	All Ages	17	8	18	17	20
Forth Valley	Under 5	4	11	9	7	2
	5 to 10	4	6	12	8	9
	11 to 16	4	3	7	9	16
	Over 16	2	6	14	18	21
	All Ages	14	26	42	42	48
Grampian	Under 5	7	9	9	-	7
	5 to 10	8	3	6	3	-
	11 to 16	1	5	6	7	9
	Over 16	4	7	11	19	16
	All Ages	20	24	32	29	32
Greater Glasgow	Under 5	11	3	8	1	9
	5 to 10	9	4	5	10	9
	11 to 16	6	1	7	5	11
	Over 16	46	1	6	7	16
	All Ages	72	9	26	23	45
Highland	Under 5	-	3	7	2	4
	5 to 10	4	4	5	8	5
	11 to 16	-	4	4	3	11
	Over 16	-	6	15	11	7
	All Ages	4	17	31	24	27
Lanarkshire	Under 5	8	16	22	8	11
	5 to 10	9	21	22	24	18
	11 to 16	7	11	15	23	38
	Over 16	4	16	19	28	33
	All Ages	28	64	78	83	100
Lothian	Under 5	7	1	1	30	23
	5 to 10	12	2	-	9	32
	11 to 16	6	3	4	2	9
	Over 16	5	1	2	16	13
	All Ages	30	7	7	57	77
Orkney	Under 5	-	-	-	-	2
	5 to 10	-	-	-	-	-
	11 to 16	-	-	-	-	-
	Over 16	-	-	-	-	-
	All Ages	-	-	-	-	2
Shetland	Under 5	1	-	-	-	-
	5 to 10	-	-	-	-	-
	11 to 16	-	-	1	-	-
	Over 16	-	-	-	-	-
	All Ages	1	-	1	-	-
Tayside	Under 5	8	3	-	2	-
	5 to 10	4	2	7	1	2
	11 to 16	4	6	7	7	2
	Over 16	2	5	12	14	17
	All Ages	18	16	26	24	21
Western Isles	Under 5	1	-	-	-	-
	5 to 10	-	-	3	1	-
	11 to 16	1	1	1	1	1
	Over 16	-	1	1	1	2
	All Ages	2	2	5	3	3

Source: ISD Scotland(SMR01).

Notes:

1. These statistics are derived from data collected ondischarges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland.

2. Cases where the patient was not admitted to hospitalare not included.

3. Up to six diagnoses (one principal, five secondary)are recorded on SMR01 returns. All six diagnoses have been used to identify cysticfibrosis. The following code was used from the International Statistical Classificationof Diseases and Other Health Related Problems, tenth revision (ICD10): E84 for dischargesfrom 1 April 1996, and ninth revision (ICD-9): 277.0 for discharges prior to 1 April1996. However, it should be noted that the use of these codes may vary from hospitalto hospital.

4. Data for year ending31 March 2005 should be treated as provisional.

Question reference: S2W-23972

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is still the case that replies to parliamentary questions in relation to the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) are drafted on behalf of ministers by the SCRO; if so, whether the draft replies are independently checked within the Executive; if so, by what procedure and by whom and, if not, what the reasons are for the position on the matter and whether the Executive has any plans to review this policy.

Question reference: S2W-24109

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce a half-hourly rail service between Motherwell and Stirling via Cumbernauld and a new station at Castlecary with park and ride facilities, as recommended by the Central Scotland Transport Corridor Studies in January 2003.

An option to introduce a half-hourlyrail service between Motherwell and Stirling is included in the First ScotRail franchise. However,before such a service can be introduced track capacity issues on the route requireto be resolved, which are the subject of current study through Network Rail’s RouteUtilisation Strategy. This is due to report by the autumn of 2006.

The Scottish Executive awardedFalkirk Council £450,000 from the Public Transport Fund to undertake a feasibilitystudy to improve rail services along the A80/M80 corridor, including opening a stationand park and ride site at Castlecary (now called Allandale). The study concludedin February 2006 and Transport Scotland is assessing the findings of the report.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.

Question reference: S2W-23936

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had (a) with Her Majesty’s Government and (b) internally about the impact of altering the Scotland Act 1998, particularly Schedule 5 of the Act.

I refer the member to the answer to question S1W-28375 on 10 September 2002 whichexplained that the Scottish Executive isin regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues including, whereappropriate, issues relating to legislative competence (e.g. schedule 5 to the ScotlandAct 1998). As the First Minister made clearon 7 September 2005, however, no general internal review of the devolution settlementis being undertaken within the Executive (OfficialReport, col. 18950).All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Question reference: S2W-23984

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have been registered as homeless in each year since 1980, broken down by local authority area.

The numbers of applications assessedas homeless under the homelessness legislation by local authorities are shown inthe following table. Due to local government re-organisation in 1996, there areproblems of comparability with data prior to this date and the table therefore presentsfigures for 1996-97 onwards.

Number of ApplicationsAssessed as Homeless by Local Authority: 1996-97 to 2004-05

	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Scotland	22,900	25,100	26,900	28,200	26,200	31,100	35,008	36,572	34,603
Aberdeen City	750	910	1,000	970	860	880	846	815	686
Aberdeenshire	700	670	690	700	640	620	667	627	711
Angus	330	330	450	350	270	310	438	471	446
Argyll and Bute	320	220	240	250	230	340	515	561	558
Clackmannanshire	130	150	280	320	350	390	376	408	513
Dumfries and Galloway	420	430	390	590	490	620	779	799	853
Dundee City	620	630	550	500	530	510	415	365	319
East Ayrshire	300	390	380	340	390	430	671	692	803
East Dunbartonshire	290	260	250	240	230	220	260	309	257
East Lothian	360	360	370	370	340	450	435	436	439
East Renfrewshire	60	80	100	180	120	150	122	195	246
Edinburgh, City of	2,160	2,840	2,930	3,310	3,470	3,550	3,816	4,283	4,190
Eilean Siar	100	80	70	90	50	60	124	130	171
Falkirk	470	570	720	890	940	930	1,021	992	807
Fife	1,110	1,540	1,680	1,840	1,530	1,800	2,324	2,810	2,584
Glasgow City	8,570	9,010	9,260	9,390	8,380	11,520	11,027	10,623	8,429
Highland	370	390	360	370	440	530	791	1,221	1,276
Inverclyde	210	320	280	200	190	220	364	549	424
Midlothian	370	340	390	310	250	310	405	422	483
Moray	90	190	110	160	210	270	545	384	413
North Ayrshire	360	480	530	670	650	820	1,382	1,295	1,107
North Lanarkshire	1,030	1,000	1,360	1,060	900	1,110	1,649	1,971	2,754
Orkney	60	70	70	80	60	70	50	65	88
Perth and Kinross	130	120	110	210	380	430	654	359	296
Renfrewshire	310	270	180	420	630	440	565	652	690
Scottish Borders,The	480	370	390	370	380	350	388	598	467
Shetland	130	120	80	60	90	110	105	105	69
South Ayrshire	550	530	590	600	570	590	549	554	545
South Lanarkshire	810	1,000	1,090	920	820	970	1,335	1,400	1,266
Stirling	560	640	680	620	460	420	492	469	589
West Dunbartonshire	210	240	360	550	530	660	836	860	1,132
West Lothian	570	540	1,030	1,260	910	1,010	1,062	1,152	992

Source: HL1returns by local authorities to the Scottish Executive Development Department AnalyticalServices Division (Housing Statistics).

Notes:

1. All applicationswithin period assessed as homeless (excludes potentially homeless).

2. Some householdsmay have applied several times during the period, and will be counted more thanonce.

3. Data priorto 2002 are estimated due to missing returns (rounded to the nearest 100 for Scotland level and the nearest 10 for local authoritylevel).

Question reference: S2W-23962

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have lived in (a) council housing, (b) other forms of socially rented housing, (c) privately rented housing and (d) owned homes in each year since 1980, broken down by local authority area.

Information on the tenure ofhouseholds at the time of the 2001 Census by current local authority area is availablefrom the data library in the publications and data section of the Scottish Executivehousing statistics branch website at www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/housing/hsbrefin the section 2001 Census Adjusted Tenure Tables.

Estimates of proportions of householdsby tenure by current local authority are available from Scottish Household Surveyreports for periods 1999-2000 (table 2.2), 2001-02 (table 4.1) and 2003-04 (table4.1). These can be accessed through the Scottish Household Survey Website at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/shs.

Information on households bytenure in the form requested by current local authority area is not available forearlier periods.

Question reference: S2W-23932

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21275 by Tavish Scott on 15 December 2005, who made the assessment of these costs.

Question reference: S2W-23993

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have had to foreclose on their mortgage in each year since 1980, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-23996

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has passed on to the police any allegations brought to its attention regarding the possibility that US agencies have used Scottish airports as refuelling stops for flights engaged in the process of “extraordinary rendition” and, if it has not done so, what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S2W-23986

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of all houses bought privately in each year since 1995 have been purchased by first-time buyers, broken down by local authority area.

Information on the proportionof houses purchased by first time buyers is not available by local authority area.Estimates, for Scotland as a whole, from the Regulated Mortgage Survey of theproportion of loans to first time purchasers are given in table 5 of HousingTrends in Scotland: quarter ending 30 September 2005. Thiscan be accessed through the data library in the publications and data section of the Scottish Executive housing statistics branch website at www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/housing/hsbref.