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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 2224 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S3W-17566

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulances are operated by the Scottish Ambulance Service in the north east.

The total numbers of all categories of accident and emergency vehicles for the (former) north east operating division, which comprises NHS Grampian, NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland is set out in the following table. While the north east and north and west operating divisions have now been merged, vehicle numbers are still recorded under the previous structures.

	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Accident and Emergency Units	49	49	42	42
Rapid Response Vehicles	6	6	6	6
2nd Responder	3	3	3	3
Island Vehicle	0	0	7	7
Neo-natal / Special Accident and Emergency Units	1	1	1	1
Total	59	59	59	59

Notes:

*Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

**Information for 2008-09 is as at 11 November 2008.

Question reference: S3W-17570

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents Scottish Ambulance Service rapid response units from the north east (a) were called to and (b) attended in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S3W-17571

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulance (a) paramedics and (b) technicians are employed in the north east, not including paramedics and technicians in the Scottish Ambulance Service Special Operations Response Team.

The total number of paramedics and technicians employed within the (former) north east operating division, which comprises NHS Grampian, NHS Shetland and NHS Orkney, as at 11 November 2008 is set out below. Staff numbers are still recorded under the previous structures.

(a) paramedics “ 117

(b) technicians “ 104.

The Scottish Ambulance Service does not recruit paramedics and technicians to operate a particular vehicle. Once staff are trained and operational they are allocated to vehicles as appropriate to meet operational need.

Question reference: S3W-17572

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish Ambulance Service Special Operations Response Team staff are employed in the north east.

Question reference: S3W-17574

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents the Scottish Ambulance Service Special Operations Response Team in the north east (a) were called to and (b) attended in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S3W-17575

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents the Scottish Ambulance Service Special Operations Response Team in the north east attended for which the incident required the full team to be deployed in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S3W-17594

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many category (a) A, (b) B and (c) C calls were attended by a single-crewed ambulance in the north east in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S3W-17589

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many category A calls were attended by double-crewed ambulances in the north east, excluding the city of Aberdeen, in under 14 minutes in each of the last three years.

This information is not held in the format requested.

The national response time target for category A calls (life threatening) across mainland Scotland is that, by March 2009, 75% of all incidents should be reached within eight minutes. For category B calls (serious but not life threatening), by March 2009 95% of all incidents should be reached within 14, 19 or 21 minutes depending on population density. For the NHS Grampian area, the target is 21 minutes.

For Aberdeenshire, category A and B performance is set out in the following tables.

	Total Category A Incidents	Total Met within 8 Minutes	Category A %
2005-06	5,840	3,083	52.8%
2006-07	4,979	2,720	54.6%
2007-08	6,667	3,877	58.2%

	Total Category B Incidents	Total Met within 21 Minutes	Category B %
2005-06	7,127	6,684	93.8%
2006-07	10,198	9,198	90.2%
2007-08	9,650	8,810	91.3%

Notes:

* Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service

** Aberdeenshire is defined as the NHS Grampian area, minus the postcode areas allocated to Aberdeen City (AB10, AB11, AB13, AB14, AB15, AB16, AB22, AB23, AB24, AB25).

Question reference: S3W-17593

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) ambulances, (b) Rapid Response Unit vehicles and (c) paramedic bikes are at the disposal of the north east.

Question reference: S3W-17595

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the European Commission regarding the connection of renewable generation capacity to electricity markets.

The Scottish Government has highlighted the importance of offshore grid connections to encourage renewable generation and exports from Scotland as well as future energy security in Europe. This has been conveyed to the European Commission both in writing and in meetings such as that between the First Minister and Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in July 2007.

We welcome the Commission''s decision to identify the development of a blueprint for a North Sea offshore grid as one of its energy infrastructure priorities in its recently published Second Strategic Energy Review.