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-17541

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 12 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many rehabilitation beds are available in each health board area for registered drug users, expressed on a per capita basis and as a ratio to the number of registered drug users in each area.

Information in the form requested is not held centrally. The term "registered drug" user no longer exists and I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-16963 on 8 August.Rehabilitation for those addicted to drugs is provided through a variety of services and in a variety of settings, many of which are community-based and do not involve residential care. Beds provided within the NHS and the voluntary sector for rehabilitation will also be available for anyone with a clinical need, including people from outwith the health board in which the beds are situated.

Question reference: S1W-17728

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) reception and (b) non-reception drug tests have been carried out on new inmates at each local prison in each of the last three years and this year to date, and in the Scottish Prison Service as a whole, giving the figures also as a percentage of new inmates in each case.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:The readily available information is in the table:

Prison	1998-99		1999-2000		2000-01		2001-02
Prison	Reception Tests	Total Tests	Reception Tests	Total Tests	Reception Tests	Total Tests	Reception Tests	Total Tests³
Aberdeen	186	779	147	904	135	1,079		189
Barlinnie		2,868		3,413	100	2,700		705
Dumfries¹	8	299²	2	91	17	176		91
Edinburgh		1,409		2,604	64	2,014		1,157
Greenock		523	22	544	129	885		289
Inverness		262		251	17	296		61
Perth		1,159	86	1,233	147	1,842		948
SPS	239	14,297	477	17,178	689	15,680		7,076

Notes:1. Local prison only, not including Young Offenders Institution (YOI), which holds long-term inmates transferred from other establishments.2. Figures include local prison and YOI, as disaggregated figures not available for that period.3. To 24 August 2001 (reception test figures not yet available).

Question reference: S1W-17723

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide for the last three years and the current year to date, for each local prison establishment, the number of staff in each category and number of inmates, giving the staff/inmates ratio in each case.

Question reference: S1W-17722

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current rate of staff turnover is in the Scottish Prison Service compared to the five-year period prior to the introduction of the Staff Structure Review instigated in March 1995.

Question reference: S1W-17721

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current staff turnover is at HMP Kilmarnock in relation to the Scottish Prison Service as a whole.

Question reference: S1W-17716

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what outstanding hours in lieu are owed to staff in each local and open prison establishment, listed by staff category and giving the totals for each establishment and the Scottish Prison Service as a whole.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:The readily available information is as follows:Net TOIL Balance by Establishment at 1 August 2001

Establishment	Time off in Lieu (TOIL) Balance
HMP Aberdeen	9,861
HMP Barlinnie	4,452
HMP Castle Huntly	817
HMP Cornton Vale	2,797
HM YOI Dumfries	6,596
HMP Edinburgh	3,146
HMP YOI Glenochil	2,864
HMP Greenock	2,263
HMP Inverness	1,320
HMP Low Moss	1,509
HMP Noranside	1,648
HMP Perth	2,814
HMP Peterhead	7,833
HMP Polmont	4,699
HMP Shotts	3,760
Total	56,379

Question reference: S1W-17729

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 4 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of prisoners who received drug treatment in the last three years re-offended following release within (a) one month, (b) three months and (c) any period.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:This information is not available. However, SPS has recently estimated that 46% of those released from prison custody return to prison within two years (Return to Custody in Scottish Prisons, SPS Research and Evaluation Services, 2001). Re-offending not resulting in prison custody is not included in that figure.

Question reference: S1W-17731

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 4 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive when new resources will be made available to HM Prison Aberdeen in order to improve drug treatment facilities for inmates and what form these new resources will take.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:HM Prison, Aberdeen will benefit from expanded in-prison addictions casework provision from late autumn 2001. Short-term post-release support "throughcare" by SPS will become available offering facilitation support to address their housing, employment, education and training, personal finance and health needs in the period leading up to and for 12 weeks after release.Additional addictions nursing support is being introduced this autumn and support from psychologists is also now being made available to the prison to further develop the quality of treatment.

Question reference: S1W-16881

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 3 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many GPs (a) retired, (b) resigned and (c) took up post in each of the last five years in each health board area.

Robust information on the numbers of GPs who retire or resign is not available since many do not supply a reason for leaving. Table 1 shows the numbers of GPs, by health board area, who ceased to practise as GP Principals in each of the last five years. Table 2 shows the numbers of GPs who took up post over the same period. A direct comparison between Tables 1 and 2 does not take full account of the impact of the increasing move into salaried general practice. For example, of the 29 salaried GPs currently employed under the Personal Medical Services scheme in Scotland, 28 were previously employed as GP Principals. Although they are recorded (in Table 1) as having ceased to practise as Principals they are still providing GP services.Table 1: Number of GPs Who Ceased to Practise as Principals

	Year Ending 30 September
	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Scotland	197	152	148	138	166
Argyll & Clyde	14	19	17	15	13
Ayrshire & Arran	13	10	7	8	14
Borders	3	2	2	2	2
Dumfries & Galloway	8	7	3	8	4
Fife	6	8	11	6	6
Forth Valley	16	4	5	13	10
Grampian	14	14	19	10	23
Greater Glasgow	41	27	28	23	19
Highland	10	9	8	11	13
Lanarkshire	12	10	13	11	17
Lothian	36	25	18	12	26
Orkney	3	0	1	2	5
Shetland	2	3	2	4	2
Tayside	19	9	12	11	10
Western Isles	0	5	2	2	2

Notes:1. Source: General Medical Practitioner Database, ISD Scotland.2. Data included those who moved from one health board to another and those who both took up post and left during the year.Table 2: Number of GPs Who Took Up Post as Principals

	Year Ending 30 September
	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Scotland	245	203	184	176	172
Argyll & Clyde	13	23	22	17	18
Ayrshire & Arran	11	12	9	11	14
Borders	5	4	3	4	1
Dumfries & Galloway	7	13	9	6	6
Fife	14	14	14	12	10
Forth Valley	19	7	6	18	10
Grampian	22	17	20	16	25
Greater Glasgow	44	31	32	23	16
Highland	16	13	13	13	12
Lanarkshire	21	14	13	13	15
Lothian	43	31	21	26	24
Orkney	2	2	2	1	5
Shetland	2	4	0	4	3
Tayside	24	16	17	12	12
Western Isles	2	2	3	0	1

Notes:1. Source: General Medical Practitioner Database, ISD Scotland.2. Data included those who moved from one health board to another and those who both took up post and left during the year.

Question reference: S1W-17539

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 28 August 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to help former trawlermen with their applications for compensation from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) following the closure of the Icelandic fisheries in the 1970s and whether it will give details of any communication with the DTI on this matter.

I wrote to the Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry on 25 July offering all assistance in helping identify trawlermen who previously worked in Icelandic waters. I was very pleased that the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen on behalf of the Scottish Executive was able to provide the DTI with further evidence of activity by Scottish vessels in Icelandic waters between 1965 and 1979.