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-23176

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the ratio is of landowners to land area, and what information it has on how this compares with other EU countries.

Question reference: S2W-23188

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of land is in community or public ownership.

Question reference: S2W-23851

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 20 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when and how the Deputy First Minister was made aware that the Milltimber leg of the proposed route for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route was to be included, or was under consideration for inclusion, in the proposals for the route.

Question reference: S2W-24456

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2006
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many competition-standard swimming pools are located in Scotland and what information it has on how this number compares with other European nations.

Question reference: S2W-24459

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2006
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fair trade products it has purchased in each of the last five years, detailing individual products and the quantities purchased.

Question reference: S2W-24458

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2006
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to ensure that public money is spent ethically.

Question reference: S2W-24457

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2006
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to fund the creation of new competition-standard swimming pools.

Question reference: S2W-23244

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 16 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all meetings between Scottish Ministers and European Commissioners since the appointment of the current commission, giving details of dates, locations and the ministers involved in each meeting.

Question reference: S2W-23927

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23466 by Mr Andy Kerr on 3 March 2006, how many out-patients on the out-patient waiting list had an availability status code at each census date for which information is available, expressed also as a percentage of all out-patients on the list.

The information requested isshown in the table.

Since2004, Information Services Division (ISD) has collected data on a national basiscomprising an out-patient waiting list. This is a monthly census which includesinformation on all patients waiting to be seen at consultant-led out-patient clinics,following referral by a General Medical or Dental Practitioner. The first censusdata published was the out-patient waiting list on 30 September 2004, and over theensuing months, ISD worked, and continues to work, closely with NHS boards to improvedata quality.

Inthe first few months following the first publication, many clinics did not havecomputerised waiting lists, and some NHS board areas submitted manual aggregatecounts for some specialties that did not record availability status codes. Two NHSboards were not able to submit any data. Although data quality has now improvedconsiderably, monthly comparison of outpatients with availability status codes mustbe undertaken with caution.

Althoughthe percentage of patients on the waiting list with availability status codes hasincreased slightly between 30 September 2004 and 31 December 2005, it is important to note that the totalnumber of patients on the waiting list has reduced dramatically in this period -by 29%.

Availability Status Codes forfirst out-patient appointments are all patient-driven - patients who declined areasonable offer of an appointment and patients who did not attend for a pre-arrangedappointment and gave no warning of their non-attendance.

NHSScotland. Total Number ofPatients on The Out-Patient Waiting List and Number and Percentage of Patients withAvailability Status Codes on Each Monthly Census Date – 30 September 2004 to 31December 2005

Census Date	Total Number Of Patients On List	Number And Percentage Of Patients With Availability Status Codes
30 September 2004	249,654	18,254	7.3%
31 October 2004	248,482	15,042	6.1%
30 November 2004	243,721	15,173	6.2%
31 December 2004	231,105	16,127	7.0%
31 January 2005	220,560	15,782	7.2%
28 February 2005	199,141	15,103	7.6%
31 March 2005	202,390	17,392	8.6%
30 April 2005	209,420	16,866	8.1%
31 May 2005	210,178	17,656	8.4%
30 June 2005	209,226	18,715	8.9%
31 July 2005	201,362	17,330	8.6%
31 August 2005	213,745	17,353	8.1%
30 September 2005	210,087	17,001	8.1%
31 October 2005	201,517	17,828	8.8%
30 November 2005	191,123	18,170	9.5%
31 December 2005	177,339	18,633	10.5%

Question reference: S2W-23609

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 13 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many publicly funded buildings and schools built in the last five years, including those currently under construction, source energy from renewable (a) heat and (b) electricity sources, shown as a percentage of all publicly funded buildings built in the last five years.