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-32254

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many acute beds there have been in each year since 1997, broken down by hospital.

Information on average available acutestaffed beds is given in Average available acute staffed beds by hospital; Financialyears ending 31 March 1998 - 2006 a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 42281).

The Executivedoes not set target numbers for beds. These are local planning decisions taken byNHS boards who have the information necessary to make the correct judgements.

There are good reasons for reductionsin acute bed numbers:

Medical advances continue to reduce lengths of stay associated with many plannedprocedures, and some are now routinely carried out in a few hours without the needfor any overnight stay.

Numbers of acute in-patient beds do not include beds in dedicated day surgeryunits. Around 65% of elective admissions are day cases where there is no need foran overnight bed.

There are more beds targeted where they are needed. For example, the numberof intensive therapy unit beds has increased by over 11% since 1999. These are byfar the most expensive beds to staff and equip.

NHSScotland is making better use of available beds in acute specialties.Average bed occupancy has risen from 78% in the year ending March 1998 to 82.2%in the year ending March 2006.

Question reference: S2W-32277

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many young offenders in custody committed (a) acts of self-harm and (b) suicide in each year since 2001.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

(a) Information on acts of self-harmis not available.

(b)

	Number of Suicides
2001-02	3
2002-03	1
2003-04	0
2004-05	1
2005-06	1

Question reference: S2W-32297

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what work is being undertaken in, or for, the criminal justice system to link with either the present or future Schengen Information System in relation to (a) European arrest warrants or (b) other functions.

Question reference: S2W-32298

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what budget has been allocated for any work being undertaken in, or for, the criminal justice system to link with either the present or future Schengen Information System and when that work will be complete.

Question reference: S2W-32222

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times were for care assessments by each local authority in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S2W-32035

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 16 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many instances of (a) offences against the person, (b) sexual offences, (c) robbery, (d) burglary, (e) theft, (f) fraud, (g) drug offences and (h) motoring offences have been recorded (i) since 1997 and (ii) in the last 12 months in each police force area.

Then information requested aboutthe number of instances of burglary recorded since 1997 in each police force areais given in The numbers of violent crimes,vehicle thefts and burglaries in each police authority and local authority areafrom 1986 to 1994, and 1995-96 to 2005-06, a copy of which was placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre(Bib. number 41211) in response to Mr Stevenson’s earlier request.

The other information requestedis given in the following tables. The phrase ‘offences against the person’ is not a standard definition for Scottish crimes.We have interpreted this as the total of crimes of violence, crimes of indecency,offensive weapon offences, minor assaults and breach of the peace.

Recorded Crimes of (a)Offences Against the Person Since 1997-98 by Police Force Area

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	6,660	6,286	6,660	6,697	7,962	8,438	8,640	9,753	9,328
Dumfries and Galloway	3,738	3,887	3,435	3,074	3,065	3,527	4,974	5,188	4,603
Fife	8,330	8,034	8,265	8,237	9,089	9,706	10,164	12,911	11,747
Grampian	15,814	15,793	16,593	15,451	16,587	15,599	15,279	19,741	20,539
Lothian and Borders	21,516	21,817	22,941	23,384	23,346	22,911	22,366	24,808	26,433
Northern	7,191	7,535	6,912	7,097	7,609	7,971	8,615	9,826	9,528
Strathclyde	76,984	77,532	79,807	78,687	80,040	81,957	84,019	101,241	96,805
Tayside	10,295	11,284	11,084	10,236	11,114	11,596	12,432	11,760	12,825
All Scotland	150,528	152,168	155,697	152,863	158,812	161,705	166,489	195,228	191,808

Recorded Crimes of (b)Sexual Offences Since 1997-98 by Police Force Area

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	225	220	110	187	299	301	268	247	404
Dumfries and Galloway	116	146	126	146	101	83	133	106	136
Fife	383	303	372	316	461	554	504	516	479
Grampian	911	816	604	500	574	653	733	858	966
Lothian and Borders	1,171	1,265	974	891	988	1,272	1,319	1,339	1,170
Northern	180	249	178	214	245	267	325	345	339
Strathclyde	3,915	3,508	3,057	3,040	2,976	2,981	3,007	3,446	2,541
Tayside	513	564	461	433	350	512	497	467	523
All Scotland	7,414	7,071	5,882	5,727	5,994	6,623	6,786	7,324	6,558

Recorded Crimes of (c)Robbery Since 1997-98 by Police Force Area

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	57	74	88	73	83	86	65	69	89
Dumfries and Galloway	26	27	51	45	46	61	45	34	37
Fife	93	122	149	171	179	212	190	218	183
Grampian	226	290	375	240	298	280	238	221	240
Lothian and Borders	719	683	752	738	757	739	803	637	678
Northern	32	27	31	19	27	30	44	52	40
Strathclyde	3,237	3,647	3,345	2,874	3,042	3,099	2,625	2,326	2,152
Tayside	161	157	140	133	160	129	151	179	134
All Scotland	4,551	5,027	4,931	4,293	4,592	4,636	4,161	3,736	3,553

Recorded Crimes of (e) TheftSince 1997-98 by Police Force Area

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	6,694	7,433	7,573	6,829	6,308	6,360	6,604	6,289	5,682
Dumfries and Galloway	3,346	3,129	3,188	2,960	2,866	3,602	3,374	3,128	3,043
Fife	9,555	10,216	12,351	11,301	11,257	11,874	12,784	13,004	10,766
Grampian	19,305	19,839	21,867	20,029	18,727	16,827	16,069	15,958	15,989
Lothian and Borders	33,592	34,666	37,709	34,652	34,906	33,426	34,990	32,489	31,842
Northern	4,422	4,543	4,820	4,660	4,743	4,467	4,512	4,595	4,454
Strathclyde	93,017	97,932	90,685	83,751	78,986	70,947	63,013	63,092	56,692
Tayside	15,241	14,023	13,622	12,898	13,738	13,022	10,944	11,464	10,669
All Scotland	185,172	191,781	191,815	177,080	171,531	160,525	152,290	150,019	139,137

Recorded Crimes of (f) FraudSince 1997-98 by Police Force Area

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	601	847	632	694	871	1,152	1,235	781	1,077
Dumfries and Galloway	668	396	478	293	440	514	460	1,066	212
Fife	975	762	1,348	1,747	1,130	1,333	1,279	1,296	866
Grampian	2,659	3,325	3,840	3,260	2,936	1,922	1,349	1,630	1,120
Lothian and Borders	2,296	2,016	5,456	6,217	5,087	4,325	4,630	7,242	2,241
Northern	744	874	675	965	971	940	674	934	744
Strathclyde	7,388	9,211	6,983	6,227	5,370	4,844	4,711	4,200	3,873
Tayside	850	937	1,208	640	590	798	939	1,158	941
All Scotland	16,181	18,368	20,620	20,043	17,395	15,828	15,277	18,307	11,074

Recorded Crimes of (g) DrugOffences since 1997-98 by Police Force Area

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	1,128	1,486	1,119	1,481	1,863	2,027	2,100	1,951	2,033
Dumfries and Galloway	910	869	615	498	589	779	1,002	935	949
Fife	1,817	2,095	1,203	1,359	1,715	1,960	1,924	2,024	1,992
Grampian	2,959	2,880	2,331	2,186	2,786	3,258	2,791	3,037	3,288
Lothian and Borders	3,828	4,046	4,854	5,258	5,697	6,393	5,801	5,914	6,204
Northern	1,511	1,229	1,452	1,188	1,701	1,653	1,960	1,722	2,229
Strathclyde	15,217	18,083	17,080	18,399	20,152	22,285	23,613	22,790	24,229
Tayside	2,065	2,131	1,720	1,712	2,247	2,583	3,084	3,450	3,323
All Scotland	29,435	32,819	30,374	32,081	36,750	40,938	42,275	41,823	44,247

Recorded Crimes of (h) MotoringOffences since 1997-98 by Police Force Area

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central	17,004	19,517	19,572	17,499	21,507	23,663	25,962	20,148	22,641
Dumfries and Galloway	15,992	20,461	16,709	15,097	12,835	12,844	19,131	25,424	25,145
Fife	32,323	39,128	24,319	31,292	28,414	28,548	24,923	24,109	24,825
Grampian	35,974	40,635	34,385	28,692	31,233	36,745	42,758	40,077	34,184
Lothian and Borders	57,621	62,286	57,566	57,785	60,220	52,199	79,733	98,666	81,441
Northern	14,843	15,449	16,159	15,880	17,590	18,145	16,406	15,936	19,914
Strathclyde	143,789	147,822	155,731	150,273	158,702	143,992	173,494	149,345	121,859
Tayside	22,035	21,871	23,020	23,618	32,073	31,846	44,251	44,975	44,316
All Scotland	339,581	367,169	347,461	340,136	362,574	347,982	426,658	418,680	374,325

Question reference: S2W-32332

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 16 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what average life expectancy for (a) men and (b) women was in each parliamentary constituency in each year since 1997.

Question reference: S2W-32200

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 16 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people died after contracting MRSA in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested isgiven in the following tables.

Deaths whereMRSA was the Underlying Cause of Death

NHS Board of Residence	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Scotland	36	46	39	42	38
Ayrshire and Arran	1	4	2	1
Borders	1	2	1	1	2
Dumfries and Galloway	1			2	1
Fife	2	2	8	2	1
Forth Valley	6	2	1	2
Grampian	3	3	1	1	3
Greater Glasgow and Clyde¹	10	17	11	15	12
Highland¹	1	1	2	1	3
Lanarkshire		3	7	6	9
Lothian	6	10	4	5	4
Orkney
Shetland
Tayside	5	2	2	6	2
Western Isles					1

Argyll and Clyde²	5	4		6	2
Greater Glasgow and Clyde pt.	4	4		6	2
Highland pt.	1
Greater Glasgow²	6	13	11	9	10
Highland²		1	2	1	3

Notes:

1. New NHS board areasincluding parts of former Argyll and Clyde

2. Former NHS board areas(before dissolution of Argyll and Clyde on 1 April 2006).

Deaths where MRSA was Mentioned on the Death Certificate (IncludesCases where MRSA was the Underlying Cause of Death)

NHS Board of Residence	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Scotland	136	155	169	190	212
Ayrshire and Arran	9	11	10	9	10
Borders	6	4	5	2	2
Dumfries and Galloway	6	5	7	8	13
Fife	14	8	22	21	15
Forth Valley	10	8	6	6	6
Grampian	8	11	10	16	10
Greater Glasgow and Clyde¹	24	34	39	44	60
Highland¹	6	6	8	8	15
Lanarkshire	4	14	16	20	25
Lothian	31	41	33	32	35
Orkney		1
Shetland	1	1			1
Tayside	16	11	12	22	16
Western Isles	1		1	2	4
Argyll and Clyde²	9	9	9	12	9
Greater Glasgow and Clyde pt.	6	8	7	10	6
Highland pt.	3	1	2	2	3
Greater Glasgow²	18	26	32	34	54
Highland²	3	5	6	6	12

Notes:

1. New NHS board areas including parts of former Argyll and Clyde.

2. Former NHSboard areas (before dissolution of Argyll and Clyde on1 April 2006).

These data should be treatedwith caution. Recording of HAIs as a cause of death is based on the clinical judgementof individual doctors. Recording of specific causes may be influenced by an increasedpublic and professional awareness of that infection, and increases in reportingmay not reliably indicate true changes in incidence. Note that the data relate toNHS board of residence and not place of death.

The Ministerial HAI Task Forcehas developed a raft of measures, based on evidence and best practice, includingsurveillance, professional guidance, education and training programmes, enhancedreporting and accountability structures

As part of the work of the MinisterialHAI Task Force, we have enhanced monitoring and surveillance measures. Since October2006, reporting of all Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemiashas been mandatory.

Question reference: S2W-32190

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 16 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many alcohol-related deaths there were in hospitals in each of the last 10 years.

The information requested ispresented in the following table.

Alcohol-RelatedDeaths¹ in Hospitals, Scotland, 1996-2005

1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
562	618	641	705	794	833	864	942	834	871

Source: 1. 1996-99: ICD9codes: 291, 303, 305.0, 425.5, 571.0-571.5, 571.8-571.9, E860. 2000-05: ICD10codes: F10, G31.2, G62.1, I42.6, K29.2, K70, K73, K74 (excludingK74.3-K74.5),K86.0, X45, X65, Y15.

Question reference: S2W-32197

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 16 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many gun crimes were committed in each of the last 10 years with (a) legally registered and (b) illegally held weapons.