Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-29391

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many convicted drug offenders are participating in rehabilitation schemes in prison.

Question reference: S2W-28975

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what average hourly rate has been paid by it to employment agencies for agency staff in each year since 1999, broken down by agency.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-27188 on 1 August 2006. 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.

In addition, the agreed hourlyrate paid to Pertemps for the lowest grade of clerical staff was increased from£6.77 to £7.21 with effect from 1 October 2006.

Question reference: S2W-28981

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many premature births there have been in each year since 1979, also expressed as a proportion of all births.

Question reference: S2W-28982

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the mean length of stay was for patients admitted to hospital in each year since 1990, broken down by NHS board.

Information on the mean lengthof a continuous in-patient stay in hospital is presented in the following table.

Table 1: Mean Length of Stay^1,2,3(Days) by NHS Board of Treatment, Calendar Years 1990 to 2005

NHS Board of Treatment	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997
Argyll and Clyde	9.0	8.4	8.7	8.7	8.0	7.7	7.8	7.9
Ayrshire and Arran	7.1	7.0	6.6	6.3	6.3	6.0	6.7	7.8
Borders	9.7	9.8	8.7	8.9	9.3	8.5	8.1	8.2
Dumfries and Galloway	7.3	7.3	6.9	6.3	6.1	6.1	6.5	6.1
Fife	8.0	7.6	7.3	7.2	7.1	7.1	7.1	7.4
Forth Valley	7.2	7.1	7.0	6.8	6.4	6.1	6.4	6.4
Grampian	9.0	8.7	8.5	8.6	8.3	7.8	7.6	7.5
Greater Glasgow	8.8	8.8	8.2	7.8	7.8	7.5	7.1	7.1
Highland	7.6	7.4	7.2	7.1	6.9	6.9	7.4	7.4
Lanarkshire	8.8	8.4	8.1	7.8	7.6	7.4	7.1	7.2
Lothian	9.0	8.8	8.1	7.9	7.7	7.4	7.5	7.5
Orkney ⁴	22.8	29.2	23.4	27.2	24.5	25.7	19.9	27.1
Shetland	8.2	9.6	7.1	9.9	6.7	6.5	6.2	6.9
Tayside	9.2	8.7	8.3	8.0	7.9	7.9	7.7	7.7
Western Isles	11.5	10.1	9.8	10.1	9.7	9.3	8.9	9.8
Golden Jubilee Hospital	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Scotland	8.7	8.4	8.0	7.8	7.6	7.4	7.3	7.4

NHS Board of Treatment	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Argyll and Clyde	8.4	8.1	7.8	8.0	7.6	7.4	7.3	7.4
Ayrshire and Arran	7.1	7.0	7.6	7.5	7.4	7.2	7.1	7.3
Borders	7.7	7.8	8.2	8.0	7.8	8.0	7.4	7.6
Dumfries and Galloway	6.1	6.1	6.3	6.2	6.5	6.6	6.8	6.7
Fife	7.2	7.5	7.7	7.4	7.5	7.2	7.4	7.3
Forth Valley	6.6	6.9	6.8	6.6	7.1	7.2	7.0	7.0
Grampian	7.4	7.5	7.6	7.7	7.7	7.7	7.6	7.5
Greater Glasgow	7.2	6.9	6.9	6.9	7.1	7.4	7.3	7.3
Highland	7.5	7.2	7.4	7.8	7.7	7.9	7.6	7.7
Lanarkshire	7.2	7.2	7.1	7.2	7.4	7.3	7.3	7.3
Lothian	7.5	7.5	7.3	7.8	7.6	7.9	7.8	7.5
Orkney ⁴	11.8	7.7	8.4	7.8	8.5	6.9	6.8	6.4
Shetland	6.1	5.6	5.5	6.1	5.2	6.0	5.0	5.1
Tayside	7.8	7.5	7.6	7.5	7.7	7.5	7.0	6.9
Western Isles	9.9	9.8	10.6	10.5	10.2	9.9	10.1	9.0
Golden Jubilee Hospital	-	-	-	-	4.5	3.9	3.3	3.1
Scotland	7.4	7.3	7.3	7.4	7.4	7.5	7.3	7.3

Notes:

1. Mean lengthof stay (days) per continuous spell in hospital. A continuous in-patient stay isan unbroken period of time that a patient spends as an in-patient. A patient maychange consultant, significant facility, specialty, hospital and/or provider unitduring a continuous in-patient stay. The length of stay is calculated as the numberof days from the date of admission to the date of discharge.

2. Both emergencyand non-emergency in-patient admissions are included in this analysis.

3. Based onAcute specialties. Obstetric and Psychiatric specialties are excluded.

4. In Orkney,a number of long stay patients have been included under the “GP other than Obstetrics”specialty. For this reason the mean length of stay in Orkney is noticeably highfor years 1990-1998.

Question reference: S2W-28974

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 7 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total amount spent has been on PFI/PPP projects postponed pending further consideration or stopped in the last 12 months.

The only operational PPP projectwhich has been stopped in the last 12 months is Inverness Airport. Thisproject was bought out in January 2006 at a cost to the Scottish Executive of £27million. In addition, as part of the termination compensation package, a tax liabilityof £2.857 million has been paid.

A few PFI/PPP projects have beenput to the market for procurement by public sector bodies and then re-started afterre-scoping. I understand that in each case this action will have been to ensurethat the projects provide up-dated specifications and also value for money, forexample, by resulting in increased market competition. The Scottish Executive doesnot hold details of related costs incurred by the public sector bodies in thesecases.

The Scottish Executive has committedinternal resources by way of policy and technical advice on all of these projects,however detailed costs are not recorded separately.

Question reference: S2W-28969

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 7 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to close any loopholes permitting PFI/PPP contract holders to avoid paying taxes on these contracts.

Question reference: S2W-28977

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much income generated by private finance consortiums through selling equity stakes has been passed on to public authorities to build PFI/PPP hospitals.

Question reference: S2W-28980

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial help is available to those who wish to travel a long distance to visit relatives in hospitals and what steps it is taking to publicise this financial help among patients.

There are currently two patients’travelling expenses schemes. A non-means tested Highlands and Islands Scheme forpatients resident or working in the former Highlands and Islands DevelopmentBoard area and a means tested scheme covering the rest of the country. Under theschemes eligible patients and, where considered medically necessary, their escorts,travelling to hospital for treatment, are reimbursed, either fully or partially,their travelling expenses. In addition, the cost of unavoidable overnight expensescan be reimbursed if it is considered that an overnight stay is, in practice, unavoidable.

Help for visitors to patientsin hospital is not available under the travelling expenses schemes and there areno plans to extend the schemes to allow this.

However, recipients of qualifyingbenefits visiting someone in hospital may be able to obtain some help in the formof a Community Care Grant from the Social Fund.

Question reference: S2W-28972

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive in how many deaths (a) clostridium difficile and (b) MRSA was recorded as a contributory factor in each year since 2002, broken down by hospital and expressed also as a proportion of all deaths.

The information requested isgiven in the following tables.

Deaths where Clostridium Difficile¹ was Mentioned onthe Death Certificate Scotland, 2002-05, by Hospital (Year)

Hospital	2002	2003	2004	2005
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary	7	6	2	6
Annan Hospital	0	0	0	1
Arbroath Infirmary	0	0	2	1
Ashludie Hospital, Dundee	1	2	2	1
Astley Ainslie Hospital, Edinburgh	0	2	4	3
Ayr Hospital	0	0	1	4
Ayrshire Central Hospital	0	0	0	1
Bannockburn Hospital, Stirling	0	0	0	1
Belford Hospital, Fort William	0	1	0	0
Belhaven Hospital, Dunbar	1	0	0	0
Biggart Hospital, Prestwick	1	2	2	0
Blairgowrie Cottage Hospital	0	1	0	0
Blawarthill Hospital, Glasgow	1	0	0	0
Borders General Hospital	1	0	1	4
Cameron Hospital, Fife	1	0	0	0
Community Hospital, Cumnock	0	0	1	0
Cottage Hospital, Castle Douglas	0	0	1	2
Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock	12	9	13	7
Dalrymple Hospital, Stranraer	0	0	0	1
Doctor Gray’s Hospital, Elgin	0	2	0	1
Drumchapel Hospital, Glasgow	1	2	0	0
Dumfries/Galloway Royal Infirmary	1	2	3	16
Ellen’s Glen House, Edinburgh	2	1	0	1
Falkirk & District Royal Infirmary	3	4	5	2
Forfar Infirmary	0	1	0	0
Fraserburgh Hospital	0	0	1	0
Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow	4	2	3	4
Glasgow Royal Infirmary	3	6	12	14
Glenrothes Hospital	0	0	1	0
Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride	5	4	7	16
Holmhead Hospital, Cumnock	0	0	1	0
Inverclyde Royal Hospital, Greenock	1	2	5	4
Inverurie Hospital	0	0	0	1
Irvine Memorial Hospital, Pitlochry	0	0	0	2
Jubilee Hospital, Huntly	0	0	1	0
Kello Hospital, Biggar	0	0	1	0
Kildean Hospital, Stirling	0	0	0	1
Kirkcudbright Hospital	0	0	0	1
Kirklandside Hospital, Kilmarnock	0	2	0	1
Lady Home Cottage Hospital, Lanark	0	0	1	0
Leanchoil Hospital, Forres	0	0	1	0
Liberton Hospital, Edinburgh	4	14	12	21
Lightburn Hospital, Glasgow	2	3	5	6
Loanhead Hospital, Midlothian	1	0	0	0
Lochmaben Hospital, Lockerbie	0	0	0	1
Lynebank Hospital, Dunfermline	0	1	2	1
Monklands General Hospital, Airdrie	1	3	6	5
Montrose Royal Infirmary	0	0	1	0
New Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh	0	8	10	12
Newton Stewart Hospital	0	1	0	1
Ninewells Hospital, Dundee	5	5	7	9
Perth Royal Infirmary	3	1	2	5
Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline	6	10	17	18
Raigmore Hospital, Inverness	1	2	2	2
Randolph Wemyss Memorial Hospital, Buckhaven	0	0	1	0
Roadmeetings Hospital, Carluke	0	0	1	1
Roodlands General Hospital, Haddington	0	1	0	1
Rosslynlee Hospital, Midlothian	1	0	0	0
Roxburghe House, Aberdeen	0	0	1	0
Roxburghe House, Dundee	0	0	1	0
Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley	8	6	9	12
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh	11	4	0	0
Royal Victoria Hospital, Dundee	1	2	3	1
Royal Victoria Hospital, Edinburgh	7	7	2	18
Sauchie Hospital	0	1	0	0
Southern General Hospital, Glasgow	2	7	5	7
St John’s Hospital, Livingston	1	3	1	6
Stirling Royal Infirmary	4	5	3	10
Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow	12	7	8	8
Stonehouse Hospital	1	0	0	0
Stracathro Hospital, Brechin	2	0	0	0
Strathclyde Hospital	0	1	0	0
Udston Hospital, Hamilton	0	1	1	1
Vale of Leven Hospital, Alexandria	3	0	2	1
Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy	3	5	3	3
Victoria Infirmary, Helensburgh	0	1	0	0
Victoria Infirmary, Langside Road, Glasgow	6	1	9	8
Victoria Infirmary, Mansionhouse Road Glasgow	1	1	6	5
War Memorial Hospital, Isle of Arran	0	1	0	0
Wester Moffat Hospital, Airdrie	0	2	1	0
Western General Hospital, Edinburgh	3	10	14	13
Western Infirmary (Beatson Oncology Centre), Glasgow	0	1	1	1
Western Infirmary, Glasgow	2	5	4	8
Whyteman’s Brae Hospital, Kirkcaldy	0	1	0	0
Wishaw General Hospital	15	5	5	5
Woodend Hospital, Aberdeen	2	2	6	5
Hospital total	153	179	222	291
Non-hospital	11	9	17	22
Total	164	188	239	313
Proportion of all deaths	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%	0.6%

Note: Includes cases where the infection was recorded as acontributory factor as well as cases where the infection was selected as theunderlying cause of death.

Deaths where MRSA¹ was Mentioned on the DeathCertificate Scotland, 2002-05, by Hospital (Year)

Hospital	2002	2003	2004	2005
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary	7	3	6	6
Arbroath Infirmary	0	0	1	0
Ashludie Hospital, Dundee	0	1	0	0
Astley Ainslie Hospital, Edinburgh	1	0	2	2
Ayr Hospital	4	2	3	3
Ayrshire Central Hospital	1	0	0	0
Biggart Hospital, Prestwick	0	1	0	0
Borders General Hospital	3	4	0	0
Brechin Infirmary	0	1	1	0
Caithness General Hospital	0	4	2	1
Community Hospital, Cumnock	0	1	0	0
Cottage Hospital	0	0	0	1
Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock	4	3	2	2
Doctor Gray’s Hospital, Elgin	1	2	1	0
Drumchapel Hospital, Glasgow	0	0	0	1
Dumfries/Galloway Royal Infirmary	2	4	6	10
Falkirk & District Royal Infirmary	4	4	3	0
Fraserburgh Hospital	0	0	0	0
Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow	5	4	5	4
Gilbert Bain Hospital, Shetland	0	0	0	1
Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital	0	0	0	1
Glasgow Royal Infirmary	12	12	14	18
Glen O’Dee Hospital, Banchory	0	0	0	0
Glenrothes Hospital	0	0	1	0
Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride	0	2	7	11
Inverclyde Royal Hospital	3	1	3	1
Inverurie Hospital	1	0	1	0
Irvine Memorial Hospital, Pitlochry	0	1	0	0
Kelso Hospital	0	0	0	1
Kincardine Community Hospital	0	0	0	0
King’s Cross Hospital, Dundee	0	0	0	0
Kirkcudbright Hospital	0	0	0	0
Kirklandside Hospital, Kilmarnock	0	0	0	0
Lady Margaret Hospital, Millport	0	0	0	1
Liberton Hospital, Edinburgh	1	3	6	3
Lightburn Hospital, Glasgow	0	0	1	4
Little Cairnie Hospital, Arbroath	0	0	1	0
Lorn & Islands District Hospital, Oban	0	1	0	0
Lynebank Hospital, Dunfermline	0	1	0	0
Mid Argyll Hospital, Lochgilphead	0	0	0	1
Monklands General Hospital, Airdrie	8	6	5	5
Montfield Hospital, Shetland	1	0	0	0
Montrose Royal Infirmary	0	0	0	2
Murray Royal Hospital, Perth	0	0	1	0
New Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh	0	10	11	16
Ninewells Hospital, Dundee	11	7	14	8
Perth Royal Infirmary	1	2	3	5
Peterhead Community Hospital	2	1	2	0
Portree Hospital	1	0	0	0
Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline	3	16	10	7
Raigmore Hospital, Inverness	4	2	2	8
Randolph Wemyss Memorial Hospital, Buckhaven	0	0	0	1
Ravenscraig Hospital, Greenock	0	0	0	0
Roodlands General Hospital, Haddington	1	0	1	1
Roxburghe House, Aberdeen	1	0	0	0
Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley	4	1	5	4
Royal Cornhill Hospital, Aberdeen	0	1	0	0
Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow	0	1	0	0
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh	22	5	0	0
Royal Northern Infirmary, Inverness	0	0	0	1
Royal Victoria Hospital, Edinburgh	2	1	1	3
Royal Victoria Hospital, Dundee	0	0	2	0
Sauchie Hospital	0	0	0	1
Seafield Hospital, Buckie	0	0	0	0
Southern General Hospital, Glasgow	2	6	5	3
St Brendan’s Hospital	0	0	1	0
St John’s Hospital, Livingston	3	0	5	2
Stirling Royal Infirmary	2	0	2	3
Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow	3	2	5	10
Stracathro Hospital, Brechin	0	0	1	0
Stratheden Hospital, Cupar	0	0	0	0
The Orchards, Glasgow	0	0	0	1
The Princess Royal Maternity Unit, Glasgow	0	0	0	0
Thomas Hope Hospital, Langholm	0	0	0	0
Vale of Leven Hospital, Alexandria	0	3	0	1
Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy	2	3	6	6
Victoria Infirmary, Glasgow	2	7	5	3
Victoria Infirmary (Geriatric Unit), Glasgow	1	1	0	0
Wester Moffat Hospital, Airdrie	0	1	0	0
Western General Hospital, Edinburgh	12	13	5	7
Western Infirmary, Glasgow	1	5	6	8
Western Infirmary (Beatson Oncology Centre), Glasgow	0	0	0	2
Western Isles Hospital	0	1	1	2
Whyteman’s Brae Hospital, Kirkcaldy	1	1	0	0
Wishaw General Hospital	3	3	5	4
Woodend Hospital, Aberdeen	0	1	2	1
Hospital total	142	155	172	187
Non-hospital	13	14	18	25
Total	155	169	190	212
% of all deaths	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%

Note: 1. Includes cases where the infection was recorded as acontributory factor as well as cases where the infection was selected as theunderlying cause of death.

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.

The ministerial HAI Task Forcehas developed a raft of measures, based on evidence and best practice, includingsurveillance, professional guidance, education and training programmes, and enhancedreporting and accountability structures. Guidance on theprudent use of antibiotics, which is one of the main factors in controlling Clostridiumdifficile, issued in September 2005.

As part of the work of the HAITask Force, we have enhanced monitoring and surveillance measures, and reporting of all cases of Clostridium difficilewas made mandatory for NHS laboratories from September2006.

Question reference: S2W-28976

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the owners of all PFI/PPP hospitals.

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