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-27008

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 27 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many faulty (a) fire extinguishers and (b) smoke alarms were identified in schools in the each of the last five years.

Question reference: S2W-27010

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 27 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of emergency fire service call-outs to schools in each of the last 10 years resulted from hoax calls.

Question reference: S2W-27011

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 27 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fires there were in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each of the last 10 years, broken down by local education authority.

The information is not availablein the format requested.

The number of fires inschools (both primary and secondary) is shown in the following table by fireand rescue service area.

Brigade	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002¹	2003¹	2004
Central	9	5	5	4	10	10	4	0	21	12
Dumfries	2	11	6	7	6	3	0	0	0	0
Fife	8	27	13	12	10	6	17	6	12	0
Grampian	4	8	8	9	10	5	13	24	10	26
Highland and Islands	1	0	0	6	3	5	5	7	10	0
Lothian and Borders	66	34	20	1	12	6	23	17	27	45
Strathclyde	124	108	97	85	94	73	63	70	69	100
Tayside	25	8	26	8	31	11	24	7	8	12
Scotland²	238	201	175	132	174	119	149	131	157	196

Source: ODPM.

Notes:

1. Excluding incidents notrecorded during periods of industrial action in November 2002 and Jan/Feb 2003.

2. Parts may not add up tototals due to rounding.

Question reference: S2W-27223

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 26 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the total carbon emission from each of its departments in each year since 1997.

No estimates have been madeof total annual carbon emissions from each of the Executive’s departments. Emissionsdata for Scotland are categorised by sector according to the IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Common Reporting Format. These are available in GreenhouseGas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2003, a copy of which is available in the Parliament’sReference Centre (Bib. number 37621).

Question reference: S2W-27219

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 26 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many court orders have been issued for the repossession of homes in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-27189

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting time has been for physiotherapy in each year since 1997, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested isnot available centrally.

The first nationalcollection of information on waiting times for services provided by AlliedHealth Professionals, including physiotherapy, was undertaken on 14 September 2005. Theresults from this census were published by ISD Scotland on 6 July 2006, in theAHP Census – Waiting for AHP Services Report and is available from:

http://www.isdscotland.org/.

Question reference: S2W-27104

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 25 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many women aged under 30 are smokers and what the figure was (a) five and (b) 10 years ago.

The following table detailsthe information available.

Smoking Prevalence Amongst WomenAged 16-29 in 1995, 1999 and 2004

Year	Estimated Population (N)	Percentage Smoking (%)	Estimated Number Smoking (N)
1995	500,300	36	180,100
1999	458,600	34	155,900
2004	437,000	28	122,400

Sources: 1995– Scottish Health Survey; 1999, 2004 – Scottish Household Survey.

Mid-yearpopulation estimates, General Register Office for Scotland.

Notes:

1. ScottishHealth Survey figures for 1995 have been used as 1994 are not available.

2. Estimatedpopulation figures are rounded to the nearest 100.

Question reference: S2W-27106

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 July 2006

Information on the average numberof available staffed beds in spinal units for the years ending 31 March 1990,1995, 2000 and 2005 is shown in the following table.

Year ending 31 March	Average Available Staffed Beds
1990	49
1995	48
2000	48
2005	48

Question reference: S2W-27107

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive which accident and emergency departments have been (a) closed and (b) downgraded in each of the last 10 years.

The information is not heldin the form requested. NHS boards are responsible for the configuration of accidentand emergency services in the areas they serve. Any changes to these serviceshave been and will continue to be made in the interest of maintainingappropriate access to specialist services and also to local services throughthe development of community casualty units.

The number of NHS locationsrecorded as providing an accident and emergency service for each financial yearis shown below. The list includes services which are provided other than on a24-hour, 7-day basis, and services provided by a range of clinical staffincluding GPs and nurses.

Year	Number
1995	103
1996	100
1997	103
1998	98
1999	97
2000	96
2001	97
2002	97
2003	95
2004	96
2005	95

Source: ISD(S)1.

Question reference: S2W-27105

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time was for results of (a) breast cancer and (b) genetic tests in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

For those presenting withsigns and symptoms a variety of tests may be used to diagnose breast cancereither on their own or in combination. These include physical examination,mammography, ultrasound, needle (core) biopsy, fine needle aspiration, bloodtests and excision biopsy. Waiting time information for the results from thesetests is not held centrally.

Regardingthe average time for results of genetic tests I refer the member to the questionS2W-26943, answered on 24 July 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.