Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-24890

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 2 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists have undertaken training in dealing with special needs patients in each year since 1999.

No specific information isheld centrally on dental training provision for patients with special needs. Treating special needs patientsis a complex issue and there are some courses which currently cover aspects ofthis clinical area. However, followingagreement by the General Dental Council to recognise special care dentistry asa dental specialty, NHS Education for Scotland intends to support dedicated specialist registrarposts once the final training programme is agreed by the General DentalCouncil.

Question reference: S2W-24888

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 2 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the towns and cities where a dental vocational training scheme has been operational in each year since 1999.

Dental Vocational Training Schemes are currently run fromsix centres across Scotland. Under the DentalAction Plan, we will expand outreach teaching for dental and clinical professionalsproviding vocational training places for the increased number of dental students.The present scheme generally has ten placeswith training split between practice-based learning, and postgraduate centre-basedlearning which since 1999 has taken place in the towns as follows.

Location	2005-06	2004-05	2003-04	2002-03	2001-02	2000-01	1999-2000
Dundee	1	1	1	2	2	1	1
Perth	1	1	-	-	-	1	-
Aberdeen	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Inverness	1	1	-	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh	4	4	4	4	4	3	4
Glasgow	5	5	4	4	4	4	5

The majority of training takesplace in training practices across Scotland, including for example Peterhead, Banff, Stonehaven,Fraserburgh, Aboyne and Aberdeen.

Question reference: S2W-24891

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 28 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fully trained staff there are within the drug treatment sector; how many more trained staff are needed in the sector; how many places are available to those seeking training, and how much funding is allocated for the training of these professionals.

There is no definition ofwhat constitutes “fully trained staff within the drug treatment sector”. However,there is a single set of occupational standards, Drug and Alcohol NationalOccupational Standards (DANOS), which underpin all substance misuse trainingdelivered in Scotland through Scottish Training on Drugs and Alcohol(STRADA). The Executive provided £860,000 in 2005-06 to fund training deliveredthrough STRADA.

Between October 2001 andDecember 2005 STRADA provided 17,000 training places across 18 differentmodules. STRADA also offers a Post Graduate Certificate in Addiction from the University of Glasgow; to date 85 individuals have successfully completedthis course. Bespoke training courses requested by Alcohol and Drug Action Teamsare also delivered by STRADA and include practise-based workshops andspecialised training courses.

The Executive has alsoprovided two year funding (£655,440 over 2005-06 and 2006-07) to the RoyalCollege of General Practitioners (RCGP) to develop and deliver the RCGPCertificate in the Management of Drug Misuse in Primary Care in Scotland.This funding will provide training to 60 GPs, 20 Pharmacists and 20 nurses. In addition, in 2005-06 the Scottish Drug Forumreceived £41,557 and Re-Solv £29,128 for drug related training.

Ring-fenced grant funding of£5.5 million per annum is also paid to local authorities to improve the qualityand management of social work provision by increasing the availability oftraining for relevant staff. It is not possible to disaggregate what proportionof this funding is spent on drug related training.

Question reference: S2W-24887

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many house repossessions there have been since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-25227

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 26 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teacher applicants there were in each year since 1999 and how many were successful.

The following table shows theinformation available on applications and intakes to Batchelor of Education (BEd)and Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses:

	Applications					Intake
	Primary		Secondary			Primary		Secondary
	BEd	PGCE	BEd	PGCE	Total	BEd	PGCE	BEd	PGCE	Total
1999-2000	5,316	1,996	866	2,870	11,048	636	276	172	1,003	2,087
2000-01	N/A	3,589	N/A	3,019	N/A	708	335	175	991	2,209
2001-02	N/A	4,321	N/A	3,733	N/A	745	745	201	1,116	2,807
2002-03	6,894	3,554	806	3,328	14,582	773	592	175	935	2,475
2003-04	7,380	2,066	954	3,312	13,712	755	982	175	706	2,618
2004-05	7,654	3,601	822	3,587	15,664	768	1,023	183	1,340	3,314
2005-06	8,207	4,019	941	4,659	17,826	780	1,482	191	1,798	4,251

Note: Application numbers collectedfrom individual higher education institutes and may include duplication where applicationshave been made to more than one university.

Question reference: S2W-25228

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 26 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers have been suspended, resigned or taken early retirement in each year since 1999, broken down by reason cited.

Information on the number ofteachers who have been suspended is not held centrally. I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-12214 on 25 November 2004, which details the numbers of teachersleaving employment relevant to your request from the Scottish Executive TeacherFlow Survey.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.

Question reference: S2W-24889

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many attacks there have been on ambulance personnel in each year since 1999 and how many prosecutions have resulted from those attacks.

Attacks on NHS staff who aretrying to help people is not acceptable in any circumstances. This is why we havespent over £700,000 on projects aimed at reducing violence and aggression over thelast few years.The centrally collected data available on violence and aggression related incidents can be seen on the ScottishHealth Statistics website under workforce statistics, www.isdscotland.org/workforce. the Scottish Ambulance Service recently provided locally held information on recordedviolent or abusive incidents under Freedom of Information from 2002:

Year	2002	2003	2004	2005
Incidents	1	1	97	258

The rise in reported numbersof incidents is thought likely to be as a direct consequence of increased staffawareness, better reporting and ambulance staff no longer being prepared to seeviolent or abusive behaviour as being just part of the job.

It is not known how many of theseincidents resulted in prosecutions. However, since the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Actcame into force in May 2005, 116 charges are known to have been raised concerningambulance service staff. 39 of the charges have resulted in a guilty verdict, 13not guilty, six have been dealt with in a non-court disposal and 58 are still beingdealt with.

Question reference: S2W-24691

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the total housing stock in Scotland was affordable housing in each year since 1996, broken down by local authority area.

The following tables give theavailable information on local authority and housing association stock as a percentageof the total housing stock for Scotland and by local authority area in each year since 1996.Information is not available by local authority area on housing association stockfor 31 March 1996, 1997 and 1998.

Local Authority and HousingAssociation Stock at 31 March as a Percentage of Total Housing Stock

	Local Authority Stock as a Percentage of Total Stock			Local Authority and Housing Association Stock as a Percentage of Total Stock
	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Aberdeen City	31	30	29	32	31	30	29	29	28	27
Aberdeenshire	19	19	18	20	20	19	19	18	18	17
Angus	23	22	21	26	26	25	24	23	23	22
Argyll and Bute	18	17	16	21	21	20	21	20	19	18
Clackmannanshire	34	33	32	39	39	39	37	35	34	33
Dumfries and Galloway	22	22	21	24	24	22	22	21	20	20
Dundee City	34	33	32	40	39	37	37	37	35	34
East Ayrshire	40	39	42	40	39	39	37	36	34	33
East Dunbartonshire	16	15	15	16	16	16	15	14	14	13
East Lothian	29	28	27	31	30	29	28	26	26	25
East Renfrewshire	14	13	13	14	14	14	14	13	13	13
Edinburgh, City of	16	16	15	20	20	20	19	19	18	18
Eilean Siar	16	16	16	17	16	19	16	16	15	16
Falkirk	38	37	36	38	37	36	35	33	32	31
Fife	28	28	27	31	30	29	27	28	26	26
Glasgow City	39	37	35	47	46	45	44	43	42	41
Highland	22	21	20	24	23	22	22	21	20	19
Inverclyde	36	35	35	40	38	37	34	33	31	33
Midlothian	27	26	25	34	33	32	31	29	28	27
Moray	22	21	21	22	22	21	21	20	21	20
North Ayrshire	34	31	30	34	33	34	33	32	31	30
North Lanarkshire	45	41	39	42	40	40	39	38	36	35
Orkney Islands	12	11	11	14	14	14	14	13	14	14
Perth and Kinross	19	18	17	20	20	20	19	19	18	18
Renfrewshire	31	30	29	36	35	34	33	31	30	28
Scottish Borders	18	16	16	24	23	22	22	24	24	23
Shetland Islands	25	24	24	27	27	25	25	24	23	24
South Ayrshire	24	24	23	23	23	23	22	22	21	20
South Lanarkshire	33	32	30	32	30	29	28	27	26	25
Stirling	26	25	25	28	27	26	25	24	23	23
West Dunbartonshire	37	37	36	47	48	47	46	44	43	41
West Lothian	35	32	29	34	33	31	30	29	27	27
Scotland	29	28	27	32	31	30	29	28	27	27

Note: Table is based on estimatesof local authority and housing association stock at 31 March each year and totalhousing stock on council tax base in autumn each year. Housing association stockestimates used to compile the table include self contained, non self contained andshared ownership housing.

Scotland: Estimated local authorityand housing association stock at December each year as a percentage of estimatedtotal housing stock at December.

	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Percentage of Total Stock at December	34	33	32	31	30	29	28	27	26	26

Question reference: S2W-24502

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 21 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19618 by Mr Andy Kerr on 4 November 2005, what the average waiting times in weeks were, and how many patients were waiting, for a first appointment in the (a) child dental health, (b) conservation, (c) oral medication, (d) oral surgery, (e) orthodontics, (f) periodontology and (g) prosthodontics department in each dental hospital in each quarter since June 1999.

Informationon waiting times and waiting lists for a first out-patient appointmentfollowing referral from a general medical or dental practitioner, is collectedat specialty level only and not at hospital department level.

Median waiting times for afirst out-patient appointment with a consultant in the dental specialties,following a general medical or dental practitioner referral, at Dundee DentalHospital and Edinburgh Dental Institute for each quarter since 30 September 1999and at Glasgow Dental Hospital for each quarter since 30 June 2004, have beenplaced in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39349).

Dental out-patient waitinglist information has only been collected centrally since 31 December 2004.Information on the number of patients waiting for a first outpatientappointment with a consultant in the dental specialties, following referralfrom a general medical or dental practitioner, at Dundee Dental Hospital andEdinburgh Dental Institute on 31 December 2004, 31 March 2005, 30 June 2005, 30September 2005 and 31 December 2005, and at Glasgow Dental Hospital on 30September 2005 and 31 December 2005, has been placed in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 39350).

Question reference: S2W-24570

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 20 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the five-year survival rate is for prostate cancer patients in each (a) NHS board area and (b) parliamentary constituency.

Five year relative survival (%)for prostate cancer by NHS board area of residence is attached in the followingtable (a).For five year relative survival(%) for prostate cancer by parliamentary constituency I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-24684 on 20 April 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.

The relatively small numbersof patients in each health board/Scottish parliamentary constituency preclude acomplex analysis with adjustment for case mix. Statistically, where the Scottishsurvival rate lies outside the 95% confidence interval for a particularparliamentary constituency, there is a 5% possibility that this difference occurreddue to chance and a 95% possibility that the difference is not due to chance. However,multiple comparisons of this kind against the Scottish rate increases the likelihoodof a difference arising due to chance. In this case the large number of comparisonsrequire that any apparently significant results should be viewed with caution.

A thorough investigation of prostatecancer incidence and survival was published last year by NHS Quality ImprovementScotland and included a three-year relative survival analysis. Nationally the relativesurvival from prostate cancer at three years was 79.4% and no NHS board had a relativesurvival that was significantly lower than the Scotland figure. More informationis available from Clinical Indicators 2005 a copy of which has been placedin the Scottish Parliament InformationCentre (Bib. number 39379). The documentis also available to download at:

www.nhshealthquality.org/nhsqis/files/Clinical%20Indicators%202005.pdf

Data on newly diagnosed cancersin Scotland are recorded on the Scottish Cancer Registry. The mostrecent five-year period of data currently available is 1998-2002. More comprehensivedata on prostate cancer can be found on the Scottish Health Statistics website atwww.isdscotland.org\cancer_information.

(a) Five Year Relative Survival (%) for ProstateCancer (ICD-10 C61) by NHS Board Area of Residence, Patients Diagnosed 1998-2002

NHS Board Area	Number of Registrations	Survival (%)	95% Confidence Interval
Argyll and Clyde	745	66.2	60.1 - 71.6
Ayrshire and Arran	803	70.5	64.6 - 75.7
Borders	238	65.6	53.5 - 75.3
Dumfries and Galloway	323	72.7	62.9 – 80.2
Fife	612	66.3	59.7 – 72.1
Forth Valley	647	84.8	78.0 – 89.6
Grampian	1080	77.7	73.0 – 81.7
Greater Glasgow	1458	66.7	62.4 – 70.6
Highland	537	77.2	70.4 – 82.6
Lanarkshire	786	66.5	60.9 – 71.5
Lothian	1646	81.0	77.0 – 84.4
Orkney	38	60.0	31.9 – 79.6
Shetland	31	58.3	31.9 – 77.5
Tayside	760	68.6	62.4 – 74.0
Western Isles	63	72.4	50.0 – 86.1
Scotland	9767	72.7	71.1 – 74.2

Source: Scottish Cancer Registry.

Date extracted: March 2006.

Chamber and committees