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: S3W-04086

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Water Supply (Water Quality) (Scotland) Regulations 2001, how many authorised departures have been (a) applied for by Scottish Water and (b) permitted by the Scottish Ministers in each year, broken down by local authority area.

Since the Regulationscame into force Scottish Water has applied for 42 authorised departures. Scottishministers have granted 37 of these and the breakdown by local authority is detailedin the following table.

Year	Local Authority	Applications	Granted
2004	Argyll and Bute Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Dumfries and Galloway Highland Orkney Shetland	1 7 2 17 1 1	1 7 2 13 1 0
2005	Highland	2	2
2006	Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Dumfries and Galloway Highland	1 2 8	1 2 8

Question reference: S3W-04089

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many junior doctors have been employed by the NHS in Scotland in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-04082

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many evictions due to non-payment of rent have occurred in each year since 1990, broken down by local authority area.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

Figures on evictionsby local authorities due to rent arrears are not held centrally. The informationon evictions for registered social landlords is not available at local authoritylevel prior to 2003-04. Data on evictions due to rent arrears in the private sectorare not collected centrally.

The following tablelists data for registered social landlords:

Local Authority	2006-07	2005-06	2004-05	2003-04
Scotland	719	516	631	563
Aberdeen City	50	6	17	34
Aberdeenshire	21	6	10	12
Angus	7	9	1	13
Argyll and Bute	5	0	6	2
City of Edinburgh	41	31	49	51
City of Glasgow	319	201	263	156
Clackmannanshire	12	18	9	4
Dumfries and Galloway	34	31	44	51
Dundee City	26	23	9	38
East Ayrshire	7	4	6	9
East Dunbartonshire	4	10	0	3
East Lothian	6	5	5	2
East Renfrewshire	3	0	5	3
Falkirk	4	21	12	11
Fife	13	19	26	33
Highland	8	11	20	8
Inverclyde	7	4	6	4
Midlothian	4	6	4	6
Moray	4	2	3	3
North Ayrshire	16	8	8	9
North Lanarkshire	14	13	15	29
Orkney Islands	0	0	1	3
Perth and Kinross	1	3	2	8
Renfrewshire	52	16	24	11
Scottish Borders	29	42	39	13
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	1	0	2	8
South Lanarkshire	8	9	12	5
Stirling	5	3	5	2
West Dunbartonshire	14	7	15	18
Western Isles	0	2	0	1
West Lothian	4	6	13	13

Source: Annual Performanceand Statistical Return by registered social landlords to Communities Scotland Regulationand Inspection Division.

Question reference: S3W-04090

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many junior doctors have been unable to find work in Scotland this year and in the two previous years.

Question reference: S3W-03651

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prescriptions for treatments involving methylphenidate have been issued in each year since 1990.

The following tableshows the number of prescribed items for treatments involving methylphenidate hydrochloride(both standard and modified release preparations) prescribed in the community inScotland. Data are presented for the financial yearsending 31 March 1990 to 2007, inclusive. Data in the table refer to prescriptionsdispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors, but do not take intoaccount medicines dispensed by hospitals or hospital based clinics.

Number of PrescribedItems – Year Ending 31 March

Year Ending 31 March	No of Prescription Items
1990	0
1991	0
1992	0
1993	0
1994	0
1995	0
1996	1,579
1997	4,911
1998	9,392
1999	14,302
2000	19,198
2001	22,384
2002	24,886
2003	30,276
2004	34,710
2005	37,888
2006	41,810
2007	48,739

Source: ISD Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-03652

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prescriptions for Ritalin have been issued in each year since 1990.

The following tableshows the number of prescribed items for Ritalin^® prescribed in the community in Scotland. Data are presented for the financial years ending 31 March 1996 to 2007, inclusive. Data in the table refer to prescriptionsdispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors, but do not take intoaccount medicines dispensed by hospitals or hospital based clinics.

Number of PrescribedItems – Year Ending 31 March

Year Ending 31 March	Number of Prescription Items
1990	0
1991	0
1992	0
1993	0
1994	0
1995	0
1996	1,579
1997	4,911
1998	9,392
1999	14,302
2000	19,198
2001	20,433
2002	20,753
2003	16,624
2004	12,652
2005	7,753
2006	6,060
2007	4,201

Source: ISD Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-02987

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many floods there have been that required a response from at least one of the emergency services each year since 1980.

Question reference: S3W-03511

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many assaults on teachers in the workplace were reported in each year since 1990, broken down by local authority area.

Information on thenumber of reported incidents of violence or antisocial behaviour were collectedcentrally between 1998-99 and 2002-03 only. The following table showing the breakdownby local authority was provided to the Education Committee in 2004.

Figures include verbaland physical abuse, as well as incidents against personal property, against bothteaching and non-teaching staff and cover pre-school as well as school.

It is not necessarilyvalid to draw the inference that the actual number of incidents had increased bythe amount shown between the years. Figures from different local authorities arealso not generally comparable. These differences may be due to different reportingprocedures.

	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Aberdeen City	321	709	669	675	566
Aberdeenshire	48	8	143	134	154
Angus	48	39	81	129	109
Argyll and Bute	40	95	83	105	126
Clackmannanshire	13	24	22	18	55
Dumfries and Galloway	29	44	40	29	37
Dundee City	207	201	412	521	458
East Ayrshire	28	28	23	31	47
East Dunbartonshire	32	58	88	76	79
East Lothian	12	47	48	36	52
East Renfrewshire	15	29	16	41	68
Edinburgh, City of	181	289	381	427	484
Eilean Siar	0	2	19	1	230
Falkirk	3	30	168	397	756
Fife	64	259	414	650	588
Glasgow City	123	139	258	357	616
Highland	17	24	166	164	282
Inverclyde	15	39	50	94	182
Midlothian	59	69	96	144	169
Moray	52	34	32	91	44
North Ayrshire	12	70	110	102	264
North Lanarkshire	158	178	178	270	386
Orkney Islands	3	5	3	6	1
Perth and Kinross	46	122	311	245	267
Renfrewshire	47	52	78	91	370
Scottish Borders	7	5	24	51	35
Shetland Islands	1	3	20	17	17
South Ayrshire	153	145	111	101	34
South Lanarkshire	48	87	129	124	118
Stirling	4	73	75	105	95
West Dunbartonshire	50	110	117	87	61
West Lothian	62	66	136	93	149
Scotland	1,898	3,083	4,501	5,412	6,899

Question reference: S3W-03653

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 12 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what proportion of socially rented homes are equipped with wheelchair access in each local authority area.

The table presentsthe most recent available figures for the number of dwellings in the social rentedsector classified as wheelchair housing. Figures for 2007 will be published in November2007.

Social SectorHousing Stock Classified as Wheelchair Housing: as at 31 March 2006

Scotland	6,901
Aberdeen City	157
Aberdeenshire	681
Angus	79
Argyll and Bute	456
Clackmannanshire	120
Dumfries and Galloway	28
Dundee City	321
East Ayrshire	270
East Dunbartonshire	42
East Lothian	48
East Renfrewshire	51
Edinburgh, City of	741
Eilean Siar	38
Falkirk	94
Fife	374
Glasgow City	555
Highland	207
Inverclyde	118
Midlothian	82
Moray	43
North Ayrshire	101
North Lanarkshire	190
Orkney	46
Perth and Kinross	265
Renfrewshire	246
Scottish Borders, The	157
Shetland	17
South Ayrshire	72
South Lanarkshire	880
Stirling	137
West Dunbartonshire	135
West Lothian	150

Source:S1B returnsby local authorities to the Scottish Government Housing and Regeneration Directorate:Communities Analytical Services (Housing Statistics). Housing association data areprovided by Communities Scotland from the Annual Peformance and Statistical Return.

Notes:

1. For housing associationstock, sheltered housing which is wheelchair adapted is not identified separatelyfrom other types of sheltered housing and is therefore not included in this table.

2. Figures may includeestimates due to missing returns or provided by local authorities.

Figures for publicsector dwellings as at 31 March 2006 are published in the statisticalbulletin Housing trends in Scotland: quarterending 31 March 2006 (HSG/2006/5, Table 14). This is availableonline at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/Publications.

Figures for housingassociation dwellings as at 31 March 2006 are published in Scottish registeredsocial landlord statistics 2005/06 (Table 21). This is available online at:

http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/cs_017838.pdf.

Question reference: S3W-03456

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 12 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether procedures for the identification of dyslexia are uniform across Scotland.

Dyslexia is a complexlearning difficulty affecting individuals in different ways and to varying degrees.Procedures for the identification of dyslexia are, therefore, not uniform acrossScotland.

However, schools andteachers have access to a range of screening tools and assessment packages to aidthe early identification of dyslexia. This should ensure that the most appropriatelearning and support strategy can be put in place to best meet the needs of eachindividual child.

There are also a numberof screening tools and assessment packages available to aid the identification of,and support for, adults with dyslexia.