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-03235

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 September 2007

The numbers of railpassenger journeys originating in Scotland in each year from 1960 (calendar year)to 2004-05 (financial year) were published by the Scottish Executive in December2006 in Table H1 of Scottish Transport Statistics number 25, 2006 edition,a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 41474). The corresponding figure for the 2005-06 financial year is 78.1 million.Figures for years prior to 1960 are not available.

Question reference: S3W-03479

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence is of cancer, broken down by age group, and what comparative information it has for (a) the United Kingdom as a whole, (b) each EU member state and (c) each OECD nation.

Irefer the member to the answer to question S3W-3483 on 4 September 2007. 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.Dataon cancer incidence in Scotland are available by age group and year (1980 to 2004) on the InformationServices Division website at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/files/cancer_all_types_inc.xls.

(a)Comparative data on cancer incidence in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland (2002-04) are available onthe website of the Office of National Statistics at:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/UK_inc_mort_charts_tables2002_04.xls,

TheCancer Atlas of the United Kingdom and Ireland 1991-2000 at:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=14059.

(b)Comparative data on cancer incidence in Scotland and each EU member state are held inthe Scotland and European Health for All(HfA) Database, which can be accessed from the website of the Scottish Public HealthObservatory at:

http://www.scotpho.org.uk/web/site/home/Comparativehealth/InternationalComparisons/Scotland_and_European_HfA.asp(see indicators Morbidity, disability and hospital discharges).

(c)Data on cancer incidence worldwide are held by CANCERMondial in two databases:GLOBOCAN 2002 and CI5 I-VIII. GLOBOCAN2002 contains estimates of cancer incidencefor all the countries of the world, although data for the four constituent countriesof the UK are not included separately.The database CI5 I-VIII contains cancer incidence data collected by cancer registriesworldwide, including Scotland, although not aggregated to country level.

Bothof these databases can be accessed from the website of CANCERMondial at http://www-dep.iarc.fr/.

Question reference: S3W-03093

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals have been convicted of being involved in the supply of illegal drugs in each year since 1970 and what proportion served a custodial sentence after conviction.

The available informationis given in the following table. Supply of illegal drugs offences cannot be identifiedseparately from other drug offences in the statistics available for years priorto 1985-86.

Persons with aCharge for Proved in Scottish Courts for Drug Supply Offences¹, 1985-86to 2005-06

Year	Total Number	% Receiving a Custodial Sentence
1985-86	244	72
1986-87	286	65
1987-88	335	53
1988-89	345	63
1989-90	394	53
1990-91	514	43
1991-92	610	43
1992-93	646	45
1993-94	904	46
1994-95	950	50
1995-96	1,151	53
1996-97	1,420	57
1997-98	1,551	53
1998-99	1,511	50
1999-2000	1,437	50
2000-01	1,274	52
2001-02	1,317	56
2002-03	1,464	52
2003-04	1,536	51
2004-05	1,689	47
2005-06	1,562	46

Note: 1. Where mainoffence.

Question reference: S3W-03086

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many drugs-related deaths there have been in each year since 1970, broken down by class and type of substance.

This information canbe found in Drug-related Deaths in Scotland in 2006 published by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) in August 2007,copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 43466).

A consistent seriesof figures on drug-related deaths is only available from 1996.

The paper may alsobe found on the GROS website at:

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/drug-related-deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland-2006/index.html.

Question reference: S3W-03492

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 31 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it or any of its agencies has had with Westminster’s Intelligence and Security Committee regarding the committee’s inquiry into allegations of extraordinary rendition.

Question reference: S3W-03493

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 31 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what contact any Scottish police force has had with Westminster’s Intelligence and Security Committee regarding the committee’s inquiry into allegations of extraordinary rendition.

Question reference: S3W-03480

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence is of alcoholism, broken down by age group, and what comparative information it has for (a) the United Kingdom as a whole, (b) each EU member state and (c) each OECD nation.

The numbers of patientsdischarged from Scottish general acute hospitals in 2005-06 and psychiatric hospitalsin 2004-05 with a diagnosis of alcohol dependence (ICD10 code F10.2) by age groupis given in the following table.

Comparativeinformation for the United Kingdom, EU member states and OECD nations is not held centrally.

	General Hospitals 2005-06	Psychiatric Hospitals 2004-05
All ages	3,414	2,352
Under 15 years	2	0
15 to 19 years	20	20
20 to 24 years	68	70
25 to 29 years	103	159
30 to 34 years	180	267
35 to 39 years	312	368
40 to 44 years	433	430
45 to 49 years	470	358
50 to 54 years	471	268
55 to 59 years	400	194
60 years and over	955	218

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01 and SMR04).

Question reference: S3W-02876

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 29 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the total value of the housing stock to be, broken down into (a) privately owned homes, (b) council owned homes and (c) housing association homes.

The value of the housingstock varies considerably depending on market conditions. The latest estimates arebased on November 2006 valuations of the sample of 3,090 dwellings in the 2003-04Scottish House Condition Survey for which both a full social interview and a fullphysical survey were obtained. The estimates are shown in the following table.

Category	Tenure	Value (Billions)	Sub Tenure	Value (Billions)
a	Privately owned homes	£255	Owner-occupied stock	£234
a	Privately owned homes	£255	Private rented stock	£21
b	Local authority/other public sector stock	£28
c	Housing association/ housing co-operative stock	£18
Total		£301

The total value ofScotland’s housing stock was estimated, on this basis,to be £301 billion in November 2006.

Question reference: S3W-03482

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 29 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence was of poverty in (a) 1960, (b) 1970, (c) 1980, (d) 1990, (e) 2000 and (f) the most recent year for which figures are available and what comparative information it has for (i) the United Kingdom as a whole, (ii) each EU member state and (iii) each OECD nation.

The incidence of povertyin Scotland each year since 1994-95 is published in Scottish Households BelowAverage Income 2005-06 – Revised (Bib. number 43209). Information onthe incidence of poverty in Scotland prior to 1994-95 is not held centrally.

The incidence of povertyin the UK in 1979, 1981, 1987, 1998-99, 1990-91 – 1995-97 is published in HouseholdsBelow Average Income: An Analysis of the Income Distribution – 2005-06 (Revised)(Bib. number 42543).

Information on theincidence of poverty in each EU member state is included in the EU Survey on Incomeand Living Conditions published by the Central Statistics Office (Bib. number 43453).

Information on theincidence of poverty in each OECD nation is not held centrally, however informationcan be found at the OECD Family Database website:

http://www.oecd.org/document/4/0,3343,en_2649_34819_37836996_1_1_1_1,00.html.

Question reference: S3W-02647

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 29 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the population lived in (a) an owned property and (b) a council house in (i) 1950, (ii) 1960, (iii) 1970, (iv) 1980, (v) 1990, (vi) 2000 and (vii) the most recent year for which figures are available.

The information requestedis provided in the following table. Data on tenure for Scotland are not available prior to the 1961 Census.

Population byTenure: Scotland 1961-2006

	Owner Occupied %	Rented			Total Population
	Owner Occupied %	Privately %	From Housing Association %	From Public Authority %
1961	23	30		48	5,179,432
1971	28	15		58	5,050,625
1981	35	8	1	55	4,954,328
1991	56	6	2	36	4,921,151
2001	66	7	5	21	4,976,005
2006	70	7	8	14	5,116,900

Sources: Census, 2006Scottish Household Survey and mid-year population estimates from the General RegisterOffice (Scotland).

Notes:

1. Private rentingincludes renting with a job or business.

2. 1971 and 1981 tenuredata do not include non-permanent accommodation.

3. Public authoritiesinclude local authorities, new towns and Scottish Homes (Scottish Special HousingAssociation prior to April 1998). Scottish Homes transferred ownership of its stockduring 2005.

4. Housing associationscame into operation in late 1970s.

5. 2001 data from2001 Census adjusted tenure tables on Housing Statistics branch reference site (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/18531/13575).

6. In 2003, Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow and Scottish Borders councils transferred their housing stock to housingassociations.

7. For 2006, percentagesare based on Scottish Household Survey household data, with total population fromGRO(S) mid-year estimates. Figures have been adjusted to take account of respondentsin local authorities with complete stock transfers who said they rented their accommodationfrom a public authority.