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-02238

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 10 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria a park must fulfil to qualify as a regional park.

Question reference: S3W-02397

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the (a) urban and (b) rural population is classified as living in relative poverty.

Information onthe percentage of the (a) urban and (b) rural population that is classified asliving in relative poverty is not available at present. It is planned howeverto publish this analysis on 21 September 2007 on the Scottish Government Income and Poverty Website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Social-Welfare/incomepoverty.

Officials fromthe Communities Analytical Services Division will notify you when the analysisis available.

Question reference: S3W-02399

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what housing association waiting lists have been in each local authority area each year since 1980.

I have askedAngiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Herresponse is as follows:

Information aboutthe number of applicants on housing association waiting lists is collected byhousing association and not by local authority area. The figures for each local authority area shown inthe following table are, therefore, indicative only, as a number of housingassociations operate over more than one area. The figures from housingassociations operating in more than one local authority area are shownseparately. In addition, manyapplicants are on the waiting list of more than one housing association,leading to double counting. The frequency with which housing associationsreview their housing lists varies and care should be taken when interpretingyear on year changes.

Figures are notavailable prior to 2001-02.

Local Authority	2006-07	2005-06	2004-05	2003-04	2002-03	2001-02
Scotland	267,100	301,127	237,142	177,659	120,583	91,158
Aberdeen City	7	8	13	0	8	10
Aberdeenshire	8	5	10	13	555	683
Argyll and Bute	2,486	1,889	2,189	1,711	1,646	1,156
City of Edinburgh	22,619	22,175	209	3,943	4,174	3,390
City of Glasgow	61,915	73,823	68,697	70,270	19,460	15,060
Dumfries and Galloway	7,584	7,063	8,061	6,803	2,300	1,400
Dundee City	93	106	90	101	143	193
East Ayrshire	1,302	1,095	1,389	861	694	299
East Dunbartonshire	444	651	344	0	0	0
East Lothian	6,156	2,411	1,468	860	705	433
East Renfrewshire	270	217	204	221	210	237
Fife	974	2,112	1,787	1,564	1,246	973
Highland	741	563	544	488	444	497
Inverclyde	5,286	6,006	5,094	3,192	2,627	632
Moray	489	394	330	927	539	386
North Lanarkshire	3,465	3,934	2,840	3,033	3,018	2,047
Orkney Islands	647	575	481	485	300	257
Perth and Kinross	340	281	273	200	4,224	4,545
Renfrewshire	9,074	10,310	8,963	6,056	3,663	2,455
Scottish Borders	7,504	7,251	7,064	6,082	3,120	1,550
Shetland Islands	718	583	402	311	275	237
South Ayrshire	31	35	34	36	3,015	1,655
South Lanarkshire	2,331	2,243	2,419	2,085	1,437	853
Stirling	1,521	1,765	1,605	1,802	1,548	1,277
West Dunbartonshire	2,693	2,671	2,764	2,405	2,034	1,557
West Lothian	1,604	1,523	1,979	1,682	996	583
Western Isles	1,115	493	362	301	259	751
Housing associations operating in more than one local authority	125,683	150,945	117,527	62,227	61,943	48,042

Source:Annual Performance and Statistical Return by registered social landlords toCommunities Scotland Regulation and Inspection Division.

Notes:

1Local authority figures are indicative only as a number of housing associations(registered social landlords) operate over more than one local authority area.Figures from these organisations cannot be broken down by local authority.

2The increase in waiting lists in 2003-04 for Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow andScottish Borders is due to the transfer of council housing stock to housingassociations.

3There is no information available for Angus, Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Midlothian or North Ayrshire as noone housing association operates solely in these local authority areas.

Question reference: S3W-02398

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what local authority housing waiting lists have been in each local authority area in each year since 1980.

The numbers onlocal authority housing lists at March of each year are shown as follows. Data isnot available prior to March 2001.

Table 1: Applicantson Housing List at 31 March by Local Authority: 2001-2006

Local Authority	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Aberdeen City	8,971	7,247	9,636	12,195	12,315	12,178
Aberdeenshire	4,929	3,637	4,112	4,404	5,246	5,067
Angus	5,191	3,241	3,259	3,183	4,113	5,203
Argyll and Bute	1,594	2,060	2,623	2,891	3,952	3,994
Clackmannanshire	2,603	2,514	2,867	1,779	2,118	2,536
Dumfries and Galloway	4,750	4,415	4,505	na	na	na
Dundee City	4,871	3,376	5,271	5,865	6,487	8,321
East Ayrshire	2,843	4,081	4,667	4,761	4,913	8,321
East Dunbartonshire	4,451	3,466	3,793	4,216	5,051	3,859
East Lothian	4,138	5,371	5,549	5,520	6,098	6,479
East Renfrewshire	2,777	1,846	2,292	2,637	2,625	2,239
Edinburgh, City of	19,512	20,733	20,733	22,624	23,304	23,623
Eilean Siar	680	621	717	743	895	924
Falkirk	10,768	11,138	10,057	11,223	7,094	9,856
Fife	19,026	19,982	10,340	13,654	11,424	15,511
Glasgow City	30,297	34,209	na	na	na	na
Highland	7,530	8,351	8,652	9,663	5,343	10,809
Inverclyde	8,482	5,409	5,400	4,382	3,592	5,567
Midlothian	2,191	2,095	2,550	2,536	3,558	2,465
Moray	1,676	2,339	2,346	2,550	2,768	3,143
North Ayrshire		6,870	6,474	5,945	5,747	5,250
North Lanarkshire	12,664	14,013	12,148	16,576	19,220	21,304
Orkney	331	428	333	591	495	711
Perth and Kinross		4,393	5,639	4,739	4,439	5,546
Renfrewshire	11,046	9,211	10,010	9,015	9,892	8,095
Scottish Borders	2,485	2,488	2,488	na	na	na
Shetland	513	440	513	692	782	1,155
South Ayrshire	5,993	5,480	4,306	3,206	3,245	4,486
South Lanarkshire	20,544	21,464	20,099	16,099	16,423	16,598
Stirling	2,716	2,873	3,512	4,807	4,526	3,598
West Dunbartonshire	6,835	6,520	5,326	6,032	6,008	6,799
West Lothian	9,430	8,176	8,818	9,364	9,256	9,102
Total	210,407	220,311	180,217	202,530	181,673	203,637

Source:Housing Lists returns submitted by local authorities to the Scottish Executive.

Notes:

1. The data include both those applying for their first council tenancy(waiting list) and those who are applying to move from one council property toanother (transfer list).

2. In 2003, Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow andScottish Borders councils transferred their housing stock to housingassociation ownership.

3. Households may be on the waiting list of more thanone local authority or housing association, leading to double counting. Thisdouble (or more) counting particularly occurs among landlords that are not partof a common housing register.

4.The frequency with which local authorities review their housing lists variesbetween councils, and care should be taken when interpreting year on yearchanges.

Question reference: S3W-02260

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 9 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications to the Children, Young People and Families Unified Voluntary Sector Fund have been refused.

Question reference: S3W-02259

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 9 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the decision of the previous administration to not allow new applications to the Children, Young People and Families Unified Voluntary Sector Fund.

Question reference: S3W-02258

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 9 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been committed in the 2007-10 funding round from the Children, Young People and Families Unified Voluntary Sector Fund.

Question reference: S3W-02439

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to address inconsistencies in sentencing for fatal road traffic offences.

Question reference: S3W-02363

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence has been of osteoporosis in Scotland compared with (a) the United Kingdom as a whole, (b) each EU member state and (c) each OECD nation in each year since 1980.

Question reference: S3W-02364

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence has been of osteoporosis in each year since 1980, broken down by socio-economic group.

Information on the incidenceof osteoporosis in Scotland is not available centrally. Information for Scottish Parliamentary constituencies and for Scottish parliamentary regions is onlyavailable from 1 April 1999.

The proportion of the population who consult each year(annual patient rate) and the number of patients seen for osteoporosis in anyyear by a member of the practice team in Scotland can be estimated from Practice Team Information (PTI) data, which isdata received from a sample of Scottish practices. This data is currentlyavailable for the years 2003-04 to 2005-06 and is shown in the following table.

Osteoporosis – annual patient rates per 1,000 population andestimated number of patients consulting in Scotland; years ending 31 March 2004, 2005 and2006 by deprivationcategory.

Deprivation category (SIMD)	2003-04		2004-05		2005-06
Deprivation category (SIMD)	Annual patient rate per 1,000 population	Estimated number of patients	Annual patient rate per 1,000 population	Estimated number of patients	Annual patient rate per 1,000 population	Estimated number of patients
1 (least deprived)	4.0	4,250	3.0	3,200	3.7	3,950
2	3.6	3,750	3.4	3,600	2.6	2,850
3	3.3	3,450	3.0	3,150	2.4	2,600
4	4.0	4,300	3.2	3,400	2.7	2,850
5 (most deprived)	3.3	3,650	3.0	3,300	2.8	3,050
Scotland	3.6	19,300	3.1	16,600	2.8	15,250

Source: ISD.

Notes:

Estimated numbers of patients are rounded to the nearest 50.Total figures may not add up to the sum of the parts due to this rounding.

Due to the small numbers on which these estimates are based,care must be taken when examining these data as a trend.

the Scottish Indices of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) are used here as a proxy forsocio-economic group.

Following asubstantial review of PTI data and subsequent revisions to the methodology forall PTI analyses, direct comparisons with figures produced prior to 27th March 2007 are not valid. Furtherinformation can be found on the ISD website, at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4724.html.