Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-18942

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 7 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will next review how effective community wardens are in reducing antisocial behaviour.

Following the concordat between COSLA and the Scottish Government, the operation of each community warden scheme is now the responsibility of its local authority. Most local authorities have since undertaken a review of their services, or are in the process of doing so, in order to determine the most effective configuration of warden services and direct funding appropriately.

The Scottish Government''s review of the national antisocial behaviour strategy is looking at the range of responses available for dealing with antisocial behaviour, including those related to the work of community wardens. More information on any recommendations relevant to community warden schemes will be available when the review reports to the Parliament early in 2009.

Question reference: S3W-18873

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it takes to monitor the incidence of stress-related disorders.

There is no common definition for stress related disorders. However data is collected by Information Services Division Scotland, and obtained through the Practice Team Information (PTI), from a sample of Scottish GP practices, where stress related disorders are included within a grouping for Depression and for anxiety and other neurotic disorders.

The information will help NHS boards to plan and respond to the needs of people with stress related disorders.

Question reference: S3W-18875

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it provides to self-help and voluntary groups dealing with stress-related disorders.

The Scottish Government and partners currently supports and works with a range of organisations supporting and caring for those with a stress related disorder and their families. A range of grants and other support is in place. Each is kept under review for relevance and continued fitness for purpose.

Some organisations take this care group and needs as their sole or lead focus while others including, for example, Scottish Association for Mental Health, The Mental Health Foundation and Depression Alliance Scotland include this care need within their range of attention.

Question reference: S3W-18874

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much stress-related disorders have cost the (a) NHS and (b) Scottish economy in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S3W-18946

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many university graduates were in Scotland and unemployed, a year after graduating, in each of the last three years for which information is available.

Information on graduate destinations by location is only available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency''s (HESA) Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey for those who find employment.

Of all graduates from Scottish universities (including Scottish domiciles at Open University), who graduated in the academic year 2006-07 and completed the survey, 1,185 (4%) were believed to be unemployed six months after graduating. The corresponding figures for those graduating in academic years 2005-06 and 2004-05 are 1,320 and 1,355 respectively. We do not know whether those students remained in Scotland or not.

HESA reports overall response rates for the surveys of; 76%, 75% and 75% for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 respectively.

The above figures have been rounded to the nearest five for data protection purposes. Percentage figures are calculated from unrounded data and rounded to the nearest whole percent.

Question reference: S3W-18945

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many university graduates left Scotland within a year of graduating in each of the last three years for which information is available.

Information on graduate destinations by location is only available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency''s (HESA) Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey (DLHE) for those who find employment.

Of those graduates from Scottish universities (including Scottish domiciles at Open University), who graduated in the academic year 2006-07 and who were employed six months after graduating 4,325 (18%) reported in the survey that they were employed outside Scotland. The corresponding figures for those graduating in academic years 2005-06 and 2004-05 are 4,210 and 4,250 respectively. This includes students from outside Scotland who came to Scotland to study.

HESA reports overall response rates for the surveys of; 76%, 75% and 75% for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 respectively.

The above figure has been rounded to the nearest five for data protection purposes. Percentage figures are calculated from unrounded data and rounded to the nearest whole percent.

Question reference: S3W-18944

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many university graduates, within a year of graduation, (a) took up employment in Scotland or (b) took up a post related to their field of study, in each of the last three years for which information is available.

(a) Information on destinations of qualifiers, six months after completing their course, is collected from the survey of Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) which is co-ordinated by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and administered by each higher education institution (HEI).

Of those who responded to the survey 20,355 graduates from Scottish universities (including Scottish domiciled students from Open University), who graduated in the academic year 2006-07, took up employment in Scotland within six months of graduating. The corresponding figures for those graduating in 2005-06 and 2004-05 are 19,910 and 19,520 respectively.

HESA reports overall response rates for the surveys of; 76%, 75% and 75% for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 respectively.

The above figures have been rounded to the nearest five for data protection purposes.

(b) This information is not held centrally.

Question reference: S3W-18947

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 18 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote community woodlands.

Forestry Commission Scotland will continue to encourage the engagement of communities in forestry. The commission achieves this through its partnerships with local groups on the national forest estate, by providing specific SRDP funding to help private owners and community groups to get involved in the management and enjoyment of woods, and through the funding of the Community Woodland Association.

Question reference: S3W-17865

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 11 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to discourage firms from holding commercial properties vacant.

Scottish Enterprise (SE) has an important role in working collaboratively with industry and the rest of the public sector to help address the challenges facing Scotland''s businesses, particularly in helping them cope with the rapidly changing economic environment.

Although SE has no specific statutory role in ensuring the occupancy of commercial property,it does assist companies in identifying appropriate properties to meet their requirements. Any enquiries from businesses looking for property that are received via Business Gateway and Scottish Development International are provided with a comprehensive list of available property that meets their criteria. This is not restricted to property that is owned by SE, but includes all available property regardless of ownership.

Additionally, SE provides support to the urban regeneration companies in Scotland, many of which have plans for the acquisition and redevelopment of obsolete property, and ensures that our own property projects do not compete with private sector development activity.

Question reference: S3W-17857

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 1 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are employed in the software industry broken down by (a) parliamentary constituency and (b) local authority area.

Information on the number of employee jobs by industry is collected each year from the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI), which is the official source of employee jobs data. The most recent year for which data is available is 2006. The ABI does not include self-employed jobs.

(a) Table 1 shows the number of employee jobs in the software industry by parliamentary constituency.

Table 1: Employee Jobs in the Software Industry by Scottish Parliamentary Constituency, 2006

Constituency	Number	Constituency	Number
Aberdeen Central	400	Glasgow Baillieston	*
Aberdeen North	400	Glasgow Cathcart	*
Aberdeen South	100	Glasgow Govan	300
Airdrie and Shotts		Glasgow Kelvin	2,500
Angus		Glasgow Maryhill	200
Argyll and Bute	100	Glasgow Pollok	100
Ayr	100	Glasgow Rutherglen
Banff and Buchan	100	Glasgow Shettleston	*
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross		Glasgow Springburn	100
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley		Gordon	200
Central Fife	100	Greenock and Inverclyde	100
Clydebank and Milngavie	100	Hamilton North and Bellshill	300
Clydesdale	100	Hamilton South	100
Coatbridge and Chryston		Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber	600
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	400	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
Cunninghame North	100	Kirkcaldy
Cunninghame South	100	Linlithgow	800
Dumbarton		Livingston	500
Dumfries		Midlothian	100
Dundee East	200	Moray
Dundee West	200	Motherwell and Wishaw
Dunfermline East	300	North East Fife	100
Dunfermline West	300	North Tayside
East Kilbride	200	Ochil	200
East Lothian	100	Orkney and Shetland**	*
Eastwood	100	Paisley North	200
Edinburgh Central	800	Paisley South	100
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	100	Perth	100
Edinburgh North and Leith	1,600	Ross, Skye and Inverness West	100
Edinburgh Pentlands	700	Roxburgh and Berwickshire	100
Edinburgh South	200	Stirling	200
Edinburgh West	400	Strathkelvin and Bearsden	100
Falkirk East	100	Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	200
Falkirk West	100	West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	300
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	100	West Renfrewshire	400
Glasgow Anniesland	100	Western Isles	*
		Total	16,300

Source: Annual Business Inquiry.

Notes:

1. The data are for SIC (1992) codes 72.20 and 22.33.

2. The reference date for the ABI in 2006 was changed from December to September.

3. These data are based on employee jobs rather than people in employment i.e. one person may have more than one job. They do not include self employed jobs.

4. Data are rounded to the nearest 100.

5. ABI data are workplace based.

*Data suppressed as potentially disclosive. Data are suppressed under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947 where the identity of an enterprise who made a statistical return could be deduced.

**It has not been possible to analyse Orkney and Shetland separately. The data has been obtained from the Nomis website, as the microdata are not held centrally.

Represents figures of less than 50.

(b) Table 2 shows the number of employee jobs in the software industry by local authority area.

Table 2: Employee Jobs in the Software Industry by Local Authority Area, 2006

Local Authority	Number
Aberdeen City	1,000
Aberdeenshire	600
Angus
Argyll and Bute	100
Clackmannanshire	100
Eilean Siar	*
Dumfries and Galloway	100
Dundee City	400
East Ayrshire	100
East Dunbartonshire	200
East Lothian	100
East Renfrewshire	100
Edinburgh, City of	3,900
Falkirk	200
Fife	800
Glasgow City	3,400
Highland	700
Inverclyde	100
Midlothian	100
Moray
North Ayrshire	200
North Lanarkshire	800
Orkney Islands	*
Perthshire and Kinross	100
Renfrewshire	600
Scottish Borders	200
Shetland Islands	*
South Ayrshire	100
South Lanarkshire	400
Stirling	300
West Dunbartonshire	100
West Lothian	1,300
Total	16,300

Source: Annual Business Inquiry.

Notes:

1. The data are for SIC (1992) codes 72.20 and 22.33.

2. The reference date for the ABI in 2006 was changed from December to September.

3. These data are based on employee jobs rather than people in employment i.e. one person may have more than one job. They do not include self employed jobs.

4. Data are rounded to the nearest 100.

5. ABI data are workplace based.

* Data suppressed as potentially disclosive. Data are suppressed under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947 where the identity of an enterprise who made a statistical return could be deduced.

Represents figures of less than 50.

Chamber and committees