Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-21892

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21240 by George Lyon on 14 December 2005, how many deaths from cancer there have been within each former European parliamentary constituency in each year since the Chernobyl incident, broken down by NHS board area.

I refer the member to the question S2W-21936 answered on 23 January 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The following tables provide the absolute number of deaths from cancer between 26 April 1986 and 31 December 2004 byformer European parliamentary constituency and NHS board.

Deaths from Cancer¹ Between 26 April 1986 and 31 December 2004, by Former European Parliamentary Constituency and NHS Board

Former European Parliamentary Constituency and NHS Board		1986 (part)	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992
Scotland		9,819	14,650	14,720	14,917	14,957	14,876	15,132
Central Scotland		1,206	1,802	1,797	1,847	1,983	1,898	1,889
	Ayrshire and Arran	147	179	182	226	225	200	214
	Forth Valley	287	407	419	396	410	412	379
	Greater Glasgow	34	48	47	54	58	63	48
	Lanarkshire	738	1,168	1,149	1,171	1,290	1,223	1,248
Glasgow		1,773	2,653	2,513	2,579	2,548	2,493	2,577
	Greater Glasgow	1,773	2,653	2,513	2,579	2,548	2,493	2,577
Highlands and Islands		752	1,117	1,160	1,177	1,199	1,151	1,188
	Argyll and Clyde	133	210	208	220	185	186	208
	Grampian	134	197	216	202	207	203	223
	Highland	342	542	512	575	624	566	551
	Orkney	35	39	64	50	44	43	42
	Shetland	37	44	62	35	55	53	56
	Western Isles	71	85	98	95	84	100	108
Lothians		1,262	1,855	1,926	1,843	1,932	1,894	1,940
	Lothian	1,262	1,855	1,926	1,843	1,932	1,894	1,940
Mid Scotland and Fife		1,165	1,760	1,794	1,789	1,720	1,800	1,823
	Fife	615	905	937	985	921	955	995
	Forth Valley	243	356	380	321	322	349	358
	Tayside	307	499	477	483	477	496	470
North East Scotland		1,246	1,815	1,782	1,862	1,802	1,826	1,840
	Grampian	739	1,104	1,073	1,116	1,064	1,108	1,080
	Tayside	507	711	709	746	738	718	760
South of Scotland		1,201	1,810	1,773	1,840	1,878	1,877	1,909
	Ayrshire and Arran	421	641	566	620	612	624	652
	Borders	213	316	331	338	396	344	347
	Dumfries and Galloway	267	446	442	437	432	453	470
	Lanarkshire	130	176	202	218	191	212	199
	Lothian	170	231	232	227	247	244	241
West of Scotland		1,181	1,767	1,916	1,908	1,819	1,893	1,911
	Argyll and Clyde	688	1,019	1,095	1,107	1,085	1,059	1,121
	Ayrshire and Arran	141	224	231	238	200	245	241
	Greater Glasgow	352	524	590	563	534	589	549
Not known		33	71	59	72	76	44	55

Former European Parliamentary Constituency and NHS Board		1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Scotland		15,458	15,164	15,224	15,171	14,889	14,752
Central Scotland		2,062	1,970	1,896	1,962	1,993	1,891
	Ayrshire and Arran	235	213	194	230	239	245
	Forth Valley	434	431	386	430	407	390
	Greater Glasgow	65	65	43	50	47	63
	Lanarkshire	1,328	1,261	1,273	1,252	1,300	1,193
Glasgow		2,465	2,418	2,549	2,340	2,308	2,256
	Greater Glasgow	2,465	2,418	2,549	2,340	2,308	2,256
Highlands and Islands		1,220	1,251	1,246	1,189	1,249	1,228
	Argyll and Clyde	214	248	226	210	229	225
	Grampian	224	213	213	209	210	216
	Highland	563	567	591	565	593	602
	Orkney	53	51	52	45	60	51
	Shetland	63	69	58	55	52	49
	Western Isles	103	103	106	105	105	85
Lothians		1,885	1,871	1,821	1,918	1,865	1,858
	Lothian	1,885	1,871	1,821	1,918	1,865	1,858
Mid Scotland and Fife		1,890	1,879	1,830	1,890	1,746	1,856
	Fife	1,021	981	998	1,014	935	1,018
	Forth Valley	363	362	341	367	325	371
	Tayside	506	536	491	509	486	467
North East Scotland		1,957	1,807	1,902	1,931	1,872	1,874
	Grampian	1,244	1,113	1,129	1,155	1,148	1,125
	Tayside	713	694	773	776	724	749
South of Scotland		2,002	1,979	1,975	1,922	1,955	1,900
	Ayrshire and Arran	687	659	694	615	662	640
	Borders	373	345	320	359	345	351
	Dumfries and Galloway	440	493	463	461	454	465
	Lanarkshire	223	190	206	231	228	173
	Lothian	279	292	292	256	266	271
West of Scotland		1,922	1,937	1,959	2,014	1,901	1,887
	Argyll and Clyde	1,149	1,148	1,127	1,180	1,068	1,089
	Ayrshire and Arran	212	235	224	248	213	231
	Greater Glasgow	561	554	608	586	620	567
Not known		55	52	46	5	0	2

Former European Parliamentary Constituency and NHS Board		1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Scotland		14,789	14,958	15,196	15,051	15,116	15,047
Central Scotland		2,007	2,052	2,068	2,101	2,070	2,025
	Ayrshire and Arran	250	224	244	239	256	232
	Forth Valley	429	445	436	460	487	435
	Greater Glasgow	53	54	67	61	44	56
	Lanarkshire	1,275	1,329	1,321	1,341	1,283	1,302
Glasgow		2,252	2,106	2,196	2,186	2,168	2,134
	Greater Glasgow	2,252	2,106	2,196	2,186	2,168	2,134
Highlands and Islands		1,262	1,281	1,289	1,268	1,260	1,276
	Argyll and Clyde	215	233	218	216	203	217
	Grampian	228	241	231	227	210	252
	Highland	611	622	641	622	644	614
	Orkney	45	38	51	45	45	51
	Shetland	56	43	58	48	57	51
	Western Isles	107	104	90	110	101	91
Lothians		1,820	1,826	1,934	1,783	1,823	1,794
	Lothian	1,820	1,826	1,934	1,783	1,823	1,794
Mid Scotland and Fife		1,838	1,833	1,877	1,920	1,906	1,897
	Fife	973	982	1,035	1,036	1,013	1,004
	Forth Valley	367	361	353	357	377	388
	Tayside	498	490	489	527	516	505
North East Scotland		1,815	1,928	1,962	1,842	1,871	1,941
	Grampian	1,114	1,187	1,225	1,147	1,160	1,210
	Tayside	701	741	737	695	711	731
South of Scotland		1,933	2,013	1,951	2,090	2,064	2,049
	Ayrshire and Arran	654	685	630	701	654	697
	Borders	355	343	347	399	354	337
	Dumfries and Galloway	433	487	478	455	536	524
	Lanarkshire	227	209	226	240	241	241
	Lothian	264	289	270	295	279	250
West of Scotland		1,862	1,913	1,918	1,859	1,947	1,926
	Argyll and Clyde	1,089	1,090	1,095	1,070	1,087	1,086
	Ayrshire and Arran	208	227	237	206	222	234
	Greater Glasgow	565	596	586	583	638	606
Not known		0	6	1	2	7	5

Note: 1. InternationalClassification of Diseases (ICD) codes:

1986 - 1999: ICD9, 140 -208.

2000 - 2004: ICD10, C00 toC97.

Question reference: S2W-21936

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21240 by George Lyon on 14 December 2005, what research or investigation has been carried out into the increased incidence of cancer deaths in the south of Scotland since the Chernobyl incident.

The answer to question S2W-21240 on 14 December 2005, indicated a general increase in the absolute numbers of deaths from cancer in the South of Scotland between 1986 and 2004. However, rates of death from cancer increase substantially with age, and the increase in numbers of deaths can be attributed largely to the rise in the average age of the resident population over that period.

Cancer statistics for this area, either in terms of total incidence or of the incidence of those cancers known to be associated with radiation exposure, give no indication of an association with fallout from Chernobyl. Therefore, no specific research or investigation has been carried out into deaths from cancer in the South of Scotland since the Chernobyl accident.

Since 1995, in the under 75 age group, there has been a 14.8% reduction in age-standardised cancer mortality rates.

Question reference: S2W-21935

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths from cancer there were in each former European parliamentary constituency in each of the 10 years prior to the Chernobyl incident, broken down by NHS board area.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21936 on 23 January 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The following tables provide the absolute number of deaths from cancer between 1 January 1976 and 25 April 1986 by former European parliamentary constituency and NHS Board.

Deaths from Cancer¹Between 1 January 1976 and 25 April 1986, by Former European Parliamentary Constituency and NHS Board

Former European Parliamentary Constituency and NHS Board		1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981
Scotland		13,394	13,170	13,690	13,907	13,695	13,937
Central Scotland		1,525	1,556	1,542	1,607	1,622	1,762
	Ayrshire and Arran	206	187	205	181	180	207
	Forth Valley	317	333	300	354	301	367
	Greater Glasgow	45	39	60	39	49	46
	Lanarkshire	957	997	977	1,033	1,092	1,142
Glasgow		2,757	2,626	2,799	2,727	2,632	2,749
	Greater Glasgow	2,757	2,626	2,799	2,727	2,632	2,749
Highlands and Islands		1,007	920	942	986	986	1,045
	Argyll and Clyde	181	166	168	192	194	176
	Grampian	180	162	163	172	159	183
	Highland	469	425	452	464	446	508
	Orkney	40	44	34	37	50	47
	Shetland	44	39	38	38	45	42
	Western Isles	93	84	87	83	92	89
Lothians		1,754	1,783	1,852	1,903	1,852	1,729
	Lothian	1,754	1,783	1,852	1,903	1,852	1,729
Mid Scotland and Fife		1,556	1,495	1,599	1,554	1,623	1,597
	Fife	831	774	890	847	850	832
	Forth Valley	304	290	301	280	332	310
	Tayside	421	431	408	427	441	455
North East Scotland		1,647	1,659	1,726	1,732	1,735	1,690
	Grampian	936	972	1,023	1,027	1,022	1,011
	Tayside	711	687	703	705	713	679
South of Scotland		1,500	1,551	1,515	1,616	1,595	1,668
	Ayrshire and Arran	533	537	526	510	559	581
	Borders	254	293	280	312	250	290
	Dumfries and Galloway	362	372	337	417	383	400
	Lanarkshire	171	163	158	180	181	180
	Lothian	180	186	214	197	222	217
West of Scotland		1,599	1,526	1,658	1,733	1,596	1,637
	Argyll and Clyde	907	899	975	1,028	945	966
	Ayrshire and Arran	195	170	186	183	175	187
	Greater Glasgow	497	457	497	522	476	484
Not known		49	54	57	49	54	60

Former European Parliamentary Constituency and NHS Board		1982	1983	1984	1985	1986 (part)
Scotland		14,077	14,210	14,299	14,455	4,715
Central Scotland		1,728	1,768	1,727	1,822	574
	Ayrshire and Arran	232	201	211	206	68
	Forth Valley	354	407	390	388	125
	Greater Glasgow	56	49	42	61	9
	Lanarkshire	1,086	1,111	1,084	1,167	372
Glasgow		2,598	2,694	2,651	2,624	823
	Greater Glasgow	2,598	2,694	2,651	2,624	823
Highlands and Islands		1,061	1,048	1,095	1,144	380
	Argyll and Clyde	211	188	218	200	71
	Grampian	174	181	204	203	65
	Highland	487	499	506	554	183
	Orkney	56	49	41	56	9
	Shetland	47	52	44	45	20
	Western Isles	86	79	82	86	32
Lothians		1,816	1,839	1,882	1,877	638
	Lothian	1,816	1,839	1,882	1,877	638
Mid Scotland and Fife		1,622	1,662	1,619	1,700	525
	Fife	883	876	866	899	258
	Forth Valley	293	333	327	382	126
	Tayside	446	453	426	419	141
North East Scotland		1,761	1,727	1,746	1,791	582
	Grampian	1,047	1,071	1,018	1,058	358
	Tayside	714	656	728	733	224
South of Scotland		1,658	1,711	1,722	1,723	577
	Ayrshire and Arran	597	581	619	635	189
	Borders	312	315	312	322	102
	Dumfries and Galloway	343	415	400	375	146
	Lanarkshire	188	193	183	183	59
	Lothian	218	207	208	208	81
West of Scotland		1,790	1,715	1,802	1,723	601
	Argyll and Clyde	1,048	990	1,054	1,019	361
	Ayrshire and Arran	222	202	221	206	70
	Greater Glasgow	520	523	527	498	170
Not known		43	46	55	51	15

Note: 1. International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes:

1976 - 1978: ICD8, 140 - 208.

1979 - 1986: ICD9, 140 - 208.

Question reference: S2W-21920

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been registered homeless in the Scottish Borders in each year since 1999.

The numbers of applications and persons assessed as homeless under the homelessness legislation by Scottish Borders Council are shown in the following table.

Number of Applications and Persons Assessed as Homeless by Scottish Borders Council: 2000-01 to 2004-05

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Applications	370	380	350	388	598	467
Number of persons	720	760	810	714	1,213	811

Source: HL1 returns by local authorities to the Scottish Executive Development Department Analytical Services Division (Housing Statistics).

Notes:

1. All applications within period assessed as homeless.

2. Some households may have applied several times during the period, and will be counted more than once.

3. Children are included in the number of persons.

4. Data prior to 2002 are estimates and rounded to the nearest 10 for local authority level.

Question reference: S2W-22138

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the fitting of speed governors to vehicles by manufacturers in order to reduce speeding.

Question reference: S2W-22096

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what support, financial or otherwise, it is giving to the RNID campaign, “Breaking the Sound Barrier”, and, in particular, to the telephone hearing test.

Question reference: S2W-22095

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the audiology waiting times are in each NHS board.

Question reference: S2W-22100

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of self harm there have been in each NHS board area in each year since 1999, broken down by month and into age groupings.

Question reference: S2W-22098

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken to encourage individuals to have their hearing tested, given that there is typically a 15-year delay between the onset of hearing loss and seeking help, as compared to a four-year gap between sight deterioration and obtaining spectacles, and that hearing impairment can lead to social isolation.

Question reference: S2W-22093

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the order of strategic priority is of current and proposed rail developments.

Our first priority is to implement the major rail infrastructure projects, as set out in the Partnership Agreement, i.e. the rail links to Glasgow and Edinburgh airports, the upgrade at Waverley station, opening the Stirling to Alloa line, the Airdrie to Bathgate line, and the Borders rail link. In addition, we are considering what the rail strategy for the next 15 to 20 years should be. We have consulted on the strategic priorities, commissioned a Scottish Planning Assessment and Network Rail are conducting a Route Utilisation Study. These will provide the building blocks for considering what further rail developments will make the most positive impacts on the economy, society and environment of Scotland in future. We expect to produce the rail strategy in the summer and this will guide the potential investments to be considered for future funding by the Executive in the subsequent Strategic Projects Review. Transport Scotland has the operational responsibility for this area and can be contacted for more information if required.

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