Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-22421

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 26 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19911 by Mr Andy Kerr on 7 November 2005, how many neurologists and specialist registrars working in neurology there have been in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S2W-22188

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12475 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 26 January 2001, how often and on what dates the Scottish Textiles Forum has met since its inception.

Question reference: S2W-22187

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs have been lost in (a) textiles, (b) tourism, (c) electronics, (d) farming, (e) the public sector and (f) other sectors in the Scottish Borders in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-22189

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what role there is for the Scottish Textiles Forum in respect of the redundancies in textile production in the Scottish Borders.

The Scottish Textiles Forumprovides a central coordinating body linking industry with government. The forumwill therefore continue to work with industry and key partner organisations todevelop strategic direction for the industry and appropriate measures ofsupport.

Scottish Enterprise Bordersis working closely with other agencies such as Careers Scotland, ScottishBorders Council and JobCentre Plus through the PACE initiative to help thosemade redundant find suitable new employment.

Question reference: S2W-22186

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to assist the Borders textile industry and, in particular, cashmere production, in light of recent redundancies at Douglas of Scotland and John Laings of Hawick.

The Scottish Textiles teamin Scottish Enterprise has a remit to assist the sustainable development andgrowth of the textile industry throughout Scotland, including the Borders. The team works with a numberof partners to deliver a wide range of support measures to address theindustry’s issues such as workforce development, image technical capability andoverseas development. In addition, Scottish Enterprise Borders has provided financialand administrative support to the Cashmere Club which represents 85% of theBorders based cashmere industry over a four year period.

Question reference: S2W-22190

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been provided to support textile production in the Scottish Borders in each of the last six years; where the funding has been allocated, and for what purpose.

Since 2001 ScottishEnterprise has provided over £1.7 million through Scottish Textiles to supportthe Scottish textiles industry. A further breakdown to show specific figuresfor the Borders and purpose of the funding is not available asdisproportionately high costs would be attached to obtaining this information.

Scottish Enterprise Bordershas provided a financial contribution of £419,000 over a four year period from2001-05 to the Borders based Cashmere Club. This is in addition to £130,000from Scottish Borders Council and up to £632,000 from the EU. This funding wasused for brand promotion and enhancing the brand image. In addition, localenterprise companies provide a range of business support services assistingtraining and business development.

From 2000 the ScottishExecutive has provided some £538,000 in Regional Selective Assistance toScottish Textiles companies in the Borders to support capital investments of £2.4million creating or safeguarding 110 jobs. Scottish Development Internationalprovides £50,000 per annum to support and promote the industry internationally.

Question reference: S2W-22099

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 24 January 2006

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

Question reference: S2W-21609

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the expenditure on secondary mental health services was in real terms in each of the last five years for which figures are available and what this represents as a percentage of the hospital and community health services budget in each of these years.

The information requested is shown as follows. The level of expenditure on mental health and all other care services is determined by each NHS Board from within their share of the record resources made available to NHS Scotland. Local decisions on spend have shown a year on year increase in real terms over the last five years.

Financial Year	Expenditure on Mental Health Services (Real Terms) (£000)	% of Total Expenditure on Hospital and Community health Services
2004-05	625,531	13.2
2003-04	593,666	13.7
2002-03	587,969	14.2
2001-02	562,235	14.5
2000-01	525,772	14.4

The grants paid by the Scottish Executive under the Mental Health Specific Grant and other schemes, currently over £20 million per year, should be added over and above the above amounts spent by NHS boards. The spend made by local authorities and other partners on mental health should also be taken into account.

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.

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