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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: S2W-21608

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 19 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many home help clients there were in each local authority area in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

The number of home care clients that received a service in the last week of March each year, by local authority area, for each of the last five years is in the following table:

Local Authority	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Aberdeen City	3,001	2,779	2,514	2,904	2,862
Aberdeenshire	1,828	1,867	1,874	1,939	2,107
Angus	1,804	1,740	1,778	1,810	1,839
Argyll and Bute	927	957	965	1,060	1,078
Clackmannanshire	656	648	680	700	814
Dumfries and Galloway	2,015	1,755	2,048	2,050	2,047
Dundee City	2,445	2,166	1,886	1,870	2,115
East Ayrshire	1,311	1,361	1,444	1,706	1,750
East Dunbartonshire	986	1,013	1,029	1,172	1,128
East Lothian	1,195	1,267	1,128	1,423	1,553
East Renfrewshire	765	939	884	965	1,050
Edinburgh, City of	5,969	5,958	6,084	5,963	5,672
Eilean Siar	779	768	765	765	744
Falkirk	2,281	2,098	2,010	2,006	2,169
Fife	5,858	5,629	6,082	6,875	7,294
Glasgow City	8,802	8,789	9,040	9,102	9,223
Highland	2,748	2,670	3,055	2,957	2,764
Inverclyde	1,146	1,255	1,104	1,137	1,298
Midlothian	1,256	1,113	1,084	1,201	1,168
Moray	1,063	1,119	1,205	1,360	1,430
North Ayrshire	1,490	1,301	1,491	1,692	1,503
North Lanarkshire	2,895	3,408	4,370	4,394	4,371
Orkney Islands	442	516	428	511	505
Perth and Kinross	1,477	1,532	1,618	1,559	1,187
Renfrewshire	2,542	2,098	2,169	1,814	1,947
Scottish Borders	1,491	1,553	1,686	1,724	1,604
Shetland Islands	722	553	545	529	555
South Ayrshire	1,203	1,298	1,471	1,723	1,735
South Lanarkshire	2,445	2,326	2,568	2,709	3,158
Stirling	881	1,015	848	982	944
West Dunbartonshire	1,558	1,647	1,834	2,065	2,108
West Lothian	1,552	1,408	1,579	1,319	1,372
Scotland	65,533	64,546	67,266	69,986	71,094

These figures are taken from the H1 Home Care Survey, carried out by the Scottish Executive Health Department, Analytical Services Division each year.

Question reference: S2W-21509

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 19 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities use local produce so far as it is available in the provision and preparation of school meals.

The Executive does not hold detailed information on the use of local produce by local authorities. However, a recent informal survey of Hungry for Success coordinators found that 60% of local authorities had sourced products locally, and a further 31% were considering this.

In addition, a number of Scottish schools have been involved in the Food for Life initiative, which promotes the use of local and organic produce. One of the first schools in Scotland to become a Food for Life school was Hurlford Primary School in East Ayrshire, which recently won the Soil Association Food for Life School of the Year Award.

Question reference: S2W-21506

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 19 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have a policy of preparing school meals in-house so far as practicable.

The Executive does not hold detailed information about local authority policies on this issue. However, we know that practice varies widely between authorities and schools regarding cooking facilities in particular. Some authorities – such as Borders – are focussing their efforts on on-site cooking, whilst others – such as Clackmannanshire – are investing substantially in centralised cooking. The situation is further complicated by factors such as split-site schools sharing facilities.

The emphasis of Hungry for Success is on the quality of the food prepared for pupils, and local authorities have discretion over the best way to achieve this in their areas. Where any problems resulted from the way in which food is prepared, whether on site or off site, these would be reported upon by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education.

Question reference: S2W-21507

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has concerns in respect of the provision of frozen meals on wheels and what monitoring it carries out of the effect of such meals on the well-being of elderly people.

The assessment of an individual’s care needs is a matter for each local authority. The Scottish Executive has issued guidance to authorities and the NHS on single shared assessment and care management. An authority’s decision to provide meals on wheels, whether frozen or not, can be based on its assessment of the individual’s care needs, and the meals will be provided as part of a package of care drawn up in the light of that assessment. The individual’s care plan, and the monitoring arrangements for managing that care, should provide the appropriate support according to the individual’s needs. Meals can also be accessed as a single service without assessment if the person does not require a package of care. The monitoring of services is a matter for each local authority.

Question reference: S2W-21441

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 14 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged (a) 65 and over and (b) under 65 and in a high risk category received the flu vaccine in each year from 1999 to 2004, broken down by NHS board area, expressed also as a percentage of eligible people in those two categories.

Question reference: S2W-21442

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 14 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what data it has on the socio-economic background of people taking up the flu vaccine and where this data can be accessed.

Question reference: S2W-21240

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 14 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths from cancer there have been in the south of Scotland in each year since the Chernobyl incident occurred, broken down by NHS board area.

The information requested is given in the following table.

Deaths from Cancer¹ in South of Scotland² Between 26 April 1986 and 31 December 2004, by NHS Board Area

	Ayrshire and Arran (part)	Borders	Dumfries and Galloway	Lanarkshire (part)	Lothian (part)
1986³	415	212	263	129	170
1987	641	316	446	176	231
1988	566	331	442	202	232
1989	620	338	437	218	227
1990	612	396	432	191	247
1991	624	344	453	212	244
1992	652	347	470	199	241
1993	687	373	440	223	279
1994	659	345	493	190	292
1995	694	320	463	206	292
1996	615	359	461	231	256
1997	662	345	454	228	266
1998	640	351	465	173	271
1999	654	355	433	227	264
2000	685	343	487	209	289
2001	630	347	478	226	270
2002	701	399	455	240	295
2003	654	354	536	241	279
2004	697	337	524	241	250

Notes:

1. Malignat neoplasms: 1986-99, ICD9 codes 140-208; 2000-04, ICD10 codes C00-C97.

2. The South of Scotland Region includes the following constituencies: Ayr; Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley; Clydesdale; Cunninghame South; Dumfries; East Lothian; Galloway and Upper Nithsdale; Roxburgh and Berwickshire; Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale.

3. 26 April 1986 to 31 December 1986.

Question reference: S2W-21223

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 12 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which venues it uses to make available and publicise information on the Central Heating and Warm Deal programmes and how it monitors the effectiveness of its information strategy on the programmes.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

Organisations with a national identity, but local presence, have received letters explaining the grant procedures coupled with leaflets and posters for public display and distribution. These include libraries, local authorities, energy efficiency advice centres, Citizens Advice Bureaus, MSP constituency offices, registered social landlords, community centres, Help the Aged, Pension Service Cluster offices, health visitors, GPs, landlords forums, care and repair forums, occupational welfare organisations, national rent deposit forums, Motability, Gingerbread, church groups, disability information services, Black and Ethnic Minorities Infrastructure Scotland, Energywatch, The Salvation Army, Capability Scotland and fuel utilities.

Communities Scotland holds regular marketing meetings with Eaga Partnership which manages the central heating and Warm Deal programmes to ensure that the marketing strategy adopted by Eaga meets the requirements of the programmes.

Question reference: S2W-20905

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 8 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware that Lothian Buses student ridacards exclude thousands of mature students as they are only available to students aged between 16 and 25; what its policy position is in this respect; what representations it has received to extend the scheme to all students regardless of age, and whether there is any region where such exclusion is not practised.

The Scottish Executive is aware of the campaign currently being run by Edinburgh University Students Association and has received a number of related letters and pre-printed postcards. The Executive provides help with travel costs for mature students under further and higher education funding. Beyond that, student discounts for travel are commercial decisions made by travel operators at their discretion and information on such schemes is held by the operators concerned and not the Executive.

Question reference: S2W-21172

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 7 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25757 by Peter Peacock of 23 May 2002, the report prepared for Audit Scotland in November 2004, which investigated complaints surrounding Scottish Borders Council's stewardship of its Common Good Fund by Scottish Borders Council, and Petition PE875 by Miss Mary Mackenzie in respect of common good assets, whether it now considers that there should be a Scotland-wide register and record of all moveable and heritable common good assets, including details of the local authorities that have the stewardship of the assets and providing easy public accessibility to the register.

We have no plans to commission a national register of common good assets held by local authorities. It is the responsibility of local authorities as trustees to manage assets held for the common good according to sound asset management principles.

All moveable and heritable common good assets which are the property of the local authority are accounted for within the audited accounts of each authority. Local authority accounts are subject to annual audits by Audit Scotland, and these are accessible by law to any member of the public. Any member of the public can access local authority accounts and performance outcome information under section 101 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, section 13 of the Local Government in Scotland 2003 and also under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

All local authorities are also required, by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003, to adhere to proper accounting practice, including having in place asset management plans. These plans are intended to ensure sound financial stewardship of all assets including common good assets and I would support any moves by local authorities which provide greater transparency in their financial governance.