Chamber and committees

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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-13833

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of paraphernalia has been distributed in needle and syringe exchanges following amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and whether any financial restrictions have had an impact on the amount of additional paraphernalia that needle exchange programmes can distribute as a preventative measure against blood-borne viruses.

This information is not currently available. The Executive is currently in the process of commissioning research, jointly with the National Treatment Agency in England, to undertake a national survey of needle exchange services in Scotland and England. The findings will give a clear indication of the extent and nature of paraphernalia distribution by needle exchanges, including pharmacy schemes.

In addition to specific allocations for Blood Borne Viruses and drug treatment, health boards are given a unified budget to meet the health care needs of their resident population. It is for boards to decide how best to utilise this funding to meet local and national priorities.

Question reference: S2W-13831

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made in respect of the numbers of sterile injecting equipment required for each episode of illicit drug injecting in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Executive has published research which estimates that the numbers of injecting drug users in Scotland in 2000 and 2003 were 22,805 and 18,737 respectively. The frequency of injecting by any drug user will vary considerably. However, by assuming that the number of injecting episodes varies between one and three per day, the estimated numbers of sterile injecting equipment required per year were 8 to 25 million in 2000 and 7 to 20.5 million in 2003.

The reports of the National Prevalence Studies in 2000 and 2003 can be viewed at:

http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/publications/abstracts/prevalence.htm

http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/publications/abstracts/prevalence3.htm.

Question reference: S2W-13832

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many needles and syringes were distributed to illicit drug injectors last year and how it will address any shortfall in the number of needles and syringes being provided.

Information provided by drug and alcohol action teams in the annual Corporate Action Plans indicates that 3,937,553 needles and syringes were distributed across Scotland in 2003-04.

The Lord Advocate’s guidance on needle exchange was changed in December 2002 to allow needle exchange facilities to give out a greater number of needles and syringes, per individual per transaction. The impact of this change is currently being evaluated by the Executive under the Scottish Drug Misuse Research Programme. The final report of the study will be made available later this year.

Question reference: S2W-13825

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that pharmacies, drug misuse and harm-reduction services are not punitive in their outlook when working with those involved in drug misuse.

Staff attitudes are central to effective engagement with drug users and it is recognised that punitive and/or judgemental attitudes are counterproductive. The Scottish Executive has published research which describes good practice in prescribing, and clearly explains the risk to public health of re-using and sharing injecting equipment. A range of training programmes delivered by Scottish Training on Drugs and Alcohol addresses attitudes towards drug use and drug users.

The Right Medicine - A Strategy for Pharmaceutical Care in Scotland acknowledges the contribution that pharmacists can play in delivering services to drug misusers in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-13934

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13368 by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 January 2005, what percentage of children in Scotland lived in non-working families, broken down by local authority area, in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02, (d) 2002-03 and (e) 2003-04.

The information requested is in table 1 below. As the information is only available at local authority level for 1999-2000 and 2001-02, additional information is contained in table 2.

Table 1: Percentage of Children in Scotland who live in Households with no Adults in Paid Employment, by Local Authority

	1999 and 2000		2001 and 2002
	%	Base	%	Base
Aberdeen City	20	477	17	454
Aberdeenshire	9	741	7	704
Angus	13	325	15	310
Argyll and Bute	13	280	16	269
Clackmannanshire	23	317	23	266
Dumfries and Galloway	11	417	17	406
Dundee City	24	295	31	355
East Ayrshire	25	325	23	350
East Dunbartonshire	7	315	10	322
East Lothian	14	292	13	313
East Renfrewshire	10	302	7	285
Edinburgh City	16	992	23	906
Eilean Siar	8	295	20	267
Falkirk	16	433	13	395
Fife	21	940	19	930
Glasgow City	38	1,415	37	1,336
Highland	20	568	18	593
Inverclyde	21	268	24	241
Midlothian	20	349	10	362
Moray	15	310	11	329
North Ayrshire	26	406	24	356
North Lanarkshire	22	933	19	945
Orkney	5	261	11	269
Perth and Kinross	12	345	8	325
Renfrewshire	21	445	19	409
Scottish Borders	8	296	10	278
Shetland	5	380	10	372
South Ayrshire	15	331	24	309
South Lanarkshire	14	792	18	821
Stirling	20	295	9	275
West Dunbartonshire	26	252	24	207
West Lothian	16	470	17	478
Scotland	20	14,862	19	14,437

Table 2: Percentage of Children in Scotland who Live in Households with no Adults in Paid Employment, by Local Authority Grouping

	1999		2000		2001		2002		2003
	%	Base	%	Base	%	Base	%	Base	%	Base
Edinburgh	18	521	15	471	22	481	25	425	17	477
Glasgow	43	617	34	798	37	712	38	624	35	604
Fife	22	472	19	468	20	401	18	529	21	478
North Lanarkshire	24	481	21	452	22	487	17	458	23	409
South Lanarkshire	15	380	12	412	17	411	18	410	22	406
Highlands and Islands	16	1,051	14	1,043	15	1,050	16	1,049	11	986
Grampian	18	616	9	602	11	594	11	564	12	540
Tayside	13	486	20	479	20	473	17	517	16	378
Central	20	456	17	589	15	511	12	425	16	471
Dunbartonshire	19	284	13	283	20	298	12	231	15	273
Renfrewshire and Inverclyde	18	502	19	513	18	484	16	451	16	501
Ayrshire	23	532	22	530	22	532	25	483	22	408
Lothians	19	623	13	488	10	612	19	541	12	506
Southern Scotland	8	378	11	335	16	348	13	336	14	314
Scotland	21	7,399	18	7,463	19	7,394	20	7,043	18	6,751

Notes:

1. Source: The Scottish HouseholdSurvey (SHS), 1999-2003.

2. Figures for 2004 have notyet been published.

3. Comparisons between years and areas should be treated with caution as the statistics may differ due to, for example, sampling variability.

4. For the purposes of this parliamentary question, “adults in paid employment” are defined as being people aged 16 or over who are in full- or part-time employment, or who are self-employed.

5. Children are defined here as being people aged less than 16 years.

6. The results are given for calendar years as the survey is not designed to be representative for any council area for a financial year.

7. Table 1 gives figures for two-year periods, as the SHS is not designed to be representative for all councils over a one-year period.

8. Table 2 gives figures for each calendar year for local authority groupings. For further information on these groups, please refer to the SHS publications (www.scotland.gov.uk/shs).

9. The base numbers show the size of the population sub-group questioned in the survey (i.e. children examined in each area) but cannot be used to calculate how many respondents gave a certain answer.

Question reference: S2W-13824

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will undertake a review of substitution treatment and the dosage supplied in order to develop its effectiveness in addressing injecting drug misuse and in reducing the transmission of hepatitis C.

Question reference: S2W-13829

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its hepatitis C action plan will have (a) a public and (b) a medical professional component.

Question reference: S2W-13828

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an outline of its hepatitis C action plan.

The hepatitis C action plan will serve as a broad framework for further implementation of the SNAP recommendations and the key messages in the Consensus Statement which emerged from the Conference in the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in April 2004. It will also draw upon the evidence from the research studies published by the Effective Interventions Unit. The plan is currently being developed in consultation with stakeholders, for issue in spring 2005. It will set out the action in train and proposed to tackle hepatitis C.

The main objectives of the plan are to set out the actions that will reduce the transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and manage the burden of disease among those individuals who know they are infected and those who do not. Key areas of the plan will cover prevention, early detection and testing, treatment and care, and monitoring and surveillance. A key element of the plan will also be to raise awareness at all levels including professional and targeted groups of the general public.

The financial implications of the action plan will be addressed as its various components are developed. However, the Executive already gives over £8 millioneach year to NHS boards in earmarked resources for work to prevent bloodborne viruses, including hepatitis C. In addition to this specific allocation, NHS boards are given a unified budget to meet the health care needs of their resident population. It is for NHS boards to decide how best to utilise this funding to meet local and national priorities, including the treatment and prevention of hepatitis C.

The Scottish Executive has commissioned Health Protection Scotland to estimate the current and future burden of HCV-related disease in Scotland over the next two decades. Further work is also being commissioned to identify how much it will cost NHSScotland to care for individuals infected with hepatitis C and how cost-effective different approaches to hepatitis C case finding and treatment would be.

Question reference: S2W-13841

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact will be for residents in the Scottish Borders and East Lothian of the reported £5 million shortfall within Lothian and Borders Police.

Question reference: S2W-13840

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact of the reported shortfall of almost £5 million will have on frontline police services and manpower throughout the Lothian and Borders police force area.

The amount of Grant Aided Expenditure allocated to Lothian and Borders Police for 2005-06 is £179 million, an increase of £10 million on 2004-05. Lothian and Borders Joint Police Board has set the budget for Lothian and Borders Police for 2005-06 equal to this amount.

The number of police officers in Lothian and Borders Police at December 2004 was 2,785 (whole-time equivalents), up from 2,717 a year previously.