Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-12619

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11102 by Mr Andy Kerr on 19 November 2004, how many patients died within 28 days of discharge, broken down by age group, in (a) 1999, (b) 2000, (c) 2001, (d) 2002 and (e) 2003.

The following tables show the number of patients who died within 28 days of discharge, broken down by age group, in the years 1999 to 2003 inclusive:

Deaths Within 28 Days of Discharge from a Surgical Specialty in a Scottish Hospital; 1999-2003

Age Group	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
0-14 years	7	7	5	14	12
15 -24 years	7	3	3	6	6
25-44 years	48	51	44	48	49
45-64 years	259	261	265	254	269
65 and over	1,168	1,170	1,104	1,176	1,171
All Ages	1,489	1,492	1,421	1,498	1,507

Deaths Within 28-Days of Discharge from a Medical Specialty in a Scottish Hospital; 1999-2003

Age group	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
0-14 years	19	21	22	17	27
15 -24 years	28	12	19	19	13
25-44 years	119	140	163	146	143
45-64 years	839	772	829	813	808
65 and over	3,379	3,225	3,334	3,404	3,600
All Ages	4,384	4,170	4,367	4,399	4,591

Note: These statistics are derived from data collected on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) and Registrar General death records in Scotland. All records including deaths for each patient are linked together using “probability matching”. The “probability matching” algorithm uses all available identifying information (name, date of birth, postcode, hospital patient reference number etc.) to link the individual hospital records for each patient, thereby creating “linked” patient histories.

Question reference: S2W-12521

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 60 receive the disability living allowance and how much it would cost to include such people in the central heating installation programme.

Disability Living Allowance is a matter for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). According to the DWP statistics, as of the end of May 2004 there were approximately 176,100 people under 60 in Scotland in receipt of the Disability Living Allowance. The current average grant cost for the central heating programme is approximately £3,300. Assuming that all of the people under 60 in receipt of Disability Living Allowance in Scotland needed central heating installed, this would cost approximately £581 million, excluding any fees.

According to the Fuel Poverty in Scotland report, 7% of households who receive the care component of the Disability Living Allowance are in fuel poverty, as are 7% of households who receive the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance. These figures compare with the national average for fuel poverty of 13%.

Question reference: S2W-12520

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9672 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 17 June 2004, whether it still plans to make an announcement in respect of future spending plans and whether, when considering such plans, it has considered extending the free central heating installation programme to people under 60 on the higher rate component of disability living allowance.

Question reference: S2W-12174

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 6 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what policies and measures it has in place to promote the local procurement of food by schools, hospitals and care homes.

It is Executive policy that purchasers should take account of healthy eatingobjectives when awarding contracts for food and catering services. By focussingon high quality, traditional and seasonal produce, we can help Scottish foodsuppliers compete for public contracts.

At the Scottish Public Procurement Conference in May the Finance Minister launched guidelines on incorporating sustainable development into public procurement of food and catering services. This guidance, which is available on the Scottish Procurement Directorate website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/FCSD/PCSD-POL/00017839/susdevguide.aspx.gives guidance to public procurement officials, including those in local authorities and health boards, on how issues such as local food can be incorporated within their procurement procedures without falling foul of European procurement regulations.

The Executive itself does not buy food other than through its catering contractor. Decisions on the procurement of food by schools, hospitals and care homes are ultimately the responsibility of those bodies, and not the Executive.

Question reference: S2W-12293

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 6 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive

The information available on staff who have been employed on temporary contracts in the Scottish Executive core departments each year since 1999, broken down by length of time spent on a temporary contract is shown in the tables below. Due to the restructuring of departments since 1999 is not possible to provide the information requested broken down by individual departments prior to 2003-04.

Some employees have had more than one temporary contract. As each contract is recorded separately the table reflects the actual number of contracts rather than the number staff.

Temporary Contracts by Length of Service Between 1 April 1999 and 31 March 2000

	All	Less than 3 months	3 to less than 6 months	6 to less than 9 months	9 to less than 12 months	1 to less than 2 years	2 years and over
Total	603	274	151	73	46	44	15

Temporary Contracts by Length of Service Between 1 April 2000 and 31 March 2001

	All	Less than 3 months	3 to less than 6 months	6 to less than 9 months	9 to less than 12 months	1 to less than 2 years	2 years and over
Total	362	143	70	51	40	33	25

Temporary Contracts by Length of Service Between 1 April 2001 and 31 March 2002

	All	Less than 3 months	3 to less than 6 months	6 to less than 9 months	9 to less than 12 months	1 to less than 2 years	2 years and over
Total	582	189	169	90	59	50	25

Temporary Contracts by Length of Service Between 1 April 2002 and 31 March2003

	All	Less than 3 months	3 to less than 6 months	6 to less than 9 months	9 to less than 12 months	1 to less than 2 years	2 years and over
Total	518	130	96	90	73	106	23

Temporary Contracts by Length of Service Between 1 April 2003 and 31 March2004

	All	Less than 3 months	3 to less than 6 months	6 to less than 9 months	9 to less than 12 months	1 to less than 2 years	2 years and over
Total	405	112	71	50	71	59	42
Development Department	33	4	6	6	7	4	6
Education Department	42	12	6	7	10	5	2
Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department	20	7	1	6	4	1	1
Environment and Rural Affairs Department	128	49	31	11	11	20	6
Finance and Central Services Department	32	6	6	6	9	3	2
Health Department	22	2	5	4	6	2	3
Justice Department	14	3	2	0	2	3	4
Legal and Parliamentary Services	26	1	5	4	10	5	1
Office of the Permanent Secretary	88	28	9	6	12	16	17

Question reference: S2W-12292

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 6 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time staff have been employed in each of its departments in each year since 1999 and how many such staff have been employed on temporary contracts in each such year, shown also as a percentage of total staff.

The information available on the number of (a) full-time and (b) part-time staff employed by the Scottish Executive in each of its core departments in each year since 1999 and the number and percentage of such staff employed on temporary contracts in each such year is set out in the tables below and is provided as a snap shot of staff in post at the 1 of April in each of the years. In addition some casual staff were employed through employment agencies. Detailed information for such staff for the period requested is not available.

Number Of Full-Time Equivalent Staff in Post in Scottish Executive Core Departments

1 April 1999

	Full-Time Staff	Part-Time Staff	All Staff	Staff Employed By Scottish Executive On Temporary Contracts
(Number)	(%)
Total	3,658	199.8	3,857.8	303.5	7.9%
Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries	967	39.8	1,006.8	88.7	8.8%
Central Services	1,002	37.9	1,039.9	137.9	13.3%
Centrally Managed Staff	67	7.4	74.4	0	0.0%
Development Department	476	20.2	496.2	15	3.0%
Education and Industry Department	553	43.6	596.6	18	3.0%
Health Department	235	20.5	255.5	14.5	5.7%
Home Department	358	30.4	388.4	29.4	7.6%

1 April 2000

	Full-Time Staff	Part-Time Staff	All Staff	Staff Employed By Scottish Executive On Temporary Contracts
(Number)	(%)
Total	3,813	205.6	4,018.6	146.6	3.6%
Central Services	787	36.1	823.1	16.6	2.0%
Centrally Managed Staff	202	8.2	210.2	9.9	4.7%
Development Department	495	25.3	520.3	6	1.2%
Education Department	335	23.4	358.4	4	1.1%
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department	277	20.9	297.9	7	2.3%
Executive Secretariat	265	10.7	275.7	15.4	5.6%
Health Department	292	19	311	13	4.2%
Justice Department	182	21.9	203.9	8.8	4.3%
Rural Affairs Department	978	40.1	1,018.1	65.9	6.5%

1 April 2001

	Full-Time Staff	Part-Time Staff	All Staff	Staff Employed By Scottish Executive On Temporary Contracts
(Number)	(%)
Total	3,849	228.5	4,077.5	177.1	4.3%
Central Services	800	46.8	846.8	35.5	4.2%
Centrally Managed Staff	95	2.7	97.7	3	3.1%
Development Department	481	27.5	508.5	8	1.6%
Education Department	361	30.8	391.8	8.8	2.2%
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Dept	290	23.9	313.9	9.5	3.0%
Executive Secretariat	278	14.9	292.9	21.3	7.3%
Health Department	319	18.3	337.3	6.5	1.9%
Justice Department	196	22.9	218.9	11.4	5.2%
Rural Affairs Department	1,029	40.7	1,069.7	73.1	6.8%

1 April 2002

	Full-Time Staff	Part-Time Staff	All Staff	Staff Employed By Scottish Executive On Temporary Contracts
(Number)	(%)
Total	4,060	257.1	4,317.1	274.3	6.4%
Centrally Managed Staff	91	4.3	95.3	5	5.2%
Corporate Services	628	41.8	669.8	52.2	7.8%
Development Department	539	32.2	571.2	22.6	4.0%
Education Department	290	25.4	315.4	25.8	8.2%
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Dept	319	23.7	342.7	18.9	5.5%
Executive Secretariat	292	17.5	309.5	22.5	7.3%
Finance	135	9.1	144.1	1	0.7%
Health Department	355	20.8	375.8	5.5	1.5%
Justice Department	221	29.1	250.1	17.1	6.8%
Ministerial Group	83	2.2	85.2	2	2.3%
Rural Affairs Department	1,107	51	1,158	101.7	8.8%

1 April 2003

	Full-Time Staff	Part-Time Staff	All Staff	Staff Employed By Scottish Executive On Temporary Contracts
(Number)	(%)
Total	4,164	274.8	4,438.8	206.3	4.6%
Centrally Managed Staff	92	5.4	97.4	4	4.1%
Corporate Services	600	43.4	643.4	40.7	6.3%
Development Department	472	20.6	492.6	18.9	3.8%
Education Department	255	25.5	280.5	21	7.5%
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department	319	26	345	5.7	1.7%
Environment and Rural Affairs Department	1,073	54	1127	63	5.6%
Finance and Central Services Department	530	38.1	568.1	20.6	3.6%
Health Department	363	23.9	386.9	9	2.3%
Justice Department	205	24.2	229.2	7.9	3.4%
Legal and Parliamentary Services	168	11.5	179.5	14.5	8.1%
Ministerial Group	87	2.2	89.2	1	1.1%

1 April 2004

	Full-Time Staff	Part-Time Staff	All Staff	Staff Employed By Scottish Executive On Temporary Contracts
(Number)	(%)
Total	4,188	291.7	4,479.7	168	3.8%
Centrally Managed Staff	74	3.2	77.2	1	1.3%
Development Department	305	13.8	318.8	13.7	4.3%
Education Department	258	23.4	281.4	12	4.3%
Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Dept	481	38.2	519.2	5	1.0%
Environment and Rural Affairs Department	1,073	56.5	1,129.5	61.7	5.5%
Finance and Central Services Department	533	40	573	12.6	2.2%
Health Department	364	32	396	11	2.8%
Justice Department	229	24.4	253.4	9	3.6%
Legal and Parliamentary Services	168	14.2	182.2	14	7.7%
Office Of The Permanent Secretary	703	46	749	28	3.7%

Question reference: S2W-12283

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11607 by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 November 2004 and to the statement to the Communities Committee by the Minister for Communities that “the rate of fuel poverty was halved between 1996 and 2002 but there has been further progress since then” (Official Report c 1384), what progress has been made in respect of levels of fuel poverty since 2002.

Question reference: S2W-12284

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the announcement by the Minister for Communities on 4 November 2004 regarding his correspondence with the power companies on fuel charges for pensioners, which companies have responded and what the responses were.

Question reference: S2W-12282

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 30 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive where documents for the period 1979 to 1987 pertaining to contaminated blood products used in transfusions that resulted in haemophiliacs becoming HIV-infected are located and whether these documents are subject to public interest immunity and, if so, what the reasons are and, if not, how these documents may be accessed.

The Scottish Executive holds some documents relevant to this issue and some documents will have been held by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and by NHS boards.

As such, any requests for documentation should be addressed to the relevant organisation. These will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 on access to information held by Scottish Public Authorities which comes into effect from 1 January 2005.

Question reference: S2W-11606

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 25 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many properties were converted into sheltered housing complexes by local authorities in each year since 1999.

Chamber and committees