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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-04598

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the change in the method of benefit payments, what representations it will make to the Department for Work and Pensions regarding provisions in place to assist those with a visual impairment or learning difficulties who cannot key in pin numbers and wish to maintain their independence and what practical measures it can take, within its responsibilities, to assist such people.

Question reference: S2W-04596

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has agreed to increase its notional contribution of #110 million towards the Borders railway, as requested by Scottish Borders Council, should its business case test be satisfied.

Question reference: S2W-04663

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what future planning it is undertaking, or has undertaken, in respect of future health and social care needs of older people with high dependency levels.

A range and capacity reviewof community care services for older people, which will include a strategicreview of the social care needs of older people with high dependency levels, iscurrently being carried out inpartnership with health and local authority colleagues and in consultation withrepresentatives from the social care sector. Its findings in due course will formthe basis for the longer term national and local planning of future services.

Question reference: S2W-04660

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time was in each NHS board area from assessed and deemed ready for discharge to actual discharge in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03.

Question reference: S2W-04659

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are currently waiting for a first appointment with a consultant clinical psychologist in each NHS board area.

The information requested isnot available. Data on out-patient waiting, by specialty, are collectedcentrally after patients have been seen at a consultant-led clinic, and istherefore retrospective.

Partnership for Care, which was published in February 2003, includes acommitment to improve the management of out-patient waiting by recording forthe first time the number of referrals received for a service and the waitingtime for patients who have not been seen at a clinic. Work on this commitmentis being taken forward by the National Waiting Times Unit in conjunction withNHSScotland and ISD Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-04658

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time was in each NHS board area for a first appointment with a consultant clinical psychologist in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03.

Question reference: S2W-04568

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 12 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-17513 by Nicol Stephen on 4 September 2001, what the most recent data are on the number of children enrolled for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each local authority area with a record of needs and what each of these figures represents as a percentage of the total number of pupils in the relevant sector in each area.

The information requested isprovided in following Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1: Number of Pupils with a Record of Needs in Publicly Funded Primary Schools

	September 2001			September 2002
	Total Number of Pupils	Number of Pupils with Record of Needs	Percentage of Pupils with Record of Needs	Total Number of Pupils	Number of Pupils with Record of Needs	Percentage of Pupils with Record of Needs
Scotland	420,521	4,303	1.0%	413,713	4,165	1.0%
Aberdeen City	14,555	195	1.3%	14,082	179	1.3%
Aberdeenshire	20,614	211	1.0%	20,370	207	1.0%
Angus	9,295	110	1.2%	9,323	120	1.3%
Argyll and Bute	7,371	78	1.1%	7,283	87	1.2%
Clackmannanshire	4,342	35	0.8%	4,303	35	0.8%
Dumfries and Galloway	12,391	218	1.8%	12,138	210	1.7%
Dundee City	11,313	165	1.5%	10,990	144	1.3%
East Ayrshire	10,583	65	0.6%	10,340	83	0.8%
East Dunbartonshire	10,216	50	0.5%	10,012	35	0.3%
East Lothian	8,176	47	0.6%	8,050	65	0.8%
East Renfrewshire	8,748	73	0.8%	8,755	55	0.6%
Edinburgh City	28,563	366	1.3%	27,856	227	0.8%
Eilean Siar	2,218	58	2.6%	2,172	64	2.9%
Falkirk	12,465	135	1.1%	12,250	148	1.2%
Fife	29,406	241	0.8%	28,969	266	0.9%
Glasgow City	44,540	255	0.6%	43,572	260	0.6%
Highland	18,434	293	1.6%	18,190	272	1.5%
Inverclyde	7,150	155	2.2%	6,918	130	1.9%
Midlothian	7,226	40	0.6%	6,985	37	0.5%
Moray	7,847	179	2.3%	7,826	190	2.4%
North Ayrshire	12,116	70	0.6%	11,972	63	0.5%
North Lanarkshire	28,866	192	0.7%	28,647	209	0.7%
Orkney Islands	1,745	12	0.7%	1,689	6	0.4%
Perth & Kinross	10,719	160	1.5%	10,665	136	1.3%
Renfrewshire	14,945	177	1.2%	14,606	167	1.1%
Scottish Borders	8,948	140	1.6%	8,915	149	1.7%
Shetland Islands	2,097	25	1.2%	2,069	41	2.0%
South Ayrshire	8,969	113	1.3%	8,763	110	1.3%
South Lanarkshire	26,141	268	1.0%	25,823	280	1.1%
Stirling	7,042	42	0.6%	7,020	50	0.7%
West Dunbartonshire	8,320	35	0.4%	8,103	36	0.4%
West Lothian	15,160	100	0.7%	15,057	104	0.7%

Source: September School Census.

Table2: Number of Pupils with a Record of Needs in Publicly Funded Secondary Schools

	September 2001			September 2002
	Total Number of Pupils	Number of Pupils with Record of Needs	Percentage of Pupils with Record of Needs	Total Number of Pupils	Number of Pupils with Record of Needs	Percentage of Pupils with Record of Needs
Scotland	316,359	4,961	1.6%	316,903	4,860	1.5%
Aberdeen City	10,942	150	1.4%	10,628	159	1.5%
Aberdeenshire	15,308	245	1.6%	15,522	269	1.7%
Angus	7,113	137	1.9%	6,967	129	1.9%
Argyll and Bute	5,590	84	1.5%	5,635	85	1.5%
Clackmannanshire	3,036	79	2.6%	2,966	62	2.1%
Dumfries and Galloway	9,620	263	2.7%	9,666	248	2.6%
Dundee City	8,809	212	2.4%	8,664	185	2.1%
East Ayrshire	8,065	147	1.8%	8,129	126	1.6%
East Dunbartonshire	8,857	37	0.4%	8,846	59	0.7%
East Lothian	5,318	42	0.8%	5,482	45	0.8%
East Renfrewshire	7,344	97	1.3%	7,512	78	1.0%
Edinburgh City	20,016	197	1.0%	20,116	197	1.0%
Eilean Siar	1,948	67	3.4%	1,981	61	3.1%
Falkirk	8,498	121	1.4%	8,654	109	1.3%
Fife	23,032	329	1.4%	22,949	302	1.3%
Glasgow City	29,960	205	0.7%	29,803	226	0.8%
Highland	14,720	350	2.4%	14,749	335	2.3%
Inverclyde	5,682	176	3.1%	5,679	192	3.4%
Midlothian	5,589	34	0.6%	5,659	33	0.6%
Moray	5,715	172	3.0%	5,834	177	3.0%
North Ayrshire	9,092	112	1.2%	9,231	95	1.0%
North Lanarkshire	22,451	197	0.9%	22,398	161	0.7%
Orkney Islands	1,366	12	0.9%	1,460	24	1.6%
Perth and Kinross	7,589	135	1.8%	7,714	164	2.1%
Renfrewshire	11,779	374	3.2%	11,890	356	3.0%
Scottish Borders	6,807	147	2.2%	6,864	169	2.5%
Shetland Islands	1,624	41	2.5%	1,671	39	2.3%
South Ayrshire	7,614	217	2.9%	7,499	203	2.7%
South Lanarkshire	19,898	375	1.9%	19,782	379	1.9%
Stirling	5,751	83	1.4%	5,807	82	1.4%
West Dunbartonshire	6,609	31	0.5%	6,582	27	0.4%
West Lothian	10,617	93	0.9%	10,564	84	0.8%

Source: September School Census.

Question reference: S2O-00932

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 11 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the statement in The Scotsman on 3 December 2003 by a Scottish Executive spokeswoman that the Borders rail line is among its rail priorities and that “the money is in place to start these projects going” represents a firm commitment to provide its #110 million contribution required for the line.

Question reference: S2W-04564

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pharmacists who specialise in the care of elderly people there were in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

This information is notcentrally available.

Information on numbers ofNHS pharmacists employed at 30 September each year is published on the webpages of the Information and StatisticsDivision of NHSScotland, in section A of "Workforce Statistics" atthe following address:

http://www.isdscotland.org/workforce

The tables onthese pages identify numbers of pharmacists employed by individual NHS trustsas well as by NHS board areas. However, they do not separately identify numbersof pharmacists who specialise in the care of elderly people.

Question reference: S2W-04563

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many clinical psychologists who specialise in the care of elderly people there were in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

The following tables show wholetime equivalent (WTE) and headcount of clinical psychologists with a targetclient age group covering older adults (age >65 years) by NHS board area for2001 and 2002. The WTE figures adjust the headcount figures to take account ofpart time staff.

Informationfor earlier years is not available centrally.

Clinical Psychologists (WTE) Employed in Psychology Servicesfor Clients/Patients Aged 65 and Over in NHS Scotland in 2001 and 2002, byHealth Board Area.

Health Board	Clinical Psychologists (WTE) as at 30 September 2001	Clinical Psychologists (WTE) as at 30 September 2002
Argyll and Clyde	0.6	0.8
Ayrshire and Arran	0.8	0.8
Borders	0.0	0.0
Dumfries and Galloway	0.9	0.9
Fife	2.1	2.5
Forth Valley	0.0	0.0
Grampian	1.0	0.0
Greater Glasgow	2.5	4.5
Highland	0.0	0.0
Lanarkshire	0.3	1.3
Lothian	3.1	2.7
Orkney	0.0	0.0
Shetland	0.0	0.0
Tayside	1.0	1.0
Western Isles	0.0	0.0
Scotland Total	12.3	14.5

Clinical Psychologists(Headcount) Employed in Psychology Services for Clients/Patients Aged 65 and Overin NHS Scotland in 2001 and 2002, by Health Board Area.

Health Board	Clinical Psychologists (Headcount) as at 30 September 2001	Clinical Psychologists (Headcount) as at 30 September 2002
Argyll and Clyde	2	2
Ayrshire and Arran	1	1
Borders	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	1	1
Fife	4	5
Forth Valley	0	0
Grampian	1	0
Greater Glasgow	3	6
Highland	0	0
Lanarkshire	1	2
Lothian	4	3
Orkney	0	0
Shetland	0	0
Tayside	1	1
Western Isles	0	0
Scotland Total	18	21

Source: ISD/NES (NHSEducation Scotland) Psychology Workforce Project.