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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-31651

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 12 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it has had with the voluntary sector in the last 12 months in respect of changes that ministers have made in the way that European structural funds are administered for projects operated by charities and other organisations in the voluntary sector.

Extensive consultation has takenplace with the voluntary sector (as well as with other Scottish partners) on thedevelopment of the new Structural Funds programmes. In addition to representationon the European Structural Funds Forum which has met to discuss future programmedevelopment twice in the period in question, the voluntary sector has been invitedto discuss new programme proposals through several sets of consultations. At thestart of 2006, a series of partner meetings were held across Scotland, settingout the Executive’s proposals. During the second quarter of 2006, Scottish partnerswere invited to respond to the DTI’s consultation on the National Strategic ReferenceFramework, the overarching strategic document on future Structural Funds in theUK,which has a dedicated chapter on Scotland. Lastly, in the last quarter of 2006, the sector hadthe opportunity to respond to the public consultation on the draft Operational Programmesfor Scotland (the consultation finished on 8 January 2007). As part of this publicconsultation, workshops were held on each of the priorities in the different programmes– members of the voluntary sector took part in each workshop.

In addition, my officials andI had several bilateral meetings with key representatives of the sector, particularlythe Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, throughout 2006.

Question reference: S2W-31583

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive after how many 999 calls for an ambulance it took more than an hour for a crew to attend in each year since 2000, broken down by Scottish Ambulance Service division and also expressed as a proportion of 999 calls for an ambulance over the same period.

The figures requested are listedin the following table. The Scottish Ambulance Service rolled out a priority baseddispatch system during 2002-04, so the figures from 2000-03 relate to all 999 emergencycalls and the figures from 2003-06 relate to Category A (life-threatening) and CategoryB (serious but not life-threatening) calls. In 2005-06, the ambulance service respondedto all Category A calls in an average of 8.4 minutes.

Number of Responses Over OneHour and Proportion of 999 Calls

Division	2000-01		2001-02		2002-03
Division	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion
North East	6	0.03%	5	0.02%	8	0.03%
North West	9	0.10%	11	0.12%	11	0.11%
East Central	14	0.02%	9	0.02%	27	0.05%
West Central	10	0.01%	62	0.06%	56	0.06%
South East	9	0.02%	3	0.01%	31	0.06%
South West	23	0.04%	9	0.02%	15	0.03%

Number of Responses Over OneHour and Proportion of 999 Calls

Division	2003-04		2004-05		2005-06
Division	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion	Number	Proportion
North East	5	0.02%	3	0.01%	1	0.04%
North West	13	0.13%	15	0.15%	14	0.12%
East Central	11	0.02%	13	0.02%	17	0.02%
West Central	51	0.05%	41	0.04%	96	0.09%
South East	18	0.04%	9	0.02%	27	0.04%
South West	33	0.06%	30	0.06%	34	0.06%

Note: Information supplied bythe Scottish Ambulance Service.

Question reference: S2W-31584

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of 999 calls for an ambulance where it took more than an hour for a crew to attend subsequently resulted in the patient dying (a) on the way to hospital and (b) within five hours of arrival at hospital in each year since 2000, broken down by Scottish Ambulance Service division.

Question reference: S2W-31585

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many qualified ambulance personnel there were in each year since 2000, broken down by Scottish Ambulance Service division.

The whole-time equivalent numberof paramedics and technicians employed in each Scottish Ambulance Service divisionfrom 2000 is listed in this table:

Division	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
North East	184.0	185.0	185.0	216.3	215.3	216.3
North West	203.4	205.8	205.8	217.8	199.1	199.1
East Central	311.5	321.5	321.5	348.7	350.7	372.0
West Central	384.5	408.5	406.5	464.0	458.0	468.0
South East	284.5	288.5	288.5	310.0	310.0	317.0
South West	399.0	398.0	393.0	434.0	445.0	481.0

Note: Information supplied bythe Scottish Ambulance Service.

Question reference: S2O-11925

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 8 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote full religious equality and an end to institutionalised discrimination.

Discrimination on the groundsof religion or belief is now unlawful in employment and training and in the provisionof goods, facilities and services. The Executive’s Equality Strategy published in2000 made clear our commitment to promoting equality for all and tackling prejudiceand discrimination. Among other things, we have mechanisms in place to allow forregular dialogue with all Scotland’s faith communities, and as part of the Executive’smainstreaming equality programme, departments must assess the impact of their policiesor proposed policies on faith/religious groups and the results must be published.

Question reference: S2W-31331

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much compensation was paid to patients or their families as a result of inadequate levels of NHS patient care in each year since 2000, broken down by NHS board.

The following table givesdetails of claims paid by NHSScotland, by financial year. It is not howeverpossible to distinguish between payments for clinical and non-clinical claims.Non-clinical claims against the NHS include claims under, for example,employer’s liability, industrial injury, employment law and third partyliability.

NHS Board	2001-02 (£)	2002-03 (£)	2003-04 (£)	2004-05 (£)	2005-06 (£)
Argyll and Clyde	265,519	2,558,831	270,041	1,219,640	1,019,142
Ayrshire and Arran	828,865	671,398	230,560	234,702	152,750
Borders	5,000	20,111	13,650	157,580	85,500
Dumfries and Galloway	701,116	362,018	219,096	65,927	198,171
Fife	51,693	125,346	492,449	320,806	106,000
Forth Valley	292,525	112,954	2,518,400	553,359	288,023
Grampian	175,375	77,250	199,313	912,877	413,810
Greater Glasgow	2,894,856	2,078,799	1,419,508	1,441,834	2,737,011
Highland	220,276	197,581	1,324,739	159,490	1,798,121
Lanarkshire	51,480	406,282	569,846	275,250	197,500
Lothian	815,557	1,933,644	879,506	437,323	182,931
Orkney	5,500	0	0	29,120	6,332
Shetland	7,700	78,345	10,200	2,000	0
Tayside	138,353	98,150	105,163	2,460,004	603,380
Western Isles	5,500	0	0	1,500	0
State Hospitals	0	0	0	0	0
Common Services Agency	0	0	55,000	49,000	40,000
Scottish Ambulance Service	3,000	0	0	0	0
Totals	6,462,315	8,720,709	8,307,471	8,320,412	7,810,671

Question reference: S2W-31338

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients were recorded as having fallen from hospital beds in each year since 2000, also broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S2W-31333

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients over the age of 75 and admitted to an acute hospital were recorded as sustaining an injury during their stay in hospital in each year since 2000, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S2W-31330

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints to NHS boards related to inadequate levels of patient care resulted in patients or their families taking legal action against the NHS in each year since 2000, broken down by NHS board.

Full information to thelevel of detail sought is not held centrally. The following table givesinformation on the numbers of new cases where legal action alleging clinicalnegligence has been taken over the whole of Scotland. A breakdown by NHS boardwould not be appropriate, since in the case of smaller boards it might enableindividual cases to be identified.

Year	Number of Complaints
2000	477
2001	465
2002	507
2003	460
2004	454
2005	400
2006	465

Question reference: S2W-31334

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average response time was to formal complaints made to an NHS board by patients or their families in each year since 2000, broken down by NHS board.

The following table shows themedian time (working days) to deal with complaints broken down by NHS board andfinancial year. Information broken down by calendar year is not available. All available statistical information on complaints madeagainst Hospital and Community Services is published annually and can be found athttp://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4362.html.

NHS Board	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Argyll and Clyde	15	19	19	15	28	32
Ayrshire and Arran	18	18	19	19	16	19
Borders	18	19	20	20	18	13
Dumfries and Galloway	15	13	18	9	15	20
Fife	19	20	20	24	20	19
Forth Valley	19	22	23	21	20	20
Grampian	20	18	19	17	20	16
Greater Glasgow	22	20	19	19	19	19
Highland	17	16	18	19	18	21
Lanarkshire	17	19	17	18	17	16
Lothian	16	15	16	13	14	16
Orkney	15	22	22	20	14	12
Shetland	14	17	17	19	18	19
Tayside	19	24	27	21	17	20
Western Isles	34	35	33	27	28	34
Scottish Ambulance Service	7	10	14	20	20	20
State Hospital, Carstairs	7	11	18	19	20	16