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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-04738

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) HIV and (b) chlamydia tests have been carried out in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

The number of diagnosticHIV-antibody tests undertaken by HIV testing laboratories in Scotland in 1999-2002is as follows:

NHS Board	1999	2000	2001	2002
Argyll and Clyde	985	845	990	1,061
Ayrshire and Arran	594	666	823	1,319
Borders	113	115	147	139
Dumfries and Galloway	234	285	324	271
Fife	547	740	817	915
Forth Valley	384	401	430	531
Grampian	2,407	2,234	1,962	2,462
Greater Glasgow	4,369	4,410	6,133	5,917
Highland	766	748	829	924
Lanarkshire	1,052	1,150	1,281	1,569
Lothian	5,067	5,249	5,703	6,043
Orkney	12	13	26	55
Shetland	101	112	127	137
Tayside	1,954	1,665	1,850	1,792
Western Isles	26	0	6	49
Not Known	0	7	7	0
Total	18,611	18,640	21,455	23,184

Note: These figures exclude blood donors and pregnant women.

Similar data for chlamydia tests are not held centrally.

Question reference: S2W-04726

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pregnant teenagers were children of single parents, expressed also as a percentage of all teenage pregnancies, in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S2W-04718

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 16 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidences there have been of pelvic inflammatory disease, and what the rate of incidence was, in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

Incidence of PelvicInflammatory Disease (PID), based on presentation at General Practice since1999, was as follows:

Year	Estimated Number of GP Incidences
1999	26,647
2000	27,226
2001	23,774
2002	22,896

Source: Continuous MorbidityRecording Database (CMR).

Number and rate⁶ of female patients^1,2,4,5first³diagnosed with PID by NHS board of residence in years since 1999 were asfollows:

Scottish Residents		1999	2000	2001	2002
	Total Number of Patients^{1 ,2,4,5}	1,540	1,397	1,261	1,115
	Rate⁶ per 100,000 Population	58.4	53.1	47.9	42.5
Arygll and Clyde	Number^1,2,4,5	162	142	113	97
	Rate⁶	73.5	64.8	51.7	44.7
Ayrshire and Arran	Number^1,2,4,5	295	248	194	161
	Rate⁶	152.1	128.5	100.7	83.8
Borders	Number^1,2,4,5	18	18	29	14
	Rate⁶	32.8	32.6	52.3	25.2
Dumfries and Galloway	Number^1,2,4,5	59	46	42	43
	Rate⁶	77.0	60.3	54.9	56.5
Fife	Number^1,2,4,5	154	140	122	106
	Rate⁶	85.3	77.3	67.1	58.1
Forth Valley	Number^1,2,4,5	76	68	64	73
	Rate⁶	52.6	47.0	44.2	50.3
Grampian	Number^1,2,4,5	120	121	100	100
	Rate⁶	44.8	45.4	37.6	37.8
Greater Glasgow	Number^1,2,4,5	172	182	1999	179
	Rate⁶	37.3	39.7	43.5	39.3
Highland	Number^1,2,4,5	93	69	65	47
	Rate⁶	87.1	64.7	61.0	44.2
Lanarkshire	Number^1,2,4,5	129	125	106	98
	Rate⁶	44.8	43.5	36.8	34.1
Lothian	Number^1,2,4,5	150	138	143	120
	Rate⁶	37.4	34.1	35.3	29.6
Orkney	Number^1,2,4,5	4	4	5	3
	Rate⁶	40.8	40.9	51.4	30.9
Shetland	Number^1,2,4,5	7	10	7	6
	Rate⁶	62.7	90.9	64.2	55.1
Tayside	Number^1,2,4,5	76	60	61	56
	Rate⁶	37.2	29.5	30.2	27.8
Western Isles	Number^1,2,4,5	25	26	11	12
	Rate⁶	181.5	191.7	82.1	90.1

Notes:

1.These statistics are derived from data collected on discharges fromnon-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland.

2.Cases where the patient was not admitted to hospital are not included.

3.Defined as the number of new/first occurrences of a particular disease diagnosedduring a hospital in-patient or day case stay.

4.Patients are counted in the first year that they were diagnosed with pelvicinflammatory disease. Their patient histories are screened back to 1981 to makesure that had not been admitted prior to the year of interest with a diagnosisof pelvic inflammatory disease.

5.The linked data set required for this analysis contains linked SMR1/01 andRegistrar General's death records. All patient records including deaths foreach patient are linked together using “probability matching”. The “probabilitymatching” algorithm uses all available identifying information (name, date ofbirth, postcode, hospital patient reference number etc.) to link the individualhospital records for each patient, thereby creating “linked” patient histories.

Up to six diagnoses (oneprincipal, five secondary) are recorded on SMR01 returns. All six diagnoseshave been used to select pelvic inflammatory disease.

6. Rates are based on the General Registers Office for Scotland, mid-year population estimates forfemales only.

7. PID includes chronic and acute PID and a wide range of disease codes have been used to identify this.

Question reference: S2W-04381

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average reporting time in days has been for laboratories to process breast screening results in each of the last four years, broken down by NHS board area.

Information about thereporting times for breast screening results is not collected centrally. Thisis a matter for the six breast screening centres. Contact details for the breastscreening centres can be obtained from the National Services Division, CommonServices Agency on 0131 625 6247.

The NHS Quality ImprovementScotland report on breast screening, which was released on 24 November, notedthat there were delays at some centres in women receiving their screeningresult. The national services division will be considering with the service thedevelopment of appropriate IT system enhancements to allow this data to be moreeasily accessible in the future which will assist the centres to monitor theirperformance.

Question reference: S2W-04351

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many statistical bulletins it has published in each year since 1999 and, of these, how many indicated that the information within them was not fully comparable with previous years, broken down by subject.

The information presented givesthe number of statistical publications released by the Scottish Executivestatistical group via its website.

Year	Number of Publications
1999	78
2000	83
2001	119
2002	143
2003 (part year to 25 November 03)	119

Changes in statisticalseries can occur for a variety of reasons including revisions to datacollection methods, improvements to analytical methodologies, adjustments tothe dissemination process and updating of policy priorities. The statisticalgroup works to ensure that if past series are revised, that the changes arefully and clearly identified to users. The statistical group does not holdinformation on the number of series that are not comparable over time.

Question reference: S2W-04352

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many publications have been issued by the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) regarding the NHS in each year since 1999, and, of these, how many indicated that the information within them was not fully comparable with previous years.

Information and Statistics Divisionissues over 30 quarterly or annual national statistics releases and a largenumber of other publications containing health statistics each year, providinginformation on a wide range of topics about the NHS and the health of people inScotland. Most of these releases are published electronically on ISD’s websiteat www.isdscotland.org.

In accordance with good statistical practice ISDseeks to highlight in each release any changes in the underlying data,organisational changes affecting how the statistics are presented, or changesin the selection of statistics published. Key factors which have changed thestatistics published by ISD since 1999 and in doing so affected comparabilitywith previous years include:

Legislative changes in ophthalmic services in 1999.

Changing service provision in hospitals whereby somesurgical operations/procedures are now carried out in out-patients, wherepreviously they would have involved day case treatment.

Changes in the way waiting lists/times are classifiedand improved coverage in response to the Audit Scotland report on waiting(2002) and my decision to abolish the Deferred Waiting List from April 2003.

Improvements made to the national statistical returnthat collects information on people attending services for drug problems.

There will have been otherminor improvements to definitions since 1999 that might make some figures notstrictly comparable. However, searching through the thousands of pages ofmaterial to quantify this would incur disproportionate cost.

Question reference: S2W-04292

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3034 by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2003, whether it will list the political activities over the last five years of each member of each NHS board as supplied in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments' Code of Practice.

The composition of NHS boardsby gender, profession and declared political activity is published in the Scottish Executive publication Annual Report on Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland andcan be found on the Executive’s website at:www.scotland.gov.uk/government/public bodies.

The information provided inthe annual report and on the website includes any political activity undertakenduring the past five years.

Question reference: S2W-04732

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive what the legislative differences between Scotland and England would have to be borne in mind if adoption of the guidelines referred to in support paper 5b to its sexual health strategy were to be considered.

Question reference: S2W-04245

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many GPs (a) ceased to practice as principals and (b) took up posts as principals in each of the last three years, broken down by NHS board area.

The information for the mostrecent years available is as follows:

Health Board	1 October 1999 to 30 September 2000		1 October 2000 to 30 September 2001		1 October 2001 to 30 September 2002
Health Board	(a)	(b)	(a)	(b)	(a)	(b)
Argyll and Clyde	13	17	15	20	16	15
Ayrshire and Arran	14	13	10	9	14	14
Borders	2	1	3	3	4	5
Dumfries and Galloway	2	5	2	4	13	10
Fife	6	9	12	11	11	13
Forth Valley	10	8	7	5	6	9
Grampian	22	25	10	23	20	22
Greater Glasgow	16	15	23	26	28	25
Highland	12	11	6	15	19	19
Lanarkshire	15	14	9	12	7	9
Lothian	26	27	20	36	26	31
Orkney	5	4	-	1	-	-
Shetland	1	3	1	3	2	1
Tayside	9	12	12	12	14	16
Western Isles	2	1	3	2	1	1
Scotland	155	165	133	182	181	190

Question reference: S2O-00905

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 4 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance can be provided to Dundee Football Club to help minimise job losses during the period of administration and restructuring.

Any joblosses are regrettable but Dundee Football Club is now in administration anddecisions on the future of the Club are a matter for the administrators. the Executive has no direct locus and Dundee Football Club have not soughtExecutive assistance.

Strongpartnerships already exist between local enterprise companies, localauthorities, Jobcentre Plus and Careers Scotland. These partners haveconsiderable experience in responding to redundancy situations and can offeradvice, support and guidance on the range of retraining, upskilling andemployment opportunities.