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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: S1W-05928

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 27 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take steps to encourage discussion of Third World development issues in schools.

Question reference: S1W-05031

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive which hospitals use laser treatments, paid for by the NHS, to help people to give up smoking; what the success rate is of such treatment; what the average cost is of such treatment and whether it plans to extend the availability of this treatment on the NHS.

The information requested is not available centrally.

It is for health boards and NHS Trusts to plan and deliver services which meet the need of their local population. In doing so, they take account of the effectiveness of different healthcare interventions, including laser treatment.

The Scottish Executive is, of course, taking forward a range of measures to reduce the levels of smoking by people in Scotland. These include health education and promotion activities such as Smokeline; targeted help for groups such as pregnant women; and targeted smoking cessation services and nicotine replacement therapy, which is available free of charge to those least able to afford it.

Question reference: S1W-04730

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure all people with epilepsy obtain an annual assessment at a specialist unit to check whether they still have the condition.

The NHS in Scotland is committed to ensuring that the highest quality of care is provided to all patients. It is important that patients with chronic conditions such as epilepsy, who may be on long-term drug treatment, are regularly reviewed. The frequency of such reviews is a matter for the clinical judgement of the relevant consultant. Existing national clinical guidelines published by Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network in 1997 on The Diagnosis and Management of Epilepsy in Adults are scheduled for review this year.

Question reference: S1W-03558

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what preventative action it is taking to reduce the incidence of cancer.

The Scottish Executive is determined to face the challenges posed by cancer. We have pledged to tackle the root causes of ill health and work over the next 10 years to promote healthier living and reduce mortality from cancer by 20%.Specific initiatives designed to address these pledges and the Scottish Executive's approach to public health generally are set out in the White Paper, Towards a Healthier Scotland, a copy of which has been placed in SPICe.This is a challenging and wide ranging programme including:

additional investment of £1 million to aid smoking cessation programmes;

promoting healthier lifestyles and diet including the appointment of a Scottish Diet Co-ordinator;

establishment of Healthy Living Centres via the New Opportunities Funding initiative (£34.5 million);

The Cancer Challenge
- a pilot programme to test the feasibility of a national screening programme for earlier detection of colorectal cancer;

a formalised cancer genetics programme for breast, colorectal and ovarian cancer to provide advice and counselling for individuals who may be at increased risk based on their family history.

The substantial additional investment in public health and health promotion, announced in the Scottish Parliament on 22 March, will further strengthen our efforts to help reduce the incidence of cancer in Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-04837

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 25 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent per capita on treating mental illness in each of the last three years for which figures are available, broken down by health board, in (a) psychiatric hospitals and (b) the community.

Mental illness is equated with the specialities of General Psychiatry, Adolescent Psychiatry, Child Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry.

The information available from health boards regarding expenditure on mental illness treatment is provided on the basis of patient category i.e. inpatient; outpatient; day-patient and community. It is therefore not possible to identify the expenditure on patients treated in psychiatric hospitals alone.

The information provided in the following table groups the expenditure for inpatients, outpatients and day-patients to provide a total hospital figure.

The health board expenditure reflects the costs of services purchased, and may not equate exactly with the cost of treatment for mental illness.

The table provides per capita expenditure, per health board, for hospital and community provision of mental illness treatment for the period 1996-97 up to and including 1998-99.

	Expenditure per capita in Hospitals			Expenditure per capita in the community
Health Board	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Argyll & Clyde	79	79	80	0	2	3
Ayrshire & Arran	59	55	68	5	5	7
Borders	75	71	72	10	12	12
Dumfries & Galloway	67	71	70	4	4	4
Fife	69	66	68	3	5	5
Forth Valley	74	72	75	3	6	6
Grampian	74	76	78	2	3	5
Greater Glasgow	68	70	67	11	11	17
Highland	64	60	59	4	5	6
Lanarkshire	49	58	59	6	5	5
Lothian	77	79	84	2	3	3
Orkney	51	45	39	5	5	5
Shetland	17	20	18	4	4	4
Tayside	93	93	95	6	8	8
Western Isles	68	73	70	4	4	4
Average	70	71	73	5	6	7

Source: Scottish Health Service Costs 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99 (SFR 13.0).Note: Weighted population is used to allow health board comparisons and has been used to calculate the per capita spend. Note that an updated figure was not available for 1998-99, so the 1997-98 weighted population figures were used.

Question reference: S1W-06091

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 20 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take into account the views of the Scottish Low Pay Unit in any consideration of the best way to encourage socially excluded people into employment.

Question reference: S1W-05913

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 17 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the proportion of registered disabled people is as (a) a percentage of the population and (b) a percentage of the workforce, in each local authority area, for the last year in which figures are available, and what steps it is taking to increase employment of registered disabled people by local authorities.

This information is not held centrally. However, the Labour Force Survey, which includes about 6,000 households each quarter in Scotland, gives reliable estimates although not broken down by local authority area. The autumn 1999 survey estimated that in Scotland 17% of the working age population have a disability, as do 8% of the workforce.

It is for individual local authorities to determine their own employment policies within the statutory requirements and, under section 64 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to appoint such officers as they think necessary for the proper discharge of their functions. However, the Scottish Executive will be working closely with the Disability Rights Commission following its inception on 19 April 2000 including initiatives which the Commission might wish to pursue concerning employment for people with disabilities.

Question reference: S1W-05927

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 17 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to assess the impact of sport on reducing social exclusion.

Question reference: S1W-05915

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 17 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many council houses have been built in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by local authority area.

The table presents the number of new council houses which have been completed in each local authority area, in the years 1994 to 1998, as reported by local authorities to the Scottish Executive.

Local Authority New Dwellings Completed: 1994 to 1998
Authority	1994	1995	1996		1997¹	1998¹
Scotland	548	487	278	108		86
Aberdeen City	20	-	87	50		-
Aberdeenshire	41	63	59	-		11
Angus	-	37	-	..		..
Argyll & Bute	-	-	-	-		-
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-		-
Dumfries & Galloway	117	21	-	-		-
Dundee City	21	-	-	-		-
East Ayrshire	7	28	-	1		-
East Dunbartonshire	-	41	10	-		-
East Lothian	-	-	-	-		-
East Renfrewshire	18	74	-	-		-
Edinburgh, City of	-	-	-	-		-
Eilean Siar	2	2	-	-		-
Falkirk	-	-	-	-		-
Fife	-	-	27	-		-
Glasgow City	-	-	-	-		-
Highland	170	88	18	..		..
Inverclyde	-	8	-	-		19
Midlothian	26	-	22	26		36
Moray	39	15	-	-		-
North Ayrshire	-	8	15	3		-
North Lanarkshire	4	67	-	-		..
Orkney	-	-	-	-		-
Perth & Kinross	-	-	-	-		-
Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-		-
Scottish Borders, The	-	16	-	-		-
Shetland	12	-	-	-		-
South Ayrshire	20	-	20	-		-
South Lanarkshire	30	2	-	-		-
Stirling	-	4	-	-		-
West Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-		-
West Lothian	21	13	20	28		20

.. Return outstanding

- Nil return

Notes:

1. The Scotland total for these years is provisional, pending the submission of returns from some local authorities.

Question reference: S1W-05912

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 17 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to assist the film industry.