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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-25666

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 21 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to conduct research into the prevalence of low income or disadvantaged groups living in poor condition properties and to provide a breakdown of this data by housing sector.

The Executive has recently completed a review of existing data and research on owner-occupied households who have relatively low incomes including the implications for housing quality. This is available on the Housing Improvement Task Force website. In addition, the 2002 Scottish House Condition Survey will provide data on the condition of Scottish housing and the incomes and characteristics of the households within it including those whose homes are in need of repair and improvement.

Question reference: S1W-25665

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 21 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to conduct research into the proportion of income used in households to make good "critical disrepair", as defined in Issues in Improving Quality in Private Housing: The first report of the Housing Improvement Task Force.

The Scottish Executive is currently carrying out the field work for the 2002 Scottish House Condition Survey. This survey will provide a comprehensive picture of the extent of disrepair in Scottish housing and an estimate of the cost of necessary repair and improvements. The survey will also provide data on the incomes of households including those whose homes are in need of repair and how much they spent on repair and maintenance in the previous year. The results from this survey are expected to be available from the middle of 2003.

Question reference: S1W-25663

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how much in outstanding fines is due to Glasgow sheriff court in respect of each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Information is not readily available in the form requested. The amount of fines outstanding at Glasgow sheriff court or any sheriff court changes on a daily basis, as new fines are imposed and previously imposed fines are paid in whole or in part, or discharged by order of the court. Payments in one year can relate to fines imposed in previous years.At my request the Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service has provided the information in the following table on the total level of fines outstanding at Glasgow sheriff court at the end of the last five financial years:

Date	Total Amount for Fines/Compensation Orders Outstanding
31 March 1998	£2,022,454
31 March 1999	£2,081,363
31 March 2000	£1,912,528
31 March 2001	£2,070,162
31 March 2002	£1,879,208

The table includes compensation orders which remain outstanding at the end of the year.

Question reference: S1W-25556

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Richard Simpson on 15 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many suicides there were by (a) males and (b) females aged over 35 years in each year from 1991 to 2001.

Question reference: S1W-24519

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2002
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 13 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how much (a) non-Public Works Loan Board and (b) Public Works Loan Board debt in respect of housing Glasgow City Council (i) owes in total and (ii) repays annually through its Housing Revenue Account.

As at 31 March 2001, Glasgow City Council's total debt was £2,185 million, comprising £1,932 million Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) and £253 million non-PWLB. Around £900 million of the total debt is apportioned to the Housing Revenue Account but in line with other councils Glasgow operates a consolidated loans fund and does not allocate individual loans to housing. Following the result of the ballot to transfer the housing stock to the Glasgow Housing Association, the council will examine an apportionment of its loans.

Question reference: S1W-24503

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2002
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 13 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any debt write-off following transfer of Glasgow City Council's housing stock will include non-Public Works Loan Board debts for housing.

Question reference: S1W-24385

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2002
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 22 April 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive why the maximum grant of #500 available under the Warm Deal is not index linked against inflation and whether it has any plans for it to be so linked.

Question reference: S1W-24382

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2002
Current Status: Answered by Richard Simpson on 22 April 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) birth, (b) mortality and (c) life expectancy rates were for (i) males and (ii) females in each year from 1995-96 to 2000-01 inclusive broken down by NHS board area.

The latest available information is provided in the following tables:Birth Rates¹ by Health Board Area, 1995-2001

				Rates per 1,000 population
	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001 ²
Scotland	11.7	11.6	11.6	11.2	10.8	10.4	10.3
Argyll and Clyde	11.8	11.6	11.7	10.9	10.7	10.4	9.8
Ayrshire and Arran	11.1	11.0	11.1	10.8	10.0	9.8	9.8
Borders	11.0	10.7	10.7	9.8	9.9	10.0	10.0
Dumfries and Galloway	11.1	10.9	10.6	10.3	9.6	9.4	8.8
Fife	11.5	11.0	11.0	11.0	10.5	10.0	10.4
Forth Valley	11.6	11.6	11.5	11.5	10.9	10.5	10.1
Grampian	11.5	11.4	11.4	11.4	11.0	10.2	10.0
Greater Glasgow	12.2	12.1	12.1	11.3	10.9	10.5	10.7
Highland	11.6	11.4	11.7	11.8	10.7	10.3	10.2
Lanarkshire	12.0	12.2	12.1	11.8	11.5	11.1	10.7
Lothian	12.0	11.8	11.9	11.4	11.2	10.8	10.6
Orkney	11.6	10.8	11.3	9.9	9.6	7.8	8.9
Shetland	12.6	11.7	12.4	11.6	12.5	10.1	11.0
Tayside	11.1	11.0	11.2	10.8	10.2	10.0	10.1
Western Isles	10.4	9.7	8.9	9.8	9.6	8.4	8.3

Notes:1. Rate per 1,000 population (2001 rates are based on 2000 mid-year population estimates). 2. Provisional.Death Rates by Sex and Health Board Area, Scotland 1995-2001

Rates per 1,000 population
	1995		1996		1997		1998		1999		2000		2001 ²
	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
Scotland	11.6	12.0	11.8	11.9	11.4	11.8	11.3	11.8	11.5	12.0	11.1	11.5	11.0	11.4
Argyll and Clyde	11.9	12.5	12.7	12.6	12.4	12.2	12.2	12.7	12.7	12.6	11.9	12.7	11.9	12.1
Ayrshire and Arran	12.0	12.6	11.8	12.2	12.6	12.8	11.8	12.4	11.8	13.3	11.7	12.7	12.0	12.7
Borders	12.6	13.6	12.1	13.5	12.3	13.4	11.7	13.3	11.6	13.2	12.0	12.4	11.5	12.5
Dumfries and Galloway	12.6	11.3	12.5	13.0	12.3	12.5	12.2	12.5	12.4	12.7	12.1	12.2	12.1	12.2
Fife	11.1	11.5	11.4	11.5	10.9	11.4	11.1	11.8	10.9	11.6	10.7	11.1	10.7	11.6
Forth Valley	10.7	11.5	11.8	11.5	11.0	11.1	10.8	11.2	11.1	11.4	10.7	11.3	10.4	11.4
Grampian	10.2	10.5	10.0	9.8	9.4	10.1	9.6	10.3	9.8	10.8	9.7	10.6	9.8	10.0
Greater Glasgow	13.2	13.1	13.1	12.9	12.4	12.9	12.7	12.3	12.7	13.0	12.0	11.9	11.7	11.8
Highland	11.2	12.1	11.7	11.2	11.4	11.5	11.5	11.6	12.0	11.3	11.7	11.4	11.4	11.7
Lanarkshire	10.8	11.1	10.8	11.0	10.8	11.0	10.5	10.8	11.0	11.1	10.6	10.4	10.2	10.6
Lothian	10.5	11.4	11.0	11.5	10.4	11.3	10.3	11.1	10.4	11.3	9.9	10.8	10.0	10.4
Orkney	12.8	11.0	12.0	11.0	12.3	11.8	13.0	12.1	12.4	9.2	10.8	9.3	11.8	11.7
Shetland	10.3	9.8	10.8	11.0	10.7	10.6	10.5	10.7	10.2	9.2	7.6	8.2	9.4	10.6
Tayside	12.3	13.1	12.6	13.3	12.1	12.7	12.0	13.2	12.5	13.4	11.9	12.5	11.9	12.7
Western Isles	15.0	14.5	15.4	14.5	14.9	14.6	14.7	13.5	15.8	13.6	15.0	15.2	13.4	12.8

Notes:1. Rate per 1,000 population (2001 rates are based on 2000 mid-year population estimates). 2. Provisional.Expectation of Life at Birth, by Health Board Area, Scotland 1995 to 1999

	1995 ¹		1996 ¹		1997 ¹		1998 ¹		1999 ¹
	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F
Scotland	72.09	77.66	72.24	77.76	72.41	77.92	72.61	78.00	72.85	78.17
Argyll and Clyde	71.05	77.19	71.23	77.32	71.10	77.34	71.11	77.74	71.38	77.45
Ayrshire and Arran	72.53	77.80	72.57	77.74	72.80	78.05	73.00	77.75	73.29	77.76
Borders	75.00	79.40	74.69	79.61	74.93	79.67	75.07	79.75	75.34	80.02
Dumfries and Galloway	73.66	78.75	73.93	79.05	74.16	78.97	74.52	79.06	75.16	79.19
Fife	73.14	78.50	73.39	78.79	73.39	78.73	73.82	79.01	74.11	79.13
Forth Valley	72.79	77.57	73.08	78.04	73.06	78.32	73.39	78.67	73.59	78.62
Grampian	73.67	79.06	73.88	79.40	74.19	79.65	74.33	79.42	74.41	79.44
Greater Glasgow	69.75	76.13	69.93	76.15	70.16	76.36	70.37	76.47	70.49	76.77
Highland	72.51	78.66	72.62	78.63	72.75	78.93	72.89	79.03	72.78	79.26
Lanarkshire	71.71	76.80	71.75	76.77	71.94	77.03	72.09	77.29	72.29	77.58
Lothian	72.80	78.11	72.92	78.16	73.02	78.19	73.39	78.41	73.61	78.49
Orkney	73.85	80.52	74.14	79.59	74.12	79.32	73.38	79.76	74.36	81.89
Shetland	71.90	79.04	72.11	80.59	72.59	79.97	73.60	80.64	74.33	80.98
Tayside	72.62	78.13	72.98	78.34	73.37	78.28	73.54	78.38	73.68	78.76
Western Isles	71.51	79.14	70.74	78.99	70.90	79.65	71.24	79.94	72.17	79.97

Note:1. Expectation of life is based on mortality rates for three years. The year shown is the central year of the three-year period.

Question reference: S1W-24381

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 April 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of young people aged 18 and under smoked in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Trend data are not available for smoking among young people aged 18 and under. The nearest available information are from a survey carried out by National Centre for Social Research and the National Foundation for Education Research. These data show the percentage of smokers aged between 12 and 15 years old.These data show that the percentage of smokers has decreased between 1996 and 1998 and again between 1998 and 2000. The largest decrease has taken place among boys.Percentage of pupils aged between 12 and 15 who were regular smokers:

Gender	Year
Gender	1996	1998	2000
Boys	14	11	8
Girls	14	13	13
Total	14	12	10

Question reference: S1W-24398

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 March 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 April 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the expenditure on secondary mental health services was in real terms in each of the last five years for which figures are available and what this represents as a percentage of the hospital and community health services budget in each of these years.

The following table shows expenditure in real terms on hospital and community services for mental health between 1996-97 and 2000-01. The expenditure figures include resource transfer from health boards to local authorities. Expenditure on Mental Health Services in Scotland

Year	Expenditure (2000-01 Prices)(£ million)	Expenditure as a Percentage of Total Expenditure on Hospital and Community Health Services(%)
1996-97	452.0	14.73
1997-98	456.5	14.65
1998-99	455.1	14.40
1999-2000	485.2	14.82
2000-01	520.9	14.94

Source: Performance Template Returns.Note: Expenditure figures have been converted to 2000-01 prices using the GDP deflator.

Suicides, aged 35 and over, Scotland¹
	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001²
Male	310	325	388	356	375	364	373	382	378	395	406
Female	126	144	154	159	151	151	144	156	141	135	165