- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 9 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2796 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 30 September 2003, what funding has been awarded to (a) Scottish Homes and (b) Communities Scotland in each of the last 10 years, showing also the year on year percentage change.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Herreply is as follows:
The table shows Grant-in-Aidand Scottish Executive funding for Scottish Homes and Communities Scotland overthe 10-year period 1993-94 to 2002-03. The table also highlights the fundsdirectly invested in housing during that period.
| Scottish Homes | Year | Grant-In-Aid | % | Direct Housing Investment | % |
| | £ million | | £ million | |
| | 1993-94 | 320.2 | | 332.6 | |
| | | | 1.4% | | -5.3% |
| | 1994-95 | 324.7 | | 315.0 | |
| | | | -9.2% | | 0.0% |
| | 1995-96 | 294.9 | | 315.1 | |
| | | | -4.7% | | -2.6% |
| | 1996-97 | 281.2 | | 307.0 | |
| | | | 12.0% | | -34.4% |
| | 1997-98 | 315.0 | | 201.4 | |
| | | | 8.1% | | -4.6% |
| | 1998-99 | 340.6 | | 192.1 | |
| | | | -19.1% | | 5.4% |
| | 1999-00 | 275.5 | | 202.4 | |
| | | | 14.5% | | 8.8% |
| | 2000-01 | 315.4 | | 220.2 | |
| | | | -44.6% | | -42.7% |
| | 2001-02 * | 174.9 | | 126.1 | |
| | | | -87.8% | | -98.4% |
| | 2002-03 * | 21.4 | | 2.0 | |
| Communities Scotland | Year | SE Funding | % | Direct Housing Investment | % |
| | £ million | | £ million | |
| | 2001-02 | 204.3 | | 109.9 | |
| | | | 118.6% | | 139.0% |
| | 2002-03 | 446.6 | | 262.7 | |
*The principal functions ofScottish Homes transferred to Scottish ministers on 1 November 2001.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 9 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the conclusions were of any research into the impact on white fish stocks of the ban on sandeel fishing in the Wee Bankie.
Answer
There is no conclusiveevidence yet of any impact of the Wee Bankie closure on sandeels or otherwhitefish.
The European Commission,with the support of the Scottish Executive, has proposed that the Wee Bankiearea closure continue for a further three years to allow for more scientificmonitoring of the closure and its effects.
This research will seek todetermine how effective the closure is at protecting the local sandeelpopulation and all sandeel predator species, including haddock and seabirds. Oncethis three-year monitoring programme has been completed, the results will beassessed and a decision taken on whether to make the closure permanent.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting times are for (a) non-urgent and (b) urgent scans for osteoporosis in each NHS board area.
Answer
The information requested isnot available centrally.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many EU working group meetings have been attended by its (a) ministers and (b) officials in each year since 1999, expressed also as a percentage of total EU working group meetings in each year.
Answer
European union workinggroups are for officials; ministers do not attend these meetings. Details of attendanceby Scottish Executive officials at working groups since 1999 is set out in thetable.
| Year | Number of Working Groups | Number Attended by Officials | % |
| 1999 (from 1 July) | 1,566 | 32 | 2.04 |
| 2000 | 2,147 | 67 | 3.12 |
| 2001 | 3,537 | 90 | 2.54 |
| 2002 | 4,216 | 85 | 2.02 |
| 2003 (to 30 June) | 2,147 | 72 | 3.35 |
| Total | 13,613 | 346 | 2.54 |
The total number of workinggroups includes a substantial proportion where there is no devolved interest.Scottish Executive officials only attend working groups where devolved businessis on the agenda and Scotland is represented at all working group meetings as partof the United Kingdom delegation.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children are currently diagnosed with (a) autism, (b) Asperger's syndrome and (c) semantic and pragmatic language disorder in each NHS board area.
Answer
The information requested isnot centrally available. Autism or Asperger’s syndrome will often be theunderlying condition and patients records may not explicitly refer to this. Informationabout face-to-face consultations between GPs and patients is gathered centrallyas part of continuous morbidity recording (CMR) in general practice. The numberof patients diagnosed with autism or Asperger’s syndrome and recorded as partof CMR is very low and will not reflect the true prevalence in the Scottishpopulation. Further information can be obtained on
www.isdscotland.org.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 October 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average water bill for small businesses in (a) Scotland and (b) each local authority area was in each of the last 10 years.
Answer
This is an operationalmatter for Scottish Water. I have asked Dr Jon Hargreaves the Chief Executiveof Scottish Water to respond. His response is as follows:
The average water bill forsmall businesses is not available, though we can use the size of the bill as aproxy for the size of the business, with a threshold of £600 or lessapproximating to a small business. The average bill raised by Scottish Waterfrom customers with bills less than £600 in 2001-02 was £225, in 2002-03 was£260 and in 2003-04 was £335. The information for earlier years is notavailable.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 2 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2278 by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 September 2003, how many physiotherapists are employed in each NHS board area, expressed also on a per capita basis and as a ratio to the number of people registered as requiring their services.
Answer
The following table showsthe whole time equivalent (WTE) and headcount of Physiotherapists and thepopulations by NHS board area.
Rates per 100,000 populationare also given. These rates should be interpreted with caution as they do nottake account of cross-border flows between health boards e.g. patients residentin one health board area may receive their physiotherapy from another healthboard.
Information required to showthe ratio of physiotherapists to the number of people registered as requiringtheir services is not centrally available.
Physiotherapistsby NHS Board
Headcount andWhole Time Equivalent: at 31 March 2003
Populationestimate at 30 June 2002
| | Physiotherapists | | Rate per 100,000 of population |
| NHS Board | Headcount | WTE | Population | Headcount | WTE |
| Argyll and Clyde | 169 | 133.9 | 418,750 | 40.36 | 31.99 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 179 | 145.4 | 367,060 | 48.77 | 39.60 |
| Borders | 52 | 40.6 | 107,400 | 48.42 | 37.84 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 59 | 46.6 | 147,310 | 40.05 | 31.63 |
| Fife | 149 | 115.4 | 350,620 | 42.50 | 32.91 |
| Forth Valley | 114 | 96.0 | 279,370 | 40.81 | 34.36 |
| Grampian | 244 | 186.1 | 523,290 | 46.63 | 35.57 |
| Greater Glasgow | 486 | 403.4 | 866,080 | 56.11 | 46.58 |
| Highland | 103 | 86.1 | 208,140 | 49.49 | 41.36 |
| Lanarkshire | 195 | 163.5 | 552,910 | 35.27 | 29.57 |
| Lothian | 411 | 338.3 | 779,100 | 52.75 | 43.43 |
| Orkney | 10 | 7.3 | 19,210 | 52.06 | 37.99 |
| Shetland | 12 | 9.0 | 21,940 | 54.69 | 41.02 |
| Tayside | 172 | 138.4 | 387,420 | 44.40 | 35.72 |
| Western Isles | 10 | 9.1 | 26,200 | 38.17 | 34.72 |
| Golden Jubilee National Hospital | 8 | 6.6 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Scotland | 2373 | 1925.7 | 5054800 | 46.95 | 38.10 |
| | | | | | |
Source: NationalManpower Statistics from payroll, ISD Scotland GRO mid-year populationestimates.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 25 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) hospital-based and (b) community-based midwives there have been in each NHS board area in each of the last three years, expressed also on a per capita basis and as a ratio to the number of babies born in each year.
Answer
A copy of the requested informationhas been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 29941).
The tables show whole time equivalent (WTE) and headcountinformation relating to hospital and community midwives and the population byNHS board area. Rates of hospital and community midwives per 100,000 populationand rates per 1,000 babies born are also given.
Therates should be treated with caution. The variability in rates between healthboards can be partly explained by the small number of midwives each rate isbased on. Moreover, these rates do not take account of cross-border flowsbetween health boards e.g. patients resident in one health board area mayreceive their midwifery services in another health board.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 25 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #40 million made available for the decommissioning of fishing vessels is estimated to be allocated for this purpose following the closure of applications to the decommissioning scheme.
Answer
The deadline for the receiptof applications under the Fishing Vessels (Decommissioning) (Scotland)Scheme 2003 was 31 October 2003. Offers were made initially to the owners of 70 vesselscovering the £40 million available under the scheme. Some vessel ownerssubsequently decided to withdraw their vessels from the scheme and werereplaced by vessels from the reserve list. There are currently 69 live offersof grant involving aggregate expenditure of just under £32 million.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 25 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations in support of the ending of the Common Fisheries Policy.
Answer
No. We are committed toreforming and improving the Common Fisheries Policy.
