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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-11630

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 13 December 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for (a) an initial consultation with and (b) treatment by a consultant in (i) restorative dentistry; (ii) oral and maxillofacial surgery and (iii) orthodontics in each health board area.

The median waiting time for a first outpatient appointment with a consultant in restorative dentistry, oral surgery and orthodontics, by health board of residence, for the year to 30 June 2000 is given in table 1.

Most orthodontic and restorative dentistry treatments carried out within the hospital and community health service settings are undertaken on an outpatient basis and information on waiting times for such treatments is not held centrally. The median waiting time for inpatient/day case treatment for oral surgery, by health board of residence, for the year to 30 June 2000 is given in table 2.

Table 1

NHS In Scotland: Median Waiting Time for a First Outpatient Appointment with a Consultant in Oral Surgery, Orthodontics and Restorative Dentistry, following Referral by a General Medical Practitioner/General Dental Practitioner, by Health Board of Residence. Year Ending 30 June 2000.

	Median Waiting Time (Days)
Health Board	Oral Surgery	Orthodontics	Restorative Dentistry
Argyll & Clyde	93	90	144
Ayrshire & Arran	41	40	147
Borders	17	94	81
Dumfries & Galloway	80	78	147
Fife	63	149	72
Forth Valley	50	95	104
Grampian	67	205	105
Greater Glasgow	51	70	133
Highland	31	301	94
Lanarkshire	50	89	136
Lothian	106	47	74
Orkney	36	*	*
Shetland	37	*	*
Tayside	50	113	70
Western Isles	*	235	*
Scotland	56	93	90

Table 2

NHS In Scotland: Median Waiting Time For Inpatient/Day Case¹ Treatment For Oral Surgery, By Health Board Of Residence. Year Ending 30 June 2000.

Health Board	Median Waiting Time (Days)
Argyll & Clyde	35
Ayrshire & Arran	77
Borders	21
Dumfries & Galloway	70
Fife	70
Forth Valley	48
Grampian	19
Greater Glasgow	35
Highland	63
Lanarkshire	34
Lothian	9
Orkney	14
Shetland	7
Tayside	8
Western Isles	10
Scotland	22

Source: ISD, Scotland.

* Not applicable

Notes:

1. Scottish residents routinely admitted from the waiting list. Admissions via transfer are excluded.

Question reference: S1W-11639

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 13 December 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to address any current skills shortage in the oil and gas industry.

Skills for Scotland: A Skills Strategy for a Competitive Scotland, published in March 1999, sought views on a skills strategy for Scotland. A response to that document, setting out a skills action programme for Scotland, is planned for publication in early 2001. In addition, the Oil and Petroleum Industry Training Organisation (OPITO) is working with Oilcareers, an internet recruitment company, to develop new online careers and training advice, which will highlight the skills and qualifications required by the industry and aims to attract new recruits.

Question reference: S1W-11629

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 13 December 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many consultants in (a) restorative dentistry, (b) oral and maxillofacial surgery and (c) orthodontics there are in each health board area in 2000-01, expressed in both numerical terms and as a ratio of consultants to head of population in the health board area, and what the equivalent figures were in each of the last three years.

Provisional Information on staff numbers at 30 September 2000 will not be available until January 2001. The information requested for the years 1997 to 1999, apart from maxillofacial surgeons who are not separately identified, is shown in tables 1 and 2. These tables should be read in conjunction with the notes below.

Consultants in these dental specialties can and do offer services to patients from health board areas other than the one at which they are based. It should therefore be noted that the ratio of consultants to head of population does not necessarily reflect the level of consultant service available in any area.

Table 1 - Consultants in Selected Dental Specialties by Health Board

Headcount at 30 September

	1997			1998			1999
	Restorative Dentistry	Oral Surgery	Orthodontics	Restorative Dentistry	Oral Surgery	Orthodontics	Restorative Dentistry	Oral Surgery	Orthodontics
Scotland	21	22	23	21	25	24	22	27	27
Argyll & Clyde	-	-	2	-	-	2	-	-	2
Ayrshire & Arran	-	2	2	-	2	2	-	2	2
Borders	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	1
Dumfries & Galloway	-	1	1	-	1	1	-	1	1
Fife	-	2	1	-	2	1	-	2	1
Forth Valley	-	1	2	-	1	2	-	1	3
Grampian	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	2	1
Greater Glasgow	13	6	5	12	8	4	13	9	6
Highland	-	1	2	-	1	2	-	1	2
Lanarkshire	-	1	2	-	1	3	-	1	3
Lothian	2	2	2	2	3	2	3	4	2
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tayside	5	4	2	6	4	3	5	4	3
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Table 2 - Consultants in Selected Dental Specialties

Headcount per 1,000,000 population by Health Board

	1997			1998			1999
	Restorative Dentistry	Oral Surgery	Orthodontics	Restorative Dentistry	Oral Surgery	Orthodontics	Restorative Dentistry	Oral Surgery	Orthodontics
Scotland	4.1	4.3	4.5	4.1	4.9	4.7	4.3	5.3	5.3
Argyll & Clyde	-	-	4.7	-	-	4.7	-	-	4.7
Ayrshire & Arran	-	5.3	5.3	-	5.3	5.3	-	5.3	5.3
Borders	-	-	9.4	-	-	9.4	-	-	9.4
Dumfries & Galloway	-	6.8	6.8	-	6.8	6.8	-	6.8	6.8
Fife	-	5.7	2.9	-	5.7	2.9	-	5.7	2.9
Forth Valley	-	3.6	7.2	-	3.6	7.2	-	3.6	10.8
Grampian	1.9	3.8	1.9	1.9	3.8	1.9	1.9	3.8	1.9
Greater Glasgow	14.3	6.6	5.5	13.2	8.8	4.4	14.3	9.9	6.6
Highland	-	4.8	9.6	-	4.8	9.6	-	4.8	9.6
Lanarkshire	-	1.8	3.6	-	1.8	5.3	-	1.8	5.3
Lothian	2.6	2.6	2.6	2.6	3.9	2.6	3.9	5.1	2.6
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tayside	12.9	10.3	5.2	15.5	10.3	7.7	12.9	10.3	7.7
Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Note for Tables 1 and 2:

1. Figures include honorary appointments.

2. Rates per head of population are based on 1999 population estimates as at mid-June.

3. Consultants in these specialties can and do offer services to patients in health board areas other than that in which they are based.

4. Maxillofacial surgery is not separately classified in central data. These surgeons will be classified either as oral surgeons or plastic surgeons.

Question reference: S1W-11632

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 13 December 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been made available to each health board for head and neck combined multi-disciplinary cancer treatment in the current financial year and each of the three previous financial years.

Question reference: S1W-11631

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 13 December 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been made available to each health board for hospital consultant services in (a) restorative dentistry, (b) oral and maxillofacial surgery and (c) orthodontics in the current financial year and each of the previous three years.

Question reference: S1W-11628

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 13 December 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7005 by Susan Deacon on 22 June 2000, how many consultant posts were vacant as at 30 September 2000, broken down by health board area and speciality.

Question reference: S1W-11637

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 13 December 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the economic value of the offshore industry to the economies of (a) Scotland, (b) the north east Scotland parliamentary region, (c) Grampian and (d) the City of Aberdeen was in the last year and how many jobs related to the offshore industry there are in each of these areas and in each parliamentary constituency.

Offshore activity is conventionally allocated to a separate region of the UK known as the Continental Shelf. The following figures exclude information for the Continental Shelf.

The data provided is for group 112 of the 1992 Standard Industrial Classifications - service activities incidental to oil and gas extraction, excluding surveying. Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas is not included. The latest data available are for 1997. Data for Grampian are not available and it is not possible to provide data for parliamentary constituencies.

	Total Employment (000)	Gross Value Added at Basic Prices (£m)
Aberdeen City Unitary Authority	11.7	1,026.8
North East Scotland Parliamentary Region	12.3	1,219.9
Scotland	12.6	1,243.9

Source: Scottish Production Database.

Question reference: S1W-11638

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 13 December 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the extent is of any shortage of available labour with the necessary skills to work in the offshore oil and gas industry.

The Oil Petroleum Industry Training Organisation (OPITO), which is the National Training Organisation (NTO) for the oil and gas industry, recently commissioned from the Robert Gordon University an employment and skills foresight analysis for the industry. The report, published in March, identified current recruitment problems across all sizes of company in the oil and gas sector, particularly for people with technical and managerial experience. Action to address these problems is being taken by OPITO and by the industry itself.

Question reference: S1W-11421

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 5 December 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the Scottish Enterprise national budget, expressed in monetary, percentage and per capita terms, was allocated to each local enterprise company in (a) the current financial year and (b) each of the last three financial years.

Question reference: S1W-11427

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 December 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the Ministerial Committee on Rural Development has met, when it will next meet and what steps have been taken to communicate information on its activities to the Parliament.

The Ministerial Committee on Rural Development has met eight times since its first meeting in September 1999. The next meeting is scheduled for 30 January 2001. I announced the formation of the committee to the Parliament on 22 June 1999 and reported progress during the parliamentary launch of Rural Scotland: a New Approach on 25 May 2000. My appearances before the Rural Affairs Committee have provided further opportunities to discuss some of the key rural issues which have been priorities for the committee.