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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S1W-09833

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 27 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been convicted of drug dealing offences in each of the last three years.

The available information on persons convicted of drug offences in Scotland is given in the following table:

Persons convicted in Scottish courts of drugs offences, 1996-1998

Type of drugs offence¹	1996	1997	1998
Possession with intent to supply	1,383	1,490	1,529
Possession	4,634	5,384	5,291
Other²	166	131	98
Total	6,183	7,005	6,918

Notes:

1. The main offence for which the offender was convicted.

2. Includes illegal importation, production, manufacture or cultivation of drugs, money laundering related offences and other drug offences.

Question reference: S1W-09811

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 27 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to offer any financial assistance to the fishing industry to offset rising fuel costs.

Question reference: S1W-09810

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 27 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with Her Majesty's Government specifically regarding the impact of rising fuel costs on the fishing industry.

Question reference: S1W-02072

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 1999
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 26 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made representations to Her Majesty's Government in connection with the re-introduction of a grant scheme for improving the safety of fishing vessels or whether it intends to introduce a separate Scottish scheme.

Question reference: S1W-09557

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 22 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make a statement on freedom of information in Scotland.

The Scottish Executive is committed to introducing an effective Freedom of Information regime. The Executive published a consultation document, An Open Scotland, on 25 November 1999. A total of 119 responses were received, and the Executive published a summary of responses on 25 May. These documents are available in SPICe.

The Executive is preparing draft freedom of information legislation, which will be published for consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny prior to it being introduced to the Parliament.

Question reference: S1W-09698

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2000
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 21 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any shortage of rural dental provision in the North East of Scotland and, if there is, what measures it has taken or plans to take to address this situation.

The provision of dental services across their areas is kept under review by health boards, Acute Trusts and Primary Care NHS Trusts which work in co-operation to ensure availability of and improvements in services. In circumstances where Primary Care NHS Trusts and island health boards consider there is a lack of NHS dental provision, they may apply for approval to Scottish Ministers to employ salaried dentists where in their view this would be the most appropriate way forward to tackle problems with access to such services in their area.

Question reference: S1W-09700

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2000
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 21 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists were there in the North East of Scotland parliamentary region in each of the last five years and whether it will conduct a study into the provision of NHS dental services in this region.

Information by parliamentary region is not collected centrally. The table below shows the number of NHS Dentists in Grampian and Tayside Health Board areas over the past five years.

NHS Dentists in Grampian and Tayside Health Board as at 31 March

	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Grampian	152	156	159	160	164
Tayside	156	152	152	152	157

(Includes principal and salaried dentists.)

As part of the action plan for Dental Services in Scotland, Primary Care Trusts/ health boards will be asked to review their local services to determine how well the needs of specific groups are being met.

Question reference: S1W-09699

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2000
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 21 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any shortage of emergency NHS dental provision in the cities of Aberdeen or Dundee.

It is for Grampian and Tayside Primary Care NHS Trusts to make arrangements for emergency provision in their respective areas. Dentists in the Grampian and Tayside areas who have patients registered with them under NHS capitation or continuing care arrangements are required to provide emergency cover to those patients under their NHS terms of service. Grampian Primary Care Trust is currently discussing with the Scottish Executive the development of a more comprehensive emergency dental service for Grampian.

Question reference: S1W-09428

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 15 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any external finance limits were overshot by public bodies within its responsibility for the last financial year and, if so, by which bodies and what action was taken in response.

The table below details the 1999-2000 budget and outturn figures for those public sector bodies that are set external financing limits:

	Budget	£000 Outturn
National Health Service Trusts	52,026	52,028
Highland and Islands Airports Ltd	12,700	12,300
Caledonian MacBrayne	24,400	21,400
Scottish Enterprise	372,769	372,769
Highlands and Island Enterprise	65,390	65,390
Scottish Water Authorities	221,900	221,900

National Health Service Trusts EFL for 2000-01 will compensate for the overshoot in 1999-2000.

Question reference: S1W-09427

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 15 September 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any external finance limits were undershot for the last financial year by public bodies within its responsibility and, if so, by which bodies.