Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-14078

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) fatal and (b) serious road accidents have occurred in each police board area in each of the last five years involving people aged (i) 17 to 24 (ii) 25 to 40 (iii) 40 to 65 (iv) over 65, expressed also as percentages of the total number of accidents.

Data about injury road accidentsare collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the Stats19 statistical report form. These returns obtain information about the ages of thedrivers and riders involved in accidents, and the ages of the people who were injured.They do not collect any information about any other people who were involved butnot injured in the accident.

The following tables give thenumber of fatal and serious road accidents which involved one or more drivers orriders in each of the age-groups shown in the tables.

It should be noted that the sumsof the figures for the different age-groups are greater than the overall total numbersof accidents which are shown in the tables. This is because an accident may involveseveral drivers or riders, who may fall into different age-groups. For the purposeof preparing the figures for the different age-groups, each accident has been countedonce (and only once) for each of the different age-groups which is represented amongthe drivers and riders who were involved in that accident. For example, an accidentwhich involved drivers aged 25, 35, 45 and 55 would be counted once against the“25 to 39” age-group and once against the “40 to 65” age-group. However, each accidenthas been counted only once for the purpose of producing the overall totals (“Allfatal accidents” and “All serious accidents”) that are shown in the tables.

Fatal and Serious Accidents,Which Involved Drivers or Riders in each of the Age-Groups Shown in the Table,by Police Force Area: 1999 to 2003

(a) (i) Numbers of Fatal Accidents	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Police Force	Age of Driver/Rider
Northern	17-24	12	7	8	10	6
25-39	15	20	16	12	13
40-65	17	21	13	10	17
Over 65	1	4	4	2	2
All fatal accidents	35	41	31	25	32
Grampian	17-24	15	15	20	18	13
25-39	16	23	18	18	25
40-65	11	19	22	24	22
Over 65	5	5	8	7	6
All fatal accidents	35	45	46	44	44
Tayside	17-24	7	3	8	6	7
25-39	14	11	20	13	12
40-65	21	13	24	12	18
Over 65	8	3	10	5	8
All fatal accidents	34	22	42	23	29
Fife	17-24	4	5	7	10	5
25-39	5	4	9	16	13
40-65	6	7	10	10	9
Over 65	2	1	0	3	2
All fatal accidents	14	11	19	26	17
Lothian and Borders	17-24	8	13	10	3	7
25-39	28	23	19	14	27
40-65	22	25	19	17	28
Over 65	6	4	2	6	5
All fatal accidents	48	49	36	33	44
Central	17-24	3	6	7	8	4
25-39	4	6	7	13	7
40-65	3	6	5	10	10
Over 65	1	4	1	0	1
All fatal accidents	9	18	16	21	17
Strathclyde	17-24	31	13	29	20	31
25-39	56	49	43	54	55
40-65	34	49	50	38	49
Over 65	9	7	7	5	6
All fatal accidents	98	99	106	88	105
Dumfries and Galloway	17-24	3	3	4	7	2
25-39	3	6	9	6	6
40-65	5	8	8	9	5
Over 65	2	4	0	3	2
All fatal accidents	12	12	13	14	10

(a) (ii) Percentages of Fatal Accidents	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Police Force	Age of Driver/Rider
Northern	17-24	34	17	26	40	19
25-39	43	49	52	48	41
40-65	49	51	42	40	53
Over 65	3	10	13	8	6
All fatal accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Grampian	17-24	43	33	43	41	30
25-39	46	51	39	41	57
40-65	31	42	48	55	50
Over 65	14	11	17	16	14
All fatal accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Tayside	17-24	21	14	19	26	24
25-39	41	50	48	57	41
40-65	62	59	57	52	62
Over 65	24	14	24	22	28
All fatal accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Fife	17-24	29	45	37	38	29
25-39	36	36	47	62	76
40-65	43	64	53	38	53
Over 65	14	9	0	12	12
All fatal accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Lothian and Borders	17-24	17	27	28	9	16
25-39	58	47	53	42	61
40-65	46	51	53	52	64
Over 65	13	8	6	18	11
All fatal accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Central	17-24	33	33	44	38	24
25-39	44	33	44	62	41
40-65	33	33	31	48	59
Over 65	11	22	6	0	6
All fatal accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Strathclyde	17-24	32	13	27	23	30
25-39	57	49	41	61	52
40-65	35	49	47	43	47
Over 65	9	7	7	6	6
All fatal accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Dumfries and Galloway	17-24	25	25	31	50	20
25-39	25	50	69	43	60
40-65	42	67	62	64	50
Over 65	17	33	0	21	20
All fatal accidents	100	100	100	100	100

(b) (i) Numbers Of Serious Accidents	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Police Force	Age of Driver/Rider
Northern	17-24	69	69	62	45	59
25-39	120	112	116	82	74
40-65	111	89	123	93	94
Over 65	20	23	23	20	19
All serious accidents	245	212	257	176	186
Grampian	17-24	76	79	74	65	70
25-39	124	122	117	111	110
40-65	103	120	106	101	100
Over 65	19	23	23	24	23
All serious accidents	236	248	225	210	221
Tayside	17-24	102	77	75	66	67
25-39	148	120	142	127	110
40-65	132	140	140	119	117
Over 65	29	31	33	25	29
All serious accidents	314	291	298	255	241
Fife	17-24	54	55	50	79	53
25-39	73	108	96	80	80
40-65	57	89	78	98	66
Over 65	15	15	16	21	21
All serious accidents	160	196	178	187	147
Lothian and Borders	17-24	109	126	113	96	68
25-39	215	234	212	209	158
40-65	180	212	221	200	152
Over 65	34	43	32	41	31
All serious accidents	430	483	449	425	335
Central	17-24	59	48	51	48	57
25-39	104	90	90	105	76
40-65	86	76	81	93	100
Over 65	25	13	18	21	11
All serious accidents	198	170	178	193	183
Strathclyde	17-24	417	315	302	278	261
25-39	763	640	591	561	518
40-65	631	561	502	524	532
Over 65	100	94	82	92	94
All serious accidents	1,521	1,289	1,160	1,149	1,086
Dumfries and Galloway	17-24	36	37	24	18	21
25-39	49	53	47	32	29
40-65	49	52	41	44	53
Over 65	13	12	10	10	6
All serious accidents	105	117	95	80	90

(b) (ii) Percentages of Serious Accidents	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Police Force	Age of Driver/Rider
Northern	17-24	28	33	24	26	32
25-39	49	53	45	47	40
40-65	45	42	48	53	51
Over 65	8	11	9	11	10
All serious accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Grampian	17-24	32	32	33	31	32
25-39	53	49	52	53	50
40-65	44	48	47	48	45
Over 65	8	9	10	11	10
All serious accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Tayside	17-24	32	26	25	26	28
25-39	47	41	48	50	46
40-65	42	48	47	47	49
Over 65	9	11	11	10	12
All serious accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Fife	17-24	34	28	28	42	36
25-39	46	55	54	43	54
40-65	36	45	44	52	45
Over 65	9	8	9	11	14
All serious accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Lothian and Borders	17-24	25	26	25	23	20
25-39	50	48	47	49	47
40-65	42	44	49	47	45
Over 65	8	9	7	10	9
All serious accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Central	17-24	30	28	29	25	31
25-39	53	53	51	54	42
40-65	43	45	46	48	55
Over 65	13	8	10	11	6
All serious accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Strathclyde	17-24	27	24	26	24	24
25-39	50	50	51	49	48
40-65	41	44	43	46	49
Over 65	7	7	7	8	9
All serious accidents	100	100	100	100	100
Dumfries and Galloway	17-24	34	32	25	23	23
25-39	47	45	49	40	32
40-65	47	44	43	55	59
Over 65	12	10	11	13	7
All serious accidents	100	100	100	100	100

Question reference: S2W-14225

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has produced for licensees on the responsible promotion of alcohol.

The Scottish Executive has not yet produced any guidance for licensees on the responsible promotion of alcohol. The Licensing (Scotland) Bill was introduced to Parliament on 28 February. The bill contains a number of measures that support ministers’ objectives of tackling binge and under-age drinking. Specifically, it outlaws nationally those irresponsible drinks promotions that can lead to binge drinking.

Ministers intend to issue guidance to licensees as part of their implementation of the new regime.

Question reference: S2W-14224

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many licences to sell alcohol have been withdrawn as a result of a breach of the licence in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area and showing year-on-year percentage changes.

The Scottish Executive does not collect these statistics centrally. The Criminal Justice Statistics Unit within the Scottish Executive does, however, maintain and publish an annual series of Statistical Bulletins on Liquor Licences in Scotland. In 2003, statistics on the total number of licences that were suspended were collected for the first time.

Nineteen licences were suspended. This figure is broken down into local authority areas as follows:

Local Authority	Number of Licences Suspended
Aberdeen City	2
Aberdeenshire	2
Angus	1
Dundee City	4
East Renfrewshire	1
City of Edinburgh	3
North Ayrshire	2
North Lanarkshire	2
Scottish Borders	1
South Lanarkshire	1
Total	19

Question reference: S2W-13985

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps were taken to secure for Scotland the headquarters of the recently-established United Kingdom Energy Research Centre.

Question reference: S2W-13979

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 25 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to ensure that fishing quotas are only allocated to active fishermen.

Question reference: S2W-14334

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 22 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are grounds for exemption from its policy of inclusion of pupils with special needs in schools.

Section 15 of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc Act 2000 requires that an education authority shall provide education in a school other than a special school unless a mainstream setting would not be suited to the ability or aptitude of the child; or would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for the children with whom the child would be educated; or would result in unreasonable public expenditure being incurred which would not ordinarily be incurred.

Question reference: S2W-13926

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 18 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reverse its decision to allow the Chief Dental Officer (CDO) to undertake his post on a part-time basis at a time of pressures on dental services and what steps have been taken to ensure that the duties previously covered by this full-time post continue to be carried out.

No, the Executive does not intend to reverse its decision about the working arrangements of the CDO. The CDO will continue to play a lead role within the Executive in reforming NHS dentistry in Scotland. The work which he will undertake one day a week with NHS Education for Scotland is a vital part of securing the additional workforce needed to deliver the improvements to dental services. All of the duties of the CDO post will continue to be covered by the CDO himself, his deputy and the teams within the Executive which work with him.

Question reference: S2W-14222

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions there have been for the supply of alcohol to underage customers in each of the last five years, broken down by police board area and showing year-on-year percentage changes.

The available information is given in the table.

Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Sale of Drink to Persons Aged Under 18¹ by Police Force Area, 1998-02

Police Force Area	Number					Year-on-Year Percentage Change
Police Force Area	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002²	1998-1999	1999-2000	2000-2001	2001-2002²
Central	6	3	6	3	5	-50	100	-50	67
Dumfries and Galloway	7	3	-	-	-	-57	-100	-	-
Fife	5	1	8	2	-	-80	700	-75	-100
Grampian	12	7	7	3	5	-42	0	-57	67
Lothian and Borders	19	4	7	10	11	-79	75	43	10
Northern	4	1	4	2	3	-75	300	-50	50
Strathclyde	60	22	27	25	16	-63	23	-7	-36
Tayside	11	17	3	3	4	55	-82	0	33
Scotland	124	58	62	48	44	-53	7	-23	-8

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Figures may be underestimates due to time taken to record details of some court proceedings.

Question reference: S2W-13917

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which recommendations identified in Potential Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change in Scotland (a) have and (b) have not been acted upon, giving details in relation to each recommendation, and when a Scottish adaptation strategy will be published.

Recommendations in Potential Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change in Scotland identified priorities for a climate change adaptation strategy in Scotland. The study recognised that an adaptation strategy to climate change in Scotland did not require a fundamentally different framework to that already existing. Therefore, rather than publishing a strategy at this time, we are working with the UK Government to consider how the proposed UK Framework for Climate Change Adaptation might be developed to inform our approach to climate change adaptation in Scotland.

In parallel, we are progressing those study recommendations which were directed specifically at the Scottish Executive: the need for a partnership approach between the Executive and stakeholders; the role of the Scottish Executive as educators and facilitators, and the need for strategic oversight from the Scottish Executive. One of the ways in which we are taking these forwardis by funding development of a Scottish Climate Change Impacts Partnership (SCCIP)to provide a forum at strategic and local levels to address climate change impactissues. A further recommendation concerned the need for the Executive and localauthorities to have further discussions on flood risks and land use planning. These took place during the preparation of Scottish Planning Policy 7 – Planning and Flooding - which was published in February 2004.

Question reference: S2W-13927

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 9 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made with the new beef cattle scheme and when the first payments will be issued.

Following consultation with stakeholders, we have developed a scheme under the national envelope provisions which will be called the Scottish Beef Calf scheme. I will be bringing forward regulations relating to the scheme, shortly. Farmers and crofters have been kept informed of our intentions.

This will involve a flat rate payment for calves born in Scotland to beef-bred animals, with a higher rate payable for the first 10 animals. It is intended to support the supply of quality Scottish beef and safeguard the environment.

The first payments will be made after one year’s worth of claims have been received. I expect the first payments to be made in February to March 2006.

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