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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: S3O-05901

Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 12 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on banning the privatisation of GP services.

Question reference: S3W-20663

Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 9 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to lay before the Parliament the amendment order that will grant permitted development rights for microgeneration on domestic buildings.

I am pleased to announce that the relevant Amendment Order [the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Domestic Microgeneration) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2009] was laid before the Scottish Parliament on Friday 6 February 2009 [SSI 2009/34]. It will now be considered by the Subordinate Legislation Committee and the Local Government and Communities Committee.

The Order will enable householders to install certain energy generating equipment, such as solar panels, on their houses or in their gardens without applying for planning permission. Removing the barriers of cost and time will encourage greater uptake of micro-generation equipment, which will increase renewable energy generation and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Removing the barriers will also support the development of the micro-generation industry therefore contributing to the government''s efforts to ensure that Scotland''s planning system increases sustainable economic growth.

Question reference: S3F-01353

Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Salmond on 15 January 2009

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to secure financial sector jobs in Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-17545

Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether further measures are being considered to reduce incidents involving misuse of fireworks.

Question reference: S3W-17546

Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of antisocial behaviour involving misuse of fireworks were recorded in each of the last five years for which information is available, broken down by local authority area.

Police recorded crime statistics do not include information on the number of incidents of antisocial behaviour involving misuse of fireworks.

Information is held on the number of antisocial behaviour offences, however it is not possible to determine how many of these offences relate to the misuse of fireworks.

The Scottish Government receives details of the number of fireworks or bonfire related incidents reported to the police in Scotland in the six weeks around 5 November. They were 4,506 in 2004, 4,865 in 2005, 5,472 in 2006, 4,002 in 2007 and 2,517 in 2008.

Question reference: S3W-17547

Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many antisocial behaviour incidents involving misuse of fireworks there were (a) between 15 October and 10 November and (b) outwith this period, in each of the last five years for which information is available.

Question reference: S3W-17544

Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 19 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to monitor the effectiveness of the Fireworks (Scotland) Regulations 2004 in reducing incidents involving misuse of fireworks.

Question reference: S3W-17913

Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the outcome is of its review of rail fares policy in Scotland.

I am pleased to announce that the Scottish Government will continue its fares policy at RPI+1% for regulated fares and that there will be no change in balance between regulated and unregulated fares.

In addition, we have looked at the position in the Strathclyde area. Ministers will align Strathclyde fares changes with the rest of Scotland from January 2009. So that Strathclyde passengers are not adversely affected by the earlier increase ministers have secured a lower rate of increase to Strathclyde fares at 4%. Strathclyde fares would have increased by 6% in May 2009.

Both of these measures are consistent with the aims of Scotland''s Railways; they will maintain the affordability of passenger rail travel and simplify fares arrangements.

Question reference: S3W-17548

Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many firework-related injuries were recorded in each of the last five years for which information is available, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested is not held centrally.

However, Scotland level results from the Department of Trade of Industry (DTI) Fireworks Injuries Enquiry for Great Britain are available up to 2005 at www.isdscotland.org/fireworks.

The UK-wide DTI survey has not taken place since 2005. Data consisted of all injuries caused by fireworks that required treatment in accident and emergency departments and burns/plastic surgery units in Scotland during a period spanning mid-October to mid-November when sales of fireworks are traditionally at their height. These data are not available at local authority level.

Data on hospital discharges as a result of a firework-related injury indicate that only a very small number of individuals are admitted to hospital for this reason each year. These admissions are spread across local authorities, the majority having less than five cases over the five year period 2003-04 to 2007-08. There is no particular pattern across areas or years.

	Financial Year of Discharge
	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08^P
Scotland	9	15	8	7	12

	Financial Year of Discharge
	2003-04 to 2007-08^P
City of Edinburgh	6
Glasgow City	9
South Lanarkshire	6
All other Local Authorities	*

^PProvisional.

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01).

Note: *Values of 0 to 4 are not included in these tables.

Question reference: S3W-17549

Asked by: Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of firework-related injuries occurred among (a) under-16s, (b) 16 to 20-year-olds and (c) over-20s, in each of the last five years for which information is available.

Table 1 shows injuries caused by fireworks that required treatment in accident and emergency departments and burns/plastic surgery units in Scotland during the 33-day survey period around the fifth of November 2001 to 2005 (the most recent five years available) by age group.

Table 1

Age Group (Years)	Survey Year
Age Group (Years)	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
0 to 15	51 (58.0%)	66 (55.9%)	32 (45.1%)	30 (44.8%)	46 (50.0%)
16 to 20	12 (13.6%)	12 (10.2%)	14 (19.7%)	11 (16.4%)	11 (12.0%)
21+	25 (28.4%)	40 (33.9%)	25 (35.2%)	26 (38.8%)	35 (38.0%)

Source: ISD Scotland, DTI Fireworks Injuries Survey 2005.

A small number of individuals are admitted to hospital as a result of a firework related injury. Table 2 shows the number and proportion of hospital admissions as a result of a firework-related injury, broken down by age group, for financial years 2003-04 to 2007-08.

Table 2

Age Group (Years)	Financial Year of Discharge
Age Group (Years)	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08²
0 to 15	4 (44.4%)	3 (20.0%)	5 (62.5%)	2 (28.6%)	6 (50.0%)
16 to 20	3 (33.3%)	4 (26.7%)	0	3 (42.9%)	2 (16.7%)
21+	2 (22.2%)	8 (53.3%)	3 (37.5%)	2 (28.6%)	4 (33.3%)

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01).