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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: S3W-03477

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 September 2007

Question reference: S3W-03459

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that there are specific additional difficulties in meeting the needs of children and young people with dyslexia in relation to continuing professional development.

Through the nationalcontinuing professional development framework, the Scottish Executive expects allteachers to be able to recognise and know how to support pupils with additionalsupport needs, including dyslexia.

In support of this,following recent talks with the Executive, the General Teaching Council for Scotland have now added five new areas to their professional recognitionframework, one of which is dyslexia. This will provide a clear pathway which teacherscan use to gain recognition for their expertise in teaching children with dyslexia.

In addition, the Executiveprovides education authorities with £7.2 million over 2007-08 specifically for thetraining and development of staff working with pupils with additional support needs,including dyslexia. The priority is to tailor educational provision to meet theneeds of the individual pupil. A further £13.5 million is being issued over 2007-08to allow local authorities to co-ordinate and provide continuing professional developmentfor teachers.

Question reference: S3W-03604

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many miles of asbestos mains water pipes there are in each local authority area and how high a priority it is that these are replaced.

Question reference: S3W-03458

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how the effectiveness of support for children with dyslexia and other learning support needs is reviewed and assessed.

Under theEducation (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, educationauthorities must keep under consideration the additional support needs of, andthe adequacy of additional support provided to, each child and young personwith additional support needs for whose school education they are responsible.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorof Education (HMIE) as part of their general inspection programme, review andpublish reports on the effectiveness of support and educational provision forchildren with additional support needs.

Additionally,HMIE is undertaking a specific evaluation of dyslexia over the period 2007-08,which will provide a clear picture of support, provision and practice across Scotland.Their final report is due to be published in late 2008.

Question reference: S3W-03461

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of dyslexia were identified in each year since 1980.

This information isnot currently held centrally.

However, from 2006, the Scottish Executive annual pupilcensus started to change how it records additional support needs and included aspecific category to record pupils for whom dyslexia is reported as a reason foradditional support being required. Previously such pupils were included in a widercategory.

Further informationis available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/02/27083941/12and http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/02/27083941/14.

Question reference: S3W-03457

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are taken to ensure that children with dyslexia are properly identified.

Question reference: S3W-03144

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of those emigrating it estimates was educated to higher education standard in each year since 1980.

Question reference: S3W-03142

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the birth rate was in each year since 1950.

The information requestedis given in the following table.

Birth Rate Per1,000 Population, Scotland, 1950-2006

1950	18.1	1960	19.6	1970	16.8	1980	13.3	1990	13.0	2000	10.5
1951	17.8	1961	19.5	1971	16.6	1981	13.3	1991	13.2	2001	10.4
1952	17.7	1962	20.1	1972	15.0	1982	12.8	1992	12.9	2002	10.1
1953	17.8	1963	19.7	1973	14.2	1983	12.6	1993	12.4	2003	10.4
1954	18.1	1964	20.0	1974	13.4	1984	12.7	1994	12.1	2004	10.6
1955	18.1	1965	19.3	1975	13.0	1985	13.0	1995	11.8	2005	10.7
1956	18.6	1966	18.6	1976	12.4	1986	12.9	1996	11.6	2006	10.9
1957	19.1	1967	18.5	1977	11.9	1987	13.0	1997	11.7
1958	19.3	1968	18.2	1978	12.3	1988	13.0	1998	11.3
1959	19.2	1969	17.3	1979	13.1	1989	12.5	1999	10.9

Question reference: S3W-03478

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence is of obesity, broken down by age group, and what comparative information it has for (a) the United Kingdom as a whole, (b) each EU member state and (c) each OECD nation.

(1) Scottish Statistics (including comparisonswith English data):

The most recent obesitystatistics for adults in Scotland are available from the Scottish Health Survey 2003.Comparisons with English figures are also available.

Prevalence of obesityand overweight by age and sex (adults aged 16+ years):

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/11/25145024/50261.(See Table 5.5 on page 175.) (See Table 5.17 on page 189 for comparison of Scotland and England.).

Obesity statisticsfor children are also available from the Scottish Health Survey 2003

Prevalence of obesityand overweight by age and sex (children aged 2 to 15 years):

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/11/25145024/50271.

(See Table 5.5 onpage 123 for Scottish figures.) (See Table 5.11 on page 127 for comparison of Scotland and England).

In addition, morerecent statistics on obesity in children are available from the Child Health Surveillance Programme.All NHS boards in Scotland are required to provide data for this programme.Data from those boards that record findings using electronic child health systemsare available at the following link.

http://www.isdscotland.org/child_obesity.

(Click on “obesitystatistics” to access a list of available tables and charts.)

(2) Internationalcomparisons:

Care should be takenin interpreting international comparisons because of differences in definitionsof obesity and in survey methodologies. Some international comparisons subsume Scottishdata as part of United Kingdom figures.

For adults, the OECDhealth data 2007, reports obesity levels for those aged 15+ years up to 2005:

http://www.oecd.org/document/16/0,3343,en_2649_37407_2085200_1_1_1_37407,00.html.

For children, theWorld Health Organization Health Behaviour of School-aged Children (2001/02), WHOHBSC, report presents obesity levels for young people aged 13 and 15 years:

http://www.euro.who.int/eprise/main/who/informationsources/publications/catalogue/20040518_1.

(See Chapter 3, Page125, Figure 3.3.).

Question reference: S3W-03143

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 6 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the death rate was in each year since 1950.

The information requestedis given in the following table.

Death Rate Per1,000 Population, Scotland, 1950-2006

1950	12.5	1960	11.9	1970	12.2	1980	12.2	1990	12.1	2000	11.4
1951	12.9	1961	12.3	1971	11.8	1981	12.3	1991	12.0	2001	11.3
1952	12.1	1962	12.2	1972	12.4	1982	12.6	1992	12.0	2002	11.5
1953	11.5	1963	12.6	1973	12.3	1983	12.3	1993	12.6	2003	11.6
1954	12.0	1964	11.7	1974	12.4	1984	12.1	1994	11.6	2004	11.1
1955	12.1	1965	12.1	1975	12.1	1985	12.5	1995	11.9	2005	10.9
1956	12.1	1966	12.2	1976	12.5	1986	12.4	1996	11.9	2006	10.8
1957	11.9	1967	11.5	1977	11.9	1987	12.2	1997	11.7
1958	12.1	1968	12.2	1978	12.5	1988	12.2	1998	11.7
1959	12.2	1969	12.3	1979	12.6	1989	12.8	1999	11.9