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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: S4W-08169

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many wind farm development applications it has called in in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

The information available is given in the following table.

Year	No. Called-in Per Year	Local Authority
2002	1	Argyll and Bute Council
2003	1	East Ayrshire Council
2004	2	Orkney Islands Council
2006	1	Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
2007	1	Orkney Islands Council
2008	2	Aberdeenshire Council and Argyll and Bute Council
2012	1	Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

Question reference: S4W-08172

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency of the costs associated with planning applications for wind farm developments.

Question reference: S4W-08173

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what its administration costs have been for each wind farm development application that it has called in, in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-08101

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 28 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive at which events in the next four years its agencies plan to distribute free flags to the public.

Question reference: S4W-07458

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time has been for a cataract operation in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

Information on median waits for a cataract operation for the calendar year 2007 is provided in table 1. Due to the introduction of New Ways of defining Waiting Times from 1 January 2009 the data for 2007 is not directly comparable with New Ways data.

Median Waiting Time (Days) for a Cataract Operation as an Inpatient or Day Case, by NHS Board, during Calendar Year 2007

NHS Board	Year Ending 31 December 2007	Year Ending 31 December 2008
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	75	90
NHS Borders	49	34
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	71	32
NHS Fife	51	29
NHS Forth Valley	91	70
NHS Grampian	51	38
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	45	41
NHS Highland	49	49
NHS Lanarkshire	45	39
NHS Lothian	70	43
NHS Orkney	88	43
NHS Shetland	63	44
NHS Tayside	50	40
NHS Western Isles	64	47
NHS Scotland	55	43

Source: SMR01.

Table 2 provides the median wait for cataract surgery for first eye only for the calendar years:

Median Waiting Time (Days) for Cataract Surgery (1st Eye) as a Return Outpatient (for Procedure), Inpatient or Day Case, by NHS Board, during Calendar Years 2008-11 (Year ending 31 December)

NHS Board	2008	2009	2010	2011
NHS Ayrshire and Arran^a	X	x	53	73
NHS Borders	X	42	31	51
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	X	31	28	41
NHS Fife	X	43	49	48
NHS Forth Valley	X	56	53	51
NHS Grampian	X	56	56	60
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde^b	X	34	37	37
NHS Highland	X	46	56	59
NHS Lanarkshire^c	X	34	38	34
NHS Lothian^d	X	40	45	40
NHS Orkney^c	X	28	30	49
NHS Shetland	X	5	24	46
NHS Tayside	X	45	44	43
NHS Western Isles	X	50	57	34
NHS Scotland	X	40	41	42

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes:

a Local target for treatment is 12 weeks.

b Local target for treatment is eight weeks.

c Local target for treatment is six weeks.

d Local target for treatment is seven weeks.

X Data not available.

Since 2010 data was collected on both second eye cataract treatment delivered at one stop clinics. Median waiting times for these patients are shown in Table 3.

Median waiting time (days) for cataract surgery (second eye and One Stop Clinic) as a return outpatient (for procedure), inpatient or day case, by NHS board, during calendar years 2008-11 (year ending 31 December):

NHS Board	2008	2009	2010	2011
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	X	X	96	115
NHS Borders	X	X	x	x
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	X	X	n/a	n/a
NHS Fife	X	X	49	49
NHS Forth Valley	X	X	109	109
NHS Grampian	X	X	56	61
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	X	X	65	67
NHS Highland	X	X	82	101
NHS Lanarkshire	X	X	38	36
NHS Lothian	X	X	49	87
NHS Orkney	X	X	36	48
NHS Shetland	X	X	38	35
NHS Tayside	X	X	60	47
NHS Western Isles	X	X	51	28
NHS Scotland	X	X	61	62

Source: ISD Scotland.

Notes:

X Data not available.

n/a not applicable.

Question reference: S4F-00770

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2012

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the teaching profession regarding proposed changes to the Higher English curriculum.

Question reference: S4W-07457

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cataract operations have taken place in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested is provided in the following table.

NHSScotland: Number of Cataract Procedures Performed in Acute Hospital

Board of Treatment	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11^P
Ayrshire and Arran	2,605	2,813	3,077	3,043	2,537
Borders	1,155	1,187	1,082	1,356	1,201
Dumfries and Galloway	933	1,282	1,667	1,679	1,504
Fife	1,726	1,639	1,568	1,620	1,647
Forth Valley	1,532	1,402	1,584	1,390	1,542
Grampian	2,528	2,327	2,571	2,629	2,343
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	6,964	7,499	8,055	7,830	8,181
Highland	1,807	1,446	1,640	1,780	1,779
Lanarkshire	1,726	1,460	1,771	2,000	2,070
Lothian	2,983	3,811	4,149	4,423	4,414
Orkney	160	151	105	82	71
Shetland	76	88	105	62	56
Tayside	3,135	2,906	2,968	3,688	4,107
Western Isles	212	203	222	272	234
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	3,231	2,810	1,313	1,049	943
Non-NHS Providers	338	99	13	85	28
NHSScotland	31,111	31,123	31,890	32,988	32,657

Source: ISD Scotland SMR00 and SMR01.

^PProvisional.

Question reference: S4W-07456

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time to see an eye specialist has been in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

Information on median waits for a first outpatient appointment to see an eye specialist following a referral from a GP or Optometrist for the calendar year 2007 is provided in the table 1. Due to the introduction of New Ways of Defining Waiting Times from 1 January 2008 the data for 2007 is not directly comparable with New Ways data.

Table 2 provides the median wait for a first out appointment to see an eye specialist following a referral from a GP or Optometrist for the calendar years 2008 and 2009. Information on the median waits for the calendar years 2010 and 2011 are from all sources of referral not just GP or Optometrist. This information is provided in table 3.

Table 1 NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for a First Outpatient Appointment to see an Eye Specialist Following a GP Referral for the Year 2007, by NHS Board

NHS Board	2007 Median Waits (Days)
Ayrshire and Arran	66
Borders	41
Dumfries and Galloway	51
Fife	43
Forth Valley	105
Grampian	46
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	62
Highland	48
Lanarkshire	71
Lothian	65
Orkney	83
Shetland	43
Tayside	20
Western Isles	61
NHSScotland	52

Source ISD Scotland SMR00.

Table 2 NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for a First Outpatient Appointment to see an Eye Specialist following GP or Optometrist referral for the Years 2008 and 2009, by NHS Board

NHS Board	2008 Median Waits (Days)	2009 Median Waits (Days)
Ayrshire and Arran	47	49
Borders	33	35
Dumfries and Galloway	41	41
Fife	26	22
Forth Valley	76	67
Grampian	49	45
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	49	48
Highland	46	49
Lanarkshire	67	42
Lothian	55	55
Orkney	35	41
Shetland	49	28
Tayside	19	22
Western Isles	39	43
NHSScotland	46	45

Source ISD Scotland Waiting Times Data Warehouse.

Table 3 NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for a First Outpatient Appointment to see an Eye Specialist Following Referral from All Sources for the Years 2010 and 2011, by NHS Board

NHS Board	2010 Median Waits (Days)	2011 Median Waits (Days)
Ayrshire and Arran	39	56
Borders	41	35
Dumfries and Galloway	30	23
Fife	29	32
Forth Valley	70	66
Grampian	37	42
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	41	36
Highland	56	46
Lanarkshire	53	66
Lothian	33	40
Orkney	59	64
Shetland	28	36
Tayside	29	31
Western Isles	25	29
NHSScotland	39	41

Source ISD Scotland Waiting Times Data Warehouse.

Question reference: S4O-01118

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of how local authorities will address their pensions deficit and what discussions it has with them on the issue.

The local authorities in Scotland are responsible for the 11 local government pension funds.

There are formal accounting regulations which govern how local governments’ pension funds are accounted for. In the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 there are safeguards which relate to how a council or councils should account for any surplus or deficit. Pension funds are subject to a three yearly actuarial review, one of the outcomes of which is to determine a rate of employer’s contribution that will address the medium to long-term needs of the fund. Taking account of these various factors, it would be for each fund to use the resources at its disposal over time to cover any shortfalls.

Ministers have had discussions with COSLA over the last few months to discuss the affordability and sustainability of local government pensions, and we are currently awaiting information from COSLA on the outcome of the most recent fund evaluations which concluded earlier this year.

Question reference: S4W-07267

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 31 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been placed in foster families in each year since 1999.