Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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: S2W-06364

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5925 by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 February 2004, whether the number of patients waiting for a first appointment at the Sleep Centre in Edinburgh at 3 February 2004 was 1,069 and how the figure of 655 patients referred to in that answer was calculated.

I have asked for the figuregiven in response to the earlier question to be checked. This checking hasrevealed that the earlier figure, which was provided by NHS Lothian, wasincorrect, since it excluded those patients who were referred to the SleepCentre before 1 April 2003, and also excluded those patients waiting for ajoint first appointment and sleep study. I apologise for this error.

The total number of patientswaiting for a first appointment with a consultant, following referral by a GP,at the beginning of February, was indeed 1,069.

Question reference: S2W-06370

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the cost of continuous positive airway pressure machines should be attributed to the community pharmacy budget and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Continuous positive airwaypressure machines may be used in the treatment of sleep apnoea. These machines arenot attributed to primary care budgets because patients whose symptoms suggestthey may be suffering from sleep apnoea are referred by their GP’s to hospitalspecialist clinics for diagnosis and treatment. If needed they are suppliedthrough the hospital service, with the cost being met from the hospital’sbudget and the patients care being managed by a relevant specialist.

Question reference: S2W-06365

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5925 by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 February 2004, whether the number of patients awaiting a first appointment at the Sleep Centre in Edinburgh included any patients who had been on the waiting list in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03.

Question reference: S2W-06369

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring takes place of the funding to the Sleep Centre in Edinburgh with regard to evaluating outcomes.

Question reference: S2W-06123

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-504 by Mr Tom McCabe on 10 June 2003, how many dentists there have been whose patient registration status shows withdrawn in each financial year from 1999-2000 to 2001-02 and this financial year to date, broken down by NHS board area.

The information requested is provided in the following table. The presence of a dentist indicates that the status of at least one of his patients is “withdrawn”. The data do not necessarily indicate all NHS general dentists who have notified patients of their withdrawal of NHS services. In some cases, dentists may not formally request that a patient’s registration be withdrawn; instead, the registration may simply be allowed to lapse.

Number of NHS General Dentists with at Least One Patient whose Registration Status shows “withdrawn”^1,2 as at 12 February 2004.

NHS Board Area	April 1999 to March 2000	April 2000 to March 2001	April 2001 to March 2002	April 2003 to December 2003
Ayrshire and Arran	72	73	75	27
Borders	23	23	28	12
Argyll and Clyde	81	80	59	26
Fife	82	82	82	44
Greater Glasgow	209	203	190	64
Highland	32	41	37	16
Lanarkshire	116	122	96	31
Grampian	104	95	94	56
Orkney	2	1	1	2
Lothian	150	143	129	48
Tayside	86	97	82	42
Forth Valley	63	62	54	25
Western Isles	7	8	7	4
Dumfries and Galloway	24	23	20	16
Shetland	4	3	2	0
Scotland	1,055	1,056	956	413

Notes:

1. Based on patients whoseregistration status shows “withdrawn” and where the start date of theregistration period is between the dates in question. This occurs when there isa request for the registration record to be withdrawn (usually a request fromthe dentist, approved by the health board). It also includes withdrawalscarried out where more than one active registration exists for the same patientas part of data cleansing. This means that some withdrawals may be carried outvia an internal process.

2. A dentist can be presentin more than one health board.

Source: MIDAS (ManagementInformation & Dental Accounting System).

Question reference: S2W-06118

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many emergency dental admissions there have been in each financial year since 1999-2000, broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S2W-06148

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fixed penalty notices have been issued by each local authority under the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003.

As the provisions containedin the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003 only came into effect on 22 October lastyear this information is not yet available. However, as indicated in myresponse to S2W-5987 on 26 February 2004, we intend to undertake a survey towards the end of2004 to establish how effective the provisions have been and this will includeseeking details from local authorities as to the number of fixed penalties theyhave issued.

Question reference: S2W-05974

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 3 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Pathfinder Inspection Report on East Lothian Council by Communities Scotland, what concerns it has in respect of the council achieving its own quota for homelessness allocations.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is asfollows:

As set out in section 7 of the Pathfinder Inspection Report, the Executive’s concern in relation to thisissue is primarily about the weaknesses in management information availablefrom the local authority. This meant that the local authority was not able toprovide reliable information to Communities Scotland Inspectors showing whatoutcomes were being achieved for homeless people applying to the council forhousing. These weaknesses also meant the local authority could not clearly demonstratewhether it was achieving its own quota for allocations to homeless people.

Question reference: S2W-06031

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 3 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4301 by Mr Tom McCabe on 5 December 2003 indicating that the first review of the Care Commission will take place in 2007, whether it will now review the commission on an annual basis.

Question reference: S2W-05969

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what responsibility it had for the distribution of the Care Commission's user guide to their complaints procedure; how many copies of the guide were issued in the current year; where the guide can be accessed; how it is monitoring take-up of the guide, and what plans it has to publicise the complaints procedure and the help line.