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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 2330 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S3W-31794

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many psychiatric bed days in hospitals in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Orkney, (c) Shetland and (d) Western Isles were directly associated with alcohol-related conditions in each of the last three years.

There are no psychiatric inpatient facilities within NHS Orkney or NHS Shetland.

Information on the number of psychiatric bed days which are directly attributable to alcohol-related conditions is not held centrally.

Information on psychiatric bed days is recorded on the SMR04 dataset. SMR04 has space for up to six diagnosis codes to be recorded, a main diagnosis and up to five secondary diagnoses. Alcohol-related problems will be recorded as either a main or a secondary diagnosis, so it is not possible to identify the cases where alcohol was directly attributed to the length of the admission.

Question reference: S3W-31797

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many acute occupied bed days in hospitals in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Orkney, (c) Shetland and (d) Western Isles were directly associated with alcohol-related conditions in each of the last three years.

Information on the number of acute occupied bed days which are directly attributable to alcohol-related conditions is not held centrally.

Information on acute occupied bed days is recorded on the SMR01 dataset. SMR01 has space for up to six diagnosis codes to be recorded, a main diagnosis and up to five secondary diagnoses. Alcohol-related problems will be recorded as either a main or a secondary diagnosis, so it is not possible to identify the cases where alcohol was directly attributed to the length of the admission.

Table 1: The total length of stay (bed days) of patients treated in general acute hospitals^1,2 in NHS Highland, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles³ for alcohol-related conditions^4,5,6, 2006-07 to 2008-09^P:

��	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09^p
Highland	14,949	14,335	12,568
Orkney	1,005	499	704
Shetland	572	240	542
Western Isles	2,762	1,732	1,220

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01).

^PProvisional.

Notes:

1. Excludes mental illness hospitals, psychiatric units and maternity hospitals.

2. Figures in this table relate only to those individuals who are treated as inpatients or day cases in an acute hospital. They do not include individuals managed as outpatients.

3. Note that these figures include residents from other health boards that were treated in Highland and Island hospitals but do not include Highland and Island residents treated in other health boards.

4. Discharges where alcohol-related diagnosis is recorded as primary or secondary reasons for admission to hospital.

5. Diseases recorded using the World Health Organisation''s International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD10).

- Alcohol-related: F10, K70, X45, X65, Y15, Y90, Y91, E24.4, E51.2, G31.2, G62.1, G72.1, I42.6, K29.2, K86.0, O35.4, P04.3, Q86.0, T51.0, T51.1, T51.9, Y57.3, R78.0, Z50.2, Z71.4, Z72.1. These codes were defined in a recent in-depth review of ISD''s core alcohol related code set. Further information about the review and resulting consultation process is available at:

6. Caution is necessary when interpreting these figures. The recording of alcohol-related problems may vary from hospital to hospital.

Due to the way alcohol related conditions are recorded, we are unable to determine whether or not the reason for admission is directly attributable to alcohol. Therefore, this figure may be an overestimate.

Information in the table relates to discharges from acute non-obstetric, non-psychiatric hospitals. It should be noted that patients with alcohol-related conditions may be admitted to mental illness hospitals. Statistics for these admissions are not included in the table.

Question reference: S3W-31800

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-29598 by Nicola Sturgeon on 11 December 2009, what impact the Technical Advisory Group on Resource Allocation findings will have on future budget allocations for remote and rural areas.

TAGRA has been overseeing an assessment of the impact of the NRAC formula on remote and rural areas as agreed in the Parliamentary debate on Remote and Rural Healthcare in June 2008. I expect them to report their findings to me in the near future.

In terms of future budget allocations for NHS boards, when I accepted the recommendations of NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) I made it clear that no board would receive a cut in funding as a result of these changes. Any adjustments made to the 14 territorial NHS boards'' funding will be phased in over a number of years, as was the practice under both the previous SHARE and Arbuthnott formulae.

Given the current tight financial climate there is unlikely to be significant movement in NHS boards'' relative shares of NHS funding in the immediate future.

Question reference: S3W-31795

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many alcohol-related accident and emergency admissions there were in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Orkney, (c) Shetland and (d) Western Isles in each of the last three years.

Information on the number of alcohol-related accident and emergency admissions in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Orkney, (c) Shetland and (d) Western Isles is not available centrally.

Information on the number of accident and emergency (A&E) attendances which resulted in an alcohol related inpatient or day case episode in hospitals in Highland, Orkney, Shetland or Western Isles is shown in table 1.

Table1: SMR01 acute¹ inpatient² and day case discharges with an alcohol-related diagnosis^3,4,5recorded in any position, where the patient was referred from an A&E department to hospitals in Highland, Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles Health Boards of treatment, 2006-07-2008-09^P:

��	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09^P
Highland	172	248	101
Orkney	-	-	-
Shetland	-	*	*
Western Isles	225	135	78

^PProvisional.

Notes:

1. Excludes mental illness hospitals, psychiatric units and maternity hospitals.

2. Figures in this table relate only to those individuals who are treated as inpatients or day cases in an acute hospital. They do not include individuals managed as outpatients.

3. Discharges where alcohol-related diagnosis is recorded as primary or secondary reasons for admission to hospital.

4. Diseases recorded using the World Health Organization''s International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD10). Alcohol-related: F10, K70, X45, X65, Y15, Y90, Y91, E24.4, E51.2, G31.2, G62.1, G72.1, I42.6, K29.2, K86.0, O35.4, P04.3, Q86.0, T51.0, T51.1, T51.9, Y57.3, R78.0, Z50.2, Z71.4, Z72.1. These codes were defined in a recent in-depth review of ISD''s core alcohol related code set. Further information about the review and resulting consultation process is available at:

6. Caution is necessary when interpreting these figures. The recording of
alcohol-related problems may vary from hospital to hospital.

*Indicates values that have been suppressed due to the potential risk of disclosure.

Question reference: S3W-31798

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many attendances there were at accident and emergency units in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Orkney, (c) Shetland and (d) Western Isles in each of the last three years.

The numbers of accident and emergency (A&E) new and unplanned return attendances from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2009 are presented in the following table.

A&E departments are classified as either core or non-core sites. Core sites include all A&E departments within large hospitals. Non-core sites include minor injury units, small hospitals with manual systems and health centres in rural areas that carry out A&E type activity. Data has been collected from core sites since 1 April 2006 and from non-core sites 1 July 2007.

Table1: A&E Attendances per Calendar Year, 2007 to 2009

��	2007	2008	2009
NHS Highland^(a)	62,631	91,370	94,885
�� Core sites	35,638	35,685	36,251
�� Non-core sites	26,993^(a)	55,685	58,634
NHS Orkney^(b)	2,404	2,522	3,426
�� Core sites	��x	x	x
�� Non-core sites	2,404	2,522	3,426
NHS Shetland	8,880	8,802	8,875
�� Core sites	8,880	8,802	8,875
�� Non-core Sites	��x	x	x
NHS Western Isles^(a)	8,676	8,544	8,599
�� Core sites	7,885	7,089	7,013
�� Non-core sites	791^(a)	1,455	1,586

Source: ISD Scotland A&E data mart (1 July 2007 to 31 December 2009) and Weblogic reporting system (1 January 2007 to 30 June 2007).

Key to symbols:

x not applicable

Notes:

(a) NHS Highland and NHS Western Isles data for non-core sites was collected from 1 July 2007.

(b) NHS Orkney data was collected from 1 January 2007. Data prior to March 2009 is not fully reflective of activity due to incomplete recording. New processes have now been implemented to resolve this issue.

Further data on attendances at accident and emergency departments can be found on the ISD website at .

Question reference: S3W-31801

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 8 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many enquiries for assistance that have not yet led to purchase have been received by the Low-cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers scheme in (a) Highland, (b) Western Isles, (c) Orkney, (d) Shetland, (e) Moray and (f) Argyll and Bute.

The following table shows the number of Open Market Shared Equity Programme (OMSEP) application forms issued, the number of application forms returned, the number of passports issued and the number of sales that have taken place. We do not centrally collate details of purchasers for all LIFT products.

	Number of application forms issued	Number of application forms returned	Number of passports issued	Number of sales up to 31 December 2009
Highland	279	125	125	72
Western Isles	3	3	2	1
Orkney	43	12	10	5
Shetland	27	2	0	0
Moray	51	9	9	0
Argyll & Bute	54	19	13	5

An update to Housing Statistics for Scotland - AHIP Summary will be published towards the end of May 2010 on the Scottish Government website and will include number of sales in the period January “ March 2010.

Question reference: S3W-31799

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 2 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many roadside emergency ambulance incidents there were in the NHS (a) Highland, (b) Orkney, (c) Shetland and (d) Western Isles areas in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S3W-31796

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 2 March 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new outpatient attendances there were in NHS (a) Highland, (b) Orkney, (c) Shetland and (d) Western Isles in each of the last three years.

The number of new outpatient attendances for the last three financial years ending 31 March in Highland, Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles is shown in the following table.

Number of New Outpatient Attendances

NHS Board	2007	2008	2009
Highland	68,132	69,837	71,694
Orkney	3,094	3,175	3,286
Shetland	5,504	5,052	5,445
Western Isles	6,790	6,934	6,791

Source: ISD Scotland, ISD(s)1.

^PProvisional.

Further information on outpatient attendances can be found on the ISD website at:

Question reference: S3W-31802

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 23 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many purchases for properties using assistance from the Low-cost Initiative for First-Time Buyers scheme have fallen through due to buyers failing to secure a mortgage on the open market.

Question reference: S3O-09372

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 February 2010
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 4 February 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive , of the 251 new schools referred to in the SNP press release of 25 January 2010, SNP build more schools than promised, how many were planned or under construction prior to May 2007.

Given normal lead-in times for major capital projects, it is not unexpected that planning and construction began on a number of the 251 schools prior to May 2007. This was the same situation faced by the first Scottish Executive administration. Of the school projects completed during the first administration''s term of office, over half were pre-devolution projects.

Responsibility for funding those projects fell largely upon the first Executive administration, just as responsibility for paying for most of the 260 projects has fallen on this government.