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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: S2W-28254

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has estimated the cost to the NHS, local authorities and other related support services of dealing with vulnerable groups who are in fuel poverty.

Question reference: S2W-28134

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates it has met each major electricity and gas supplier to express concern about the impact on low income households of additional tariffs on prepayment meters and record rises in energy bills in each year since 2003.

Officials met with representativesof each of the main suppliers in December 2003 to discuss debt and disconnectionsand fuel price rises. I met with Ian Marchant Chief Executive of Scottish and SouthernEnergy on 17 January 2005 and on 14 September 2006; with Jim Needham, Director,Scottish Gas on 7 September 2005 and 14 Septembr 2006, and with Charles Berry, thenExecutive Director UK, Scottish Power on 23 February 2004 and on 9 December 2004,and will meet with Philip Bowman Chief Executive of Scottish Power on 22 November2006.

Question reference: S2W-28296

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 22 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many accidents were recorded on construction sites in East Lothian in each year since 1999.

This information is not heldby the Scottish Executive. The regulationof health and safety at work in Great Britain, including within the construction industry, and thepublication of related statistics, is a matter for the Health and Safety Commissionand Executive. However, my officials havebeen able to obtain the following information from the Health and Safety Executiveshowing accidents recorded in the construction industry in East Lothian since 1999.

East Lothian

Year	Fatal Injuries	Major Injuries*	Over-3-Day Injuries**
1999	0	9	18
2000	0	6	29
2001	1	5	22
2002	0	4	17
2003	0	4	16
2004	0	11	14
2005	0	11	14

Notes:

*Reportable “major injuries” include: fracture other thanto fingers, thumbs or toes; amputation; temporary or permanent loss of sight; injuryresulting from an electrical shock or burn leading to unconciousness or requiringresuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours, and any other injuryleading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness or unconciousness; or requiring resuscitation;or requiring admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours.

**An “over-three-day injury” is one which is not major butresults in the injured person being away from work or unable to do the full rangeof their normal duties for more than three days, not counting the day of the injuryitself.

Question reference: S2W-28303

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many illegal firearms have been recovered in each year since 1999, broken down by police force area.

Question reference: S2W-28302

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents at which armed police have attended have resulted in officers discharging their firearms in each year since 1999, broken down by police force area.

The deployment of firearms isan operational matter for chief constables. The following table gives informationprovided by forces for the number of incidents where firearms have been discharged.

Police Force	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Central Scotland	3	3	2	4	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	1	2	0	1	1	0
Fife	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Grampian	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lothian and Borders	0	0	2	1	1	1	1
Northern	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Strathclyde	0	0	0	0	3	1	5
Tayside	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source: Her Majesty’s Inspectorateof Constabulary.

Question reference: S2W-28300

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many shotgun certificates were revoked in each police force area in each year since 1999.

The available information isgiven in the following table.

Revocations¹of Shotgun Certificates by Police Force Area, 1999 to 2005

Police Force	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Central	14	11	7	13	14	4	6
Dumfries and Galloway	7	9	8	8	7	6	4
Fife²	19	12	16	9	6	6	na
Grampian	27	7	10	4	5	12	5
Lothian and Borders	16	13	15	9	15	11	12
Northern	18	13	11	6	16	10	4
Strathclyde	50	26	5	12	9	20	17
Tayside	24	11	9	6	6	14	6
Total	175	102	81	67	78	83	54

Notes:

1. Revocations are at theauthority of the chief constable in instances where it is believed the holder shouldno longer be allowed to possess a shotgun.

2. Fife wereunable to supply data for 2005; total for 2005 excludes Fife.

Question reference: S2W-28299

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many firearms certificates have been revoked in each police force area in each year since 1999.

The available information isgiven in the following table.

Revocations¹ ofFirearms Certificates by Police Force Area, 1999 to 2005

Police Force	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Central	5	3	2	6	4	2	4
Dumfries and Galloway	1	4	0	3	4	5	3
Fife²	7	7	10	7	3	2	na
Grampian	14	4	8	4	2	4	2
Lothian and Borders	6	7	9	7	7	5	4
Northern	14	9	10	4	9	7	5
Strathclyde	17	9	1	6	2	6	9
Tayside	10	5	4	11	3	6	3
Total	74	48	44	48	34	37	30

Notes:

1. Revocations are at theauthority of the chief constable in instances where it is believed the holdershould no longer be allowed to possess a firearm.

2. Fife wereunable to supply data for 2005; total for 2005 excludes Fife.

Question reference: S2W-28286

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ministerial visits have taken place in each year since 2002, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-27949

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated time period is for confirming the presence of anthrax in samples sent for analysis.

It is not possible to givean absolute time period because each case depends on its own facts andcircumstances.

If large numbers of anthraxspores or bacilli are present then a sample might be reported provisionally asbeing positive within a few hours, with confirmation in around one day. Samplesnot assessed provisionally as being positive need to be cultured for a periodof around one week to allow any bacilli present to reach a detectable level.

Question reference: S2W-27744

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the administrator of Edinburgh Crystal with regard to (a) its future and (b) payment and assistance to redundant staff.