- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it took to find an explanation for the increase in autistic spectrum disorder among those primary and secondary school pupils with records of needs and/or individualised educational programmes from 1999 onwards and, in particular, the recorded rise between 2001 to 2002.
Answer
Up to and including 2001,information was only collected on those pupils with records of needs. Manypupils with high functioning autism and Asperger Syndrome would not have metthe criteria for records of needs but would have Individualised EducationalProgrammes (IEPs). The increase in 2002 onwards is, therefore, partlyattributable to pupils with IEPs being included in the statistical collection.
The Executive is not awareof any peer-reviewed evidence that the prevalence of autistic spectrumdisorders (ASD) has actually increased. The causes, nature and development ofASD are not fully understood but the general consensus is that ASD are aheterogeneous group of disorders resulting from a number of different causes,including a strong genetic factor. Diagnostic boundaries have been broadenedand awareness has increased dramatically over the past 20 years leading to morecases being detected and correctly diagnosed.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the increase in autistic spectrum disorder among pupils identified with records of needs and/or individualised educational programmes having autistic spectrum disorder, what resources it has put in place to support non-educational agencies, and allied health professionals, to deliver a level of service for these pupils.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has beenmaking project grant awards to individual voluntary sector organisations in respectof additional support needs since April 1999. The awards specifically related toautism spectrum disorders have totalled over £1.5 million and are made on the basisof a two or three year cycle.
In addition, the Executive provideda total of £3 million in 2004-05 and in 2005-06 to the Health Boards to assist themto prepare for and to support the implementation of the Education (Additional Supportfor Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. This funding could be used in a variety of ways,such as to provide additional allied health professionals to support children andyoung people with additional support needs, including autism spectrum disorders.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients received continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) in each year since 1999.
Answer
The information is containedin the following table.
| Health Boards | Total |
| 1999- 2000 | 2000- 01 | 2001- 02 | 2002- 03 | 2003- 04 | 2004- 05 | 2005- 06 |
| Argyll and Clyde | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Borders | 20 | 29 | 18 | 18 | 31 | 44 | 50 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Fife | 70 | 53 | 60 | 63 | 68 | 113 | 132 |
| Forth Valley | 34 | 41 | 33 | 42 | 48 | 63 | 74 |
| Grampian | 38 | 44 | 46 | 74 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Greater Glasgow | 7 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Highland | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Lanarkshire | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 19 | 21 |
| Lothian | 163 | 152 | 130 | 136 | 134 | 238 | 284 |
| Orkney | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Shetland | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 6 |
| Tayside | 61 | 49 | 43 | 54 | 70 | 81 | 98 |
| Western Isles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Northern Ireland* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | 399 | 377 | 348 | 411 | 390 | 571 | 679 |
Note: *Because of limitedfacilities in Northern Ireland for people with sleep disorders, patients whorequire a "second opinion" (or the provision of a CPAP machine) inthe view of the consultant, are referred to the Edinburgh Sleep Centre at the RoyalInfirmary of Edinburgh.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were waiting for a first appointment at a sleep centre in each year since 1999, broken down by sleep centre.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities recorded an improvement of more than 15% in only two of the 77 statutory performance indicators in each year since 2001.
Answer
Statutory PerformanceIndicators (SPI) information is a matter for Audit Scotland. Theinformation requested is not held centrally. Information on SPIs can be foundon the Audit Scotland website at
www.audit-scotland.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities recorded a deterioration of more than 15% in seven of the 77 statutory performance indicators in each year since 2001.
Answer
SPI information is a matterfor Audit Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally. Informationon SPIs can be found on the Audit Scotland website at
www.audit-scotland.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what its advertising budget was, and how many advertising campaigns it ran, in each year since 1999.
Answer
I refer the member to the questionS1W-26485, answered on 3 July 2002, providing information on advertising spend by the ScottishOffice-Scottish Executive Departments from 1991-92 to 2001-02.
For information on the Scottish Executive’s advertising spend for 2002-03 please see answer to questionS2W-2481. For information on advertising spend for 2003-04 please see the answer to question S2W-15204.
Advertising spend for 2004-2005is published on the Scottish Executive Marketing Unit website. Please see attachedlink
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/media/17963/adspend05.Scottish Executive advertisingspend for 2005-2006 is detailed in the following table. Please note these figuresare un-reconciled. Definitive figures will be published in July 06:
| Campaign | Total |
| Alcohol | £664,223.89 |
| ASB | £251,372.67 |
| Career Opps in NHS Scotland | £976,107.92 |
| Childrens Hearings | £99,643.02 |
| Domestic Abuse | £295,950.03 |
| Drug Misuse | £967,016.93 |
| Environment | £368,951.96 |
| Fire Domestic | £287,463.05 |
| Flu | £365,333.28 |
| Healthy Living | £743,600.76 |
| Mental Health | £117,683.10 |
| Organ Donation | £190,570.49 |
| Race | £611,471.60 |
| Road Safety | £605,732.53 |
| Smoking | £1,056,867.36 |
| Teacher Recruitment | £618,668.61 |
| Violence Against PS Workers | £163,263.66 |
| Volunteering | £164,003.13 |
| Miscellaneous | £791,458.64 |
| Total | £9,339,382.63 |
The miscellaneous figure is advertisingexpenditure out with specific campaigns. Thisincludes the central purchase of a block of outdoor advertising which is used throughoutthe year by the campaigns listed.
All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates have been carried out by (a) Scottish ministers, (b) local authorities and (c) NHS boards of the additional financial cost of providing adequate support and provision for pupils identified as having autistic spectrum disorder in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority and NHS board area.
Answer
The Scottish Executiveprovides significant funding each year to help local authorities make provisionfor children and young people with additional support needs, including autismspectrum disorder. Funding is allocated on the basis of each authority’s two to19-year-old population. It is a matter for local authorities to decide how toutilise this funding in the light of local needs and circumstances.
The information requested inrelation to estimates carried out by local authorities and NHS boards is notheld by the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what average time was taken in each year since 2000 to complete special educational needs assessments in the Scottish Borders compared with the national average.
Answer
The information requested isnot collected by the Scottish Executive. Audit Scotland, however, publishes detailsof a range of performance indicators in relation to local authority services, includingthe average number of weeks taken to complete statutory special educational needsassessments for Records of Needs.
More information on these indicatorsis available at:
http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/pi2002/documents/pamphlets/03pi04ac.pdfhttp://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/performance/documents/2005report/servicespdf/EChS.pdf.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 15 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of primary schools in the Scottish Borders were over-occupied in each year since 2000.
Answer
Audit Scotland haspublished, annually, a set of performance indicators for education which includethe percentage of each authority’s primary schools with an occupancy level of 101%or more.
Copies of the Audit Scotlandperformance indicators publications are available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre as follows:
| 1999-2000 | Bib. number 11197 |
| 2000-01 | Bib. number 18781 |
| 2001-02 | Bib. number 26239 |
| 2002-03 | Bib. number 30712 |
| 2003-04 | Bib. number 35203 |
and on the Audit Scotland websiteat www.audit-scotland.gov.uk.
