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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

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Question reference: S2W-16432

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2005
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 8 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15791 by Cathy Jamieson on 10 May 2005, how many of the reports recorded involving racism proceeded to a prosecution which included a charge of racist aggravation and in how many of these cases the prosecution was successful in each year since 1999, broken down by police force area.

The following information relates to the number of charges reported to the Procurator Fiscal. It is only available from the start of the financial year 2002-03.

A racist incident as referred to in question S2W-15791 does not equate to a reported charge: not all racist incidents recorded by the police will result in a report to the Procurator Fiscal. It is not possible therefore to equate the number of racist incidents referred to in question S2W-15791 with the number of reported charges referred to below.

Between April 2002 and March 2005 the police reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service offences involving a total of 10,173 charges which involved either a statutory racial offence or a racial aggravation. This figure was made up of 7,029 statutory charges and 3,144 aggravations. Of these, 662 charges were referred to the Reporter to the Children’s Panel and 7,919 charges were marked to proceed to prosecution. Of the 7,919 charges marked to proceed to prosecution, convictions have been recorded in respect of 4,180 of those charges and a conclusion has yet to be reached in respect of 1,631 charges.

A Force-by-Force breakdown of the figures requested is provided in the following tables:

Number of Individual Charges Reported (with Statutory Racial Charge or Racial Aggravation)

Charge or Aggravation	Police Force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	Total
Charge	Central	136	165	272	573
	Dumfries and Galloway	20	31	26	77
	Fife	143	179	151	473
	Grampian	153	132	160	445
	Lothian and Borders	342	365	404	1,111
	Northern	58	62	88	208
	Strathclyde	1,118	1,190	1,293	3,601
	Tayside	149	188	204	541
Charge Total		2,119	2,312	2,598	7,029
Aggravation	Central	14	16	69	99
	Dumfries and Galloway	1	17	25	43
	Fife	59	56	47	162
	Grampian	31	32	45	108
	Lothian and Borders	129	147	225	501
	Northern	43	72	57	172
	Strathclyde	476	540	747	1,763
	Tayside	57	93	146	296
Aggravation Total		810	973	1,361	3,144
Total		2,929	3,285	3,959	10,173

Number of Individual Charges in which Proceedings were Commenced

Charge or Aggravation	Police Force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	Total
Charge	Central	90	135	158	383
	Dumfries and Galloway	18	26	24	68
	Fife	106	124	107	337
	Grampian	102	118	119	339
	Lothian and Borders	284	299	349	932
	Northern	40	45	52	137
	Strathclyde	882	946	987	2,815
	Tayside	130	154	165	449
Charge Total		1,652	1,847	1,961	5,460
Aggravation	Central	13	15	65	93
	Dumfries and Galloway	1	16	16	33
	Fife	44	39	34	117
	Grampian	30	27	44	101
	Lothian and Borders	86	89	169	344
	Northern	29	51	44	124
	Strathclyde	378	430	579	1,387
	Tayside	51	73	136	260
Aggravation Total		632	740	1,087	2,459
Total		2,284	2,587	3,048	7,919

Number of Individual Charges with a Guilty Verdict

Charge or Aggravation	Police Force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	Total
Charge	Central	57	86	70	213
	Dumfries and Galloway	10	13	19	42
	Fife	65	74	50	189
	Grampian	73	78	65	216
	Lothian and Borders	182	179	168	529
	Northern	23	28	30	81
	Strathclyde	526	604	511	1,641
	Tayside	87	88	80	255
Charge Total		1,023	1,150	993	3,166
Aggravation	Central	7	9	30	46
	Dumfries and Galloway	0	7	7	14
	Fife	20	15	7	42
	Grampian	24	11	19	54
	Lothian and Borders	36	43	44	123
	Northern	16	34	19	69
	Strathclyde	158	181	217	556
	Tayside	23	39	48	110
Aggravation Total		284	339	391	1,014
Total		1,307	1,489	1,384	4,180

Question reference: S2W-17628

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 June 2005
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answer to question S2W-17182 by Robert Brown on 21 June 2005, whether it will provide a breakdown of the cost of370 for providing two retrieved emails and a copy of an existing report anent the alleged telephone interception of my Galashiels office and Parliament Headquarters.

Question reference: S2W-17118

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 21 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the report in The Herald on 3 March 2005 anent the threatened removal of dental degrees from the Glasgow Dental School, when ministers were first made aware of these issues and whether the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care will report to the Parliament on the outcome of her talks with the Principal of Glasgow University.

The Scottish Executive is committed to improve the number and quality of dental professionals trainingin Scotland. The combined Glasgow Dental School and Hospital continue to receive record levels of fundingfrom the Executive through a combination of resources from the NHS and the ScottishHigher Education Funding Council.

Senior Executive officials wereaware of concerns expressed by the General Dental Council regarding Glasgow Dental School from early2004. These concerns were highlighted to the Deputy Minister for Health and CommunityCare in December 2004 when she met with the Chief Executive and President of theGeneral Dental Council. Concerns expressed at that meeting led to a meeting betweenthe Deputy Minister and Sir Muir Russell, the Principal of Glasgow University on28 April 2005.

Since the initial concerns wereraised Glasgow University and Greater Glasgow Health Board have been addressingthe issues. The Executive is aware that the General Dental Council recently visitedGlasgow Dental Hospital and understands that the university and health boardhave in the main successfully addressed council concerns and have not been madeaware of any major issues that the council intends to highlight. The Executive will,however, await the final report of the council before considering whether any Executiveresponse is appropriate.

Question reference: S2W-17120

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 20 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that its procedures for communicating with general dental practitioners operate effectively.

The Health Department has a number of means of communicating with general dental practitioners but recognise that improvements can be made, particularly in light of the recently published Action Plan for Improving Oral Health and Modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotland. I have undertaken to write directly to dentists about the action plan and the department will also be issuing regular information bulletins to keep dentists up to date with the Executive’s progress on implementing the plan.

Question reference: S2W-17164

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 16 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many consultation responses it received from (a) local authorities and government agencies and (b) other consultees in (i) 1999-2000, (ii) 2000-01, (iii) 2001-02, (iv) 2002-03, (v) 2003-04 and (vi) 2004-05.

Question reference: S2W-17121

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when the report on its consultation process on modernising dental services in Scotland will be published.

I made a major policy statement in Parliament on 17 March announcing the publication of the Executive’s Action Plan for Improving Oral Health and Modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotland. The Action Plan sets out the Executive’s response to the two consultation documents Towards Better Oral Health in Children and Modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotland. The analysis of consultation responses for Modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotland was published last year.

Question reference: S2W-17113

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is available to dental practitioners to make their premises compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

Question reference: S2W-17115

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what appraisal has been made of the Scottish Dental Access initiative.

A revised Return to Work scheme under the Scottish Dental Access Initiative (SDAI) was introduced with effect from 1 April 2003. The funding available under the SDAI to help with establishing new or expanding existing NHS dental practices was doubled last year to reflect the increasing costs of establishing or extending practices. The Allowances Review Group, which the Executive established in 2003, has suggested additional ways in which the SDAI may be developed and these are currently being explored.

Question reference: S2W-17117

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the uptake of thegolden hello scheme for dentists has been in each year since its inception.

Question reference: S2W-17114

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists have received funding through the Scottish Dental Access initiative in each year since it has been available, broken down by NHS board.

Information on the number of grants under the Scottish Dental Access (SDAI) Initiative where the first tranche of grant has been paid in a calendar year is provided below. Due to the commercial sensitivity of the information and the need to respect the anonymity of the applicants, information on the SDAI cannot be provided on an individual NHS board basis.

Year	North^1.	East^2.	West^3.
1998	4	1	2
1999	3	2	8
2000	1	4	3
2001	0	0	0
2002	0	1	3
2003	2	2	4
2004^4.	0	2	5
2005^5.	0	2	11

Notes:

1. North comprises Grampian, Highland, Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles NHS Boards.

2. East comprises Borders, Fife, Forth Valley, Lothian and Tayside NHS Boards.

3. West comprises Argyll and Clyde, Ayrshire and Arran, Dumfries and Galloway, Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire NHS Boards.

4. A further four offers of grant have been accepted but the first payments have not yet been made.

5. A further seven offers of grant have been accepted but the first payments have not yet been made.