Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-01513

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of people (a) entitled to and (b) who claimed council tax benefit and what amount was paid in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.

(a) This information is not heldcentrally.

(b) This information is in thefollowing table:

Council Tax Benefit Expenditureand Recipients by Local Authority

	1999-2000		2000-01		2001-02		2002-03
	Expenditure (£ Million)¹	Recipients²	Expenditure (£ Million)¹	Recipients²	Expenditure (£ Million) ¹	Recipients²	Expenditure (£ Million)¹	Recipients²
Aberdeen	8.5	16,390	8.8	16,890	9.1	16,630	9.7	16,580
Aberdeenshire	4.8	10,600	5.3	9,960	6.1	11,260	6.6	11,600
Angus	3.7	8,450	3.9	8,730	4.2	8,470	4.4	7,540
Argyll-Bute	4.6	7,800	5.0	8,020	5.3	7,960	5.2	7,780
Clackmannanshire	3.0	6,000	3.1	5,570	3.2	5,480	3.2	5,310
Eilean Siar	1.1	3,270	1.4	3,170	1.6	2,890	1.5	2,970
Dumfries and Galloway	6.4	11,840	6.8	12,580	7.0	12,570	7.1	12,400
Dundee	13.1	23,780	12.8	22,620	12.7	21,610	12.9	21,090
East Ayrshire	7.2	14,050	7.8	13,370	8.1	13,780	8.1	13,640
East Dunbartonshire	3.7	6,380	3.5	6,250	3.7	6,040	3.8	5,720
East Lothian	4.2	7,770	4.5	7,610	4.4	6,750	4.6	7,190
East Renfrewshire	2.6	5,330	2.7	4,990	3.0	5,010	3.0	4,790
Edinburgh	23.3	42,820	22.8	40,390	23.5	39,420	23.9	38,510
Falkirk	6.2	16,090	6.3	15,040	6.7	14,460	7.1	14,290
Fife	15.9	35,980	16.1	33,790	17.1	33,310	17.8	32,670
Glasgow	79.7	118,170	79.1	111,720	76.6	106,650	75.5	108,370
Highland	9.2	17,870	9.5	18,060	9.8	17,610	10.1	16,950
Inverclyde	5.9	11,250	6.0	10,020	6.8	10,800	7.0	10,900
Midlothian	4.3	7,100	4.2	6,980	4.2	6,630	4.2	6,440
Moray	2.8	6,890	2.9	6,690	2.9	5,630	3.0	5,500
North Ayrshire	8.0	15,100	8.3	15,490	8.9	16,170	9.0	15,090
North Lanarkshire	22.9	44,620	23.4	42,760	22.6	40,220	22.9	39,940
Orkney	0.4	1,270	0.5	1,230	0.5	1,250	0.6	1,240
Perth and Kinross	4.3	8,320	4.4	8,880	4.8	8,530	5.1	8,490
Renfrewshire	10.1	19,920	10.6	20,380	11.4	20,060	12.4	19,410
Scottish Borders	3.2	8,410	3.4	8,220	3.7	8,110	4.1	8,240
Shetland	0.4	1,140	0.5	1,200	0.5	1,110	0.5	1,120
South Ayrshire	5.7	10,700	5.9	10,960	6.1	10,650	6.5	10,500
South Lanarkshire	19.7	38,070	19.5	36,550	19.7	36,350	20.0	36,040
Stirling	3.4	7,210	3.6	6,840	3.8	6,600	3.9	6,490
West Dunbartonshire	10.2	14,670	9.5	14,670	9.7	14,520	9.8	14,150
West Lothian	8.0	16,440	7.8	15,520	8.0	14,410	8.2	14,730
Total Scotland	306.6	563,700	310.0	545,150	315.8	530,910	321.6	525,660

	2003-04		2004-05		2005-06
	Expenditure (£ Million)¹	Recipients²	Expenditure (£ Million)¹	Recipients²	Expenditure (£ Million)¹	Recipients²
Aberdeen	10.5	16,960	11.8	17,530	12.0	16,900
Aberdeenshire	7.2	11,720	8.3	12,740	8.9	12,940
Angus	4.9	8,510	5.6	9,260	5.9	9,480
Argyll-Bute	5.3	7,390	5.5	7,830	5.7	7,600
Clackmannanshire	3.2	5,230	3.4	5,470	3.5	5,250
Eilean Siar	1.6	2,740	1.7	3,110	1.8	3,100
Dumfries and Galloway	7.5	12,650	8.2	13,240	8.6	13,450
Dundee	12.9	20,470	13.7	20,930	13.8	20,310
East Ayrshire	8.6	14,600	9.1	15,090	9.6	15,220
East Dunbartonshire	3.9	5,650	4.6	5,980	4.7	6,000
East Lothian	4.8	7,060	5.1	7,370	5.3	7,380
East Renfrewshire	3.3	4,660	3.6	4,910	3.7	4,900
Edinburgh	25.5	37,690	28.0	40,030	29.5	41,010
Falkirk	7.4	14,280	8.0	14,610	8.4	14,490
Fife	18.7	33,620	19.7	32,720	20.5	32,190
Glasgow	78.8	109,130	78.4	109,640	78.4	102,620
Highland	10.7	16,690	11.8	17,810	12.4	17,760
Inverclyde	7.4	11,100	8.0	11,580	8.1	11,800
Midlothian	4.4	6,420	4.9	6,590	5.0	6,410
Moray	3.1	5,610	3.5	5,990	3.8	6,050
North Ayrshire	10.1	15,460	10.8	16,860	11.4	17,210
North Lanarkshire	22.9	36,270	24.1	40,890	24.8	41,040
Orkney	0.7	1,230	0.8	1,320	0.8	1,320
Perth and Kinross	5.5	8,840	6.3	9,390	6.8	9,470
Renfrewshire	12.6	17,970	13.8	20,230	14.3	20,260
Scottish Borders	4.6	8,200	5.2	8,870	5.5	9,010
Shetland	0.6	1,140	0.7	1,280	0.8	1,370
South Ayrshire	7.0	10,670	7.5	11,040	7.9	11,330
South Lanarkshire	20.6	35,870	21.5	35,280	21.6	34,150
Stirling	4.2	6,470	4.5	6,450	4.7	6,510
West Dunbartonshire	9.9	14,210	10.0	14,390	10.1	14,100
West Lothian	8.6	14,780	9.2	15,420	9.5	15,330
Total Scotland	337.2	523,280	357.5	543,850	367.8	535,920

Notes:

1:Source - Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Council Tax Benefit Expenditure1999-2006.

2: Source - DWP Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit ManagementInformation System Quarterly 100% caseload stock-count taken in November 1999to 2006.

(a)The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.

(b)The caseloads have been rounded to the nearest 10.

(c)Figures for any non-responding authorities have been estimated.

(d) Council Tax Benefittotals exclude any Second Adult Rebate cases.

Question reference: S3W-01921

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of tuberculosis there were in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested isshown in the following table:

NHS Board	2002	2003	2004	2005*	2006*
Argyll and Clyde	30	34	17	30	9
Ayrshire and Arran	11	10	6	6	12
Fife	10	17	14	14	13
Forth Valley	4	12	5	4	4
Grampian	33	18	22	23	37
Greater Glasgow	195	168	174	162	37
Greater Glasgow and Clyde**	0	0	0	0	134
Highland	5	7	8	11	9
Lanarkshire	35	29	35	24	52
Lothian	53	53	84	75	56
Orkney	0	0	0	0	0
Tayside	11	11	16	7	11
All other NHS boards†	6	9	11	8	11
Total	393	368	392	364	385

Notes:

*Data for2005 and 2006 are provisional.

**GreaterGlasgow and Argyll and Clyde NHS Boards merged to become Greater Glasgow andClyde on 1 April 2006.

†To avoiddeductive disclosure of cases from small numbers, data from NHS Boards with fewor no cases were aggregated.

Question reference: S3W-01549

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 19 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of people who have committed suicide or died as a result of self-inflicted wounds or injuries were recorded by their GP as having a known mental health issue prior to their death, in each year since 1999 broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S3W-01486

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 19 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the announcement by HM Treasury of £340 million support for disabled children in England from 2008 to 2011, whether disabled children in Scotland will benefit from an equivalent sum allocated under the Barnett formula.

Consequential fundingis agreed biannually and is dependent on confirmation from HM Treasury that anyadditional funding announced by departments is new money and has not been reallocatedfrom existing resources. Where consequential funding is received, it is held centrally.Funding is then allocated by the Scottish Government in light of all competing pressuresand the Government’s priorities.

At the present timethere has been no indication of the status of this announcement on support for disabledchildren.

Question reference: S3W-01550

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children under the age of 16 were recorded by the relevant health and social service authorities as having (a) attempted and (b) committed suicide in each year since 1999 and what proportion of those lived in the top 10 most deprived areas, as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, in each year since 1999.

(a) The information requestedin part (a) is not held centrally. In children it is difficult to establish trueintent. Therefore it may be incorrect to attempt to derive numbers of “attemptedsuicide”.

We have however provided datafor hospital discharges for children under 16, which have been coded as either deliberateself-harm or undetermined intent. These are shown in the following tables.

In-Patient and Day Case HospitalDischarges with a Diagnosis of Deliberate Self-Harm - Children Aged Under 16

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
No. of patients¹	538	612	631	661	637	529	480
Number in most deprived decile in Scotland²	116	108	114	97	98	75	65
Proportion in most deprived decile	21.6	17.6	18.1	14.7	15.4	14.2	13.5

In-Patient andDay Case Hospital Discharges with a Diagnosis of UndeterminedIntent - Children Aged Under 16

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
No. of patients¹	48	29	19	18	16	20	14
Number in most deprived decile in Scotland²	12	7	9	10	3	2	0
Proportion in most deprived decile	25.0	24.1	47.4	55.6	18.8	10.0	0.0

Source: SMR01.

Notes:

1. Hospital discharges -children aged 0 to 15.

2. Based on the ScottishIndex of Multiple Deprivation.

Up to six diagnosis (1 main,5 secondary) are recorded on SMR01 returns. All six diagnoses have been used toselect discharges for deliberate self harm and undetermined intent.

The following codes wereused from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and OtherHealth Related Problems, tenth revision (ICD10):

Self Harm: X60-X84

Undetermined Intent: Y10-Y34

(b) In presenting statisticson suicides it is conventional to combine deaths classified as intentional self-harm(suicides) with those classified as events of undetermined intent. This is becausethe majority of the latter are likely to have been suicides. However, this assumptionis known to be less valid for children, particularly those aged under 10. For thisreason the following table shows the two categories separately and restricts theinformation on events of undetermined intent to deaths aged 10-15.

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Deaths aged under 16 from intentional self harm	4	8	6	3	4	3	4
Deaths aged 10-15 classified as events of undetermined intent	3	4	0	2	1	0	2

Note: 1. 1999: ICD9codes E950, E980. 2000-2005: ICD10 codes X60-X84, Y10-Y34, Y87.0, Y87.2

Deaths Caused by IntentionalSelf-Harm and Events of Undetermined Intent¹Persons Resident inDatazones in the most Deprived Decile According to SIMD 2006, Selected Ages,Scotland, 1999-2005

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Deaths aged under 16 from intentional self-harm	3	2	0	1	1	1	1
Deaths aged 10-15 classified as events of undetermined intent	0	0	0	0	0	0	1

Note: 1. 1999: ICD9codes E950, E980. 2000-2005: ICD10 codes X60-X84, Y10-Y34, Y87.0, Y87.2

Question reference: S3W-01546

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 19 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people over the age of 60 have died as a result of suicide or by self-inflicted wounds in each year since 1999, also expressed as a percentage of the total number of suicides and broken down by (a) gender and (b) geographical area.

In presenting statistics on suicidesit is conventional to combine deaths classified as intentional self-harm (suicides)with those classified as events of undetermined intent. This is because the majorityof the latter are likely to have been suicides. The following tables provide informationon this basis.

Deaths Caused by IntentionalSelf Harm and Events of Undetermined Intent¹Persons Aged 60 yearsand Over Scotland 1999-2005

(a) by Gender	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Persons
Number of deaths	162	146	148	157	138	138	140
Percentage of all ages	18.5%	16.6%	16.7%	17.5%	17.4%	16.5%	18.3%
Males
Number of deaths	114	107	94	101	96	90	96
Percentage of all ages	17.2%	15.9%	14.6%	14.9%	16.6%	14.8%	17.5%
Females
Number of deaths	48	39	54	56	42	48	44
Percentage of all ages	22.7%	19.1%	22.4%	25.1%	19.4%	21.2%	20.6%

Note: 1. 1999: ICD9codes E950, E980. 2000-2005: ICD10 codes X60-X84, Y10-Y34, Y87.0, Y87.2.

Deaths Caused by IntentionalSelf Harm and Events of Undetermined Intent¹Persons Aged 60 Yearsand Over Scotland 1999-2005

(b) by NHS Board area	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Number of deaths
Scotland	162	146	148	157	138	138	140
Ayrshire and Arran	16	7	11	9	8	11	12
Borders	2	4	1	5	7	3	3
Dumfries and Galloway	8	6	5	9	4	2	8
Fife	9	6	11	15	8	6	11
Forth Valley	8	4	8	2	5	2	4
Grampian	19	19	10	20	17	16	18
Greater Glasgow and Clyde²	43	42	37	46	33	36	28
Highland²	14	10	17	12	12	11	13
Lanarkshire	13	14	15	12	14	11	17
Lothian	14	15	21	23	15	24	15
Orkney	1	3	1	1	1	0	2
Shetland	0	1	0	1	1	1	0
Tayside	14	14	9	2	13	14	8
Western Isles	1	1	2	0	0	1	1
Percentage of All Ages
Scotland	18.5%	16.6%	16.7%	17.5%	17.4%	16.5%	18.3%
Ayrshire and Arran	21.3%	12.3%	12.6%	14.3%	18.2%	22.0%	22.2%
Borders	10.5%	23.5%	6.3%	23.8%	35.0%	18.8%	37.5%
Dumfries and Galloway	22.2%	22.2%	26.3%	32.1%	19.0%	9.1%	28.6%
Fife	20.9%	10.9%	22.0%	22.1%	20.0%	12.0%	20.0%
Forth Valley	15.4%	14.3%	16.3%	4.3%	13.9%	4.8%	15.4%
Grampian	21.1%	22.6%	12.8%	23.8%	21.0%	15.8%	24.0%
Greater Glasgow and Clyde²	18.9%	16.5%	16.4%	19.4%	15.5%	17.1%	14.0%
Highland²	22.6%	14.9%	25.8%	20.7%	20.3%	13.4%	26.5%
Lanarkshire	16.5%	17.7%	18.8%	12.0%	16.5%	13.4%	20.7%
Lothian	12.4%	12.3%	15.7%	17.8%	14.6%	21.8%	12.9%
Orkney	33.3%	75.0%	100.0%	33.3%	16.7%	0.0%	50.0%
Shetland	0.0%	20.0%	0.0%	16.7%	14.3%	25.0%	0.0%
Tayside	20.9%	20.3%	13.0%	3.7%	17.8%	23.0%	14.0%
Western Isles	20.0%	11.1%	25.0%	0.0%	0.0%	33.3%	14.3%

Notes:

1.1999: ICD9 codes E950, E980.2000-2005: ICD10 codes X60-X84, Y10-Y34, Y87.0, Y87.2.

2. Incorporating part of theformer NHS Argyll and Clyde area.

Question reference: S3W-01633

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding allocated for smoking cessation services is ring-fenced for underage smokers.

Question reference: S3W-01548

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 19 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average suicide rate was per capita in the top 10 council wards with the lowest levels of deprivation, as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-01487

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 19 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to consult the families of disabled children and other representative groups on the use of any funding for disabled children allocated under the Barnett formula.

All funding eligiblefor allocation to Scottish budgets by way of budget consequentials is held centrally.It is then allocated by the Scottish Government in light of all competing pressuresand the Government’s priorities.

The Scottish Governmentis fully committed to consulting families with disabled children, as well as representativeorganisations, before taking decisions on issues which affect them.

Question reference: S3W-01635

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional funding will be made available to local authorities for enforcement purposes when the legal age for purchase of cigarettes is raised from 16 to 18 and, if so, how much will be made available.

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