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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: S3O-06339

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to encourage the deployment of junior doctors to work and train in Ayrshire and Arran.

Question reference: S3F-01449

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Salmond on 12 February 2009

To ask the First Minister what impact new UK visa rules for international students will have on Scotland’s universities.

Question reference: S3W-20232

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been fined for littering offences in each of the last five years for which information is available, broken down by local authority.

The available information is given in the following table. The number of fixed penalty notices for littering, issued by police and local authorities under their respective powers in Part IV of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, is not held centrally.

Persons Fined for Litter Offences¹ in Scottish Courts by Approximate Local Authority Area², 2002-03 to 2006-07

Local Authority Area	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Aberdeen City	-	-	1	-	-
Aberdeenshire	1	1	-	-	-
Angus	-	-	-	-	-
Argyll and Bute	-	-	1	-	-
Clackmannanshire	-	-	1	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	1	-	-	1	-
Dundee City	3	5	2	-	-
East Ayrshire	-	1	1	3	11
East Dunbartonshire	2	1	1	-	-
East Lothian	-	-	-	-	-
East Renfrewshire	-	1	-	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	1	-	-	-	2
Eilean Siar	-	-	-	-	-
Falkirk	1	-	2	1	2
Fife	-	-	-	-	-
Glasgow City	5	2	5	4	6
Highland	1	-	2	1	1
Inverclyde	3	-	1	4	-
Midlothian	-	-	-	-	1
Moray	-	-	1	-	1
North Ayrshire	1	2	2	-	2
North Lanarkshire	1	1	9	7	7
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross	-	-	-	-	-
Renfrewshire	1	-	-	2	2
Scottish Borders	2	-	3	-	1
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	2	1	2	-	8
South Lanarkshire	5	5	4	4	6
Stirling	1	-	-	1	1
West Dunbartonshire	-	2	-	-	-
West Lothian	-	1	-	2	-
Scotland	31	23	38	30	51

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Four local authority areas, namely East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

Question reference: S3O-05829

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani on 5 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made regarding its commitment to provide humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza.

Question reference: S3W-19667

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital beds were available in each of the last 15 years for which figures are available, broken down by NHS board.

The numbers of available staffed hospital beds in Scottish NHS hospitals are shown in the following table.

Average Available Staffed Beds¹ by NHS Board Area²; Financial Years Ending 31 March 1994-2008

	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Scotland	45,263	43,587	41,790	39,668	37,998	36,376	34,696	33,160
Ayrshire and Arran	2,692	2,575	2,408	2,259	2,234	2,163	2,147	2,149
Borders	,845	822	807	781	754	734	688	654
Dumfries and Galloway	1,287	1,226	1,183	1,105	1,076	1,104	980	835
Fife	2,577	2,455	2,322	2,228	2,097	2,029	1,979	1,914
Forth Valley	2,598	2,504	2,349	2,260	2,106	2,028	1,862	1,735
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Grampian	4,661	4,442	4,304	4,135	3,892	3,732	3,589	3,464
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	12,742	12,119	11,616	11,063	10,932	10,289	9,732	9,335
Highland	2,431	2,391	2,297	2,168	2,153	2,088	2,049	1,992
Lanarkshire	4,307	4,112	3,994	3,882	3,726	3,661	3,590	3,421
Lothian	6,557	6,532	6,253	5,717	5,117	4,819	4,525	4,376
Orkney	152	150	150	153	147	131	102	95
Shetland	142	137	136	127	116	100	101	100
Tayside	4,005	3,857	3,720	3,557	3,374	3,235	3,106	2,842
Western Isles	266	265	250	232	274	263	248	248

	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008^P
Scotland	31,930	30,793	29,886	29,069	28,311	27,678	27,103
Ayrshire and Arran	2,137	2,114	2,068	2,044	1,976	1,906	1,872
Borders	643	625	658	623	626	634	616
Dumfries and Galloway	808	766	806	828	811	806	754
Fife	1,822	1,771	1,738	1,760	1,673	1,647	1,634
Forth Valley	1,630	1,493	1,366	1,338	1,284	1,254	1,295
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	-	-	-	61	84	66	69
Grampian	3,303	3,106	2,973	2,915	2,875	2,889	2,810
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	8,947	8,558	8,372	8,015	7,842	7,682	7,595
Highland	1,979	1,892	1,780	1,764	1,739	1,677	1,598
Lanarkshire	3,182	3,058	3,000	2,835	2,634	2,547	2,488
Lothian	4,455	4,445	4,249	4,131	4,117	4,051	3,939
Orkney	94	94	94	94	77	70	68
Shetland	100	100	100	100	100	99	92
Tayside	2,606	2,549	2,455	2,332	2,272	2,146	2,085
Western Isles	224	224	227	229	200	203	187

Source: ISD Scotland [ISD(S)1].

Question reference: S3W-19359

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 January 2009

The significant reduction in ring fencing under the concordat has been of substantial benefit to local authorities. The change has given them greater flexibility to manage their resources more effectively and efficiently for the benefit of their service users. While it is too early to make a reliable estimate of the resulting savings, we will be considering the impact of this change in due course.

Question reference: S3W-17790

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-14772 and S3W-14773 by Shona Robison on 15 July 2008, whether it accepts the Parkinson’s Disease Society’s estimate of around 10,000 people with Parkinson’s disease in Scotland, based on estimates derived from the results of published prevalence studies undertaken in the United Kingdom.

Question reference: S3W-17552

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 18 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average annual energy output is of wind turbines.

This information is not held centrally in the format requested. Electricity output from wind turbines will vary depending on factors such as the design, size and location, including whether onshore or offshore, of the turbines in question. All of these elements will affect the capacity factor of a wind turbine.

Output from individual turbines at commercial sites is usually a matter of commercial confidentiality.

Question reference: S3O-04136

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 11 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to support the post office network in Scotland.

The Scottish Government recognises the valuable social role of post offices, particularly in deprived and remote areas of Scotland, and although post offices and postal services are a matter wholly reserved to the UK Government, Scottish ministers therefore continue to play an active role in seeking the best outcomes within the current closure programme.

Since the announcement of the post office network closure programme last May, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth has maintained an active discussion with Post Office Ltd to ensure that their restructuring programme promotes transparency and open discussion of the issues with key stakeholders. He has also encouraged all MSPs and local authorities to carefully examine Post Office Ltd''s proposals to ensure that the interests of the public, particularly vulnerable groups, have been properly taken into account.

The Cabinet Secretary has in addition met Royal Mail Group to promote awareness of potential business opportunities, providing a close fit with the Scottish Government''s agenda to streamline and improve public services, as well as encouraging local authorities to consider opportunities to promote services alongside local post offices to aid their viability.

Question reference: S3W-14772

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 15 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-10033 by Shona Robison on 29 February 2008, whether it accepts that the actual number of people in Scotland who have Parkinson’s disease could be more than double the estimate captured through the Practice Team Information scheme, in light of the findings of the Parkinson’s Disease Society that peer-reviewed prevalence data suggests that more than 10,200 people in Scotland live with Parkinson’s disease, of whom most will have idiopathic Parkinson’s.

The answer to question S3W-10033 on 29 February 2008 made clear that the estimate of prevalence given (4,800) was based on the Practice Team Information arrangements. The study cited by the Parkinson’s Disease Society (von Campenhausen et al, 2005) found an average prevalence of 130 per 100,000, which would equate to some 6,650 people in Scotland. The estimate of 10,200 people cited by the Society appears to be based on the single study which provided the highest prevalence estimate in the von Campenhausen review.

Overall, existing research suggests that the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in Scotland, although very likely to be higher than the number estimated to consult a general practice in a single year, is unlikely to be more than double that number. Further work would be required to determine more precisely the number of those in Scotland with the disease.

Whatever the exact prevalence, the Scottish Government takes very seriously the needs of people with Parkinson’s disease, and welcomes the fact that NHS Quality Improvement Scotland is developing clinical standards relating to the condition.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.