Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-25459

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 July 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of violence have been recorded at Woodhead Primary School in Hamilton in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-25456

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 21 July 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of violence have been recorded at St Joseph’s Primary School in Blantyre in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-24168

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 1 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of Audit Scotland’s report, Overview of mental health services, whether it considers its funding and policy initiatives in relation to mental health services to be correct.

The Audit Scotland report acknowledges the priority, commitment and funding support we have given, and will continue to give, to transforming and modernising mental health services, and recognises the strong support given to our policies in this area by our key partners and stakeholders.

We are aware of the issues raised in the report and have already been taking action in particular on the integration of services, improving information, developing the workforce and reducing waiting times for child and adolescent services and psychological therapies.

We will continue to work with our partners in the NHS, local government and the voluntary sector to take forward the recommendations in the report and look forward to Audit Scotland''s further work in this area.

Question reference: S3W-22332

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 April 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider extending the six-month council tax exemption for empty properties that are for sale and have a valid home report.

Question reference: S3W-22333

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 April 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-16605 by Stewart Maxwell on 9 October 2008, whether it will extend the 12-week validity period for home reports in light of the current conditions in the housing market.

The only 12 week period mentioned in the home report legislation relates to the maximum age of the home report documents on the day a house is marketed or their vintage Regulation 6 of The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 (Prescribed Documents) Regulations 2008 requires that when the house is put on the market, the home report documents must be no more than 12 weeks old.

However, the legislation does not prescribe a shelf-life or validity period for the home report. The Scottish Government has been advised by industry professionals that in practice, it will usually be the buyer or their lender who drives the issue as to whether the survey or valuation remains valid after a period of time. Currently, most lenders consider 12 weeks to be an appropriate validity period, which is the same as it was under the previous house buying and selling system.

Should the survey or valuation require to be refreshed, it will not involve a repeated or additional survey every 12 weeks. It will usually involve a simple re-inspection towards the end of the transaction to establish whether anything in the original survey report needs to be amended. A competitive market for Home Reports will determine the fee for this service in the new system but the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has estimated a likely cost of about £80, which ties up with our understanding of what refreshing a survey has cost in the past. This is not an £80 charge every 12 weeks, but rather a one-off fee incurred towards the end of the sale process.

The Scottish Government will undertake an interim review of the home report after 12 months of operation and will take on board any refinements that are required to improve its implementation.

Question reference: S3W-20672

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 16 can be classified as regular drug-users, broken down by (a) age and (b) local authority.

Information on drug use by under-16s in Scotland is not centrally collected in the manner requested. The frequency of reported drug use of 13 and 15 year olds (S2 and S4 pupils) in Scotland is collected by the Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS). The most recent information available was collected in 2006.

Frequency of drug use, as reported by 13 and 15-year-olds, Scotland 2006:

	Never Tried Any Drugs	Only Tried Drugs Once	Don''t Take Them Now	A Few Times a Year	Once or Twice a Month	At Least Once a Week	Most Days
13 year olds	93%	4%	1%	1%	1%	0%	1%
15 year olds	75%	10%	5%	4%	4%	2%	2%

Note: Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

Frequency of drug use, as reported by 13 year olds, by council area of residence, Scotland 2006:

13-Year-Olds	Never Tried any Drugs	Only tried Drugs Once	Don''t Take them Now	A Few Times a Year	Once or Twice a Month	At Least Once a Week
Aberdeen City	95%	3%	1%	*	1%	1%
Aberdeenshire	98%	1%	1%	*	*	*
Angus	99%	1%	0%	0%	0%	1%
Argyll and Bute	89%	5%	2%	2%	*	2%
Borders	95%	3%	*	*	*	1%
Clackmannanshire¹	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Dumfries and Galloway	93%	4%	1%	0%	1%	*
Dundee City	92%	4%	2%	1%	1%	0%
East Ayrshire	92%	5%	1%	1%	*	1%
East Dunbartonshire	96%	1%	4%	0%	0%	0%
East Lothian	94%	4%	*	*	1%	*
East Renfrewshire	94%	3%	1%	1%	1%	*
Edinburgh City	93%	3%	1%	*	1%	1%
Eilean Siar	94%	4%	0%	2%	1%	0%
Falkirk	91%	5%	1%	1%	1%	1%
Fife	91%	4%	2%	2%	0%	2%
Glasgow City	89%	6%	2%	*	1%	1%
Highland	94%	3%	1%	1%	*	*
Inverclyde	87%	6%	1%	2%	1%	3%
Midlothian	90%	8%	*	1%	*	1%
Moray	93%	4%	1%	1%	*	*
North Ayrshire	94%	2%	2%	1%	*	1%
North Lanarkshire	92%	4%	1%	1%	*	1%
Orkney	93%	3%	0%	1%	1%	1%
Perth and Kinross	94%	3%	*	1%	*	1%
Renfrewshire	94%	5%	*	0%	1%	1%
Shetland	95%	2%	2%	1%	0%	0%
South Ayrshire	95%	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%
South Lanarkshire	92%	5%	1%	1%	1%	1%
Stirling	87%	9%	0%	0%	3%	*
West Dunbartonshire	91%	4%	1%	2%	2%	1%
West Lothian	92%	5%	1%	1%	1%	1%

Notes:

1. No schools in Clackmannanshire participated in the survey, figures not available.

*Less than 0.5% but not 0%

Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

Frequency of drug use, as reported by 15-year-olds, by council area of residence, Scotland 2006:

15-Year-Olds	Never Tried any Drugs	Only tried Drugs Once	Don''t Take Them Now	A Few Times a Year	Once or Twice a Month	At Least Once a Week
Aberdeen City	84%	5%	4%	3%	1%	2%
Aberdeenshire	80%	8%	4%	3%	3%	2%
Angus	77%	12%	4%	1%	2%	4%
Argyll and Bute	73%	11%	3%	5%	3%	4%
Borders	70%	8%	4%	8%	5%	4%
Clackmannanshire¹	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Dumfries and Galloway	80%	8%	5%	4%	3%	1%
Dundee City	80%	7%	3%	3%	3%	4%
East Ayrshire	70%	15%	5%	4%	3%	3%
East Dunbartonshire	74%	5%	8%	6%	3%	4%
East Lothian	78%	9%	4%	4%	3%	3%
East Renfrewshire	71%	12%	6%	3%	3%	4%
Edinburgh City	74%	9%	3%	4%	4%	5%
Eilean Siar	75%	12%	5%	2%	2%	4%
Falkirk	72%	11%	7%	6%	3%	2%
Fife	73%	9%	5%	3%	6%	4%
Glasgow City	74%	11%	6%	4%	3%	2%
Highland	78%	8%	5%	5%	2%	3%
Inverclyde	74%	12%	4%	3%	2%	5%
Midlothian	74%	9%	8%	2%	3%	4%
Moray	71%	11%	6%	9%	1%	2%
North Ayrshire	75%	9%	5%	4%	2%	4%
North Lanarkshire	63%	16%	7%	5%	5%	6%
Orkney	74%	9%	3%	9%	3%	3%
Perth and Kinross	77%	9%	5%	4%	4%	2%
Renfrewshire	75%	10%	4%	4%	5%	2%
Shetland	75%	10%	5%	5%	3%	2%
South Ayrshire	77%	13%	2%	1%	3%	3%
South Lanarkshire	69%	11%	4%	4%	7%	5%
Stirling	47%	28%	9%	10%	0%	7%
West Dunbartonshire	68%	14%	4%	3%	6%	5%
West Lothian	72%	11%	5%	5%	4%	3%

Notes:

1. No schools in Clackmannanshire participated in the survey, figures not available.

*Less than 0.5% but not 0%.

Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

Question reference: S3W-20669

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest figures are on underage drinking, broken down by (a) age group and (b) local authority.

The Scottish Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) is a series of biennial surveys commissioned by ISD Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government to gather data on the prevalence, attitudes and behaviour of young people in Scotland with regard to smoking, drinking and drug use.

The 2006 survey provides information on alcohol consumption, at national and local level, for 13 and 15-year-olds. Nationally, it found that 84% of 15-year-olds and 57% of 13-year-olds had had an alcoholic drink. Both represent a decrease on the 2004 results of 88% for 15-year-olds and 68% for 13-year-olds.

Our Framework for Action on alcohol misuse outlines the measures we are putting in place to tackle underage drinking and we will be evaluating the success of these through data from SALSUS and other sources such as alcohol related hospital admissions.

The 2006 local authority reports are available at:

http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/publications/abstracts/salsuslocal_la2006.htm.

The results of the 2008 survey will be published later this year.

Question reference: S3W-20671

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 16 have successfully completed smoking cessation services since 1999.

Information on quit attempts made via NHS smoking cessation services is available from the agreed national minimum dataset for cessation services. The national smoking cessation database (the primary data collection mechanism) was established in July 2005. Calendar year 2006 is the first year for which national cessation monitoring data is published.

National monitoring is based on clients who set a quit date/make a quit attempt with a cessation service. This will not include persons referred to services or who make initial contact with a service, but who do not go on to set a quit date.

Table 1 shows the number of quit attempts made by under 16s using NHS smoking cessation services in Scotland and the outcomes of those quit attempts.

The 2006 figures do not include data for Greater Glasgow and Clyde (for which data is held on local information systems but is not available centrally). The 2007 quit attempt figures are all-Scotland, but quit outcomes data for Greater Glasgow and Clyde are not available centrally, so all of these cases are noted as an outcome of smoking status not known, creating an increase in the not known grouping in 2007.

Data for 2008 will be published in May 2009.

Table 1: Quit Attempts¹ made with NHS Smoking Cessation Services in Scotland by Under 16s, 2006-07 Calendar Years

	2006	2007
Number of quit attempts by under 16s	243	316
Of which
Outcome known:	138	110
Successfully quit at 1 month post quit date²	26	38
Outcome at 1 month post quit date “ still smoking	112	72
Outcome not known³	105	206

Source: ISD Scotland National Smoking Cessation Database; Tayside Pharmacies Database and; Greater Glasgow and Clyde local information systems (2007 data only).

Notes:

1. Figures are based on total quit attempts, rather than total number of clients with a quit attempt, so could include repeat quit attempts by the same client.

2. Based on self-reported not smoked, even a puff, in the last two weeks.

3. Outcome not known includes clients lost to follow-up at one month or no consent to follow-up. In 2007, centrally held data for Greater Glasgow and Clyde did not include outcome data, so quit attempts for these services will be recorded as an outcome of smoking status not known.

Question reference: S3W-20670

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 16 have accessed smoking cessation services since 1999.

Information on quit attempts made via NHS smoking cessation services is available from the agreed national minimum dataset for cessation services. The national smoking cessation database (the primary data collection mechanism) was established in July 2005. Calendar year 2006 is the first year for which national cessation monitoring data is published.

National monitoring is based on clients who set a quit date or make a quit attempt with a cessation service. This will not include persons referred to services or who make initial contact with a service, but who do not go on to set a quit date.

Table 1 shows the number of quit attempts made by under 16s using NHS smoking cessation services in Scotland. The 2006 figure does not include data from Greater Glasgow and Clyde (for which data is held on local information systems but is not available centrally). The 2007 figure is all-Scotland. Under 16s account for around 1% of quit attempts made with cessation services.

Data for 2008 will be published in May 2009.

Table 1: Quit Attempts made with NHS Smoking Cessation Services in Scotland by Under 16s, 2006-07 Calendar Years¹

Year	Number of Quit Attempts by Under 16s
2006	243
2007	316

Source: ISD Scotland National Smoking Cessation Database; Tayside Pharmacies Database and; Greater Glasgow and Clyde local information systems (2007 data only).

Notes:

1. Figures are based on total quit attempts, rather than total number of clients with a quit attempt, so could include repeat quit attempts by the same client.

2. The figure for 2006 does not include data from Greater Glasgow and Clyde (data is held on local information systems but is not available centrally).

Question reference: S3W-20668

Asked by: Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 06 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest figures are on smoking prevalence for people under 16, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) NHS board.

Table 1 shows the percentage of 13 and 15-year-olds reporting regular smoking in 2006 by NHS board and council area of residence.

Please note that where the sample sizes are small the numbers should be interpreted with caution.

Percentage of Regular Smokers¹ by Age Group, 2006, by NHS Board and Council Area of Residence

By NHS Board of Residence

	13 Year Olds		15 Year Olds
	%	Base (all pupils)	%	Base (all pupils)
Scotland	4	11,647	15	11,072
Ayrshire and Arran	4	1,015	17	928
Borders	5	317	14	348
Dumfries and Galloway	3	316	17	282
Eilean Siar	7	109	13	97
Fife	6	275	16	324
Forth Valley	5	497	15	473
Grampian	3	1,406	14	1,406
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	3	2,135	14	2,115
Highland	5	691	12	65
Lanarkshire	4	1,137	20	1,001
Lothian	4	2,202	16	1,950
Orkney	4	72	14	70
Shetland	4	189	17	173
Tayside	3	889	14	923

By Council Area of Residence

	13 Year Olds		15 Year Olds
	%	Base (all pupils)		%
Aberdeen City	2	568	10	633
Aberdeenshire	4	591	16	529
Angus	2	172	11	179
Argyll and Bute	6	397	15	399
Borders	5	317	14	348
Clackmannanshire²	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Dumfries and Galloway	3	316	17	282
Dundee City	3	275	13	259
East Ayrshire	4	335	22	302
East Dunbartonshire	1	174	15	128
East Lothian	4	531	14	502
East Renfrewshire	2	419	11	385
Edinburgh City	3	719	14	531
Eilean Siar	7	109	13	97
Falkirk	5	369	14	388
Fife	6	275	16	324
Glasgow City	3	485	13	534
Highland	5	691	12	650
Inverclyde	8	442	14	490
Midlothian	9	248	19	228
Moray	4	247	20	244
North Ayrshire	4	325	15	269
North Lanarkshire	4	422	23	433
Orkney	4	72	14	70
Perth and Kinross	3	442	15	485
Renfrewshire	3	289	12	266
Shetland	4	189	17	173
South Ayrshire	4	355	13	357
South Lanarkshire	4	715	16	568
Stirling	5	128	28	85
West Dunbartonshire	5	326	20	312
West Lothian	4	704	18	689

Source: Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey 2006 (SALSUS).

Notes:

The sample sizes for some local areas are small therefore reference should be made to the full report before attempting to assess the significance of any comparisons.

1. Regular smokers are defined as those reporting usually smoking at least one cigarette a week.

2. No schools in Clackmannanshire participated in the survey therefore local figures are not available.

n/a - not available.

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