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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: S3W-20638

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many tests have been conducted for chlamydia, broken down by (a) age group and (b) gender and what proportion of the population this represents, from January to September in each year since 2006.

The available information is given in the following table (2007 is the year for which the latest data is available):

Genital Chlamydia Infection, Scotland 2006 and 2007; Laboratory Tests and Proportion of Population by Gender and Age Group

Gender	Age Group	2006	2006	2007	2,007
		Numbers	Proportion of Population* (%)	Numbers	Proportion of Population** (%)
Male	15-24	22,203	6.50	23,865	6.90
	25-49	27,401	3.10	28,955	3.30
	50+	2,583	0.60	2,783	0.60
	Total***	52,187	3.10	55,603	3.30
Female	15-24	78,634	24	80,509	24.30
	25-49	90,288	9.80	90,160	9.80
	50+	7,320	1.50	4,333	0.90
	Total ***	176,242	10.10	175,002	10
Total^1,2	15-24	100,837	15.10	104,374	15.40
	25-49	117,689	6.60	119,115	6.60
	50+	9,903	1	7,116	0.70
	Total ***	228,429	6.70	230,605	6.70

Source: Health Protection Scotland - February 2009.

Notes:

The total number of tests collected from the laboratories contains some equivocal, unconfirmed or indeterminate results (approx 1.3% of tests) as well as some duplicate tests for the same individual (approx 5-20%).

1.Excludes cases where gender is not known.

2. Totals do not include the number of tests performed in those <15.

*Population denominator based on the GROS mid-year population data for 2006 for those aged 15-64.

**Population denominator based on the GROS mid-year population data for 2007 for those aged 15-64.

***Includes age not known.

Question reference: S3W-20637

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive to what it attributes any changes in the numbers of diagnoses for chlamydia since 2006.

Question reference: S3W-20641

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the known reinfection rate is for chlamydia, broken down by (a) age group, (b) gender and (c) NHS board.

Question reference: S3W-20644

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 March 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will track the impact of the extension of chlamydia testing as part of the new community pharmacy contract.

Question reference: S3W-20573

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 27 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) employed and (b) volunteer drivers there have been in the Scottish Ambulance Service in each year since 1999.

The following table details the number of volunteer ambulance car drivers since 2004, broken down by NHS board area. Information is not held for the years prior to 2003-04.

NHS Board	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Argyll and Clyde^#	18	18	0	0	0	0
Ayrshire and Arran	15	16	14	11	14	17
Borders	9	9	10	10	10	4
Dumfries and Galloway	25	25	21	21	28	22
Fife	11	13	14	12	17	14
Forth Valley	29	34	35	35	45	45
Grampian	19	21	20	19	19	15
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	47	46	45	38	42	31
Highland	57	58	64	64	88	58
Lanarkshire	28	30	32	26	29	17
Lothian	13	11	10	10	10	8
Orkney	4	4	2	1	4	2
Shetland	0	1	0	0	1	0
Tayside	28	25	24	24	27	23
Western Isles	12	13	14	9	17	10
Scotland	315	324	305	280	351	266

Notes:

*Information provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service.

**Information for 2008-09 is as at 19 February 2009.

^#Dissolution of NHS Argyll and Clyde “ figures for 2005-06 and 2006-07 included in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Highland.

The Scottish Ambulance Service do not employ drivers. The service employs a mix of paramedics, technicians and ambulance care assistants to deliver the accident and emergency service and the patient transport service. Volunteer car drivers support the patient transport service by taking patients to hospital for routine appointments.

The Scottish Ambulance Service recognises that the role of the volunteer driver in rural areas, in particular in the north of Scotland, is vital to ensuring that patients get to their hospital appointments. The patient transport service, which volunteer drivers support, exists for those with a medical need for transport. The appropriate mix of resources is the subject of on-going review against the changing requirements of patient groups.

In order to attract some more volunteer car drivers in specific areas, the Scottish Ambulance Service ran an advertising campaign in local newspapers that cover rural areas. They also ran a targeted poster campaign in hospital clinics and GP surgeries. The service will continue to promote the recruitment of volunteer drivers through these channels.

Question reference: S3W-20571

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many days were lost in the Scottish Ambulance Service through sickness absence in each year since 1999, broken down by division.

To ensure comparability of data the Scottish Ambulance Service record sickness absence rates as a percentage which allows benchmarking against other health boards. Sickness absence information is based on hours lost to take account of part-time workers whose standard day is different to a whole-time worker''s standard day.

The following table shows sickness absence figures from 2002 onwards. This information is not available from 1999-2001.

2002-03	5.7%
2003-04	5.4%
2004-05	5.9%
2005-06	5.5%
2006-07	5.6%
2007-08	5.8%
2008-09	5.3% (to end January 2009)

Scottish Ambulance Service are currently working towards a target of 5% absence rate by 31 March 2009.

Question reference: S3W-20570

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many days were lost in the NHS through sickness absence in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Information on sickness absence rates is based on hours lost at a national level and is available from 2001 onwards. NHS board level information is available from 2005 onwards:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/servlet/FileBuffer?namedFile=Sickness%20Absence.xls&pContentDispositionType=inline.

Sickness absence information is based on hours lost to take account of part-time workers whose standard day is different to a whole-time worker''s standard day.

Sickness absence is a complex issue and it is difficult to identify cause and effect, which impacts on where best to target interventions. Much work has been done at the national level, including publishing a Health at Work PIN (Partnership Information Network) guideline. A specialist group (The Promoting Attendance and Managing Sickness Absence Group) has also been established at national level with membership from NHS management, trade unions and the Scottish Government and has within its remit responsibility to identify, disseminate and promote good practice. All Boards have agreed to a target of 4% by March 2009 (with the exception of the Scottish Ambulance Service and NHS 24, whose targets are 5% and 6% respectively). Each board has a sickness absence policy in place and the sickness absence targets have been integrated into objectives for individuals and operational units.

Question reference: S3W-21146

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 24 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of school children in each local authority area in the west of Scotland attended an independent (a) primary and (b) secondary school in each year since 1997.

This information is not collected centrally.

Figures for the number of pupils in independent schools are published each year on the government website at the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/PubIndSchoolCensus.

However, since pupils attend independent schools outwith their area and information on the location of residence of pupil in independent schools is not collected, the requested information is not available.

Question reference: S3W-20572

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many days were lost in the Scottish Police Service through sickness absence in each year since 1999, broken down by police force.

Police working days lost due to sickness absence 1999-2000 to 2007-08

Force	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Central	8,673	9,869	8,944	9,592	9,807	7,596	5,959	7,357	5,881
Dumfries and Galloway	3,413	3,687	3,052	2,598	4,532	3,952	3,596	3,315	3,707
Fife	8,818	7,920	9,804	8,870	9,044	10,341	9,427	11,454	9,715
Grampian	7,522	7,035	7,561	10,519	11,742	11,075	10,295	11,629	10,548
Lothian and Borders	30,624	32,222	30,840	33,967	34,168	28,845	31,227	31,239	30,822
Northern	6,234	5,436	6,095	6,213	6,789	6,439	7,908	8,595	7,203
Strathclyde	88,017	76,113	79,542	82,037	83,153	73,221	73,389	81,788	81,716
Tayside	16,246	16,003	14,910	13,893	12,543	12,019	11,870	12,749	11,832
Scotland	169,547	158,285	160,748	167,689	171,778	153,488	153,671	168,126	161,424

Sources:

1999-2000 to 2001-02 police force annual statistical returns to Her Majesty''s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland.

2002-03 to 2006-07 Audit Scotland.

2007-08 Scottish Police Performance Framework collection.

Note: Days lost refer to police officers and do not include support staff.

Question reference: S3W-20428

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 February 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 February 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many senior staff charge nurses it expects to be operating within the senior charge nurse framework in (a) six months’, (b) 12 months’ and (c) 18 months’ time.