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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-09749

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) men and (b) women are being screened for chlamydia by each NHS board and how these figures compare with screening targets.

Question reference: S3W-09748

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) men and (b) women are being screened for chlamydia by each NHS board and how this percentage compares with screening targets.

Percentages of men and women being tested for chlamydia by NHS board are shown in the following table.

There are, as yet, no published targets for chlamydia testing. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland is currently in the final stages of developing clinical standards for sexual health, including chlamydia testing, which will be published in April of this year.

Percentage* of the Population of Men and Women in each NHS Board of Testing Undergoing a Chlamydia Test by Age Group, Scotland, 2005

NHS Board areas	Women		Men
NHS Board areas	% in those Aged 15-24	% in those Aged 25-49	% in those Aged 15-24	% in those Aged 25-49
Argyll and Clyde**	22	9	3	1
Ayrshire and Arran	21	8	6	2
Borders	22	6	6	3
Dumfries and Galloway	36	13	7	2
Fife	21	9	5	2
Forth Valley	22	7	6	2
Grampian	29	12	7	3
Greater Glasgow	26	10	8	4
Highland	35	12	8	3
Lanarkshire	15	8	4	2
Lothian	28	11	8	5
Tayside	27	10	8	3

Source: Health Protection Scotland.

Notes:

*Percentages were calculated using the GROS 2005 mid year population data.

**The percentage of chlamydia tests performed by age group and gender in Argyll and Clyde NHS Board may be underestimated due to missing data.

It is estimated that an approximate 5-20% of tests in a calendar year are repeat ones on the same individual as a result of: (i) repeat samples taken at a single consultation, (ii) samples taken at different consultations for the same clinical episode and, (iii) samples taken for clinical episodes occurring more than once.

Question reference: S3W-09255

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to ensure that diabetic patients on rosiglitazone who suffer from ischemic heart disease or peripheral arterial disease are no longer prescribed this medicine in line with the advice of the European Medicines Agency.

The safety of medicines is reserved and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA has advised that the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended new restrictions and warnings for rosiglitazone, including advice that it is not recommended for use in patients with ischaemic heart disease or peripheral arterial disease, because of concerns about an increased risk of myocardial infarction in these patients.

Health care professionals were informed about this new advice in the February 2008 edition of the MHRA Drug Safety Update bulletin. The product information for all rosiglitazone containing products is also being updated to incorporate the new advice.

Question reference: S3O-01980

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 January 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made to implement its strategy to augment police numbers by the deferred retirement of existing police officers.

The Scottish Government’s priorityis to recruit, retain and redeploy police officers to build police capacity andstrengthen operational policing in our communities. Thus delivering an additional1,000 officers into our communities.

Retaining valuable officers isimportant to the government and communities. The 30 + scheme is not working as wellas we would wish.

We are therefore looking to developmore opportunities which will enable chief constables to retain the skills of someof the 2,300 experienced officers who will be eligible to retire over the lifetimeof this Parliament and who wish to continue serving their communities.

Question reference: S3W-08072

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 21 January 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prescriptions have been dispensed in each year since 1999, showing how many were (a) dispensed free of charge and (b) subject to a prescription charge.

The total number of prescriptionsdispensed in Scotland by community pharmacists, dispensing doctors and appliancesuppliers is shown in the table.

Financial Year Ending 31 March	Dispensed Without Charge or by Prepayment Certificate¹	Dispensed with Charge	Total Dispensed
2000	54,569,254	6,298,914	60,868,168
2001	56,871,396	6,169,236	63,040,632
2002	59,762,675	6,461,267	66,223,942
2003	63,158,412	6,322,180	69,480,592
2004	66,169,189	5,996,779	72,165,968
2005	68,980,965	5,646,360	74,627,325
2006	71,477,618	5,790,334	77,267,952
2007	73,790,083	5,675,627	79,465,710

Source: ISD Scotland.

Note: 1. The number of prepayment certificates issued in theyear ending 31 March 2007 by NHS boards was 182,874. A prepayment certificate canbe used to obtain an unspecified number of prescriptions during the period. Forthe year ending 2007 the number of prescriptions dispensed using a prepayment certificatewas 3,774,467 - data is not available for earlier years.

Question reference: S3W-08165

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 January 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to protect sensitive data, following the loss of the personal details of 25 million people by HM Revenue and Customs.

Our data protection and ITsecurity policies are corporate within the Scottish Government and there arespecific data transfer protocols for transferring particular types of informationbetween specific bodies or systems. This is in line with the overall frameworkon information security laid down by Cabinet Office for the UK civilservice.

Following the HMRC incident,and along with other UK public bodies, we are currently conducting a reviewof data handling across the Scottish Government, its associated bodies and thewider public sector in Scotland. The review is considering the procedures currentlyin place for the protection of data, their consistency with government-widestandards and policies, and arrangements for ensuring that policies andprocedures are being fully and correctly implemented. It will enable us toconsider the need for any further measures and will allow us to consistentlyshare best practice throughout the wider public sector.

Question reference: S3O-01614

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 13 December 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to increase the protection of the public as a result of the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport on 30 June 2007.

Public safety remainsthe Scottish Government’s top priority, and security arrangements are kept underconstant review. The lessons learned from the Glasgow Airport incident have informed our resilience planningacross a range of sectors. The government and all public bodies remain ever vigilantagainst the terrorist threat in our determination to ensure we are playing our partin protecting the Scottish public.

Question reference: S3W-07246

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 13 December 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to pilot driving on hard shoulders during rush hour on congested stretches of roads, in light of the results of the UK Government’s pilot scheme allowing drivers to use the hard shoulder on the M42 outside Birmingham during rush hour.

Question reference: S3W-07291

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 11 December 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4760 by Stewart Stevenson on 25 October 2007, what contingency arrangements have been made to ensure that the Isle of Arran has sufficient fuels in the event of adverse weather conditions making roads impassable or leading to the cancellation of ferry services to the island.

Localauthorities, as Category 1 responders under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004,have a responsibility to assess the risk of emergencies occurring, and to usethis to inform contingency planning. North Ayrshire Council believe their plansin this regard are robust and sufficient.

For example, Iunderstand that should severe weather, or any other reason, stop fuel gettingto Arran, there is normally sufficient stock held at the Scottish Fuels depotin Brodick to last up to eight weeks. North Ayrshire Council also hassubstantial fuel storage facilities on the island.

Question reference: S3W-06597

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2007
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 29 November 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4661 by Jim Mather on 15 October 2007, how many children aged under six months were registered for adoption in each year from 1967 to 1987, also showing the total number of births in each year.

The informationrequested is given in the following table.

Adoptions ofChildren Aged Under Six Months, 1967-87

Year of Adoption	Number	Total Number of Births
1967	277	96,221
1968	308	94,786
1969	315	90,290
1970	244	87,335
1971	185	86,728
1972	195	78,550
1973	215	74,392
1974	165	70,093
1975	135	67,943
1976	102	64,895
1977	93	62,342
1978	85	64,294
1979	36	68,366
1980	72	68,890
1981	70	69,054
1982	85	66,196
1983	85	65,078
1984	70	65,106
1985	51	66,676
1986	56	65,812
1987	33	66,241