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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: S4W-06097

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what energy production is forecast for (a) marine and (b) wind power under its plans to generate 100% of electricity by renewable sources.

While we have not forecast specific outcomes for individual technologies in the context of our renewables targets for 2020, we would expect wind energy - on and offshore - to make a major contribution. We are also continuing to support and encourage marine renewables, with new initiatives such as our £18 million Marine Renewables Commercialisation Fund aimed at proving wave and tidal technologies, driving down costs and enabling them to play a significant part in meeting our energy needs in 2020 and beyond.

Question reference: S4W-06095

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much energy has been produced by (a) wave and (b) tidal power in each of the last five years.

The information requested on electricity generation from wave and tidal stream generating stations is not held centrally. Scottish renewable electricity statistics for renewable electricity from 2000 onwards are collated by the UK Government Department of Energy and Climate Change. Wind, wave and tidal statistics cannot be published in a disaggregated form because to do so could disclose data that relate to individual companies.

Question reference: S4W-05664

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have died from complications associated with hip-replacement operations and what the cause of death was in each case in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

ISD Scotland collects hospital data (SMR01 records) from which hip-replacement operations can be identified, and utilises National Records of Scotland (NRS) data from which causes of death (from the death certificate) can be identified. The Scottish Arthroplasty Project combines these data, but due to quality and completeness of recording it is not possible to definitively identify deaths due to complications from hip-replacement operations.

Table 1 shows the number of patients who have undergone one or more hip-replacement operations from 1999 to 2010 and have a subsequent cause of death, as identified from the death certificate, as a complication due to surgical implant. These figures are likely to slightly underestimate the actual number of deaths, due to the complexities of death in a generally elderly population (those receiving hip implants). It may not always be possible for the certifying doctor to definitively record each and all of the causes of death, and complications due to implants may not always be wholly evident.

Information has been provided for 1999 to 2010 combined instead of by individual year to avoid disclosing small numbers.

Table 1. Number of patients who have undergone one or more hip-replacement operations 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2010 and have a subsequent cause of death as a complication due to surgical implant, with total number of hip operations by NHS board

NHS Board of Treatment	Total Number of Hip Replacement Operations	Total Number of Patients who Have a Subsequent Cause of Death as a Complication due to Surgical Implant	%
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	4,489	28	0.62
NHS Borders	2,084	15	0.72
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	1,503	16	1.06
NHS Fife	4,329	13	0.30
NHS Forth Valley	2,602	13	0.50
NHS Grampian	9,311	31	0.33
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	17,577	82	0.47
NHS Highland	4,318	14	0.32
NHS Lanarkshire	4,645	23	0.50
NHS Lothian	10,783	83	0.77
NHS Tayside	8,810	54	0.61
NHS Western Isles	490	6	1.22
NHS National Waiting Times Unit	5,275	6	0.11
Scotland	76,216	384	0.50

Source: ISD SMR01 data.

1. Table 1 shows the number of instances where a patient has undergone one or more hip-replacement operation (including total hip replacements, revisions, resurfacings, hybrid and emergency operations) from 1999 to 2010, has subsequently died and where the ICD10 code Y83.1 “Surgical operation with implant of artificial internal device as the cause of abnormal reaction of the patient, or of later complication, without mention of misadventure at the time of the procedure” is recorded as a cause of death on NRS data, derived from the death certificate.

2. OPCS4 codes for hip arthroplasty, hip resurfacing, hybrid hip replacement, hip revision or hybrid hip revision have been selected. For further information please see:

http://www.arthro.scot.nhs.uk/OPCS_codes_summary_150710.pdf. Emergency admissions are included.

3. It is possible that a patient may have had an additional implant other than that fitted in the hip-replacement operation, and that it is this from which the complication (noted as cause of death) arose. Without recourse to the patients medical notes, it is not possible to differentiate between multiple implants and subsequent complications as cause of death.

4. Further information on the quality of NRS death data is available here:

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/vital-events/deaths/bckgr-info/quality-of-nrs-data-on-deaths.html.

5. Further information on the quality of SMR01 data is available here:

http://www.isdscotland.org/Products-and-Services/Data-Quality/.

Question reference: S4W-05695

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact on the Scottish economy has been of the gas produced by the Rhum gas field and what the impact is expected to be over the forecast lifespan of the field.

Question reference: S4F-00539

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 March 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2012

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will provide further information on its plans to improve childcare for pre-school children.

Question reference: S4W-05693

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 12 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the (a) monthly productivity since 2005 and (b) current productivity of the Rhum gas field; how this compares with the forecast productivity, and what the impact on jobs has been in Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-00811

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 March 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions the Minister for Local Government and Planning has had with local government about the issue of youth employment.

Question reference: S4W-05533

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 7 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the destinations of deaf and hard of hearing children on leaving school in each year since 1999 and how these destinations compare with those for other children.

Information on individual school leaver destinations by reason for additional support need is held from 2007-08 onwards. Only limited analysis of school leaver destinations by pupil characteristics is available in 2006-07, prior to this information was collected at a school level.

In 2010-11, the proportion of leavers with a hearing impairment, from publicly funded secondary schools, entering positive destinations was higher than for any other additional support need and was similar to that for those with no additional support needs, 89.1 per cent compared to 89.7 per cent. See table 3.3: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/schleavdest2011

Information on school leavers from publicly funded schools, from 2007-08 onwards, broken down by additional support need is published on our website at the following links:

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

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

Question reference: S4W-05531

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 6 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how the attainment levels of deaf and hard of hearing children in mainstream education compares with those in specialist education.

Table 1 sets out the attainment levels of school leavers with a hearing impairment from mainstream and special schools. However, no significant conclusions can be drawn from the data as there is a very small number of leavers from specialist provision with a hearing impairment.

Table 1. Highest Qualifications Attained by School Leavers with a Hearing Impairment, 2009-10.

	Publicly Funded	Specialist
Total leavers (=100%)	54	12
No NQ Qualifications @ Level 2 or better	*	41.7
1+ @ SCQF Level 2	0	*
1-4 @ SCQF Level 3	11.1	*
5+ @ SCQF Level 3	*	*
1-4 @ SCQF Level 4	16.7	0
5+ @ SCQF Level 4	13	0
1-4 @ SCQF Level 5	31.5	0
5+ @ SCQF Level 5	0	0
1-4 @ SCQF Level 6	14.8	0
5+ @ SCQF Level 6	*	0
1+ @ SCQF Level 7	*	0

Question reference: S4W-05530

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 February 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 6 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to improve the educational attainment levels of deaf and hard of hearing children.

The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, as amended, places a duty on education authorities to identify, meet and keep under review the additional support needs of all pupils for whom they are responsible and to tailor provision according to their individual needs.

In November 2010, Education Scotland published the Review of the Additional Support for Learning Act: Adding Benefits for Learners which noted that children with sensory impairments continue to have their additional support needs identified and addressed at an early stage through well established partnership working between health and education and through the implementation of early intervention strategies. In November 2007, Education Scotland also published guidance for schools Count Us In: Achieving Success for Deaf Pupils. This aims to help teachers, support staff and managers to improve the experiences and outcomes of deaf and hard of hearing children and young people.

The National Partnership Group is currently developing detailed plans to implement the recommendations in Teaching Scotland's Future. The overall aim of the group is to improve outcomes for children and young people through improved learning and teaching. This includes developing detailed plans to implement proposals on teachers' career-long professional learning at Masters level and identifying priority areas for continuing professional development.

The Scottish Government also fund the Scottish Sensory Centre to provide high-quality continuing professional development to teachers of children with sensory impairments, including deaf and hard of hearing children.