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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-02991

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any central guidance is provided to local authorities on the establishment of local area committees.

Whilst all councilsoperate some formal scheme of delegation in their decision‑making processes,there is no single model and councils are able to adopt a process which is best-suitedto their individual circumstances. Councils may also make standing orders whichdeal with proceedings of their committees and sub-committees. No central guidancehas been issued in respect of the establishment of local area committees.

Question reference: S3W-03236

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what average number of vehicles per day used each trunk road currently operated by Transport Scotland in each year since 1980.

The measure of trafficflow on trunk roads is the annual average daily flow (AADF). Complete figures areonly available from 2000 onwards. The minimum and maximum AADF for each trunk road in Scotland between 2000 and 2006 is as follows.

	2000		2001		2002		2003		2004		2005		2006
Route	Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max
A1	5,082	42767	5234	44040	4578	47596	4775	44267	4961	52725	4372	50344	5720	53112
A7	1,874	8849	1644	9051	1803	10769	1722	9006	2020	13574	1901	13494	1537	13600
A8	16,365	69704	8005	69382	9139	72574	9175	68499	1340	36730	369	40906	435	41125
A9	1,560	27513	1609	37276	1277	31234	1308	31703	1208	33132	1678	36425	1260	34708
A68	2,808	8949	2351	15605	2418	17689	2766	16371	2501	16369	2534	16972	2462	65715
A74	1,349	1349	1359	1359	1329	1329	1297	1346	1404	1404	1456	1456	1478	1478
A75	3,792	16577	3440	15776	4226	18557	3634	19207	3333	20492	4016	21828	4027	31542
A76	2,521	19296	2329	18923	2486	20461	2708	23963	2965	26232	2800	24440	2885	22236
A77	2,895	37049	2937	37964	3029	39888	2576	41206	3017	35345	2976	34771	1101	39924
A78	6,545	29576	3674	29405	7730	29580	7137	29322	7382	30063	6088	30107	6064	28742
A80	23,288	23288	N/A	N/A	24601	60234	26186	104175	25951	69837	26229	95372	26491	74191
A82	2,141	27592	2275	26034	110	30028	2179	30635	2404	34657	2183	30000	2389	30093
A83	2,072	5251	2288	5690	2423	6368	1916	6499	2030	6621	2118	6630	2119	6222
A84	8,534	8534	3505	8525	3988	9351	2081	9441	3399	9940	3465	9886	3483	9632
A85	3,037	6618	1520	7270	1752	17181	2144	18025	1297	18899	2185	16387	2291	16209
A86	992	3051	952	952	519	3351	768	982	815	951	1066	1256	858	2923
A87	262	4146	18	4039	609	3637	1137	4851	1152	4580	1187	4976	1179	4241
A90	3,940	37157	3859	47454	3479	51222	4131	40826	4258	41338	4723	42056	3060	42349
A92	6,092	36329	341	36993	5710	39708	5415	40412	5932	40537	6208	41403	6529	42998
A95	111	4872	1752	4746	1504	5028	1447	5158	1855	5959	1494	5542	1787	5693
A96	5,954	30000	5938	30723	6271	31545	6316	39172	6617	39150	6677	39335	6571	39458
A99	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	2006	2006	1921	1921	1932	1932	1942	1942	2033	2033
A701	4,175	19185	3673	18688	4407	19390	4396	20565	4676	21426	4833	50168	4634	21061
A702	4,380	8933	3954	20216	3239	20626	4525	20235	4102	20771	3802	20390	2652	20861
A720	15,763	52999	16371	55451	15728	58272	17857	58722	18007	63055	17483	62412	10291	62895
A725	24,455	45252	24605	45942	21697	48247	21011	48076	21915	47448	22846	50453	22542	52731
A726	20,496	21101	14311	21139	17884	33214	20804	28243	21293	27318	23423	23423	25438	25438
A737	9,882	54920	9722	56121	9892	57725	8995	55277	10553	60408	9265	59422	9154	59454
A738	16,099	16099	16097	16097	16567	16567	15977	15977	13925	13925	18682	18682	19163	19163
A751	1,282	1282	1297	1297	1360	1360	1388	1388	1403	1403	1443	1443	1465	1465
A828	1,306	4059	1976	1976	1699	5738	1813	4950	1815	4739	1902	4846	1922	4876
A830	809	7177	535	6663	739	7169	868	7746	978	7795	973	8165	933	8013
A835	1,331	7990	845	9063	1391	8793	1515	9010	1595	9556	1610	9612	1596	9934
	2,000		2001		2002		2003		2004		2005		2006
Route	Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max	Min	Max
A876	23,704	24,371	23,660	24,266	23,801	24,078	24,534	25,273	17,877	25,389	14,898	24,717	15,456	26,031
A887	767	767	N/A	N/A	991	991	988	988	953	953	963	963	958	958
A889	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	613	613	658	658	704	704	679	679	691	691
A898	24,415	24,415	24,916	24,916	26,286	26,286	26,510	26,510	27,646	27,646	27,040	27,040	32,481	32,481
A972	26,931	26,931	26,680	26,680	25,852	31,527	21,309	28,632	26,204	29,210	27,382	30,347	26,727	30,473
A977	14,940	14,960	15,116	15,341	8,445	14,747	13,952	14,973	14,725	15,202	14,619	15,195	15,428	15,895
A985	9,664	14,499	9,707	14,779	10,076	14,501	9,584	14,511	7,682	14,587	2,847	14,223	2,845	14520
A6091	7,154	11,348	4,824	7,427	6,741	10,991	5,763	8,333	8,519	8,519	8,429	13,347	8,883	13,226
A823M	8,133	8,133	8,295	8,295	8,484	8,484	8,706	8,706	9,073	9,073	9,236	9,236	9,497	9,497
M8	3,081	157,436	3,176	153,686	3,461	155,508	3,482	156,782	3,756	159,412	3,837	158,872	4,038	151,444
M9	10,269	48,220	7,348	50,639	10,510	50,831	11,185	52,419	11,157	51,562	11,304	53,869	11,993	54,508
M73	13,588	36,612	10,762	34,112	10,980	34,131	11,070	36,044	12,023	36,417	11,945	36,199	12,827	39,480
M74	2,651	34,756	2,694	41,000	2628	38,657	2832	40,277	3,173	40,983	3,301	41,693	3,354	43,316
M77	10,502	28,672	12,596	30,104	11,762	31,301	11,814	31,622	11,537	32,261	12,601	34,186	7,349	36,202
M80	16,220	32,085	16,701	61,069	16,102	60,452	15,656	60,078	17,983	56,144	17,970	55,986	24,677	55,864
M90	6,413	30,926	6,253	31,431	10,201	32,504	12,406	33,826	12,411	33,749	9,921	35,608	12,779	57,123
M876	9,183	30,160	13,582	31,204	15,634	31,692	16,045	33,082	16,445	32,901	15,364	31,324	15,242	33,897

Transport Scotland has operational responsibility for this matter and canbe contacted for further information if required.

Question reference: S3W-03237

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what average number of vehicles per day used the (a) Skye, (b) Erskine, (c) Tay and (d) Forth road bridges in each year since 1980.

Information on thetotal number of crossings each year, and the average number per day, is given inthe following table, in terms of thousands of vehicle crossings. More detailed figuresare available in the annual publication Scottish Transport Statistics, copiesof which may be obtained from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

	Skye Bridge		Erskine Bridge		Tay Road Bridge⁴		Forth Road Bridge⁵
	Full Year	Average Per Day	Full Year	Average Per Day	Full Year	Average Per Day	Full Year	Average Per Day
1980			4,245	12	4,947	14	10,774	29
1981			4,079	11	4,807	13	10,982	30
1982			3,756	10	4,873	13	11,444	31
1983			4,047	11	5,102	14	11,675	32
1984			4,327	12	5,211	14	12,001	33
1985			4,436	12	5,192	14	12,397	34
1986			4,802	13	5,370	15	12,236	34
1987			5,526	15	5,628	15	13,497	37
1988			5,751	16	5,933	16	14,705	40
1989			6,368	17	6,269	17	15,839	43
1990			6,748	18	6,694	18	16,585	45
1991			7,077	19	6,720	18	16,922	46
1992			6,764	18	6,946	19	17,802	49
1993			6,809	19	6,944	19	18,177	50
1994			6,865	19	7,198	20	18,994	52
1995	78	1	7,401	20	7,414	20	19,540	54
1996	612	2	6,622	18	7,534	21	20,374	56
1997	627	2	7,420	20	7,656	21	21,078	58
1998	656	2	7,966	22	7,778	21	20,782	57
1999	665	2	8,230	23	7,920	22	21,868	60
2000	675	2	8,695	24	8,074	22	22,168	61
2001	666	2	8,881	24	8,184	22	22,608	62
2002	718	2	9,480	26	8,414	23	23,374	64
2003	756	2	9,677	27	8,684	24	24,010	66
2004	769	2	10,078	28	8,929	24	23,562	64
2005	1,182	3	10,007	27	8,942	24	23,810	65
2006	1,227	3	11,438	31	8,868	24	23,682	65

Source: Figures aretaken from Scottish Transport Statistics, Numbers 11, 19 and 25 - Table 4 on TollBridges. Traffic figures are reported in thousands.

Notes:

1. The Skye Bridgeopened on 16 October 1995.

2. Tolling at theSkye Bridge ended on 21 December 2004.

3. Tolling at theErskine Bridge ended on 31 March 2006.

4. Responsibilityfor the Tay Road Bridge lies with the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board.

5. Responsibilityfor the Forth Road Bridge lies with the Forth Estuary Transport Authority.

Question reference: S3W-03238

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what input it or its agencies have in setting rail fares.

Following the RailwaysAct 2005, Scottish ministers are responsible for fares regulation in Scotland. The current structure of fares in Scotland is a mix of regulated and unregulated fares. Scottishministers can restrict the permitted increase on regulated fares while unregulatedfares are set by the operator. Responsibility for setting regulated fares on cross-borderservices rests with the Secretary of State for Transport.

Question reference: S3W-03235

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 September 2007

The numbers of railpassenger journeys originating in Scotland in each year from 1960 (calendar year)to 2004-05 (financial year) were published by the Scottish Executive in December2006 in Table H1 of Scottish Transport Statistics number 25, 2006 edition,a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 41474). The corresponding figure for the 2005-06 financial year is 78.1 million.Figures for years prior to 1960 are not available.

Question reference: S3W-03493

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 31 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what contact any Scottish police force has had with Westminster’s Intelligence and Security Committee regarding the committee’s inquiry into allegations of extraordinary rendition.

Question reference: S3W-03492

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 31 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it or any of its agencies has had with Westminster’s Intelligence and Security Committee regarding the committee’s inquiry into allegations of extraordinary rendition.

Question reference: S3W-03086

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many drugs-related deaths there have been in each year since 1970, broken down by class and type of substance.

This information canbe found in Drug-related Deaths in Scotland in 2006 published by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) in August 2007,copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 43466).

A consistent seriesof figures on drug-related deaths is only available from 1996.

The paper may alsobe found on the GROS website at:

http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/drug-related-deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland-2006/index.html.

Question reference: S3W-03093

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals have been convicted of being involved in the supply of illegal drugs in each year since 1970 and what proportion served a custodial sentence after conviction.

The available informationis given in the following table. Supply of illegal drugs offences cannot be identifiedseparately from other drug offences in the statistics available for years priorto 1985-86.

Persons with aCharge for Proved in Scottish Courts for Drug Supply Offences¹, 1985-86to 2005-06

Year	Total Number	% Receiving a Custodial Sentence
1985-86	244	72
1986-87	286	65
1987-88	335	53
1988-89	345	63
1989-90	394	53
1990-91	514	43
1991-92	610	43
1992-93	646	45
1993-94	904	46
1994-95	950	50
1995-96	1,151	53
1996-97	1,420	57
1997-98	1,551	53
1998-99	1,511	50
1999-2000	1,437	50
2000-01	1,274	52
2001-02	1,317	56
2002-03	1,464	52
2003-04	1,536	51
2004-05	1,689	47
2005-06	1,562	46

Note: 1. Where mainoffence.

Question reference: S3W-03480

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the incidence is of alcoholism, broken down by age group, and what comparative information it has for (a) the United Kingdom as a whole, (b) each EU member state and (c) each OECD nation.

The numbers of patientsdischarged from Scottish general acute hospitals in 2005-06 and psychiatric hospitalsin 2004-05 with a diagnosis of alcohol dependence (ICD10 code F10.2) by age groupis given in the following table.

Comparativeinformation for the United Kingdom, EU member states and OECD nations is not held centrally.

	General Hospitals 2005-06	Psychiatric Hospitals 2004-05
All ages	3,414	2,352
Under 15 years	2	0
15 to 19 years	20	20
20 to 24 years	68	70
25 to 29 years	103	159
30 to 34 years	180	267
35 to 39 years	312	368
40 to 44 years	433	430
45 to 49 years	470	358
50 to 54 years	471	268
55 to 59 years	400	194
60 years and over	955	218

Source: ISD Scotland (SMR01 and SMR04).