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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: S4F-00770

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2012

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the teaching profession regarding proposed changes to the Higher English curriculum.

Question reference: S4W-07456

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time to see an eye specialist has been in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

Information on median waits for a first outpatient appointment to see an eye specialist following a referral from a GP or Optometrist for the calendar year 2007 is provided in the table 1. Due to the introduction of New Ways of Defining Waiting Times from 1 January 2008 the data for 2007 is not directly comparable with New Ways data.

Table 2 provides the median wait for a first out appointment to see an eye specialist following a referral from a GP or Optometrist for the calendar years 2008 and 2009. Information on the median waits for the calendar years 2010 and 2011 are from all sources of referral not just GP or Optometrist. This information is provided in table 3.

Table 1 NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for a First Outpatient Appointment to see an Eye Specialist Following a GP Referral for the Year 2007, by NHS Board

NHS Board	2007 Median Waits (Days)
Ayrshire and Arran	66
Borders	41
Dumfries and Galloway	51
Fife	43
Forth Valley	105
Grampian	46
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	62
Highland	48
Lanarkshire	71
Lothian	65
Orkney	83
Shetland	43
Tayside	20
Western Isles	61
NHSScotland	52

Source ISD Scotland SMR00.

Table 2 NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for a First Outpatient Appointment to see an Eye Specialist following GP or Optometrist referral for the Years 2008 and 2009, by NHS Board

NHS Board	2008 Median Waits (Days)	2009 Median Waits (Days)
Ayrshire and Arran	47	49
Borders	33	35
Dumfries and Galloway	41	41
Fife	26	22
Forth Valley	76	67
Grampian	49	45
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	49	48
Highland	46	49
Lanarkshire	67	42
Lothian	55	55
Orkney	35	41
Shetland	49	28
Tayside	19	22
Western Isles	39	43
NHSScotland	46	45

Source ISD Scotland Waiting Times Data Warehouse.

Table 3 NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for a First Outpatient Appointment to see an Eye Specialist Following Referral from All Sources for the Years 2010 and 2011, by NHS Board

NHS Board	2010 Median Waits (Days)	2011 Median Waits (Days)
Ayrshire and Arran	39	56
Borders	41	35
Dumfries and Galloway	30	23
Fife	29	32
Forth Valley	70	66
Grampian	37	42
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	41	36
Highland	56	46
Lanarkshire	53	66
Lothian	33	40
Orkney	59	64
Shetland	28	36
Tayside	29	31
Western Isles	25	29
NHSScotland	39	41

Source ISD Scotland Waiting Times Data Warehouse.

Question reference: S4W-07457

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cataract operations have taken place in each year since 2007, broken down by NHS board.

The information requested is provided in the following table.

NHSScotland: Number of Cataract Procedures Performed in Acute Hospital

Board of Treatment	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11^P
Ayrshire and Arran	2,605	2,813	3,077	3,043	2,537
Borders	1,155	1,187	1,082	1,356	1,201
Dumfries and Galloway	933	1,282	1,667	1,679	1,504
Fife	1,726	1,639	1,568	1,620	1,647
Forth Valley	1,532	1,402	1,584	1,390	1,542
Grampian	2,528	2,327	2,571	2,629	2,343
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	6,964	7,499	8,055	7,830	8,181
Highland	1,807	1,446	1,640	1,780	1,779
Lanarkshire	1,726	1,460	1,771	2,000	2,070
Lothian	2,983	3,811	4,149	4,423	4,414
Orkney	160	151	105	82	71
Shetland	76	88	105	62	56
Tayside	3,135	2,906	2,968	3,688	4,107
Western Isles	212	203	222	272	234
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	3,231	2,810	1,313	1,049	943
Non-NHS Providers	338	99	13	85	28
NHSScotland	31,111	31,123	31,890	32,988	32,657

Source: ISD Scotland SMR00 and SMR01.

^PProvisional.

Question reference: S4O-01118

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of how local authorities will address their pensions deficit and what discussions it has with them on the issue.

The local authorities in Scotland are responsible for the 11 local government pension funds.

There are formal accounting regulations which govern how local governments’ pension funds are accounted for. In the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 there are safeguards which relate to how a council or councils should account for any surplus or deficit. Pension funds are subject to a three yearly actuarial review, one of the outcomes of which is to determine a rate of employer’s contribution that will address the medium to long-term needs of the fund. Taking account of these various factors, it would be for each fund to use the resources at its disposal over time to cover any shortfalls.

Ministers have had discussions with COSLA over the last few months to discuss the affordability and sustainability of local government pensions, and we are currently awaiting information from COSLA on the outcome of the most recent fund evaluations which concluded earlier this year.

Question reference: S4W-07267

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 31 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been placed in foster families in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-07270

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 30 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been waiting for adoption in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-07269

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 30 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been adopted in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-07268

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 24 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been waiting for a foster family in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-07265

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 23 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been in the care of a local authority in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-07266

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 23 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many families have been available to foster in each year since 1999.