- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance is available for dentists wishing to purchase an existing practice.
Answer
There is currently noassistance available for dentists wishing to purchase an existing practice.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out by the Food Standards Agency into any links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heart disease.
Answer
The Food Standards Agencyhas not carried out, and is not currently funding, any research investigatingthe links between trans fats or hydrogenated vegetable oils and coronary heartdisease.
Hydrogenation is a processof turning liquid oil into solid fat. During this process, a type of trans fatmay be formed that raises cholesterol levels in the blood. This increases therisk of coronary heart disease. The Food Standards Agency does therefore advisethat as part of a healthy diet, we should try to reduce the amount of saturatedfats and trans fats we eat and replace them with unsaturated fats.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the labelling of food to include trans fat content in light of scientific information highlighted by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States of America.
Answer
The Food Standards Agencyhas informed me that the European Commission is reviewing the nutritionlabelling rules and preliminary papers suggest that the issue of labelling oftrans fatty acid content may be discussed.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dentists finished their vocational training last year.
Answer
The number ofdentists who finished their vocational training in July 2003 was 92.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend the eligibility criteria for the access grant for dentists establishing new dental practices to include those purchasing existing practices.
Answer
We are currently looking atthe eligibility criteria for grant under the Scottish dental access initiativewith a view to making these more flexible.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many approved salaried dentist posts there are.
Answer
Approval has been grantedfor 113 salaried dentist posts. Not all of these posts are full-time. Theyrange from 0.1 whole time equivalent to 1 whole time equivalent.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many drug misusers have received a drug treatment and care service in the community in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
Information is not held centrally on the total number of drug misusers who have received a drugtreatment service since 1999. However, the Information and Statistics Divisionof the Common Services Agency (ISD Scotland) do publish figures on the numbersof new clients entering drug treatment services each year, based on returns tothe Scottish Drug Misuse Database. These figures are broken down by localauthority area and are available at
www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many social workers were sponsored to undertake the Diploma in Social Work by their local authority in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This information is not heldcentrally.
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time was for (a) equipment and (b) adaptations for people with physical disabilities, as referred to in the annual report of the Chief Social Work Inspector, Progress with Complexity: The 2003 National Overview Report, in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This informationwas not collected. Local authorities were asked about systems in place tomonitor and improve waiting times as reported in Equipment and Adaptation Services in Scotland: ASurvey of Waiting Times for Social Work Provision, published in December 2001, copies of whichare available in the Parliaments Reference Centre (Bib number 18415).
- Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4807 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, whether it holds the same information on median and mean waiting times for (a) in-patients and day cases and (b) out-patients, stating availability status codes.
Answer
Availability Status Codes (ASCs) are not mandatory data items on the in-patient and day case discharge record. For this reason the in-patient/day case table in the answer to S2W-4807 includes all cases, and does not exclude cases with an ASC.
On the out-patient record, Availability Status Codes (ASCs) can be identified. The table provides information on the median and mean waiting times for new out-patients without an ASC and new outpatients with an ASC. The mean and median wait data for new outpatients without an ASC was previously included in the answer to S2W-4807.
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
| | Difference in Median Wait and Mean Wait (days) for New Outpatient Appointments |
| Quarter Ended | Excludes ASCs | | Only ASCs |
| | Median | Mean | Difference | | Median | Mean | Difference |
| 30-Jun-1997 | 41 | 54.9 | -13.9 | | 81 | 105.3 | -24.3 |
| 30-Sep-1997 | 45 | 60.5 | -15.5 | | 83 | 101.1 | -18.1 |
| 31-Dec-1997 | 44 | 61.7 | -17.7 | | 87 | 108.6 | -21.6 |
| 31-Mar-1998 | 43 | 60.7 | -17.7 | | 84 | 106.6 | -22.6 |
| 30-Jun-1998 | 43 | 59.3 | -16.3 | | 73 | 97.5 | -24.5 |
| 30-Sep-1998 | 48 | 64.0 | -16.0 | | 79 | 98.2 | -19.2 |
| 31-Dec-1998 | 48 | 64.8 | -16.8 | | 83 | 102.7 | -19.7 |
| 31-Mar-1999 | 47 | 66.2 | -19.2 | | 84 | 104.4 | -20.4 |
| 30-Jun-1999 | 46 | 64.3 | -18.3 | | 75 | 98.0 | -23.0 |
| 30-Sep-1999 | 51 | 69.2 | -18.2 | | 78 | 99.0 | -21.0 |
| 31-Dec-1999 | 50 | 69.6 | -19.6 | | 82 | 104.3 | -22.3 |
| 31-Mar-2000 | 48 | 68.7 | -20.7 | | 87 | 109.2 | -22.2 |
| 30-Jun-2000 | 47 | 65.0 | -18.0 | | 80 | 107.7 | -27.7 |
| 30-Sep-2000 | 50 | 68.3 | -18.3 | | 84 | 108.0 | -24.0 |
| 31-Dec-2000 | 50 | 71.9 | -21.9 | | 87 | 113.1 | -26.1 |
| 31-Mar-2001 | 51 | 78.0 | -27.0 | | 91 | 116.7 | -25.7 |
| 30-Jun-2001 | 50 | 73.4 | -23.4 | | 90 | 119.5 | -29.5 |
| 30-Sep-2001 | 56 | 77.2 | -21.2 | | 91 | 117.5 | -26.5 |
| 31-Dec-2001 | 55 | 79.9 | -24.9 | | 98 | 125.2 | -27.2 |
| 31-Mar-2002 | 56 | 83.3 | -27.3 | | 102 | 130.0 | -28.0 |
| 30-Jun-2002 | 54 | 84.1 | -30.1 | | 91 | 125.6 | -34.6 |
| 30-Sep-2002 | 57 | 87.5 | -30.5 | | 93 | 124.0 | -31.0 |
| 31-Dec-2002 | 57 | 90.8 | -33.8 | | 91 | 123.4 | -32.4 |
| 31-Mar-2003 | 56 | 91.8 | -35.8 | | 95 | 129.9 | -34.9 |
| 30-Jun-2003 | 51 | 84.9 | -33.9 | | 88 | 129.9 | -41.9 |
| 30-Sep-2003 | 55 | 86.9 | -31.9 | | 92 | 131.0 | -39.0 |
Source: Out-patient data issourced from the SMR00 dataset, and covers referrals from a GMP/GDP to a consultantled out-patient clinic.
Note: Data for the mostrecent quarters should be considered provisional
