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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

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Question reference: S1W-02886

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 16 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive to list the birth and mortality rates and life expectancies for males and females for the years 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99, broken down by health board.

The information available is given in the following tables:

Birth and death rates, by health board, Scotland, 1995 -1998
	Birth rate¹				Death rate²
	1995	1996	1997	1998		1995	1996	1997	1998
Scotland	11.7	11.6	11.6	11.2		11.8	11.8	11.6	11.6
Argyll & Clyde	11.8	11.6	11.7	10.9		12.2	12.6	12.3	12.5
Ayrshire & Arran	11.1	11.0	11.1	10.8		12.3	12.0	12.7	12.1
Borders	11.0	10.7	10.7	9.8		13.2	12.8	12.9	12.6
Dumfries & Galloway	11.1	10.9	10.6	10.3		11.9	12.8	12.4	12.3
Fife	11.5	11.0	11.0	11.0		11.3	11.4	11.2	11.5
Forth Valley	11.6	11.6	11.5	11.5		11.1	11.7	11.0	11.0
Grampian	11.5	11.4	11.4	11.4		10.3	9.9	9.8	9.9
Greater Glasgow	12.2	12.1	12.1	11.3		13.1	13.0	12.7	12.5
Highland	11.6	11.4	11.7	11.8		11.7	11.4	11.5	11.5
Lanarkshire	12.0	12.2	12.1	11.8		11.0	10.9	10.9	10.7
Lothian	12.0	11.8	11.9	11.4		11.0	11.3	10.8	10.7
Orkney	11.6	10.9	11.3	9.9		11.9	11.6	12.0	12.5
Shetland	12.6	11.7	12.4	11.6		10.1	10.9	10.6	10.6
Tayside	11.1	11.0	11.2	10.8		12.7	12.9	12.4	12.7
Western Isles	10.4	9.7	8.9	9.8		14.8	14.9	14.8	14.1
¹ Live births per 1,000 population² Deaths per 1,000 population

Expectation of life at birth, by sex and health board, Scotland
	1994-1996		1995-1997		1996-1998
	Males	Females	Males	Females	Males	Females
Scotland	72.0	77.7	72.2	77.8	72.4	77.9
Argyll & Clyde	71.0	77.2	71.2	77.3	71.1	77.3
Ayrshire & Arran	72.5	77.8	72.6	77.4	72.8	78.0
Borders	75.0	79.4	74.7	79.6	74.9	79.7
Dumfries & Galloway	73.7	78.8	73.9	79.1	74.2	79.0
Fife	73.1	78.5	73.4	78.8	73.4	78.7
Forth Valley	72.8	77.6	73.1	78.0	73.1	78.3
Grampian	73.7	79.1	73.9	79.4	74.2	79.6
Greater Glasgow	69.8	76.1	69.9	76.2	70.2	76.4
Highland	72.5	78.7	72.6	78.6	72.8	78.9
Lanarkshire	71.1	76.8	71.7	76.8	71.9	77.0
Lothian	72.8	78.1	72.9	78.2	73.0	78.2
Orkney	73.9	80.5	74.1	79.6	74.1	79.3
Shetland	71.9	79.0	72.1	80.6	72.6	80.0
Tayside	72.6	78.1	73.0	78.3	73.4	78.3
Western Isles	71.5	79.1	70.7	79.0	70.9	79.7

Question reference: S1W-03420

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 16 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to discontinue the practice of self-financing pay awards in local government.

Question reference: S1O-00877

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 16 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to discontinue the practice of self-financing pay awards in local government.

Question reference: S1W-02882

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 15 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive to detail the number and percentage of secondary school pupils not attending school through (a) authorised absence and (b) unauthorised absence in the school years 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99.

Data on the numbers of individual pupils not attending school through authorised or unauthorised absence is not collated nationally. The information can only be represented as an aggregated number of possible attendance.The annual percentage of absence in secondary schools for the years 1996-97 to 1998-99 was as follows:

Secondary Schools	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99
Authorised Absence	11%	10%	10%
Unauthorised Absence	1%	1%	1%

Question reference: S1W-02884

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 15 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive to detail, for each category of authorised absence, the number and percentage of secondary school pupils not attending school in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99.

Question reference: S1W-02883

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 15 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive to list the categories of authorised absence currently permitted in Scottish schools.

Authorised absence is defined as:

sickness;

medical and dental treatment;

bereavement;

domestic circumstances relating to exceptional hardship at home;

no school within walking distance and no transport arrangements;

study leave;

religious observance;

family holidays where attendance is otherwise satisfactory;

meetings prior to, and in, court;

attendance at, or in connection with, a Children's Hearing;

attendance at, or in connection with, a Child Care Review;

weddings of immediate family;

certified debates, sports, musical or theatrical productions not arranged by, or in conjunction with, the school;

extended visits overseas to relatives;sanctioned, extended absence in relation to children of travelling families.

Question reference: S1W-02885

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 14 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to reduce the levels of both authorised and unauthorised absence among school pupils.

To assist education authorities, schools, teachers and parents in tackling non-attendance the Government supported the publication of the Scottish Initiative on Attendance, Absence and Attainment's good practice document Close to the Mark, which was published in December 1997. This publication offers practical support materials for schools, pulling together the examples of good practice identified by the Initiative in its work on attendance issues. It contains guidelines to help a school evaluate and develop its own practice in line with HMI publication How Good is our School?. Good practice is shared between schools through the Ethos NetworkSchools and education authorities have now agreed targets to raise attendance, and are putting in place strategies to meet those targets. The framework for setting targets was set out in Setting Targets - Raising Standards in Schools, published on 4 March 1998. Locally agreed targets where returned to HMI at the end of last year.Several initiatives funded under the Excellence Fund for Schools - Special Programme, including New Community Schools and Education Action Plans, contain components for reducing the level of absence.

Question reference: S1W-01288

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 10 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made, or will make, to Her Majesty's Government in relation to the introduction of an "open skies" policy for cargo flights to and from Scotland, and the institution of a comprehensive bilateral agreement with the USA to eradicate any disadvantage businesses in the West of Scotland face in comparison to competitors in mainland Europe.

Question reference: S1W-02676

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 10 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1667 by Sarah Boyack on 20 October 1999, what financial assistance it will give to South Lanarkshire Council to meet the cost of blight claims on the land designated for construction of the M74 Northern Extension.

Since 1996-97, local authorities have received a block allocation to cover expenditure on all their non-housing capital programmes including Roads and Transport. This method of allocating resources is by agreement with COSLA. Authorities can also use capital receipts and revenue to meet capital spending needs. It is up to authorities to determine spending priorities from the total resources available to them.

Question reference: S1W-02431

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 10 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce drug testing for drivers who are tested for alcohol.

Legislation on drugs and driving is a reserved matter under the Scotland Act. Driving a motor vehicle while unfit through drugs is an offence. The police may take a person whose driving appears to be impaired to a police station for examination by a police surgeon.

The police however have no powers to test drivers for drugs at the roadside comparable to their powers to test for alcohol. Primary legislation would be required to introduce such a power and it would be for the Westminster Parliament to introduce such legislation. The Scottish Executive has recently commissioned research to investigate the prevalence of recreational drug use and driving in Scotland.

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