All deaths in Scotland are coded according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) which is promulgated by the World Health Organisation. As with all classifications, the ICD tends to group minor categories and split up larger categories. Any choice of a "top five" causes of death is therefore somewhat subjective. The following table gives information on causes, or groups of causes, that are considered to be appropriate to the age group of interest. As can be seen, the top five has varied over the period in question.Deaths Aged Under 35, Selected Causes, by Sex, Scotland

Cause of death	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995		1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Males
Suicide (incl. "undetermined")	213	251	291	255		250	256	282	268	285	279
Drug dependence	22	14	26	94		111	125	102	125	147	143
Road transport accidents	192	179	144	143		162	148	156	135	124	110
Perinatal conditions	136	136	101	106		91	103	82	98	83	96
Congenital anomalies	99	101	104	74		80	76	66	71	59	60
Homicide	35	69	39	54		48	51	35	42	49	36
Sudden infant death syndrome	62	45	37	31		25	30	34	19	23	20
All causes	1,236	1,252	1,188	1,212		1,204	1,223	1,110	1,151	1,146	1,083
Females
Perinatal conditions	77	80	73	85		87	76	58	67	53	74
Suicide (incl. "undetermined")	57	73	79	64		60	75	75	72	70	69
Congenital anomalies	72	86	83	68		64	63	59	60	44	43
Drug dependence	6	4	8	31		28	30	20	27	31	40
Road transport accidents	72	66	35	40		58	40	41	44	40	33
Sudden infant death syndrome	28	19	21	17		23	13	18	18	18	13
Homicide	10	11	10	9		11	22	7	9	10	9
Breast cancer	19	21	16	16		15	14	13	10	8	8
All causes	637	621	651	565		597	569	515	531	502	507

Notes1. The method of collecting information on drug-related deaths was changed in 1994. This change significantly affected the number of deaths classified as "drug dependence".2. The number of homicides was increased significantly in 1996 by the Dunblane incident.

The Scottish Executive has not made any references to the Office of Fair Trading regarding supplements on charter flights from Scottish airports.

Estimates based on interviews with about 0.2% of travellers, as part of the International Passenger Survey, have been provided by the Office for National Statistics. Visits abroad by Scottish residents on a package holiday which were made by flying from an airport outside Scotland (estimated):

	Thousands
1996	279
1997	310
1998	306
1999	356
2000	357

These estimates were produced from the results of the International Passenger Survey. This involves interviews with about 0.2% of travellers, so some of the apparent year-to-year fluctuations may be due to sampling variability. Those who took more than one package holiday would be counted once for each visit abroad.

Figures from the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey are provided in the following tables. Under the definitions used in the survey, all contaminated land is described as being derelict rather than vacant. The survey does not specifically require the testing of sites for contamination. The tables show vacant and derelict land categorised according to its contamination status.Copies of the 1999, 2000 and 2001 surveys are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. numbers 20528, 20526 and 20466 respectively).Vacant and Derelict Land¹ Reclaimed Since the Previous Survey, 1999^2,3 (hectares)

Contamination status	Derelict Land	Vacant Land	Total Vacant and Derelict Land
Known contamination	37	0	37
Suspected contamination	146	0	146
Known or suspected not to be contaminated	105	216	322
Unknown	482	315	797
Total	770	531	1,301

Vacant and Derelict Land¹ Reclaimed Since the Previous Survey, 2000^2,3 (hectares)

Contamination status	Derelict Land	Vacant Land	Total Vacant andDerelict Land
Known contamination	58	0	58
Suspected contamination	52	0	52
Known or suspected not to be contaminated	110	141	251
Unknown	102	137	239
Total	321	279	600

Vacant and Derelict Land¹ Reclaimed Since the Previous Survey, 2001² (hectares)

Contamination status	Derelict Land	Vacant Land	Total Vacant andDerelict Land
Known contamination	55	0	55
Suspected contamination	43	0	43
Known or suspected not to be contaminated	109	161	270
Unknown	241	182	423
Total	449	343	792

Vacant and Derelict Land¹ Recorded in Scotland, 2001² (hectares)

Contamination status	Derelict Land	Vacant Land	Total Vacant andDerelict Land
Known contamination	1,980	0	1,980
Suspected contamination	1,564	0	1,564
Known or suspected not to be contaminated	899	1,898	2,797
Unknown	2,402	1,865	4,268
Total	6,845	3,763	10,607

Notes:1. The Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey includes only that vacant land which is either located within an urban settlement (with a population of 2,000 or more) or which is located within 1 km of such settlements, which would commonly be considered as having the characteristics of urban vacant land. Vacant or derelict sites covering less than 0.1 hectare are excluded.2. Not all local authorities have completed the survey every year. Where a local authority did not complete the survey in the previous year, the amount of land brought back into use by that authority refers to the period since the survey was last completed.3. Figures may differ slightly from those presented in the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey statistical bulletins due to data being revised by local authorities.

Glasgow City Council would receive £962.22 million. The council with its financial settlement receives 23% above the Scottish average per head for 2002-03 and is 42%, 8% and 42% above Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh's AEF respectively.

Patients diagnosed in 1995 are currently the most recent period for which five year survival figures are available. The following table show the number of men diagnosed with prostate cancer in each year from 1991 to 1995 inclusive and how many were still alive five years later, by NHS board area. Figures are presented by calendar year for consistency with published data.

Year	NHS Board	Number Diagnosed	Alive 5 years later
1991	Argyll and Clyde	89	25
	Ayrshire and Arran	69	22
	Borders	24	10
	Dumfries and Galloway	42	14
	Fife	76	31
	Forth Valley	110	61
	Grampian	128	51
	Greater Glasgow	189	70
	Highland	52	25
	Lanarkshire	102	43
	Lothian	176	70
	Orkney	4	1
	Shetland	8	1
	Tayside	100	39
	Western Isles	16	7
1992	Argyll and Clyde	95	29
	Ayrshire and Arran	78	21
	Borders	35	12
	Dumfries and Galloway	35	9
	Fife	97	35
	Forth Valley	98	46
	Grampian	139	59
	Greater Glasgow	189	65
	Highland	52	25
	Lanarkshire	96	29
	Lothian	184	77
	Orkney	8	2
	Shetland	3	0
	Tayside	101	47
	Western Isles	6	0
1993	Argyll and Clyde	104	32
	Ayrshire and Arran	94	34
	Borders	36	12
	Dumfries and Galloway	62	26
	Fife	110	48
	Forth Valley	120	62
	Grampian	162	66
	Greater Glasgow	226	85
	Highland	65	32
	Lanarkshire	114	40
	Lothian	221	95
	Orkney	12	6
	Shetland	9	3
	Tayside	138	66
	Western Isles	3	1
1994	Argyll and Clyde	138	43
	Ayrshire and Arran	86	34
	Borders	34	17
	Dumfries and Galloway	61	18
	Fife	121	53
	Forth Valley	91	50
	Grampian	167	72
	Greater Glasgow	228	80
	Highland	62	28
	Lanarkshire	104	36
	Lothian	265	127
	Orkney	9	4
	Shetland	5	1
	Tayside	135	56
	Western Isles	5	2
1995	Argyll and Clyde	127	50
	Ayrshire and Arran	92	28
	Borders	51	24
	Dumfries and Galloway	63	27
	Fife	126	53
	Forth Valley	94	47
	Grampian	177	83
	Greater Glasgow	222	90
	Highland	76	30
	Lanarkshire	128	59
	Lothian	237	109
	Orkney	3	0
	Shetland	6	2
	Tayside	133	62
	Western Isles	9	1

Source: Scottish Cancer Registration database, ISD Scotland, April 2002.Notes: 1. Asymptomatic prostate cancer can remain dormant and undetected until death from other causes intervenes. Incidence has increased considerably since early 1990, and some of this increase will be due to increasingly common incidental findings of small tumours in the prostate during surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia. 2. The steep increase between 1992 and 1993 is associated with the introduction of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test for diagnosis and disease monitoring leading to increased detection of prevalent cases. Incidence has been falling since 1997. A similar pattern of increased incidence followed by a fall following the introduction of the PSA test has been seen in England and Wales, and has also previously been seen in the USA.

The following table shows the total and per capita amount of capital debt owed by each local authority and joint board as at March 2001:

	All Services Debt(£000)	All Services Debtper head (£)
Scotland	9,899,031	1,935
Aberdeen City	373,660	1,769
Aberdeenshire	361,270	1,590
Angus	103,083	944
Argyll and Bute	224,112	2,524
Clackmannanshire	74,789	1,543
Dumfries and Galloway	273,794	1,878
Dundee City	281,582	1,973
East Ayrshire	185,952	1,542
East Dunbartonshire	118,116	1,066
East Lothian	137,440	1,506
East Renfrewshire	88,466	985
Edinburgh, City of	838,208	1,849
Eilean Siar	174,924	6,436
Falkirk	196,882	1,364
Fife	487,617	1,392
Glasgow City	2,062,048	3,384
Highland	542,934	2,603
Inverclyde	216,077	2,554
Midlothian	93,360	1,136
Moray	151,020	1,778
North Ayrshire	197,152	1,420
North Lanarkshire	436,390	1,332
Orkney Islands	21,313	1,094
Perth and Kinross	148,290	1,110
Renfrewshire	288,751	1,632
Scottish Borders	209,477	1,960
Shetland Islands	56,036	2,497
South Ayrshire	160,285	1,407
South Lanarkshire	451,600	1,469
Stirling	154,028	1,807
West Dunbartonshire	186,592	1,972
West Lothian	194,643	1,242

	All Services Debt(£000)	All Services Debtper head (£)
Scotland	9,899,031	1,935
Central Fire	7,988	29
Dumfries and Galloway Fire	5,472	38
Fife Fire	8,341	24
Grampian Fire	13,428	26
Highland and Islands Fire	15,251	55
Lothian and Borders Fire	19,154	22
Strathclyde Fire	47,498	21
Tayside Fire	8,436	22
Central Police	6,412	23
Dumfries and Galloway Police	9,296	64
Fife Police	16,218	46
Grampian Police	10,513	20
Lothian and Borders Police	20,938	24
Northern Police	19,706	71
Strathclyde Police	53,433	24
Tayside Police	12,314	32
Forth Bridge	0	0
Tay Bridge	13,277	n/a
Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority	121,465	54

Source: As reported by councils/joint boards in the CDO2001 (capital debt outstanding) return.Note: All services debt consists of debt from general fund services (relevant and non-relevant), trading services and housing revenue account.

The median waiting times for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts and Other Cardiac Surgery, by NHS board of residence, for the year ended 30 September 2001, are given in the following table:Median Waiting Times¹ for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts and Other Cardiac Surgery², by NHS Board of residence. Year Ended 30 September 2001^P

	Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts	Other Cardiac Surgery
NHS Board	Median Wait (days)	Median Wait (days)
Argyll and Clyde	69	43
Ayrshire and Arran	68	57
Borders	92	104
Dumfries and Galloway	58	46
Fife	84	85
Forth Valley	86	134
Grampian	35	91
Greater Glasgow	65	53
Highland	103	96
Lanarkshire	64	73
Lothian	89	88
Orkney	64	131
Shetland	32	41
Tayside	82	105
Western Isles	70	58
Scotland	70	76

Source: ISD Scotland, SMR01.^P Provisional.Notes:1. Patients routinely admitted from the in-patient/day case waiting list (excluding transfers).2. Patients are defined using operation codes taken from the Office of Population and Censuses and Surveys Classification of Surgical Operations and Procedures 4th Revision (OPCS4). CABG has been defined using principal procedure code K40-K46; Other Cardiac Surgery has been defined using principal procedure code K25-K35.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-3569 on 21 January 2000, which stated that 67 people died while on the waiting list for cardiac surgery in the year ending 31 March 1999. The information for 1999-2000 and 2000-01 is being collected, and I will write to the member as soon as it is available, and place a copy in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

These are matters for local health care systems in the first instance, guided by advice from relevant professional bodies. Decisions on these issues will to some extent also depend on the work currently in progress on configuration of neurosurgical services across Scotland.