Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-06248

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 12 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, students graduating from dental schools left Scotland for their first post in each of the last three years.

The most up-to-date data on the first destination of dentistry graduates from Scottish Higher Education institutes (categorised into Scotland, Rest of the UK, Rest of the World, and Unknown First Destination) is correct to 2001-02. This is collected by the Enterprise, Transport And Lifelong Learning Department.

The following table provides the data for the three most recent years for which data is available.

First Destination of Dentistry Graduates from Scottish HEIs from 1999-2000 to 2001-02

	2001-02		2000-01		1999-2000
All Graduates	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Total	137	100%	124	100%	142	100%
Scotland	94	69%	90	73%	87	61%
Rest of the UK¹	18	12%	9	6%	26	17%
Rest of the World	*	1%	*	1%	*	1%
Unknown First Destination	25	18%	25	20%	29	20%

Note:

1. The number of graduates with first destination rest of the UK and rest of the world have been combined to protect confidentiality.

Question reference: S2W-06249

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 12 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many general dental practitioners will reach retirement age in each of the next three years, expressed also as a percentage of all practitioners.

The information requested is provided in the following table.

Number and percentage of principal NHS general dental practitioners (GDPs) currently working in the general dental service who will be aged 70¹ during the year to 16 February

Year	Number	Percentage of all principal GDPs²
2005	0	-
2006	2	0.1
2007	0	-

Notes:

¹ Current retirement age for principal dentists working in the NHS general dental service.

² Based on the number of active principal GDPs at 16 February 2004.

Question reference: S2W-06285

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what studies have taken place in respect of the possible displacement of individuals and properties as a result of the construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and what procedures are in place in respect of offering compensation and relocation for any such displacements.

Question reference: S2W-06092

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 27 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to promote "Spring Day in Europe 2004" in Scottish schools and how many schools have registered for the initiative.

Involvement in the EU’sannual “Spring Day in Europe” celebration is at the discretion of schools andlocal authorities. The Scottish Executive has already sent detailedinformation on this year’s event to international co-ordinators in all localauthorities. This will be forwarded to schools to promote participation.

At present, five Scottish schools are registered for “Spring Day”. Regularly updated information on registrations is available from the European Schoolnet at:

http://futurum2004.eun.org/ww/en/pub/futurum2004/index.cfm.

Question reference: S2W-05934

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 24 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25157 by Dr Richard Simpson on 1 May 2002, whether it will provide information on the source of referral recorded by new individual patients attending specialist drug services and reported to the Scottish Drug Misuse Database in (a) the current year and (b) each year since 2001-02.

Source of referral to specialist drug services recorded by the Scottish Drug Misuse Database for 2001-02 and 2002-03 (the latest year for which figures are available) is outlined in the table.

Source of Referral to Specialist Drug Services; Years Ending 31 March

New Individual Patients/Clients Only ¹
	2001-02	2002-03
Referred to Specialist Drug Agencies ³	9,511	9,654
Self referral	3,253	3,235
GP/primary care team	3,576	3,308
Criminal justice - social work	374	480
Criminal justice - other	255	346
Social work - other	415	471
Other specialist drug service	719	851
Family/friend	89	88
Psychiatrist	25	18
Other ⁴	667	677
No referral source stated	138	180

Source: Scottish Drug MisuseDatabase.

Notes:

1. Reports to the Scottish Drug Misuse Database relating to new patients. ‘New’ is defined as (a) the person is attending the particular service for the first time ever or (b) the person has attended before but not within the previous 6 months.

2. All figures in this table exclude penal establishment inmates and information received from needle exchanges.

3. Specialist drug service includes statutory, non-statutory and private services.

4. Other includes education provider, employer, arrest referral and job centre.

Question reference: S2W-06107

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 24 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there have been, or will be, any discussions with Her Majesty's Government in respect of the honours system and, if so, whether there are any plans to enable Scotland to develop its own honours system.

Question reference: S2W-05898

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 13 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when the study into the impact of EU enlargement on Scotland, referred to by the Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services at the meeting of the European Committee on 4 March 2003, was completed; what the key findings of the study were, and to whom it was made available.

The study referred to was commissionedby Scottish Enterprise from Bradley Dunbar Associates and entitled Opportunitiesand Challenges of EU Enlargement. This study was published on the ScottishEnterprise website at www.scottish-enterprise.com/euenlargementin August 2003 and is available to any interested party.

The key findings of thestudy were that Scottish companies need to position themselves to benefit fromtwo specific drivers of opportunities in the acceding countries: the structuralfunds that will flow to the new member states; and the need for action in thosecountries to ensure compliance with EU legislation following a transitionalperiod.

Question reference: S2W-05894

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 13 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3403 by Mr Andy Kerr on 8 December 2003, how many of the working groups that took place in each of the years referred to had devolved matters on their agenda.

Question reference: S2W-05589

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 12 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was allocated for public transport in each of the last three years, broken down by (a) local authority and (b) region and expressed also on a per capita basis.

Funding for public transport purposes in Scotland is not allocated on a regional basis. The following table shows the total funding committed by the Scottish Executive for 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03 to each local authority under the Public Transport Fund (including separate allocations for cycling, walking and safer streets projects), the Rural Public Passenger Grant element of the Rural Transport Fund, the Integrated Transport Fund, piers and harbours grants and the appropriate GAE revenue grant allocations.

Local Authority	Population	2000-01		2001-02		2002-03
Local Authority	Population	Total Funding (£ m)	Cost per Capita (£)	Total Funding (£ m)	Cost per Capita (£)	Total Funding (£ m)	Cost per Capita (£)
Aberdeen City	211,910	5.299	25.01	5.887	27.78	7.789	36.76
Aberdeenshire	226,940	3.837	16.91	4.679	20.62	5.633	24.82
Angus	108,370	1.596	14.73	2.150	19.84	3.514	32.43
Argyll and Bute	91,300	4.985	54.60	4.260	46.66	5.851	64.09
Clackmannanshire	48,070	0.605	12.60	3.601	74.91	4.936	102.69
Dumfries and Galloway	147,780	2.609	17.66	5.136	34.75	6.741	45.62
Dundee City	145,460	3.202	22.02	4.558	31.34	7.235	49.74
East Ayrshire	120,310	2.465	20.49	2.883	23.96	4.682	38.91
East Dunbartonshire	108,250	1.701	15.71	2.375	21.94	3.289	30.38
East Lothian	90,180	1.566	17.36	2.072	22.97	2.820	31.27
East Renfrewshire	89,410	1.838	20.55	2.236	25.00	2.540	28.41
Edinburgh City	449,020	9.167	20.41	15.225	33.91	18.455	41.10
Eilean Siar	26,450	3.209	121.32	2.797	105.76	3.857	145.82
Falkirk	145,270	2.128	14.65	4.106	28.26	4.606	31.71
Fife	349,770	4.914	14.05	7.751	22.16	12.061	34.48
Glasgow City	578,710	12.760	22.05	16.292	28.15	21.385	36.95
Highland	208,920	3.730	17.85	6.993	33.47	9.467	45.32
Inverclyde	84,150	1.354	16.09	1.846	21.94	3.912	46.49
Midlothian	80,950	1.783	22.02	1.327	16.39	2.977	36.78
Moray	87,000	1.147	13.19	1.563	17.96	2.298	26.42
North Ayrshire	135,820	2.179	16.05	3.081	22.68	4.049	29.81
North Lanarkshire	321,180	6.082	18.94	6.207	19.33	8.789	27.37
Orkney Islands	19,220	4.277	222.53	9.067	471.73	14.524	755.66
Perth and Kinross	134,950	2.450	18.15	3.935	29.16	4.829	35.78
Renfrewshire	172,850	3.341	19.33	3.749	21.69	4.945	28.61
Scottish Borders	106,950	1.603	14.99	3.191	29.84	4.211	39.38
Shetland Islands	21,960	5.593	254.67	6.253	284.72	6.300	286.90
South Ayrshire	112,160	2.631	23.46	4.358	38.86	5.334	47.56
South Lanarkshire	302,340	4.653	15.39	6.312	20.88	9.038	29.89
Stirling	86,200	1.250	14.50	1.779	20.64	4.741	55.00
West Dunbartonshire	93,320	1.764	18.90	2.135	22.88	2.779	29.78
West Lothian	159,030	1.629	10.25	2.380	14.97	5.253	33.03
Scotland	5,064,200	107.35	21.20	150.18	29.66	208.84	41.24

Notes:

1. Population figures: Mid-year estimates, GRO(S) 2001.

2. Piers and Harbours grants are allocated on a project basis and not on a year by year basis. The figures included therefore reflect expenditure as claimed by the relevant authorities.

In addition, funding has also been given to Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority (SPTA) from the Public Transport Fund, the Rural Public Passenger Grant element of the Rural Transport Fund, and the Integrated Transport Fund as follows:

SPTA

2,160,590

3.376

1.56

1.029

0.48

2.247

1.04

Question reference: S2W-04590

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual throughput was in each neonatal unit in each of the last 10 years.

A table detailing the throughputof each neo-natal unit for the years ending 31 March 1998to 2003 has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 30478).

The recording of informationfrom neo-natal units was only phased in 1996-97. However not all trusts submittedthe information in 1996-97. Therefore the information supplied covers theperiod 1997-98 to 2002-03.

“Throughput” indicates theaverage numbers of in-patient episodes treated per bed year. Derived as in-patientepisodes/average available staffed beds.

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