Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-13897

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2005
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for rural home ownership grants have been made in each of the last seven years, showingyear-on-year percentage changes.

Question reference: S2W-13582

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 26 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will request that the surplus of approximately £10 million held by Ofgem from the Scottish fossil fuel levy fund be transferred to the Scottish Consolidated Fund for the purpose of promoting renewables and what information it has on why this surplus has not been transferred previously.

The Fossil Fuel Levy surplus only became available following the enactment of the provisions of the Energy Act 2004. In accordance with the provisions of the act, we will bring forward in due course for the consideration of the Parliament proposals for using this funding for further supporting renewable energy projects. If these proposals are approved, we will request Ofgem to release the amount of funding required into the Scottish Consolidated Fund.

Question reference: S2W-13388

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 26 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5284 by Hugh Henry on 14 January 2004, how many babies were born with a drug addiction in (a) 2002-03 and (b) 2003-04, broken down by NHS board area and expressed also per capita.

The available information on babies discharged from Neonatal Units with a diagnosis involving drug misuse is shown in Tables 1a and 1b . Data for 2003-04 is not yet available.

Table 1a All Births^1,2,3 and Neonatal Discharges⁴ Recording Drug Misuse^5,6; Numbers and Rates Per 1,000 Births

	All Births 2002-03^P	Neonatal Discharges Recording Drug Misuse 2002-03^P	Rate Per 1,000 Births Within NHS Board Area 2002-03^P
Argyll and Clyde	3,987	33	8.28
Ayrshire and Arran	3,453	21	6.08
Borders	971	**	**
Dumfries and Galloway	1,313	10	7.62
Fife	3,498	18	5.15
Forth Valley	2,832	15	5.30
Grampian	5,305	72	13.57
Greater Glasgow	9,194	26	2.83
Highland	1,962	6	3.06
Islands	628	-	-
Lanarkshire	5,945	27	4.54
Lothian	7,976	22	2.76
Tayside	3,730	19	5.09

^PProvisional.

Source: SMR02, SBR and SMR11.

Notes:

1. Excludes home births and births at non-NHS hospitals.

2. Includes all live births and stillbirths.

3. From 1998, where four or more babies are involved in a pregnancy, birth details are recorded for the first three babies. Prior to 1998, birth details were recorded only for the first two babies delivered.

4. A baby may be admitted to and discharged from neonatal care more than once. Figures relate to the total number of discharges, not to the number of individual babies.

5. Drug misuse is defined using the following International Classification of Disease (10th Revision) codes :

P04.4 - Fetus and newborn affected by maternal use of drugs of addiction

P96.1 - Neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs of addiction

6. Care should be taken when interpreting these data as recording practice of drug misuse diagnosis may vary between hospitals. In addition, the Scottish Birth Record (which replaces SMR11) is currently being incrementally implemented throughout Scotland and therefore should be treated with caution. These reasonsmay explain some of the variation between NHS boards.

** - In order to maintain patient confidentiality, values of 1 and over and less than five have been suppressed.

Table 1b Neonatal Discharges¹ Recording Drug Misuse^2,3; Numbers and Rates Per 100,000 Population

	Mid Year Estimate of Population 2002	Neonatal Discharges Recording Drug Misuse 2002-03^P	Discharges Per 100,000 Population Within NHS Board Area 2002-03^P
Argyll and Clyde	418,750	33	78.81
Ayrshire and Arran	367,060	21	57.21
Borders	107,400	**	**
Dumfries and Galloway	147,310	10	67.88
Fife	350,620	18	51.34
Forth Valley	279,370	15	53.69
Grampian	523,290	72	137.59
Greater Glasgow	866,080	26	30.02
Highland	208,140	6	28.83
Islands	67,350	-	-
Lanarkshire	552,910	27	48.83
Lothian	779,100	22	28.24
Tayside	387,420	19	49.04

^PProvisional.

Source: SMR02, SMR11, SBR and GRO(S) mid year population estimates.

Notes:

1. A baby may be admitted to and discharged from neonatal care more than once. Figures relate to the total number of discharges, not to the number of individual babies.

2. Drug misuse is defined using the following Internatioanl Classification of Disease (10th Revision) codes :

P04.4 - Fetus and newborn affected by maternal use of drugs of addiction

P96.1 - Neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of drugs of addiction

3. Care should be taken when interpreting these data as recording practice of drug misuse diagnosis may vary between hospitals. In addition the Scottish Birth Record (which replaces SMR11) is currently being incrementaly implemented throughout Scotland and therefore should be treated with caution. These reasonsmay explain some of the variation between NHS boards.

** - In order to maintain patient confidentiality, values of one and over and less than five have been suppressed.

Question reference: S2W-13389

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2022 by Cathy Jamieson on 25 September 2003, what the average waiting period was (a) nationally and (b) in each district court area between pleading and trial diets in (i) 2002-03 and (ii) 2003-04.

The available information is given in the following table.

Average Waiting Time (Weeks) Between Pleading and Trial Diets in District Courts, 2002-03 and 2003-04

Commission Area	2002-03	2003-04¹
Aberdeen City	n/a	n/a
Aberdeenshire	9	10
Angus	12	11
Argyll and Bute	12	12
Clackmannanshire	10	13
Dumfries and Galloway	7	10
Dundee City	10	10
East Ayrshire	9	9
East Dunbartonshire	9	14
East Lothian	9	9
East Renfrewshire	10	6
Edinburgh, City of	10	10
Eilean Siar	n/a	n/a
Falkirk	9	11
Fife	10	n/a
Glasgow City (average)	n/a	n/a
- District Court	n/a	n/a
- Stipendiary Magistrate	n/a	n/a
Highland	9	10
Inverclyde	10	8
Midlothian	8	12
Moray	9	10
North Ayrshire	8	10
North Lanarkshire	9	11
Perth and Kinross	10	14
Renfrewshire	10	10
Scottish Borders	8	9
South Ayrshire	10	11
South Lanarkshire	9	10
Stirling	n/a	n/a
West Dunbartonshire	8	8
West Lothian	n/a	n/a

Scotland	9.4	10.3

Notes:

1. Provisional data.

2. n/a: data not available

Question reference: S2W-13289

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 24 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many sports co-ordinators are employed by each local authority, expressed also as a ratio to the number of (a) primary and (b) secondary school children.

The information requested is not readily identifiable. The Active Schools staffing network of managers and co-ordinators is still growing. There are now approximately 340 Active School co-ordinators in secondary schools and approximately 190 covering clusters of primary schools. Recruitment is ongoing. Co-ordinators in primary schools are employed on a full-time basis. Those in secondary schools are employed for one day per week with some local authorities choosing to deploy co-ordinators for two days in some schools.

Question reference: S2W-13260

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 24 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a summary of measures agreed to at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels in December 2004 that relate directly to the west coast.

Full details about all measures agreed at Council are set out in Council Regulations 27/2005 (TAC and Quota Regulation) and 2270/2004 (Deep-Sea Fish Stocks), which are available through the website of the Official Journal of the European Union.

Measures directly affecting the west coast include significant increases to the Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for Nephrops, Northern Anglerfish and Haddock. A table setting out the TAC levels for the majority of West of Scotland fisheries is provided. In light of scientific advice about the depleted West of Scotland cod stock, agreement was also reached on a reduction by two in the baseline number of permitted days at sea inside the West of Scotland cod recovery zone for vessels using whitefish (100mm plus) nets. However, an additional day is available to offset this, by way of a derogation for vessels fishing withnets of a mesh size of 120mm or above, subject to compliance with associated conditions. Days at sea available for other categories of fishing gear and areas of the cod recovery zone including to the west of Scotland are reduced by one day per month. It was also agreed that there should be no expansion in the size of the closed area introduced in 2004 to the west of Orkney and that the cod recovery zone should remain a single area for the purposes of the transfer of days between vessels and in the determination of access provisions.

Measures for Deep Sea stocks included reductions in a number of quotas, in accordance with scientific advice that suggests these species are being harvested at an unsustainable level.

Stock	2005 TAC (tonnes)	% Change from 2004
Anglerfish Vb, VI, XII, XIV	4,686	+47%
Blue Ling VI, VII	3137	-17%
Blue whiting Vb, VI, VII, XII, XIV	474,333	+126%
Cod Vb, VI, XII, XIV	721	-15%
of which limit in Vb, VIa is:	692	-15%
Haddock VIa, Vb	7,600	+17%
Haddock VIb, XII, XIV	702	0
Herring Vb, VIaN, VIb	30,100	0
Herring Via (Clyde)	1,000	0
Horse mackerel Vb, VI, VII,VIIIa,b,d,e, XII, XIV	137,000	0
Ling VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XII, XIV	14,966	0
Mackerel IIa (non EC), Vb, VI, VII, VIIIabde, XII, XIV	217,467	-27%
Megrim Vb, VI, XII, XIV	2,880	-20%
Nephrops Vb, VI	12,700	+12%
Plaice Vb, VI, XII, XIV	982	-20%
Pollack Vb, VI, XII, XIV	563	-20%
Saithe Vb, VI, XII, XIV	15,044	-24%
Tusk V, VI, VII	604	- 15%
Whiting Vb, VI, XII, XIV	1,600	0

Question reference: S2W-13290

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 21 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of assistance is provided to local authority sports co-cordinators to ensure that their sports programmes are not adversely affected due to higher costs of transportation, particularly in rural areas.

Local authorities have been allocated an operational budget of £1,500 for each secondary school cluster by sportscotland to be used to support activities provided through Active Schools, part of which can be allocated against transport costs, particularly in rural areas.

Funding of £2,000 per secondary school is also available through the Out of School Hours/School Sport Co-ordinator Programme managed by sportscotland on behalf of the Big Lottery Fund, part of which can also be allocated to offset transport costs.

We also anticipate that Active Schools funding will help to unlock additional local funding from relevant local authority and other budgets in order to support extra transport needs in all local authority areas. Sportscotland’s Partnership managers encourage all local authorities and other local bodies to adopt a co-ordinated approach to Active Schools including in relation to transport provision.

Question reference: S2W-13261

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 20 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to use the opportunity of the United Kingdom's Presidency of the European Union in 2005 to change the timescale and nature of the decision-making process in respect of the annual fisheries negotiations which currently take place in late December.

Question reference: S2W-13259

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 20 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers the use of 80mm mesh in the southern North Sea by the flatfish fishery to be damaging to cod stocks due to the level of by-catches of cod juveniles and, if so, whether it raised these concerns at the recent Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels and what the outcome was of any discussions on the matter.

All catches of cod have the potentialto damage the stock, including the southern North Sea small mesh fisheries.

The Executive routinely ensuresthat the UK delegation raises our concerns over this fishery in allappropriate EU fora, including December Agriculture and Fisheries council.

The outcomes of last year’s discussionson the small meshed fisheries in the southern North Sea, included a reduction of the plaice Total Allowable Catches and a reduced allocation of permitted days atsea and a statement by the Council inviting the Commission to present proposals,to the Council and to the European Parliament, concerning future long-term managementplans for North Sea sole and North Sea plaice as soon as possible in 2005.

Question reference: S2W-13054

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many affordable homes have been built in each rural local authority area in each of the last seven years.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

The following table gives details of the total number of new and improved affordable housing units approved for construction by Communities Scotland in rural Local Authorities (defined as rural using the Randall definition) in each of the last seven years.

Unitary Authority	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Aberdeenshire	142	219	206	206	193	309	221
Angus	70	186	123	115	108	93	98
Argyll and Bute	56	123	131	76	70	79	89
Dumfries and Galloway	81	61	125	162	96	98	154
East Ayrshire	50	20	63	72	36	0	40
Highland	145	176	161	294	182	246	268
Moray	61	22	56	35	10	4	92
Orkney Islands	52	8	73	52	75	48	72
Perth and Kinross	211	180	334	103	148	182	152
Shetland Islands	49	21	38	7	40	7	38
South Ayrshire	36	56	81	146	95	80	60
Stirling	73	86	115	107	59	35	114
The Scottish Borders	81	104	109	110	71	63	64
Western Isles	3	28	16	24	40	2	60

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