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Wednesday 9 April 2014 SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT Crown Office John Finnie (Highlands and Islands) (Independent): To ask the Scottish Government what liaison there is between the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Home Office immigration compliance and enforcement teams that operate in Scotland. (S4W-20355) Lesley Thomson: The branch of Home Office immigration that deals with criminal matters is the Home Office Criminal and Financial Investigation team, which has responsibility for disrupting and dismantling organised criminal networks involved in organised immigration crime. Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service liaises with the Home Office Criminal and Financial Investigation team on criminal matters. John Finnie (Highlands and Islands) (Independent): To ask the Scottish Government whether the Lord Advocate has authority to instruct Home Office immigration compliance and enforcement teams that operate in Scotland. (S4W-20356) Lesley Thomson: The Home Office immigration compliance and enforcement teams deal with civil matters of immigration law. The Lord Advocate is the head of the system of prosecution and investigation of sudden, suspicious, unexpected and unexplained deaths in Scotland. The Lord Advocate does not instruct Home Office immigration compliance and enforcement teams, which operate in Scotland. Enterprise and Environment Colin Beattie (Midlothian North and Musselburgh) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government what targets it expects Registers of Scotland to achieve in 2014-15. (S4W-20684) Fergus Ewing: Scottish Ministers have set the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland the financial targets of achieving: 3% efficiency savings and an increase in the Registers of Scotland commercial income of 5%. In addition, the keeper has set the following service standards for her department: Registers of Scotland Service Standards 2014-15 Where it is in the Keeper’s power, legally appropriate and not subject to an individual agreement with the applicant: Record new Land Register applications on the Within 1 working day 1 application record 2 Process Automated Title to Land (ARTL) applications Within 24 hours Process Chancery and Judicial Registers (CAJR) Within 3 working days 3 applications 4 Process Crofting Register applications Within 3 working days 5 Process Sasines applications Within 20 working days Register Dealings of Whole applications Within 30 working days 6 Those DWs that are dependent on prior or same date FRs and TPs will be delivered to their Service Standards. Register standard First Registration applications Within 40 working days 7 Those FRs that have had pre-work carried out. Register other First Registration applications Within 6 months 8 Registers of Scotland Service Standards 2014-15 Where it is in the Keeper’s power, legally appropriate and not subject to an individual agreement with the applicant: Those FRs that have had no pre-work carried out. Those FRs that are dependent on TP applications will be delivered to their Service Standard. 9 Register Transfer of Part applications Within 9 months 10 Process all customer enquiries Within 5 working days 11 Increase our Public Service Quality Index rating from 72 to 74. Complete 98.5% or more of registrations, over a 12 month rolling period, without corrective 12 action. Health and Social Care Bob Doris (Glasgow) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the unadjusted median wait in days for (a) cataract, (b) tonsillectomy, (c) endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract, (d) bypass surgery, (e) angiography, (f) varicose surgery, (g) hernia repair, (h) hip replacement and (i) knee replacement procedures in (i) Scotland, (ii) England and (iii) Wales. (S4W-20568) Michael Matheson: The Office for National Statistics report 'United Kingdom Health Statistics 2010' compares comparable figures waiting times for common procedures in 2005-06 to 2009-10. These common procedures include (a) cataract, (b) tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, (c) endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract, (d) bypass surgery, (e) angiography, (f) varicose surgery, (g) hernia repair, (h) hip replacement and (i) knee replacement procedures. Scottish Government commissioned an update to the statistics published in by ONS for data up to 2012-13 for Scotland, England and Wales. Statistics on the median waiting time for cataract, tonsillectomy, endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract, bypass surgery, angiography, varicose surgery, hernia repair, hip replacement and knee replacement procedures in Scotland, England and Wales from 2005-06 to 2012-13 are presented in the following tables. Waiting times are not adjusted for self-deferrals or periods of patient-induced or medical suspension.Median waiting time in days (unadjusted) in Scotland, England and Wales from 2005-06 to 2012-13: Tonsillectomy Endoscope of Cataract and Upper Gastro Surgery Adenoidectomy Intestinal Tract 2005-06 Scotland 97 93 35 England 68 101 31 Wales 69 167 33 2006-07 Scotland 69 93 34 England 69 113 27 Wales 70 189 30 2007-08 Scotland 50 79 26 England 64 78 23 Wales 76 150 29 2008-09 Scotland 45 59 23 England 56 55 21 Wales 91 110 33 2009-10 Scotland 56 54 27 England 57 57 22 Wales 88 91 34 2010-11 Scotland 58 50 26 England 57 59 23 Tonsillectomy Endoscope of Cataract and Upper Gastro Surgery Adenoidectomy Intestinal Tract Wales 62 82 36 2011-12 Scotland 62 49 24 England 57 62 22 Wales 73 87 36 2012-13 Scotland 56 52 20 England 59 62 22 Wales 94 87 36 Varicose Bypass Surgery Angiography Surgery 2005-06 Scotland 47 33 141 England 65 62 134 Wales 105 71 174 2006-07 Scotland 55 34 103 England 68 55 126 Wales 107 67 217 2007-08 Scotland 48 24 90 England 65 41 88 Wales 154 48 153 2008-09 Scotland 53 20 82 England 54 28 63 Wales 106 43 113 2009-10 Scotland 37 20 68 England 45 28 65 Wales 84 37 83 2010-11 Scotland 39 21 63 England 45 31 69 Wales 119 35 79 2011-12 Scotland 36 22 68 England 53 33 67 Wales 173 42 88 2012-13 Scotland 37 26 57 England 56 34 65 Wales 135 49 92 Hip Knee Hernia Repair Replacement Replacement 2005-06 Scotland 91 156 165 England 97 158 168 Wales 107 257 297 2006-07 Scotland 79 122 125 England 96 148 155 Hip Knee Hernia Repair Replacement Replacement Wales 116 219 241 2007-08 Scotland 71 99 104 England 73 107 113 Wales 98 171 180 2008-09 Scotland 67 90 91 England 54 75 77 Wales 85 119 120 2009-10 Scotland 61 78 81 England 55 77 79 Wales 80 101 105 2010-11 Scotland 58 71 72 England 58 80 83 Wales 84 156 125 2011-12 Scotland 59 73 77 England 61 82 87 Wales 94 164 187 2012-13 Scotland 54 67 68 England 59 77 82 Wales 99 170 177 Sources: ISD Scotland, HES England, NHS Wales Informatics Service. Bob Doris (Glasgow) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the number of qualified nurses there are in (a) Scotland and (b) England per head of population. (S4W-20569) Alex Neil: Information on the number of qualified nurses in (a) Scotland and (b) England per head of population is as follows: (a) NHS Scotland employed 40,088.1 whole time equivalent (wte) qualified nurses as at 31st December 2013. The latest available mid-year population estimate for 2012 is 5,313,600 (General Register Office for Scotland). There are 7.5 qualified nurses per 1,000 population or 0.008 per head of population. (b) NHS England employed 290,520.7 wte qualified nurses as at 31 December 2013. The latest available mid-year population estimate for 2012 is 53,493,700 (Office of National Statistics). There are 5.4 qualified nurses per 1,000 population or 0.005 per head of population. Scotland has 2.1 wte more qualified nurses per head of population than England. Strategy and External Affairs Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £450,000 budgeted for the white paper on independence public information campaign has been spent. Holding answer issued: 25 March 2014 (S4W-20116) Nicola Sturgeon: We want to ensure the people of Scotland can access the information they need to make an informed choice on 18 September 2014. I confirmed a budget for the public information campaign of up to £450,000 on 26 November 2013. I will update parliament on spend against this budget when expenditure for 2013-14 is finalised. Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent to date on public question and answer events relating to the white paper on independence. Holding answer issued: 25 March 2014 (S4W-20117) Nicola Sturgeon: We want to make sure that the public are as well informed as possible about the content of Scotland’s Future and the huge opportunities offered by independence. To facilitate this, the Scottish Government has organised a full programme of public engagement events. This programme is ongoing and I will update parliament on costs when expenditure for 2013-14 is finalised. Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government how many copies of the white paper on independence have been distributed in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) internationally. Holding answer issued: 25 March 2014 (S4W-20118) Nicola Sturgeon: As at 11 March 2014, 55147 hard copies of Scotland’s Future had been distributed. The following table provides a breakdown of the locations of this distribution: Location Total Scotland 52216 England 2658 Northern Ireland 108 Wales 136 International 29 Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (Scottish Liberal Democrats): To ask the Scottish Government how many events relating to Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland ministers have attended since January 2014.
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