Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-28359

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 13 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses there are per 10,000 people, and what information it has regarding how this compares with (a) England and (b) Wales.

Question reference: S5W-28539

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what additional resources it has provided the Scottish Ambulance Service with in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and how these have been used.

The Scottish Government is working closely with all NHS Boards, including Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) to respond to the additional demands arising from the current unprecedented emergency. This includes provision of additional funding from the Scottish Government to support agreed local plans, and SAS will be supported by this. We will continue our regular engagement with Boards, with local plans being updated and reviewed on a weekly basis. In addition, the Scottish Government is managing centrally funded initiatives, including provision of personal protective equipment and support to GPs.

The Scottish Government has taken urgent action to provide significant financial and practical support across NHS Scotland due to Covid-19. The circumstances demand a coordinated UK response and we are continuing to work closely with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations on funding requirements and arrangements.

SAS has used this funding to support a number of key areas, including enhancing its air transfer capacity through procurement of additional aircrafts from Loganair, and procurement of Epishuttle isolation pods for safe air transfer of patients.

Question reference: S5W-28544

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many care homes (a) were issued with an improvement notice, (b) had conditions applied to their registration and (c) had their registration cancelled by the Care Inspectorate between 1 January and 30 April 2019, and how this compares with the same period in 2020.

Between 1 January and 31 March 2019

(a) 1 care home was issued with an improvement notice.

(b) No care homes had conditions applied.

(c) No care homes had their registration cancelled.

Between 1 January and 31 March 2020

(a) No care homes were issued with an improvement notice.

(b) No care homes had conditions applied.

(c) No care homes had their registration cancelled.

In April 2019

(a) 1 care home was issued with an improvement notice.

(b) No care homes had conditions applied.

(c) No care homes had their registration cancelled.

Data for April 2020 is not yet published by the Care Inspectorate.

Question reference: S5W-28540

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what priority the Scottish Ambulance Service gives to calls regarding attempted suicide, and what its longest response time was for a call on this from the West Dunbartonshire area in the last quarter.

Question reference: S5W-27968

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there are reportedly no posters at points of entry to the country explaining the need for self-isolation as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Officials are in regular contact with all Scottish airports and sea-ports throughout COVID-19 outbreak.

I can confirm that at the time this question was issued (16 March) all airports were displaying the latest posters as agreed with Public Health England and Health Protection Scotland.

Guidance at that time related to international points of entry only, so UK passenger sea-ports such as Stranraer-Larne or Scottish Island services were not required to exhibit guidance.

We will continue to work with ports and airports to ensure the latest advice is displayed for the safety of all passengers and staff.

Question reference: S5W-27967

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason travellers were reportedly not tested for COVID-19 at points of entry to the country.

In order to make best use of available testing capacity we have identified three priorities for testing, these are: to direct our testing capacity effectively to save lives and protect the vulnerable; to ensure that critical staff can return to work as soon as possible and to monitor and report on the spread and prevalence of the virus in the population and the impact of public health measures. Testing is therefore prioritised in hospitals and to enable essential workers in health and social care to return to work.

Question reference: S5W-28358

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its resources it has used to supplement relief for businesses beyond the support provided by the UK Government, broken down by the (a) measures supported and (b) level of funding provided.

Question reference: S5W-28357

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it has allocated the Barnett consequentials that it has received for business relief, broken down by the (a) amount received for each initiative, (b) purpose of each grant and (c) number of businesses supported.

a) To date the consequentials in respect of UK Government COVID-19 business support measures total £2,313 million and the estimated cost of the Scottish Government’s COVID-19 business support measures totals £2,341 million, which includes the doubling of the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund from £45 million to £90 million, which was announced by the First Minister on 8 May 2020.

The balance is met from other Scottish Government funding, which is being generated by budget management processes reflecting revised cost estimates and reprioritisation elsewhere in the Scottish Budget. Details will be presented to Parliament at the next budget revision.

The following table sets out the estimated cost of each business support measure:

Business support measure	Estimated cost (£m)
100% non-domestic rates relief for 2020-21 for retail, hospitality, leisure and airports	824.1
£10,000 grants for small businesses in receipt of the Small Business Bonus Scheme or Rural Relief	1,024.0
£25,000 grants for hospitality, leisure and retail properties with a rateable value between £18,000 and £51,000	275.0
1.6% relief for all properties for 2020-21 (effectively freezing the poundage rate increase)	51.2
Newly Self-employed Hardship Fund	34.0
Pivotal Enterprises Resilience Fund	90.0
Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises and Hardship Fund	20.0
Grants provided to seafood processors (hardship fund)	10.0
Shellfish Growers and Trout Farmers Fund	3.0
Grants provided to fishermen	6.0
Fisheries vessels over 12m	3.5
Total	2,340.8

b) The grants reflect the specific needs of the Scottish economy and are aimed at helping to keep small and medium-sized companies in business and keep productive capacity so that they can recover. Their intention is to, Protect jobs, Prevent business closure and Promote economic recovery.

c) As at close 5 May, Local Authorities have received over 71,000 applications for our two business grant schemes to help firms combat the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. From these applications, £621 million has been awarded to over 53,000 Scottish business ratepayers.

Our analysis estimates that around 105,000 properties are eligible for a Small Business Grant with the equivalent figure for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant being around 11,000. These estimates are inevitably subject to a degree of uncertainty as the analysis is based on property data available to us at this time which is from the Assessors Valuation Roll and information provided by local authorities regarding the NDR reliefs claimed by properties as at June 2019.

These estimates do not account for, for example, any potential changes in relief eligibility between June 2019 and the 17 March 2020, the impact of additional income restrictions for self-catering properties nor do they reflect the impact of council discretion being applied to properties that are otherwise ineligible according to the grant guidance. They also do not fully reflect the fact that empty properties are currently eligible for SBBS (prior to the recent NDR Bill provisions on active occupation being commenced and implemented by councils) but the property must have been in active occupation on 17 March to be eligible for grant support. Finally, please note the grant schemes are application-based and the modelling based on these numbers assumes 100% take-up.

Question reference: S5W-28360

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 12 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government in what areas it has diverged from the UK Government in the provision of business relief for responding to the COVID-19 outbreak, and for what reason.

The Scottish Government has always been explicit that we are passing on every penny of the UK Government’s consequential funding that has come for business support to Scotland. We have delivered a package of financial support to help as many businesses as possible, while also reflecting that Scotland’s economy is different to the rest of the UK. For example, we have a higher share of non-domestic properties with low rateable values in Scotland than England, as well as a higher proportion of hospitality properties.

We have taken the right decisions for the Scottish economy and have sought to balance the needs of the broader economy with those of the retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) sectors.

The Scottish Government has provided a 100% non-domestic rates relief for airport properties, as well those in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. We have also introduced a 1.6% rates relief, effectively freezing the poundage, which is available for all non-domestic properties across Scotland.

In addition, we have provided the Small Business Grant Scheme and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) Grant Scheme, which are both being administered by local authorities. The grant scheme in Scotland will now provide a 75% grant for each subsequent eligible properties. We estimate that around 5,500 properties in the broader economy will benefit from a £7,500 grant in Scotland, but would receive nothing in England. Meanwhile, around 3,500 RHL properties would receive £7,500 in Scotland compared with £10,000 in England. These figures demonstrate that, on balance, more properties will gain more in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has also delivered a £100 million fund to help micro and SME businesses and the newly self-employed not eligible for other schemes and with immediate cash flow issues so they may be of relevance. Information about the fund can be found at the following link, .

We continue to engage with businesses on a regular basis to understand their needs, and we remain in dialogue with the UK Government to consider where further support is needed.

Question reference: S5W-28727

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many COBRA meetings have taken place in (a) 2019 and (b) 2020 to which the First Minister was invited and (i) attended and (ii) did not attend and on what dates these took place.

We have no record of invitations to any COBR meetings in 2019.

The Scottish Government can only comment on COBR meetings we are made aware of by the UK Government.

In 2020, as of 30 April, Scottish Government ministers have been invited to take part in 16 ministerial COBR meetings. The First Minister attended ten of these – from 2 March, and has attended every meeting held since 4 March. On other occasions, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and the Minister for Mental Health attended to represent the Scottish Government. I have also attended some of the meetings set out below.

COBR meetings we are aware of took place on

Friday 24 January

Wednesday 29 January

Wednesday 5 February

Tuesday 18 February

Wednesday 26 February

Monday 2 March

Wednesday 4 March

Monday 9 March

Wednesday 11 march

Thursday 12 March

Monday 16 March

Wednesday 18 March

Friday 20 March

Monday 23 March

Thursday 9 April

Thursday 16 April

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