Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for ��˿�� to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-33477

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 3 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of any evidence or studies that indicate that the use of antipsychotic drugs in older people can suppress their immune system.

Clinical staff will always make individual clinical decisions and will assessments on prescribing antipsychotic medication based on patient risk factors, benefits and existing conditions.

The Scottish Government’s Standards of Care for Dementia set out standards for the prescribing, use and review of psychoactive medications across all care settings. Such medication should be prescribed following appropriate individual clinical assessment and consultation with families and only after all other alternatives, including therapeutic interventions, have been explored.

The risk of blood disorders (leukopenia/neutropenia/agranulocytosis) which involve a reduction in the number of white blood cells involved in the immune response is a recognised adverse drug reaction for antipsychotic medicines. A reduction of these blood cells can lead to an impaired immune response and an increased risk of infection. The risk of blood disorders when using antipsychotic medicines applies to all patients taking these medicines regardless of their age.

A list of the recognised side effects for every antipsychotic medicine is provided in the product information which accompanies the medicine. This includes the product’s Summary of Product Characteristics for healthcare professionals and a Patient Information Leaflet. The product information for each antipsychotic medicine can be found on the electronic Medicines Compendium website at .

Question reference: S5W-33134

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it is assessing what impact service changes such as virtual GP consultations are having on cancer diagnoses.

The use of Near Me has grown rapidly since March, with over 18,000 consultations now taking place each week. This has grown from around 300 per week pre-covid. Near Me was a Programme for Government commitment and we want to continue to build on this success. We also recently undertook a public engagement exercise on the use of Near Me where we had important patient views as well as positive engagement with MacMillan, Marie Curie and Hospices across Scotland who gave helpful insights into where video consultations worked very well and also where face to face or phone was preferable. The summary report can be found here -

Continued engagement with key partners and with the public will continue to be important on how we deliver this service.

Near Me was developed with patients and clinicians so that it is as easy to use as possible for as many people as possible, though it won’t be for everyone and we will always ensure that a face to face or telephone appointment is available to those who need them. It also offers other benefits including reducing the need to travel and therefore helping the environment.

Question reference: S5O-04843

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to upgrade the Edinburgh City Bypass.

Question reference: S5W-33187

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to recruit retired (a) nurses, (b) doctors and (c) other NHS workers to help with the forthcoming COVID-19 vaccination delivery programme.

We are actively identifying doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and support services staff, who had expressed their interest in returning to service via the NHS Scotland Accelerated Recruitment Portal, to assist with the forthcoming Covid-19 vaccinations programme.

Additionally the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer have written jointly to professional regulators to seek assistance with identifying further suitably qualified personnel who may be on the temporary or emergency registers. We remain in active dialogue with both the regulators and with health boards, in order that they can now take forward appropriate additional recruitment from within these pools.

We will take a sustainable approach to assessing the ongoing workforce and workload requirements associated with the programme. This includes supporting boards to take forward new temporary and permanent recruitment, and working with primary care, pharmacy, dentistry and optometry colleagues who all have a significant contribution to make. Further we are working across the public sector, with local authority partners and with the military, to ensure we have the right end-to-end logistics and delivery infrastructure, as we take forward the largest vaccination programme ever delivered in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-33135

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether its National Cancer Treatment Response Group will provide an update on the estimated number of people affected by any backlog in cancer services.

Question reference: S5O-04823

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it plans to allocate to projects in Lothian that will help support people and jobs.

Question reference: S5W-33087

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 25 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the policy in New Zealand to provide vitamin D supplements for all care home residents, what assessment it has made of the impact of this practice on that country's rate of deaths in care homes due to COVID-19, and whether it plans to introduce the same policy in Scotland.

Decisions on whether to prescribe vitamin D for people in care homes will be made on an individual basis taking account of residents’ needs and any contraindications with other medication that care home residents are taking. Where individuals are likely to benefit, it is recommended vitamin D should be prescribed.

We note the position being currently taken in New Zealand and the recent studies from France, Japan and Sweden in relation to vitamin D and care homes. In June, the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), published the outcome of their reviews on vitamin D and COVID-19. Both found that the evidence at that time did not support the contention that vitamin D supplementation could improve COVID-19 outcomes.

SACN concluded that evidence at that time did not support vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infection in the general UK population. Its review reiterated the importance of vitamin D for bone and muscle health. SACN’s statement is at: .

NICE conducted a rapid evidence summary on vitamin D in the context of COVID-19 which concluded that there was no evidence at that time to support taking vitamin D supplements to specifically prevent or treat COVID-19. NICE also reiterated that people should continue to follow advice on daily vitamin D supplementation to maintain bone and muscle health. The summary of NICE’s review is at:

We are aware that evidence around vitamin D is constantly evolving and we will continue to look to SACN for advice as that evidence develops.

In addition, the Scottish Government will work with stakeholders including NHS Boards, professional bodies and care home providers along with the UK Government and devolved administrations to consider and review emerging evidence for care home residents and guidance will be developed as appropriate.

Question reference: S5W-33088

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 25 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the recent study in France that states that vitamin D supplementation can reduce mortality by 89% for care home residents with COVID-19.

Question reference: S5W-33085

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 25 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS boards regarding providing vitamin D supplements for all care home residents.

Decisions on whether to prescribe vitamin D for people in care homes are made on an individual basis taking account of residents’ needs and any contraindications with other medication that care home residents are taking . Where individuals are likely to benefit, it is recommended vitamin D should be prescribed.

The Scottish Government will work with stakeholders including NHS Boards, professional bodies and care home providers along with the UK Government and devolved administrations to consider and review emerging evidence for care home residents and guidance will be developed as appropriate.

Question reference: S5W-33090

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 25 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason (a) people shielding are and (b) care home residents are not being provided with free vitamin D supplements.