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-34652

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 2 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to reform the procedures for claiming Disabled Students Allowance.

Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) are currently leading a project on behalf of the Scottish Government, reviewing the disability related student support element, encompassing both Further Education and Higher Education.

The project aims to deliver a suite of recommendations which will seek to improve the provision of support and increase parity across the sector. This will include improvements to the procedures for claiming the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) administered by SAAS.

Question reference: S5T-02640

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how the effectiveness of the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine in Scotland compares with the rest of the UK.

Question reference: S5W-34553

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many deaths there have been since the start of the COVD-19 pandemic that were as a result of difficulties in accessing treatment in hospital or cancelled appointments.

Question reference: S5W-34564

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many clinicians have volunteered to support the NHS outwith their working hours since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they have been supported to do this.

NHS Scotland's staffing levels are at a record high, with 19,500 more whole time equivalent staff members working in our NHS under this Government.

Decision on the deployment of clinicians within NHS Scotland are the responsibility of individual NHS Boards. The Scottish Government does not hold data on how many clinicians have volunteered to support the NHS outwith their working hours since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, ensuring staff have adequate rest and recuperation is also a top priority, and something which employers, including NHS Boards, must take seriously and work continues with boards and key stakeholders to put and sustain practical measure in place in this regard.

Question reference: S5W-34548

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with universities regarding the return of students; what COVID-19 testing is in place for their return; how many students it anticipates will return, and what its advice is to university students who are currently preparing to return to their (a) university and (b) private student accommodation.

The Scottish Government continues to engage regularly with the college and university sectors, NUS Scotland, trade unions and student accommodation providers on a range of matters, including the return of students to campus.

Following the First Minister’s announcement on that the planned staggered return of students at the start of the new term would be extended, we published for colleges, universities and student accommodation providers on 15 January, which sets out more detail on the staggered return and the measures institutions and accommodation providers should take to ensure the safety and wellbeing of staff and students. An FAQ is also available for students on the

Our revised guidance makes clear that during the current period of lockdown restrictions, any university education that can be done online must be done online. Our advice to all students is not to return to term-time accommodation until they have been told by their institution that in-person learning is starting. Campus and student accommodation may be open but only for students who have remained over the winter break and other exceptional returners, where their attendance is critical and time-sensitive to their course or assessment and cannot be delivered remotely or postponed, essential placements or student wellbeing. The guidance is explicit that numbers returning to college and university must be kept to an absolute minimum and the Scottish Government will work with the college and university sectors to monitor the numbers returning.

We are building on our experience of providing rapid-result asymptomatic testing to some categories of students before the winter break. For term 2, two rapid-result tests will again be offered to students changing household – the first on arrival, the second three days later. Testing will also be available for students who have remained in college or university accommodation over the holiday period.

Question reference: S5W-34364

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the First Minister on 4 January 2021 (Official Report, c. 1), what scientific evidence it has regarding the impact of closing schools on the transmission rate of COVID-19 among the general population.

An update of the evidence on COVID-19 in children and the role of school settings in transmission by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) highlights that the incidence of COVID-19 in school settings appears to be impacted by community transmission levels:

The impact of school opening and closures on community transmission will also be influenced by broader factors (such as the increased opportunity for work and social contacts for parents/carers) and the contribution that transmission occurring within school settings makes to overall community transmission. The ECDC reports that where epidemiological investigations have occurred, transmission in schools has accounted for a minority of all COVID-19 cases in each country. Adherence to community mitigations by broader society will have a substantial impact.

Evidence provided to the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (the paper was approved prior to the emergence of data on the new variant (VOC 202012/01; variant B.1.1.7)) included the following summary. “Overall, accumulating evidence is consistent with increased transmission occurring amongst school children when schools are open, particularly in children of secondary school age (high confidence): multiple data sources show a reduction in transmission in children following schools closing for half term, and transmission rates increasing again following the post-half term return to school (medium confidence). It is difficult to quantify the size of this effect , and it remains difficult to quantify the level of transmission taking place specifically within schools compared to other settings.” The evidence is available online at:

The Scottish Government has published two updates on the state of the epidemic since the beginning of 2021. The latest report ( ) notes that over the last fortnight there has been a step change in the course of the epidemic with a sharp rise in case numbers and hospital and ICU admissions.

The new variant (VOC 202012/01), which can be transmitted more easily than other variants, is now circulating widely in Scotland. Evidence from Imperial College, published on 31 December presents a consensus that this new variant has a substantial transmission advantage, with an increased rate of transmission estimated to be somewhere between 0.4 and 0.7. It is very likely that this strain will continue to increase in dominance in Scotland in a similar way to that already seen in London and SE England.

As cases in the community rise there will be an increase in the number of children we see with COVID-19, but the overwhelming majority of children and young people have no symptoms or very mild illness only. Despite a rise in the numbers of children infected more recently, child health experts confirm they are not seeing a substantial rise in COVID-related illnesses in children in hospital.

Question reference: S5W-34042

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason appointments for a second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are reportedly 28 days after the first rather than 21; whether this decision was made by ministers, and what impact this might have on the effectiveness of the vaccine.

Question reference: S5W-34366

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers have tested positive for COVID-19 in each month since February 2020, also broken down by the cumulative number of days of absence from work as a result of this.

Question reference: S5O-04955

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to make staff and customers aware of the measures that are proposed to prevent assaults on retail workers.

Question reference: S5W-34230

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what investigations it has undertaken regarding the impact of the new COVID-19 variant on children and young people.

The Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group and the Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues have discussed this issue at their regular and extraordinary meetings held in recent weeks. However, the evidence of the impact of the new COVID-19 variant on children and young people is as yet insufficient in order to reach any firm conclusions. For that reason, the Scottish Government will be collecting the most up to date information on the new variant of the virus, and particularly the data on transmission among and by children and young people. The COVID-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues will consider the issue in more detail once it has that data.