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-33233

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish details of home many hospital patients who have died from COVID-19-related conditions in each week since 23 March 2020 had been moved from a care home setting, and, if this information is not held centrally, whether, in the interests of transparency, it will consider gathering and publishing such data.

Question reference: S5W-33232

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the COVID-19-related mortality rate for hospital patients for each week since 23 March 2020, and what proportion of all deaths related to the pandemic this represents, also broken down by the number of these deaths (a) that were directly attributed to the virus at the time of death and (b) where the presence of the virus recorded on the death certificate, and, if this information is not held centrally, whether, in the interests of transparency, it will consider gathering and publishing such data.

Question reference: S5W-33182

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the scientific evidence that it has received to determine the relationship between (a) the presence of alcohol and (b) responsible alcohol consumption in hospitality settings and the spread and prevalence of COVID-19, including the direct link of the impact on this of the different opening hours restrictions set out in the Strategic Framework.

Not all alcohol consumption is irresponsible and the levels approach makes allowance for this, particularly at level 2 and below. However, the disinhibiting effect of alcohol on behaviours is already well understood. It can pose a risk to adherence in relation to guidance and rules for hospitality, in particular physical distancing, which is essential in the current context. Restrictive hours, coupled with no alcohol at level 3, is intended to reduce the amount of time people spend in hospitality as we know environments where people congregate is where the virus is more likely to spread. This is covered in the recent for hospitality measures.

Question reference: S5W-33201

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress to roll out 1,140 hours of funded childcare nationally; how many hours of funded childcare is currently available in each local authority area, and what the current timetable is by which it is working towards ensuring and finalising full roll out across all parts of Scotland.

The Improvement Service published a on delivery progress as of August on 11 November which showed that 93,438 children were accessing funded ELC as of the end of August 2020. Of these, 80% children were accessing more than the statutory entitlement of 600 hours, and 61% children were accessing 1140 hours funded ELC. Local authorities are continuing to offer expanded hours where they can, and to progress expansion plans ahead of setting a new statutory date.

The Scottish Government is working closely with councils to build on the data collected, to understand the impact of COVID on programmes, and to inform the Joint Delivery Board’s assessment of the appropriate date to reinstate the 1140 hours statutory duty. This assessment will be completed and a new implementation date communicated to Parliament and the public by the end of December 2020. The Scottish Government will bring forward legislation in this parliamentary session to reinstate the 1140 duty.

As at November 2020:

14 councils are offering 1140 hours to all families

Angus, Argyll & Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee, East Renfrewshire, Eilean Siar, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Lanarkshire, Scottish Borders, Shetland, South Ayrshire, Stirling.

18 Councils are offering at least 600 hours of funded ELC to all families, and 1140 to some or most families

Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, East Dumbarton, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow, Highland, Moray, North Ayrshire, Orkney, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian.

Question reference: S5W-33203

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on subject choice in the senior phase of the 2020-21 academic year.

It is a matter for individual schools and local authorities to plan a Senior Phase that takes account of local circumstances and meets the needs and aspirations of learners, ensuring that young people can choose preferred subjects; however, timetabling, staffing and resourcing issues may mean that this is not always possible.

Where a subject cannot be offered by the school, national guidelines encourage flexibility, enabling schools to work collaboratively with other local schools or colleges or through on-line, digital approaches.

We expect this to continue but recognise that COVID-19 has presented many challenges and schools are rightly prioritising the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of learners during the recovery phase.

The Scottish Government’s Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance on preparing for the start of the new school term in August 2020, encourages schools to plan their curriculum with colleges, including looking at issues of timetabling, transport, and the use of digital resources.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority has published a report on the outcomes of the consultation that they carried out on proposed modifications to National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher course assessments in session 2021-21. The modifications took account of loss of learning and teaching time and public health advice as it applies to different subject areas. SQA has published information on the modifications for each subject and will consider any further modifications to take account of the evolving public health advice.

The Scottish Government is working with Education Scotland, Colleges and Local Authorities to monitor the impact of COVID 19 on the breadth of the Senior Phase curriculum offer and on collaboration between schools and with colleges, and will consider if further guidance is required in this area

Question reference: S5W-33202

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 24 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress made on the new IT system for Disclosure Scotland.

At the end of September 2019, Disclosure Scotland replaced an obsolete IT system with its new processing system, Protecting and Safeguarding Scotland (PASS). This has been used since then to process all disclosure checks. PASS is continually being developed to improve our service. The newly introduced PVG Online service (which is currently being tested with a small number of stakeholders) is a major step forward, consistent with the digital plan for Disclosure Scotland. PVG Online provides a digital application platform for PVG members, new and existing, for the first time and demonstrates progress towards a digital first application service for all of our products.

Question reference: S5W-33194

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment made by the Deputy First Minister to the Parliament on 12 August 2020, and in a letter to EIS, how many teachers, nursery and educational support staff have been tested for COVID-19; where these tests took place, and what percentage of the tests were positive.

We do not hold this information. For people who test positive we have information on their self reported occupation. This is published weekly here: (see page 15).

For those coming back negative we do not know the occupation as this information is not collected at time of test. For individuals going through the employer referral portal for asymptomatic testing, we cannot easily identify education based referrals compared to referrals from other key workers who are using this portal as employer is collected as free text.

Question reference: S5O-04798

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how people with chronic health conditions are being supported to access GP services, in light of the added pressures resulting from COVID-19.

Question reference: S5W-33013

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects all provisions of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 to come into effect, and in particular new restrictions on pavement parking.

Question reference: S5W-32743

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 13 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the visiting regulations and testing plans for care homes, including those regarding designated visitors being screened on a weekly basis.

Visiting is vital to the wellbeing of people in care homes and their loved ones and it is important that all steps are taken to enable visiting to resume safely. To support this, the Scottish Government published on 12 October updated visiting guidance which offers greater flexibility in visiting arrangements, and indoor visiting in particular, as winter approaches. The guidance can be found here:

We will continue to review the visiting guidance with the aim of maximising the amount of quality time that families can safely spend together.

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for the Pandemic, published on 23 October, sets out plans to develop the testing element of Test and Protect over the next three months which focusses on building capacity within NHS Scotland and deploying expansions in UK Government testing capacity and capability to its maximum effect in Scotland.

As set out in our Clinical and Scientific review of the Testing Strategy, the consensus clinical view of the prioritisation of capacity, over and above that required to meet symptomatic demand, clinical care requirements and existing commitments, is that the focus in any extension of routine regular asymptomatic testing should be on protecting those most vulnerable to severe harm. Further details can be found here:

As testing capacity builds over the next three months, and in line with clinical and public health priorities identified though the review of our testing strategy, this will include considering how best to introduce testing for visitors to those who live in care homes where this can add an additional layer of risk mitigation to enable safe visiting to continue. Further details on the Framework can be found here:

As I have already indicated to Parliament, I will set out the next phase of our testing roll out delivery plan to Parliament before the end of November 2020.