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-30400

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the economic impact on island communities of the reduction in ferry services and capacity during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Essential Lifeline Timetables were implemented on 27 March to reflect the Scottish Government guidance around essential travel and the resultant demand. Timetables have now been scaled up and alongside the move to 1 metre distancing there is a significant increase in ferry capacity.

Demand has not exceeded capacity on ferry services during the COVID-19 outbreak, albeit there have been a number of individual peak time sailings where demand has exceeded available capacity, for example on routes to Cumbrae and the main Ardrossan to Brodick service to Arran.

Transport Scotland continues to engage closely with ferry operators, Local Authorities and stakeholders to maximise available capacity.

The economic impact of reduced travel will vary across islands and the Scottish Government is engaged with the island local authorities to assess the measures required for economic recovery from the downturn. Our Advisory Group on Economic Recovery has provided recommendations on restoring the economy to growth and a detailed response will be produced before the end of July.

Transport Scotland is closely monitoring transport usage and capacity working with the ferry operators to balance the provision of safe services to best meet the needs of our island communities. The latest transport trends report can be found here:

Question reference: S5W-30399

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 30 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with operators to ensure that ferry services during the COVID-19 outbreak are “island-proofed” and take account of island residents’ requirements regarding traveling for work, health, education and other urgent matters, including by offering them priority access to booking tickets.

Transport Scotland officials on behalf of Scottish Ministers have engaged with ferry operators and key stakeholders as we consider the options for ferry services through the different phases of the Scottish Government’s Route Map and the Transport Transition Plan.

There has been extensive engagement with ferry committees, external transport forums and individual communities and businesses to ensure their needs are understood in planning as we emerge from lockdown.

Access to our islands for island residents and key workers, such as NHS staff, is essential and we have worked with operators to put measures in place to support this where possible, including increased timetables and booking windows. Operators will reserve a percentage of bookings to manage demand for islanders, key workers and urgent travel needs and a small supply of tickets are retained for sale on a ‘show up and go’ basis, again with a view to being of particular benefit to islanders.

In alignment with enhanced timetable changes from 1 July 2020, CalMac engaged with the Maritime & Coastguard Agency to secure permission for passengers to remain in cars on shorter routes with open deck ferries, increasing the number of passengers that can be carried. CalMac also introduced outside-only tickets on three of our busiest routes, Ardrossan – Brodick, Oban – Craignure and Wemyss Bay – Rothesay to augment available passenger capacity in the context of physical distancing requirements on vessels servicing these routes, when weather conditions are suitable.

Question reference: S5W-30590

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what childcare and nursery provision it is offering to teachers who require this to assist with their preparations ahead of the reopening of schools.

As set out in the Strategic Framework for the reopening of schools, early learning and childcare provision published on 21 May, critical childcare provision for key worker and vulnerable children will continue throughout June and the summer break. Local authorities will be responsible for deciding on the details about how to maintain the critical childcare service for key workers during this time. Education and childcare staff, including support staff, who are providing education and childcare for category 1 key workers may also qualify for critical childcare under category 1. Other education and childcare staff who are preparing schools and early learning and childcare services for re-opening may qualify under category 3.

All childcare settings have been able to reopen from 15 July, providing more options for parents and carers, including teachers.

Question reference: S5W-30270

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 23 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when amusement arcades will be allowed to reopen.

Question reference: S5W-30143

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 20 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, since being offered the option to do so, how much each local authority has transferred from its early year childcare to its schools' budget.

The Scottish Government and COSLA jointly wrote to local authorities on 15 May 2020. This letter offered local authorities flexibility to use the £508 million of ELC expansion funding for 2020-21, underspends against specific ELC revenue grant funding in previous years, and other funding streams where appropriate, to secure critical childcare provision for children of key workers and vulnerable children, and to support education recovery needed locally.

The Scottish Government and COSLA, through the ELC Finance working group, are carrying out a cost modelling exercise to determine the financial impact of COVID-19 on local authority ELC funding. The Group will continue to work through the financial implications of critical childcare during the pandemic response on ELC funding going forward.

Question reference: S5W-30222

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when the NHS will recommence operations that were cancelled or delayed due to COVID-19 for patients (a) for whom an operation is required to help relieve them of severe pain caused by their condition and (b) generally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5O-04437 on 25 June 2020. All answers to Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website

In addition throughout the pandemic we have been concerned that some members of the public are staying at home with potential symptoms of cancer and other serious illnesses, rather than seeking the support that the NHS can provide. As a result of this, we ran the NHS is Open campaign between 24 April and 7 June, which urged people to contact their GP or local hospital if they had urgent health worries, or to get in touch with their Consultant in order to help manage their symptoms. This advice continues to be relevant as paused NHS services are resumed.

Question reference: S5W-30144

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 7 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what percentage of children in each local authority area are attending education hubs.

Question reference: S5W-30133

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many digital or technical devices have been distributed to households since March 2020 to assist with home schooling, blended learning or virtual classes and teaching, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Government does not hold detailed information on the number of devices issued to households to support home learning, blended learning or virtual classes across all local authorities. We do know that a number of authorities have pre-existing device rollout programmes and a number of others have issued devices in response to the pandemic.

The Scottish Government has committed to investing a total of £25m to support digital inclusion amongst school aged children suffering from digital exclusion. We are working closely with SOLACE, ADES and Cosla on that investment and on the rollout of devices across Scottish local authorities.

Question reference: S5W-29802

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether members of the merchant navy returning from oversees are expected to undertake a 14-day isolation period.

Under the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 introduced to the Scottish Parliament on Monday 8 June, anyone returning from overseas to the UK must undertake a 14-day quarantine period unless they are classed as exempt.

These regulations include an exemption for Seamen and masters as defined in section 313(1) Merchant Shipping Act 1995, maritime pilots as defined in para 22(1) of schedule 3A of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, and inspectors and surveyors of ships appointed under section 256 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

This means that seamen (including those in the Merchant Navy) will need to complete the Public Health passenger locator form before they travel to the UK, but will not be required to self-isolate for 14 days.

On 20 June, the Scottish Government made a minor drafting amendment to the original regulations in order to clarify the original policy intention with this exemption in Scotland. The full regulations can be found at .

Question reference: S5T-02270

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further clarity to comments by the Deputy First Minister that schools could adopt a part-time learning model for the whole of the next academic year.