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-34745

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it can provide to allow community events to be held digitally, in light of them having to be cancelled because of COVID-19 restrictions.

In September 2020, the Scottish Government launched the £40m Scottish Government Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme, which aims to support community groups, charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises by providing support on planning and implementing changes to help adapt to a different social and economic climate as well as providing ongoing crisis support.

The Adapt & Thrive strand of the Programme aims to support organisations change and adapt following the impact and challenges of Covid 19.

The Communities Recovery Fund strand of the Programme focusses on support for delivering community services; which may have had to stop due to Covid 19, be experiencing increased demand, or be needed to respond to new challenges.

Organisations can receive tailored, specialist advice, as well as grants and loans, to support them to develop a plan so they can operate sustainably. This may mean developing new income streams, restructuring the organisation, or changing how services are delivered, such as delivering events digitally, in order to allow them to continue to have a positive impact in their communities.

Further information on the Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme can be found at the following

Question reference: S5W-34786

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time taken to respond to correspondence from ��˿�� to Scottish Ministers has been in each of the last 12 months.

The Scottish Government aims to respond to all ministerial correspondence within 20 working days. Due to the Covid pandemic, the Scottish Government have received a significant increase in correspondence. The following table outlines information as at 1 February 2021:

Month	Average working days taken to respond to ��˿��
February 2020	21
March 2020	27
April 2020	27
May 2020	27
June 2020	22
July 2020	24
August 2020	23
September 2020	27
October 2020	28
November 2020	22
December 2020	18
January 2021	12

*taken from MiCase, SG Corporate Correspondence system

Question reference: S5O-05013

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what research it is funding to drive efficiencies in agriculture.

Question reference: S5W-34704

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 3 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when the Farming and Food Production Future Policy Group will publish its final advisory report.

The Farming and Food Production Future Policy Group was established as an independent Group, comprising representatives from the farming and food production sectors in addition to environmental and land management representatives. Given the industry involvement in the Group, it is unfortunately inevitable that Covid and Brexit have significantly impacted upon the Group’s work. As an independent Group, it is for the Group to determine when to publish their Report.

Question reference: S5W-34403

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 3 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the timescales are for criteria to be made available to local authorities in respect of the £185 million funding announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance on 9 December 2020 to enable local authorities to distribute funding to businesses in their areas, and when local authorities may expect the funding to be released.

Question reference: S5W-34705

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in care homes have received vitamin D supplements each month since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Information on the number of people in care homes that have received vitamin D supplements each month since the last of the pandemic is not held centrally.

The Chief Medical Officer issued a letter to all adult care home providers on Thursday 21st January 2021 providing advice on vitamin D supplements for care home residents. The letter states that residents should be assessed for vitamin D supplements (as per local formulary) as part of their regular routine clinical review and that decisions on whether to prescribe vitamin D for care home residents, including those who are shielded, should be taken on an individual basis.

In addition to this, the Chief Medical Officer also issued a letter to those individuals on the shielding list on 23rd October 2020 which included the offer of 4 months free supply of vitamin D. The letter stated that, for people in care homes, their GP or nurse will discuss whether vitamin D will be of benefit.

Supplies of 90,000 units of Vitamin D were procured with 71,833 people opting in to the offer. These were posted to individuals from W/C 23 November 2020.

Question reference: S5W-34407

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of the recent publication of a paper by Griffin et al in the Clinical Medicine Journal, "Peventing vitamin D deficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic: UK definitions of vitamin D sufficiency and recommended supplement dose are set too low", whether it plans to set up a national programme to assess and, where clinically appropriate, prescribe regulated medicinal vitamin D at 800 IU or above to people living in care homes and care at home settings.

Our advice for adults and children over one year of age to take a daily 10 microgram vitamin D supplement is based on the recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), as set out in its 2016 report Vitamin D and Health.

The report is available at

Ten micrograms is the average amount needed per day by the majority (97.5%) of the population to maintain adequate vitamin D levels when UVB sunlight exposure is minimal.

SACN published an updated rapid review on vitamin D and Acute Respiratory Tract Infections (ARTI) on 17 December 2020. It recommended the reference nutrient intake for vitamin D remain unchanged and reiterated that a vitamin D intake of 10 micrograms per day is recommended for the UK population aged 1 and above. The rapid review is available at

We have no plans to set up a national programme for vitamin D for people living in care homes or care at home settings. Anyone who needs vitamin D should receive it. Decisions to prescribe it in care homes or care at home settings is a matter for the individual’s clinician.

The Chief Medical Officer wrote to care home providers, including NHS Directors of Pharmacy, and Community Pharmacy Scotland on 21 January outlining that residents should be individually assessed for vitamin D supplements as part of their regular routine clinical review.

We will continue to be guided by SACN as the evidence base on vitamin D develops.

Question reference: S5W-34409

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32641 by Joe FitzPatrick on 6 November 2020, what arrangements it has put in place to procure and distribute vitamin D supplements to people who are shielding.

People on the shielding list were offered a free 4 month supply of a daily supplement of Vitamin D in October 2020. Opt-in was via the Scottish Government shielding text messaging service or the free national helpline. The deadline for sign up was 11 November. Vitamin D was procured through NHS National Services Scotland National Procurement. 71,833 people opted in and supplies were posted from week commencing 23 November and arrived during December. The offer included residents in care homes and those in prison who will receive their supply through individualised discussions and prescriptions where it is of benefit.

Question reference: S5W-34669

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time taken is to process export certificates for seafood by Marine Scotland.

Export Health Certificates (EHCs) are not dealt with by Marine Scotland.

EHCs for seafood exports are normally issued by Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) working for local authorities. However, given the anticipated massive increase in demand for EHCs arising from the UK leaving the EU single market, the Scottish Government, Food Standards Scotland (FSS), seafood businesses and logistics providers have worked to put in place a FSS-staffed certifying service at three logistics hubs in central Scotland, thereby reducing what would be an unmanageable burden on local authorities.

The disruption to Scotland’s high quality seafood export business is entirely a result of the UK Government’s reckless decision to pursue a hard Brexit in the middle of the pandemic.

It is difficult, at this stage, to provide an accurate figure for the average time being taken to complete the certification process. On some occasions the process can be completed in 45 minutes. In other, more problematic cases, it has taken almost 10 hours before all documentation is in order and a certificate can be issued.

Question reference: S5W-34668

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Food Standard Scotland’s two key logistics hubs for leading on Export Health Certificate provision in Scotland, which are designed to help business export post-Brexit.

Food Standards Scotland operational hubs are completing Export Health Certificate documentation to ensure that the EU authorities will accept them. Between 1 and 27 January 2021, the total number of EHCs completed across the three central logistics hubs in Scotland (Larkhall, Bellshill and Harthill) was 635*.

Single commodity load EHCs presented with complete and accurate paperwork can be processed in less than an hour. Multiple commodity loads, groupage or loads presented with incomplete or incorrect paperwork are taking longer.

Food Standards Scotland currently has the capacity and skills required at the sites to ensure efficient attestation of export health certificates and can increase resources further if that becomes necessary. SG and FSS are committed to supporting industry, and have hosted four well attended webinars highlighting the key challenges and improvements which can be made going forward, including correct completion of paperwork. These webinars can be accessed on FSS’ EU Exit food and drink exports as well as other information to support businesses.

*Please note this does not represent a total number of EHCs completed in Scotland since EU Exit, only data for sites where FSS is operational (so doesn’t include EHCs issued by Local Authorities or by the private sector).