- Asked by: Siobhian Brown, MSP for Ayr, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that all quarantine hotels for people entering Scotland can cater for all dietary requirements for people self-isolating.
Answer
Standard operating procedures at the hotel include recording of traveller’s dietary requirements which will be met, where practical.
The Scottish Government has close working relationships with all services providers, including the hotel teams directly in Scotland. This enables issues to be raised locally, solutions agreed quickly and, where practical, special measures for guests to be put in place at short notice.
The hotel teams in Scotland encourage travellers to get in touch with the Scottish Government where they feel their needs are not being adequately met by the hotel. This can include dietary requirements. We will do all that we can in liaising with the hotel to ensure that the traveller’s needs can be met and that their stay is as comfortable as possible.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many students will be graduating as nurses in the 2021-22 academic year, and how many nurses posts will be available for the graduates.
Answer
Students who will be graduating as nurses in the 2021-22 academic year are still completing their education programmes and most are not due to graduate until September. While it is still therefore early in the recruitment process, the following table shows the number of graduates expected from Scottish universities by September and the estimated number of posts to be offered by NHS Boards for newly qualified nurses. At present the number of posts available equates to 87.1% of the total graduate workforce. These numbers are subject to revision as the recruitment process continues and more graduates are offered posts.
| No. of graduates expected by September 21 (data based on university predictions) | No. of posts specifically available for newly qualified nurses in NHS Scotland Boards |
Nursing | 2,963 | 2,582 |
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of Scotland's overall energy consumption comes from renewable sources.
Answer
One of the headline targets in Scotland's Energy Strategy is for the equivalent of 50% of the energy for Scotland's heat, transport and electricity use to come from renewable sources. This is one of Scotland's 81 indicators in the National Performance Framework and the latest data is published on the National Performance Framework website ( https://nationalperformance.gov.scot/measuring-progress/national-indicator-performance ) as well as the Scottish Energy Statistics Hub ( https://scotland.shinyapps.io/Energy/?Section=WholeSystem&Chart=RenEnTgt ). Provisional figures for 2019 indicate that the equivalent of 24.0% of total Scottish energy consumption came from renewable sources
The Scottish Government intends to publish a draft refresh of the 2017 Scottish Energy Strategy in Spring 2022, and we will be reviewing this target as part of this wider piece of work.
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what the COVID-19 infection rate for people with (a) asthma, (b) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), (c) idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), (d) bronchiectasis and (e) obstructive sleep apnoea has been in each month since March 2020.
Answer
This information is not held by the Scottish Government. Information on positive COVID-19 cases is published daily by Public Health Scotland, however, this is not currently broken down by pre-existing health condition.
- Asked by: Paul O'Kane, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how many people with (a) asthma, (b) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), (c) idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), (d) bronchiectasis and (e) obstructive sleep apnoea have been diagnosed with long COVID in each month since March 2020.
Answer
This information is not held by the Scottish Government. Information on the prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus (COVID-19) infection is collected and reported by the Office for National Statistics, but is not broken down for these specific conditions.
- Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment that, by 2025, all adults who require rehabilitation will be able to access the necessary information and services, what action it is taking to ensure that people affected by aphasia following a stroke can access ongoing support in the community.
Answer
Our overall vision is for everyone with rehabilitation needs to be able to access the care and support they need to live well, on their own terms. Work is underway to deliver the Framework for supporting people through Recovery and Rehabilitation during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic. This puts in place clear principles, priorities and objectives to support planning to meet increasing demand and to provide high quality person-centred rehabilitation in different settings.
In addition, as part of our Programme for Government stroke commitments to develop a programme to improve stroke pathways and services, recommendations are being developed to ensure that all those who experience communication disorders following a stroke are assessed by a speech and language therapist and; are provided with an individualised rehabilitation programme using a range of evidence based interventions.
This will be evaluated as part of the national stroke care audit and services within NHS Health and Social Care Partnerships will be reviewed on an annual basis by the Scottish Government Stroke Improvement Team.
- Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how the NHS Recovery Plan will take account of the importance of providing rehabilitation and community support services following a stroke.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people who have had a stroke receive the best possible care as quickly as possible to enable them to live longer, healthier independent lives. As we progress with our NHS Recovery Plan, evidence-based caution is at the forefront of our decision-making. We will continue to work with Health Boards to remobilise the NHS in the safest possible way, including for those in need of rehabilitation following a stroke.
Our overall vision is for everyone with rehabilitation needs to be able to access the care and support they need to live well, on their own terms. Work is underway to deliver the Framework for supporting people through Recovery and Rehabilitation during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic. This puts in place clear principles, priorities and objectives to support planning to meet increasing demand and to provide high quality person-centred rehabilitation in different settings.
Work is also ongoing to deliver our Programme for Government commitments to improve stroke pathways and services. This will include recommendations for a progressive stroke rehabilitation service, both in hospital and in the community.
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 June 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 25 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has established the necessary governance process and a monitoring framework to assess progress towards the vision of its Housing 2040 (H2040) strategy.
Answer
Housing to 2040, Scotland’s first long-term housing strategy, was published in March 2021 following extensive consultation across the country. The Scottish Government is now working with our partners to develop the detailed plans necessary to deliver the vision set out in Housing to 2040. We have committed to setting up a governance process and a monitoring framework so that we and others can assess progress towards the vision and be held accountable. We will establish that process and framework later this year following discussions with key stakeholders .
- Asked by: Gillian Mackay, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards it has put in place to ensure that the investment it has made in the (a) research and development and (b) manufacturing in Livingston of Valneva’s inactivated whole virus COVID-19 vaccine, will not be used to fund shareholder pay-outs when the company lists on the New York Stock Exchange.
Answer
The Scottish Government has provided in-kind support to Valneva via Scottish Enterprise. There has been no financial investment made in this facility by the Scottish Government.
The decision for any company to list on the Nasdaq is a commercial decision made by the organisation itself and the company already has a stock exchange, listing on the Paris Bourse (Euronext).
Vaccines Taskforce and BEIS have provided the following commentary that the UK Government has supported Valneva by providing funding for its early clinical trials and has also made a multi-million-pound investment to upgrade and expand Valneva’s Livingston manufacturing facility, as part of its supply agreement for COVID-19 vaccines.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 June 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will extend the window for 18- to 29-year-olds to register for a COVID-19 vaccination appointment.
Answer
Self-registration for 18–29 year olds closed on 11 June 2021. The online portal was part of the Scottish Government’s measures to widen the accessibility of vaccine appointments, and was extended for another week, on top of the original three week window. 40% of the young people aged 18-29 who were still to be vaccinated, self-registered on our online portal.
The 18-29 year olds who did not register online, are being scheduled for an appointment on the system this week, and letters are coming out over this week and next. However, to give advanced sight of appointments online, we are launching an appointment checker on NHS Inform to help people view their pending appointments. This will help those people, like students, who may have moved away from their registered GP term time address. This will also help them view their offered appointment earlier and chose to reschedule to fit with their work and life.