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 MSPs 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-29662

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 18 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government which phase of the COVID-19 lockdown transition plan will allow community centres to reopen and function.

Question reference: S5W-29560

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what public health initiatives it plans to promote the importance of maintaining good physical and mental health during the various stages of the COVID-19 lockdown process.

We are working collaboratively with partners across the physical activity sector to ensure that we are best able to support people to keep physically active during the Covid-19 outbreak and as restrictions continue to be lifted.

sport scotland in partnership with SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health), is linking physical activity and mental health in a bid to encourage people to continue to reap the benefits of exercise through their #WeAreHere campaign.

In April, the Scottish Government launched the ‘Clear your Head’ campaign to help people look after their own mental health and wellbeing during, and after, the COVID-19 outbreak. Working with partner organisations, the TV, radio and digital campaign and its website provide practical advice and tips on coping with the restrictions and signposts people to further sources of information and support ( www.clearyourhead.scot ).

Question reference: S5W-29665

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 11 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with energy companies to help alleviate any fuel poverty that has been caused or exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.

The Scottish Government is engaging regularly with Energy UK and Ofgem to ensure that the needs of fuel poor households are considered. We are also engaging with individual suppliers to discuss how they are supporting their customers. I last spoke to Energy UK on 2nd June when I pressed for their members to provide support in a more consistent way.

As energy is reserved, I wrote to the UK Government on 21 April to press them to take further action and provide additional financial help for households.

The Scottish Government has also strengthened existing arrangements for support to fuel poor households, including increasing the funding for the Scottish Welfare Fund and providing funds to various organisations supporting those struggling with energy costs at this time.

We continue to engage regularly with stakeholders to understand the issues that households are facing and where relevant we share this feedback with both Energy UK and Ofgem to ensure it can be acted upon.

Question reference: S5W-29640

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 11 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government at what stage in the easing of lockdown restrictions physiotherapists will be able to return to work.

The Scottish Government recognises the important role that Physiotherapists play in maintaining the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland and while progress out of the crisis has not be as quick as any of us would have wished for, we must move forward at a pace that continues to protect public health.

As we move forward in Phase 1, it is important that we follow the spirit of the route map and support the key public health message to ‘stay at home as much as possible during phase 1’.

We appreciate that Physiotherapists will be anxious to know when each phase will start. However, it is not possible to be precise with the timings of when we will move into each phase. Indeed it may be that not all parts of each phase will be introduced at the same time.

Transition from one phase to the next will very much depend on the changes we see in the spread of the disease, only moving to a less restrictive phase if it remains under control and if we can keep the ‘R’ number below 1. By adopting the phased approach to restarting services and not encouraging significant numbers of people to travel for treatments or procedures that are not essential or urgent we will help to reduce the risk of potentially raising the value of R.

Question reference: S5O-04432

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide targeted support to 16- to 24-year-olds who have been shielding during the COVID-19 lockdown to help them gain employment.

Question reference: S5W-29561

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 9 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to help (a) people who have lost employment and (b) young people who have missed out on job opportunities because they have had to shield from COVID-19.

The Scottish Government announced £33 million in 2020-21 budget to support people back to work as we gradually restart the economy.

This Government has a strong track record of tackling youth unemployment through our internationally recognised Youth Employment Strategy – Developing the Young Workforce. We support DYW groups ensuring their employer-led efforts are relevant in the post COVID-19 world.

We continue to invest in our employability services, including Fair Start Scotland and No One Left Behind, ensuring they deliver for those who need support. We are working with existing service delivery partners to ensure collectively, we flex service offers to respond to the economic and social impact of COVID-19.

Working closely with Skills Development Scotland and local partners, we have already launched a Employability Helpline for individuals. The helpline will route individuals to appropriate employability advice and support.

The Scottish Government’s initiative for responding to redundancy situations, PACE and its lead delivery partner, Skills Development Scotland have made changes to service delivery due to COVID-19 by providing IT and telephony support to those that require it.

Question reference: S5W-28032

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government who is being tested for COVID-19.

In order to make best use of available testing capacity we identified three priorities for testing: to direct our testing capacity effectively to save lives and protect the vulnerable; to ensure that critical staff can return to work as soon as possible and to monitor and report on the spread and prevalence of the virus in the population and the impact of public health measures.

As our testing capacity increased we expanded eligibility for testing from patients to key workers and beyond, and from 18 May everyone age 5 or over with symptoms could access testing. Additional testing is underway in care homes for both residents and staff. From 28 May we have moved to Test and Protect and anyone with symptoms should seek a test as soon as possible and self isolate.

Question reference: S5W-29199

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 4 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish equality monitoring information on the grants allocated to date by the Supporting Communities Fund.

Question reference: S5W-29202

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 4 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many community organisations made applications to the Supporting Communities Fund, and when the application process will open for the next £10 million available.

The Supporting Communities Fund has, as of 27 May 2020, approved funding for 325 organisations. A list of those organisations is available on the SCVO Coronavirus Third Sector Information Hub at: https://scvo.org.uk/support/coronavirus/funding/scottish-government/supporting-communities-fund

I refer the member to my response to S5W-29197 on 4 June 2020 which clarifies how the Fund has been distributed.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-29200

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 4 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what involvement COSLA had in allocating the first tranche of funding, and will have in allocating the second tranche of funding, from the Supporting Communities Fund.

The £40m Supporting Communities Fund is a Scottish Government fund aimed at local community groups supporting people in their communities impacted by COVID-19. The fund is being targeted through community anchor organisations, utilising and building upon the knowledge and experience of delivering community regeneration funding working with our community development and community regeneration partners. We have approved Supporting Communities Funding for 325 community anchor organisations to date, totalling £12.921m.

We are in regular discussion with COSLA about the funding and will continue to engage with them and partners including Third Sector Interfaces and Local Authorities to gauge and address any gaps in support. We have worked closely with COSLA and local authorities over a number of years to target investment and support to disadvantaged communities across Scotland, which in turn has enabled us to be in a strong position to make use of existing relationships to channel funding