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-34819

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken within prisons to ensure that prisoners who have tested positive for COVID-19 are isolated from the rest of the prison population.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

When someone shows signs of COVID-19 they are immediately isolated and tested. If the test results confirm they have COVID-19, they remain in isolation for a minimum of 10 days. They are then clinically assessed by a healthcare professional before being removed from isolation.

At the onset of the pandemic the SPS developed a Pandemic Plan which is designed to keep those who live and work in prisons safe and reduce the spread of the virus. This plan is updated regularly to reflect public health advice and is available on SPS’ website at www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Information/covid19/covid-19-information-hub.aspx

Question reference: S5W-34856

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 5 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is taking to (a) track and (b) address the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on mental health.

Following engagement with stakeholders and in line with emerging needs, we published the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan on 8 October 2020. The Plan outlines the Scottish Government’s response to the impacts of COVID-19 and addresses the challenges that the pandemic has had, and will continue to have, on the population’s mental health. The Plan is comprehensive and contains over 100 actions. We continue to work with key stakeholders to focus on the Plan’s implementation.

Early in the pandemic, the Mental Health Research Advisory Group was established to follow research developments to understand the medium and long term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health; helping us to put evidence-based services and support in place to help meet the mental health needs of the population.

Since the beginning of the pandemic we have invested significantly in additional support including £1.1 billion for NHS Boards and Integration Authorities to meet the costs of responding to the pandemic. £6 million of dedicated funding has also been invested to provide additional telephone and online support services. This includes £2.1 million to expand the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub to be available to the public 24 hours a day, for 7 days a week.

The Scottish COVID-19 Mental Health Tracker study provides data which, alongside other sources, we use to track the mental health and wellbeing of the Scottish population. This has allowed us to tailor our mental health policy response to the pandemic as needs evolve. We published Wave 1 of the Tracker Study in October 2020, and we will publish Wave 2 in the coming weeks.

Question reference: S5W-34857

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 5 February 2021

In 2018 there were 784 suicides registered in Scotland, and in 2019 there were 833. Further information, including a breakdown by age, sex, and suicide coding is available at the Scottish Public Health Observatory website at the following link: https://www.scotpho.org.uk/health-wellbeing-and-disease/suicide/data/scottish-trends/ . Statistics for 2020 are not yet available. National Records of Scotland expect to publish the 2020 figures in June 2021.

Question reference: S5W-33962

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings of its report on Exercise Iris, whether discussions regarding additional capacity requirements have been held with the Resilience Unit and, if so, what action was taken to address the issues raised.

The Exercise Iris report noted that capacity and resilience should be considered at each meeting of the incident management team (IMT) dealing with a High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID), and that Scottish Government would work closely with Boards to ensure that any incident response was appropriately resourced, for example through means such as mutual aid from other Boards. Exercise Iris was conducted in partnership with the Scottish Government’s Resilience Division, which would expect to take appropriate action on any of the issues raised by the IMT dealing with a HCID, as part of the overall Scottish Government response.

Question reference: S5W-34599

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to ensure full compliance with quarantine regulations by passengers and crew of any private or military aircraft arriving at Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

Requirements for passengers arriving at any port in Scotland are set out in The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations SSI2020/169; The Health Protection (Coronavirus Public Health Information for Passengers Travelling to Scotland) Regulations SSI 2020/170; and The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Pre-departure Testing and Operator Liability) (Scotland) Regulations SSI2021/20. Enforcement is a matter for Border Force and Police Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-34600

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what powers are available to the management of Glasgow Prestwick Airport to decline any proposed visit by private or military aircraft from the United States.

Question reference: S5O-04963

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements are in place for supply teachers during the current lockdown period.

Question reference: S5W-34275

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding of the consultant census 2019-20 that 84% of consultant physicians in the North of Scotland NHS region do not receive compensation for covering rota gaps.

Question reference: S5W-34271

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will adjust training allocations in (a) geriatrics, (b) neurology, (c) renal, (d) respiratory and (e) rheumatology medicine in the North of Scotland NHS region to ensure that these programmes meet the region’s 15% allocation of higher specialty training places.

While the allocation of trainees in these medical specialties in the North of Scotland is below the 15% allocation, there are a number of other training programmes in this region with an allocation above the agreed 15% of training posts, for example Acute Medicine (16.8%), Cardiology (15.4%), Gastroenterology (18.6%). Should they wish, Boards in the North region may submit proposals to redistribute posts more evenly across the medical specialties, or for adjustments to be made across all regions for different training levels. Any such adjustments would need to be agreed with other Scottish Boards, carefully planned to ensure continuity of service and care for patients and also attractive to trainees to maximise the chances of successful recruitment.

Question reference: S5W-34274

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to address concerns that the North of Scotland NHS region reportedly receives lower numbers of trainee doctors than its allocation.

An allocation of 15% of trainees to the North of Scotland was agreed with NHS Boards Chief Executives which reflects population levels in the area. At present, the North of Scotland has 15.9% of overall training posts in Scotland, marginally exceeding the target. It is open for those Boards in the North region to set out proposals to increase their trainee allocations which, in the first instance, would be considered by the Scottish Shape of Training Transition group.