Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-00024

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the research led by Newcastle University and published in The Lancet into outcomes arising from Minimum Unit Pricing.

Question reference: S6W-00003

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 25 May 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on university students arriving back in the country from studying abroad being asked to pay £1,750 for a 10-day period in a quarantine hotel, and whether it will consider reimbursing their full costs.

The Scottish Government has been working with the university sector to explore what measures can be put in place for students returning to Scotland after an education exchange programme, who may be subject to managed isolation arrangements.

These students can apply for financial hardship support from the £22 million Higher Education Coronavirus Discretionary Fund and £3m Further Education Coronavirus Discretionary Fund. These funds were allocated to the universities and colleges in February. Institutions' assessments and awards are based on the individual circumstances involved. However, the eligible scenarios can include costs associated with travel to and from Scotland if their travel is essential and in line with current travel restrictions / exemptions, and they are in financial hardship and can demonstrate this through the institution's hardship assessment process.

Question reference: S6W-00002

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 25 May 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to allowing university students arriving back in the country from studying abroad to (a) be exempted from the requirement to enter a period of managed isolation at a quarantine hotel for 10 days or (b) complete the period of quarantine at their home address.

The Scottish Government has been exploring with the university sector how student accommodation could be used for the purposes of managed isolation for students returning to Scotland after a period of study abroad.

Restrictions around international travel are in place to limit the risk of importing new cases and variants to Scotland. Currently, only students arriving back in Scotland from studying abroad in a ‘red-list’ country need to go into managed isolation in a hotel. Students arriving from amber list countries can complete their period of self-isolation at their home address.

Question reference: S6W-00004

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 May 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what differences in pay there are between the different professional groups that are performing COVID-19 vaccinations, and for what reason some vaccinators delivering the same service are reportedly paid less than others.

All staff employed to work on the programme are paid in accordance with nationally set terms and conditions and are working to agreed job roles.

A substantive Band 3 vaccinator is paid £20,700 rising to £22,594 (per annum). A Band 5 immunisations nurse is paid £25,100 to £31,649, in line with Agenda for Change rates. Substantive staff from other areas of the health service working overtime and redeployed staff are paid according to their terms and conditions of service. Bank staff who do not also hold contracts of employment with the host health board are paid at the grade and pay band as specified in their bank contract, relating to the role profile pursuant to which they have been deployed.

The Scottish Government has set sessional rates of £230 and £231 for independent contractors (GPs, dentists, optometrists and pharmacists) taking part in the COVID-19 vaccination programme. These rates reflect both the market conditions for hiring these professionals, and the roles being filled in the programme.

The above arrangements have supported the temporary deployment of staff during the initial phases of the vaccination programme, while work is taken forward to build a sustainable vaccination workforce.

Question reference: S5W-35933

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 May 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) purchasing respirator hoods and stealth masks for dentists who are unable to be face fit tested for FFP3 masks, so that they can continue to undertake aerosol-generating procedures, and what assessment it has made of the costs of doing so.

It is vital that frontline staff from all clinical groups receive the protective equipment they require. For instance, National Procurement within NHS National Services Scotland (NP) are currently providing £1.5 million of PPE per week free of charge to dental contractors providing NHS care. Dentists previously sourced their own PPE. NP are also working hard to ensure a continued supply of the right PPE across a range of sizes.

Infection Prevention and Control guidance recommends use of an FFP3 respirator during Aerosol Generating Procedures in medium- and high-risk pathways (and in low-risk pathways, if staff choose this following an individual risk assessment). As such, the primary focus is on finding an appropriate FFP3 fit.

To deliver well-fitting FFP3 respirators to as many health and social care staff as possible, NP have a contract with a Scottish company to manufacture FFP3 respirators across a range of face sizes. This means NHS Scotland are receiving FFP3 respirators to a specification that better recognises the staff demographic within the health sector.

If an individual is ultimately unable to use an FFP3 respirator, and a powered respirator hood is judged by a Health Board to be the only alternative, this can be considered; but in every case this must be a clinically-led judgement and is not a matter for the Scottish Government to determine.

Question reference: S5W-35873

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many road traffic incidents there have been in each local authority area in each year since 2016-17, also broken down by the number of incidents where it was recorded that an animal was (a) injured and (b) killed.

Reported Road Casualties Scotland provides information on accidents reported to the police where one or more people have been injured. The latest statistics available are up to 2019.

The following tables show a) the number of injury accidents by council area and b) the number of injury accidents where a vehicle is recorded as hitting an animal (not including ridden horses) in the carriageway. Details on the injuries sustained by the animals are not recorded.

a) Injury road accidents by council area

	2016	2017	2018	2019
Aberdeen City	175	155	137	116
Aberdeenshire	334	252	242	198
Angus	111	135	126	96
Argyll & Bute	178	174	156	144
Clackmannanshire	69	48	34	36
Dumfries & Galloway	269	236	259	195
Dundee City	135	120	96	130
East Ayrshire	179	131	163	103
East Dunbartonshire	93	88	59	69
East Lothian	158	158	128	104
East Renfrewshire	95	95	71	65
Edinburgh, City of	1,140	905	772	744
Eilean Siar	24	17	21	25
Falkirk	235	216	166	128
Fife	452	317	328	304
Glasgow City	1,279	1,077	910	856
Highland	383	309	393	337
Inverclyde	112	91	79	97
Midlothian	166	134	119	116
Moray	75	60	50	53
North Ayrshire	186	165	147	127
North Lanarkshire	483	444	382	346
Orkney Islands	25	11	10	23
Perth & Kinross	175	204	184	128
Renfrewshire	289	260	211	162
Scottish Borders	202	185	173	149
Shetland Islands	26	16	13	22
South Ayrshire	205	157	125	123
South Lanarkshire	466	395	383	335
Stirling	177	141	127	128
West Dunbartonshire	128	114	85	72
West Lothian	331	308	283	216
Scotland	8,355	7,118	6,432	5,747

b) Injury road accidents involving animals by council area

	2016	2017	2018	2019
Aberdeen City	1	0	0	0
Aberdeenshire	2	1	3	2
Angus	1	2	1	0
Argyll & Bute	5	3	0	1
Dumfries & Galloway	2	2	1	1
East Ayrshire	0	2	0	0
East Lothian	1	1	1	1
Edinburgh, City of	1	0	0	2
Eilean Siar	0	0	1	1
Falkirk	1	1	0	0
Fife	1	0	2	0
Glasgow City	1	0	0	2
Highland	8	4	6	3
Inverclyde	1	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	1	0	0
Moray	1	1	0	1
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	1
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0	1
Perth & Kinross	2	1	1	1
Scottish Borders	2	1	1	1
Shetland Islands	0	0	1	0
South Ayrshire	1	1	0	0
South Lanarkshire	0	1	2	0
Stirling	1	1	0	1
West Lothian	1	0	0	0
Scotland	33	23	20	19

Question reference: S5W-35876

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-33642 by Jeane Freeman on 16 December 2020, whether it will provide a breakdown of the reasons given for applications to the mesh fund being declined.

A small number of applications have been declined, either because the operation in question did not involve the implantation of transvaginal mesh, because insufficient evidence was provided, or because implantation of mesh was not carried out by or on behalf of an NHS Scotland Health Board.

We have been clear in our wish to reimburse those women who, in absence of out of Scotland NHS referrals, incurred costs of past mesh removal surgery arranged and paid for privately, along with connected expenses including those for travel. We intend to use the existing mesh fund but in light of legal advice that we do not currently have powers to use public funds in this way, new legislation will be required.

The present administration will, if it is returned to office, introduce a Bill to the Parliament to give Ministers specific power to make payments of this kind. The present administration plans to introduce a Bill with this purpose early in the next session of the Parliament.

A scheme of reimbursement will, like the mesh fund now, require appropriate arrangements in terms of the verification of applications and also new arrangements with respect to the submission of documentary evidence connected to personal expenditure. It will also be necessary to consider appropriate eligibility criteria.

Question reference: S5W-35932

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many claims have been made to Revenue Scotland for a repayment of the Additional Dwelling Supplement in each year since 2016, and how many of the requests have been (a) accepted and (b) declined.

Revenue Scotland publishes statistics on Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in its role as the tax authority responsible for the collection and management of the fully devolved taxes .

Table 3 of Revenue Scotland’s monthly LBTT official statistics publication shows the number of accepted claims for a repayment of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax Additional Dwelling Supplement, by month of receipt of the original transaction. The statistics are available at: https://www.revenue.scot/about-us/publications/statistics/lbtt-statistics#overlay-context=about-us/publications/statistics .

Revenue Scotland does not publish data regarding the number of claims which are rejected.

Question reference: S5W-35875

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-33642 by Jeane Freeman on 16 December 2020, whether it will provide an update regarding the number of applications that have been made to the mesh fund, broken down by how many (a) have been approved, (b) have been declined and (c) are yet to be processed.

Question reference: S5W-35796

Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to amending its COVID-19 guidance to exempt people who have a face covering exemption card from wearing a face covering when they are required to travel in the same vehicle as a carer, who does not reside at the same address, and social distancing cannot be maintained, and what its position is on providing exemptions in situations where both people have received their (a) first and (b) second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

We have produced guidance on car and vehicle sharing during the pandemic, which can be found on the Scottish Government website. When car sharing, occupants, including the driver, are strongly encouraged to wear a face covering provided it does not compromise driver safety in any way.

Currently, there are no exemptions for people who have been vaccinated. We are considering the role a vaccination certificate might have. However, it is too soon to introduce any form of certification.

Received	472
Approved	434
Declined	21
Pending	17

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