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-33463

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what role it has in the oversight and operation of the fieldwork for the Coronavirus (COVID-19): ONS Infection Survey being conducted by the ONS and the University of Oxford on its behalf.

The survey is being conducted by the Office for National Statistics in collaboration with the University of Oxford on behalf of the UK and Scottish Government. Scottish Government officials play a key part in supporting the survey by providing oversight and operational support. Officials sit on the steering group, support day to day operations, provide analytical oversight and sign off on decisions affecting Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-33470

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when the aim of testing 15,000 participants per fortnightly period through the Coronavirus (COVID-19): ONS Infection Survey was set; on what date this was initially due to be achieved by; whether this has been met, and, if not, for what reasons, and how many have been tested in each fortnightly period since the survey began.

Recruitment into the survey commenced in September, with letters inviting households to participate in the survey reaching the first households on Friday 18 th September. Field work started on Monday 21 September, with survey teams starting to visit participant households from that date. The initial target for individuals swabbed per fortnight in Scotland was 15,000 with the aim that this target be reached as quickly as possible, and maintained within ±10% of this figure. The timeframes for achieving this were based on registration data from the survey in England. In practice, these initial predictions on uptake in Scotland were underestimated and participant registration levels were significantly higher than those observed in England. Therefore, in order to not overshoot the target, recruitment was slowed down. As a result, the target date for reaching 15,000 individuals tested per fortnight was moved from the beginning of November to the middle of November.

ONS have advised that recently there have been issues maintaining the number of Study Workers needed to maintain the target, therefore the target has now been moved to the 14 December. At all times, best efforts have been made to achieve this target, but there are many variables at play and it is difficult to predict what will actually happen. Another factor which must be considered, but we cannot predict, is the introduction of lockdowns and how this may affect the behaviour of respondents.

The following table provides the number of unique individuals tested in each fortnightly period, with the target being 15,000. Please be aware that number of unique individuals will contain the same individuals across different time periods and for this reason, it is not appropriate to sum up counts from multiple periods, as this will lead to double counting.

Fortnightly period	Number of unique individuals tested in each fortnight period
21 September to 4 October	1,605
28 September to 11 October	3,344
5 to 18 October	4,982
12 to 25 October	5,762
19 October to 1 November	5,807
26 October to 8 November	5,821
2 to 15 November	6,975
9 to 22 November	8,410

Question reference: S5W-33472

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what level of asymptomatic testing for surveillance has been achieved through the Coronavirus (COVID-19): ONS Infection Survey in Scotland in each week since it began.

Question reference: S5W-33468

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government which private companies are involved in the operation of the Coronavirus (COVID-19): ONS Infection Survey in Scotland; who they were contracted by, and whether it will place any details it holds on these contracts and their value in SPICe.

The survey is being conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in collaboration with the University of Oxford on behalf of the UK and Scottish Government. Private organisations provide some of the services associated with this study.

IQVIA is responsible for carrying out the nose and throat swabs, and taking the blood samples. Serco and IQVIA are jointly responsible for arranging appointments for participants and study workers. HH Global, Gov Notify and GovDelivery are the service providers that help study workers get in touch with participants and Sodexo is the service provider responsible for the vouchers sent as a thank you for study participation.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on these contracts as the ONS is carrying out this survey, therefore there are currently no plans to include this information in SPICe. If more information is required, this is a matter for the Office for National Statistics as the information requested is not held centrally.

Question reference: S5W-33466

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many households were invited to participate in the Coronavirus (COVID-19): ONS Infection Survey; how many of these households agreed to participate (a) on a one-off basis, (b) for a month or (c) regularly, and how many households that agreed to participate have not been involved in the survey in each week since it began.

Figures published on 26 November include response rates showing that, between 21 September and 21 November, 93,522 households have been invited to take part in the COVID-19 Infection Survey. Of the households that have been invited to take part, 12,779 households have registered (agreed to participate), reflecting a household acceptance rate of 14%. Within the 12,779 households that have registered, there are 24,815 individuals who are eligible to participate in the study. From the registered households, 10,516 individuals from 5,802 households have provided at least one swab, and 10,001 individuals have agreed to continue to participate in the survey. This indicates that 14,299 individuals from households that registered have not yet been involved in the survey and 515 individuals, from an unknown number of households, participated on a one-off basis only.

Often households that are invited to participate, register their participation and provide their first swab in separate weeks therefore figures for number of households that have agreed to participate and have not been involved in the survey split by week are not available in a meaningful format.

Acceptance rates cannot be regarded as final, as those who are invited are not given a time limit in which to respond. The total number of households invited will contain households to which the invitation was not successfully delivered, and therefore could not respond. Figures can be found on the ONS website: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/
conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/
26november2020/relateddata

Question reference: S5F-04639

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5O-04834

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the financial support for businesses in the rural economy and tourism sector that are affected by COVID-19 restrictions.

Question reference: S5F-04615

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5O-04820

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it can give to businesses that face an increase in their non-domestic rates because they have invested in renewable energy and decarbonisation.

Question reference: S5F-04590

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 November 2020

Question to be taken in the Chamber.