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-30371

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it and (b) each of its agencies has paid to the company, We are Umi, for the provision of business support services during the COVID-19 crisis.

Our approach to supporting businesses is tailored to Scotland’s economic needs and we have developed a package of measures that reflects that Scotland’s economy is different to the rest of the UK and consequentially providing support which is unavailable elsewhere in the UK. The Scottish Government continue to support Scotland’s businesses by passing on every penny we receive from the UK Government for this purpose, and more, directly to businesses.

The Scottish Government has not paid WeareUMi for business support services but the final cost of the Enterprise Agencies’ contract with them is still to be confirmed as work relating to the funds is ongoing. These costs will be met from existing agency resources with all grant funding announced by the Scottish Government going directly to businesses and organisations that need it. It should be noted that the amount invested in the funds is now more than double originally anticipated with no additional outsourcing costs.

Question reference: S5W-30377

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what non-financial support is being provided to businesses by Scottish Enterprise and its contractors during the COVID-19 crisis.

As an immediate response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Scottish Enterprise has mobilised to undertake a variety of activities to provide non-financial support to businesses during this difficult time. These activities have included co-ordinating activity to support the pan-Scotland FindBusinessSupport website and operating the helpline, which has received over 1.3 million page views and over 11,500 calls respectively, as well as launching a new peer-to-peer network as a platform for business-to-business collaboration on innovative solutions, including planning for recovery, running a joint Getting Back to Work Safely campaign with partners and delivering webinars offering practical advice on how to re-start and scale up production while protecting the workforce.

These, and the many other activities offered, are operational matters for Scottish Enterprise as non-financial support is often tailored to the specific needs of the businesses. I have therefore passed your query to Steve Dunlop, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, who will respond direct.

Question reference: S5W-30375

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers We are Umi to be a Scottish company, and what analysis (a) it and (b) each of its agencies has carried out on the company’s performance and effectiveness in providing business support services, including during the COVID-19 crisis.

WeareUMi, an employee-owned business has a substantial presence in Scotland and were an existing supplier of public sector services via the Crown Commercial Services framework, a contract it won via open competition. It has previously worked with both the UK and Scottish Governments, most recently supporting the delivery of the Scottish Growth Scheme.

Throughout the life of the scheme, agencies have worked closely and actively with Umi to monitor and improve the user experience and address the issues experienced. As is normal with a project such as this, a review of the design and operation of the funds will be undertaken upon completion of the project to ensure that any lessons can be learned from the process.

Question reference: S5W-28674

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide transport to test centres for social care staff with suspected COVID-19, in line with what is offered to healthcare workers.

Question reference: S5W-28709

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's comment on 16 March 2020 that, for "public health reasons", it was fine that people, including his wife, had recently been to a music concert.

Question reference: S5W-28708

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's comment, reported on 13 March 2020, that he was "comfortable" with a Celtic v Rangers football match going ahead.

Professor Leitch is the National Clinical Director for the Scottish Government. Advice provided publicly by Professor Leitch has been in this capacity.

Guidance and advice has evolved over the course of recent months to reflect both changing circumstances within Scotland, and ongoing scientific developments, in relation to Covid-19.

Scotland entered its current lockdown phase on 23 March 2020.

The most up to date information from the Scottish Government on a range of subjects associated with Covid-19, including PPE and testing, can be found at www.gov.scot/Coronavirus-covid-19/ .

Question reference: S5W-28711

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's comments, reported on 16 March 2020, that "schools don’t help us much with the spread of the virus. It seems counter-intuitive I know”, and that it might be appealing to close schools and colleges and "shut the border, hunker down…and reopen in two weeks’ time" but that "doesn’t work" and "the science suggests the virus will be there. So when you reopen, the vulnerable will be hit again and your spike will just be later."

Question reference: S5W-28710

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's comments, reported on 16 March 2020, that "we will almost certainly, as a four-country UK, we will move to a position in the next few weeks where we will ask those groups (the over-70s and those with pre-existing conditions) to not stay at home in the social isolation way that we are telling the symptomatic to do so, but to reduce their social contact", and that "it might be mosques, it might be churches, it might be bingo… and pubs. What we are not suggesting, unlike those with symptoms, is that those people would cut off family contact and not be able to receive visitors. In fact, quite the opposite, we expect family contact to increase in that group so that those people will be looked after. The last thing that we want is four months of loneliness."

Question reference: S5W-28712

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's comments on Channel 4 News on 16 March 2020 that he is "not so sure" he likes the phrase, herd immunity, but that "what we're trying to do is manage the spread of the virus safely over time in the population", and how these comments can be reconciled with the statement in its publication, Coronavirus (COVID-19): framework for decision making, that "while it is obvious that government cannot guarantee that no-one will become infected with this virus in future, we are clear that an assumption that there is a proportion or section of the population that it is safe or acceptable to allow to be infected forms no part of the Scottish Government's policy or approach."

Question reference: S5W-28715

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's reported comment on Channel 4 News on 16 March 2020 that Scotland would begin testing 1.2 million people for COVID-19; how many of the 1.2 million people have since been tested, and, at the current rate, when testing of all 1.2 million will be completed.