- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-29557 by Jeane Freeman on 10 June 2020, what the information governance issues being faced by Public Health Scotland are.
Answer
Public Health Scotland have been working with the Scottish Government to agree the Information Governance Framework to support the transfer of data into PHS. This is now achieved and the data arrived on 12 June 2020. Once analysis has been completed a publication date will be pre-announced by PHS on their website in the forthcoming publications section.
The delays occurred simply due to the amount of time it took to get multiple and subsequent iterations of both the data sharing agreements and data privacy impact assessments cleared by both the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (or Information Services Division, ISD, as it was at the time).
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, what steps it has taken to advise employers and employees of Section 44 of the Employment Relations Act (1996), which provides employees with the means to contest the adequacy or appropriateness of safety arrangements, without fear of recrimination or detriment, giving them the right to withdraw from and not return to workplaces where they believe they will be exposed to imminent danger to their health.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29648 on 12 June 2020 which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/ormain.aspx
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-29035 by Jeane Freeman on 4 June 2020, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding how many (a) hotel (i)) staff and (ii) residents who were not attendees at the conference and (b) shop workers, bar workers, taxi drivers and others whom the delegates might have been in contact with, were contact-tested.
Answer
As stated in the answer to question S5W-29035, risk of deductive disclosure leading to a breach of patient confidentiality means that data about the number of people at the hotel or nearby who tested at that time will not be released. However, any case that tested positive, whether related to this event or not, has always been included in our daily COVID-19 updates.
You may also wish to note that research from the University of Glasgow published on 8 June on viral lineages of the disease concluded that the actions taken to manage the Nike outbreak were successful in containing spread from that incident. This led to the eradication of this particular viral lineage, with no evidence of any wider outbreak associated with it in Scotland since that time.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported concerns with safety in such facilities because of the COVID-19 outbreak, what steps it is taking to encourage contact/call centre employers to facilitate homeworking or furloughing as speedily as possible.
Answer
The Scottish Government has produced Business and Physical Distancing Guidance, which is clear that employers should take every possible step to facilitate their employees working from home, including providing suitable IT and equipment to enable remote working.
There is a wide range of additional guidance available from both the Scottish Government and Health and Safety Executive. Advice can also be obtained from local authorities on steps that can be taken to comply with legislation and to keep employees safe.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported concerns with safety in such facilities because of the COVID-19 outbreak, what its position is on carrying out an immediate audit of contact/call centres to compare the health of the staff working in these places with their colleagues who are working from home or who are furloughed.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29722 on 17 June 2020 . 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
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported concerns with safety in contact/call centre facilities because of the COVID-19 outbreak, whether it will consider organising an emergency conference to discuss the issues being faced by staff in these and, if so, whether it will invite the STUC, staff unions, employers, the Health and Safety Executive, COSLA, local authorities, academics and health and safety campaign groups to participate.
Answer
We are setting up a working group with representation from trades unions, employers, regulators and workforce representatives to develop workplace guidance for contact/call centres. In developing guidance for this sector, as we have done for other sectors whose guidance we have already published, we will take account of our long-established commitment to fair work, which was set in the context of the current crisis in a joint statement with the STUC. Working together – employers, workers, unions and the regulatory bodies – we can create safe workplaces for all.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported concerns with safety in such facilities because of the COVID-19 outbreak, whether it will ensure that the sectoral guidance being developed by it, staff unions and employers for every contact/call centre workplace is consistent with the STUC principles for relaxing lockdown.
Answer
The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with the STUC to prepare detailed safety guidance for different sectors. The guidance will take account of our long-established commitment to fair work, which was set in the context of the current crisis in a joint statement with the STUC.
Employers should be supporting workers to follow health protection advice and have a statutory duty to ensure that workers’ health and safety is protected.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the assertion in the STUC principles for relaxing lockdown that "if work cannot be undertaken safely, it should not be undertaken at all".
Answer
The health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and the economy is the priority of the Scottish Government. All employers in Scotland should follow the existing Scottish guidance, support workers to follow health protection advice and have a statutory duty to ensure that workers’ health and safety is protected. This includes undertaking risk assessments of their work activity, assessing the risk from Covid-19 spread in the workplace, and putting in place appropriate mitigating measures.
There is a wide range of guidance available from both the Scottish Government and Health and Safety Executive. Advice can also be obtained from local authorities on steps that can be taken to comply with legislation and to keep employees safe. Additionally, Healthy Working Lives (part of Public Health Scotland) provides advice and support to both employers and employees on improving health, safety and welfare in the workplace. The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with the trade unions and other partners to prepare detailed safety guidance for different sectors. The guidance will take account of our long-established commitment to fair work, which was set out in the context of the current crisis in a joint statement with the STUC.
If an employee believes that their working conditions are unsafe, they have rights under employment legislation.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how many additional care home places were purchased by (a) it, (b) local authorities and (c) integration joint boards in each month since January 2020, also broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not directly purchase care home places, this is the responsibility of individual Integration Authorities. As part of their mobilisation planning during the pandemic, 32 Integration Authorities planned for up to 1,090 additional care home places to be available if required during the current emergency.
However, we do not currently have information on the actual number of beds use.
Partnership | Beds |
Aberdeen City | 65 |
Aberdeenshire | 58 |
Angus | 4 |
Argyll & Bute | 10 |
Borders | 51 |
City of Edinburgh | 83 |
Clackmannanshire & Stirling | 19 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 30 |
Dundee City | 19 |
East Ayrshire | 59 |
East Dunbartonshire | 0 |
East Lothian | 22 |
East Renfrewshire | 16 |
Eilean Siar | 0 |
Falkirk | 68 |
Fife | 150 |
Glasgow City | 46 |
Highland | 33 |
Inverclyde | 50 |
Midlothian | 12 |
Moray | 20 |
North Ayrshire | 32 |
North Lanarkshire | 0 |
Orkney | 4 |
Perth & Kinross | 11 |
Renfrewshire | 0 |
Shetland | 0 |
South Ayrshire | 78 |
South Lanarkshire | 120 |
West Dunbartonshire | 0 |
West Lothian | 30 |
Total | 1,090 |
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what the average cost per week is to provide social care for an older person, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) integration joint board area.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally. Information on annual expenditure can be found in the Scottish local government finance statistics workbook.
Workbook LRF 03 provides information of social care expenditure. The latest workbook can be found at https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-local-government-finance-statistics-slgfs-2018-19-workbooks/ .