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-29360

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 9 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who attended the Rangers versus Bayern Leverkusen football match on 12 March 2020 were contact traced for COVID-19, and what information it has on how many people who attended the match have since died of COVID-19.

Question reference: S5W-28185

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it made in (a) January and (b) February 2020 of its capacity for contact testing for COVID-19, and of its ability to increase this.

Question reference: S5W-29144

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28643 by Clare Haughey on 14 May 2020, whether it plans to gather this information.

Question reference: S5W-29012

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how long it takes for the current COVID-19 testing process to process and communicate results to the testee.

Through NHS laboratories, our expectation is that test results should normally be communicated back within 24 hours, but some may take up to 48 hours. We are continuing to work with NHS National Services Scotland to secure reliable data on turnaround times to provide a baseline to report against on a weekly basis.

For testing carried out by the UK Government expanded testing sites the vast majority of test results are sent automatically within 48 hours, or 72 hours for home tests.

Question reference: S5W-28949

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it was given specific scientific advice regarding COVID-19 testing prior to 1 February 2020.

Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Scottish Government received expert health protection and public health advice from a range of scientific experts including the Chief Medical Officer, Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Health Protection Network, NERVTAG and the Advisory Committee of Dangerous Pathogens.

We will continue to be guided the best scientific advice and expertise in relation to all aspects of health protection and public health.

Question reference: S5W-29207

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the health secretary's comments in the Parliament on 20 May 2020 (Official Report, c.4) that she did not have information relating to the deep cleaning of the Nike store in The Centre, Livingston in early March, but that "it is something that Health Protection Scotland’s (HPS) local contact tracing team would know and pursue", whether she, through HPS, will confirm the position.

I can confirm that Health Protection Scotland have advised that, further to a risk assessment, no deep clean was required for public health purposes. This is based on the time interval between detection of the case and their contact with the store exceeding 72 hours. This was in line with UK guidance on decontamination advice at the time.

It is for the store/company to decide whether it will undertake a deep clean under these circumstances.

Question reference: S5W-29203

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28698 by Jeane Freeman on 18 May 2020, in which it confirmed that it does not hold information on the number of people who may have died after being discharged from hospital, whether it is able to obtain such information from other sources, and, if so, whether it will provide this information.

The Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland (PHS) to produce data on the number of patients who have died after discharge.

To collect this data PHS will be required to bring together the discharge database with National Records for Scotland death records. Once linked, PHS will be required to check the data for robustness and accuracy. And once they are confident in the robustness and accuracy of the data we will ensure it is made publicly available.

Question reference: S5W-29267

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28382 by Jeane Freeman on 20 May 2020, whether it will publish the correspondence from the Chief Medical Officer on 26 March 2020 to those people considered most at risk from COVID-19.

Question reference: S5W-28179

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of all (a) personal protective equipment (PPE) and (b) ventilators orders that have been placed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in each month since January 2020.

In relation to a) Personal Protective Equipment, the orders placed in each month are as follows:

Pandemic Category	January	February	March	April	May	Grand Total
APRONS - STANDARD	3,528,000	13,782,000	1,542,000	36,596,600	198,823,382	254,271,982
COVID19 AGP NON STERILE GOWNS	29,864	140,154	134,655	1,046,590	1,458,403	2,809,666
COVID19 AGP STERILE GOWNS	62,350	151,904	26,820	190,940	320,662	752,676
EYE PROTECTION LENS			456		20,100	20,556
GOGGLES				1,539,000		1,539,000
FULL FACE VISOR - REUSABLE		2,000				2,000
FULL FACE VISOR - SINGLE USE		2,000	360,880	7,851,760	1,455,480	9,670,120
GLOVES EXAMINATION	24,800,000		56,219,200	140,611,500	51,448,400	273,079,100
MASK FFP2	300	520	602,868	580,360	960	1,185,008
MASK FFP3	21,180	1,233,370	519,330	1,225,648	9,420,940	12,420,468
MASK FLUID SHIELD	8,792	18,648	27,196	46,200	2,880	103,716
MASK SURGICAL	162,100	430,230	83,730	3,210	125,700	804,970
MASK TYPE IIR FRSM	145,825	187,400	21,578,800	130,371,530	246,200	152,529,755
Grand Total	28,758,411	15,288,226	79,112,735	315,316,150	262,962,087	701,437,609

Note: Figures are for the period from 1 January to 31 May 2020

In relation to b) the Scottish Government ordered ventilators in March 2020 from a range of manufacturers and as at 31 May, we have received 124 of these from Scottish procurement and 78 ventilators from the joint UK procurement exercise. We expect more deliveries to arrive over the coming weeks. If needed, to bridge any gaps between now and the delivery of new ventilators, Health Boards have worked to repurpose operating theatre anaesthetic machines for use as ventilators.

Question reference: S5W-28183

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to (a) roll out and (b) increase the capacity to carry out contact testing for COVID-19.