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: S5O-05137

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has a COVID-19 economic recovery plan for the Highlands and Islands region.

Question reference: S5W-35563

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of its revised COVID-19 Strategic Framework, whether it has considered further reducing restrictions in Level 3 areas for island communities that have consistently low cases of COVID-19, earlier than outlined.

The Scottish Government regularly reviews the restrictions that are in place to ensure they are appropriate, and proportionate, to local circumstances. It is anticipated that it will be safe to return to the full local levels approach, including levels 0-2 once JCVI priority groups 1-9 have been vaccinated. There is a review of the levels system currently underway which will take account of the current situation as well as the challenges presented by the new more transmissible variant of the virus. Island communities are more susceptible to fluctuations in cases as these can have a greater relative effect on health services, for example with health workers requiring to self-isolate or limited capacity available at local hospitals. It is vital that decisions are driven by the best available data and evidence, and informed by clinical advice. There are currently many uncertainties about the effect of minor changes on cases numbers as a result of the new variant becoming dominant in Scotland, as well as the impact of vaccination on transmission of the virus.

Question reference: S5W-33814

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 10 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many COVID-19 vaccinations each fridge can contain.

The Scottish Government made early arrangements at the start of the vaccine roll out programme with a capacity to store and distribute vaccines at low temperature.

The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at a temperature of around -70°C. For this reason, stock is held in 23 specialised freezers situated in NHS Board Vaccine Deployment Centres in every NHS Board.

The size of the freezers varies from 100-litre to 700-litre models so the number of doses that can be contained in a single freezer varies considerably.

The vaccines are being packaged in multi dose vials so the storage space required is much smaller than the equivalent number of doses of flu vaccines which the NHS is used to distributing, on a large scale, every year.

The Scottish Government has bought 23 Ultra low chamber fridges for Pfizer of varying sizes. The NHS Scotland have latent fridge and freezer capacity not including the ones procured for Covid-19 use.

All NHS health boards manage the storage and delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine based on the local needs and geography, the Scottish Government has no visibility of the details requested.

There currently are no capacity issues being reported.

Question reference: S5W-35499

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 9 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reopen the Scottish Seafood Business Resilience Fund to support seafood processors who are unable to access the new Seafood Producers Resilience Fund.

The Seafood Producer’s Resilience Fund is a £6.45m fund to support those parts of the Scottish Seafood sector where the evidence is strongest of hardship as a result of the public health situation, and the impact, in the short term of EU Exit. By supporting these businesses we hope that they will survive, adapt to the new, tougher realities of trade outside the EU and participate in a sustainable recovery from Covid-19.

In order to ensure good value for money it is necessary to focus our funding on those areas where the need for support is greatest. We recognize, however, that there are ongoing challenges for the sector and will continue to consider the challenges to the sector and the wider support that may be required.

Question reference: S5W-35132

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether any booster COVID-19 vaccination programme would run alongside the existing annual flu vaccination programme.

Question reference: S5W-35131

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what preparations it is making for any booster vaccination programme as a result of the emergence of new strains of COVID-19.

Question reference: S5W-33817

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 2,000 vaccinators and support staff needed for the COVID-19 vaccination programme are currently in place, and how many of those currently in place (a) can administer the vaccine and (b) are support staff.

More than 12,000 active vaccinators are registered on our national Vaccination Management Tool.

Availability of vaccine supply is a key factor in determining the size of the vaccination workforce deployed at any given time, with workforce requirements fluctuating accordingly. In the period 10-16 February 2021, supply dictated that c. 1225 WTE vaccinators and c. 832 WTE support staff be deployed, supplementing those GPs participating in the programme.

Question reference: S5W-33822

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how people will be told the appointment of the second booster COVID-19 vaccine after they have received the first.

All vaccinations are held on an individual’s medical records.

Individuals in cohorts 1 – 5 who have been appointed through local GP IT systems will receive a reminder based on local process. This may include being given a leaflet at first vaccination, an SMS text message, phone call or letter.

Those scheduled through the National Vaccination Scheduling System will receive a letter confirming their second appointment.

The letter will also confirm the type of vaccine type they received for their 1st dose. For unpaid carers we have the opportunity to do this digitally if they use the online self-registration system.

Question reference: S5W-33818

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 8 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what training of staff will be required to administer COVID-19 vaccinations, and by what date any training will be delivered in full.

NHS Education for Scotland and Public Health Scotland have developed a learning pathway, providing an overview of training requirements for COVID-19 vaccinations.

For individuals who are experienced active vaccinators, training need only cover the specific characteristics of Covid-19 vaccinations followed by the completion of an assessment involving a supervisor.

Where an individual is returning to vaccinations after being inactive for a period of time, their training requirements will be informed by a self-assessment. The appropriate training resources can then be accessed according to their individual training needs.

Individuals with no experience as vaccinators will be required to undertake core vaccination training and will require clinical supervision when administering vaccine until confident and competent.

Training will be delivered on an ongoing basis to support roll-out of the vaccination programme.

Question reference: S5W-35318

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32076 by Jeane Freeman on 23 October 2020, whether it will provide an update on how many of the 250 community link workers (a) have been recruited and (b) are in post.