- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether parking charges will be suspended for NHS hospital car parks during the current lockdown, as they were during the first lockdown.
Answer
In December 2020, the Scottish Government reached an agreement with the three PFI hospital car park providers to extend the free car parking arrangements until March 2021. This extension of free parking continues to support staff and remove the barriers to our staff working with the NHS during these unprecedented times.
The Health Boards, together with the PFI providers, are currently reviewing the options for beyond that period. Parliament will be updated once these discussions have concluded, but as they are commercially sensitive negotiations we are not in a position to provide further detail at this point.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how qualified healthcare workers can enrol as vaccinators in the COVID-19 vaccination programme, and how it is signposting them to this process.
Answer
Information for individuals who want to offer their support as Covid-19 vaccinators can be found at: Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on offering support - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Further pro-active communications are planned to signpost this guidance to regulators for onward dissemination to registrants who may be interested in working as part of the programme.
Individuals can apply for specific vaccinator roles advertised on the NHS Scotland Recruitment website, with applications routed directly to local Health Boards. We have provided all NHS Scotland boards with access to the GMC and NMC emergency registers of qualified healthcare workers, and boards have been able to recruit qualified staff that previously registered their interest via the Accelerated Recruitment Portal. Data extracted on 19 January 2020 from the Covid Vaccinations Management Tool shows that nationally boards have collectively registered approximately 7,500 vaccinators.
Offers of volunteer support, for those not wishing or qualified to undertake work as a paid vaccinator, are being coordinated via a national agreement with the British Red Cross.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 11 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 26 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what support it plans to offer the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland to renew the contract to retain the Chinese pandas at Edinburgh Zoo when it expires at the end of 2021.
Answer
The possible extension of the agreement between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and the China Wildlife Conservation Association regarding the loan of Giant Pandas to Edinburgh Zoo and related conservation and research activities is primarily a matter for those two bodies.
The Scottish Government would of course very much welcome an extension of the agreement and will be pleased to offer the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland any support requested in facilitating discussions about future arrangements with interested parties.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 25 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what support it will offer to (a) sandwich takeaways and (b) other similar hospitality businesses that are remaining open under the COVID-19 restrictions but are experiencing a significant loss in earnings.
Answer
The Scottish Government introduced COVID-19 reliefs at the start of the pandemic to reduce business costs, including 1.6% rates relief for all non-domestic properties and 100% relief for non-domestic properties in the retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation sectors. There will be one-off payments to hospitality businesses in January to help them deal with the traditional post-Christmas dip in demand. These will be £25,000 for larger businesses and £6,000 for smaller businesses, depending on rateable value, and will be additional to other payments made under the Strategic Framework.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 25 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the health impacts of cigarette smoke in common residential buildings such as tenements, and whether it will consider introducing legislation similar to the ban on smoking in public places.
Answer
Raising Scotland's Tobacco-free Generation, the Scottish Government's Tobacco-Control Action Plan 2018, lists tackling the problems caused by some individuals smoking in communal stairwells as one of the actions planned. It pledges to explore, together with local authorities and housing associations, the idea of tobacco-free clauses in tenancy agreements. Also to be considered is the possibility of introducing offering smoke-free housing alternatives in social housing.
These are among a series of measures planned to reduce smoking prevalence in Scotland to five per cent or less of the adult population by 2034.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 22 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether domestic cleaners will be permitted to carry out work in homes under the most recent COVID-19 restrictions.
Answer
For areas in Level 4 or under the current Lockdown restrictions work carried out in other people’s homes around services for the purpose of the upkeep, maintenance or functioning of the home is restricted to essential work only. This is to help suppress the spread of the virus. Work carried out in people’s homes can continue in all cases with appropriate mitigations in areas in levels 1-3.
The kind of work we expect may continue includes domestic cleaning, where services are provided in support of a clean and safe living environment for people in vulnerable circumstances or living with a disability and who unable to clean their own home.
General cleaning services, are not essential, and therefore not allowed in Level 4 areas or under current Lockdown restrictions.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what maximum number of children is allowed in classrooms in hubs/schools during the current COVID-19 lockdown.
Answer
Coronavirus (COVID-19): school re-opening arrangements for January 2021 provides guidance on the arrangements for the re-opening of schools in January including the provision for vulnerable children and young people and the children of keyworkers. Those who work directly with children and young people are best placed to identify children and young people who will require support in order to ensure their wellbeing, as a result of these exceptional phased opening arrangements.
When determining which vulnerable children should attend school in person, local authorities and schools should have regard to the overarching policy aim of these exceptional school closures, which is to reduce the number of children, young people and adults from different households interacting in- person within communities (including schools) as far as possible, in order to prevent COVID-related harms. If it is possible for children to be cared for safely and have their learning supported sufficiently well at home, that approach should be preferred.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 December 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how taxi drivers can access the new COVID-19 support funding made available to them.
Answer
We recognise the unprecedented financial challenges facing taxi and private hire vehicle drivers as a result of the necessary restrictions introduced to control the spread of COVID-19. To that end we have launched a £57 million fund which will provide one-off grants of £1,500 to taxi and private hire vehicle drivers to support them with meeting fixed costs associated with running a taxi. From week commencing 18 January local authorities have started contacting taxi and private hire vehicle drivers in their area inviting them to verify their entitlement for the fund and payment details. Following a review of our eligibility criteria, taxi and private hire vehicle drivers in receipt of benefits, including Universal Credit, will be able to access a grant. I have written to the UK Government asking them take this grant into account as capital when determining benefit entitlement through this scheme.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance the car dealing industry must follow under the current COVID-19 restrictions.
Answer
The current stay at home regulations mean that people should only leave their homes for an essential purpose. While indoor vehicle showrooms cannot open to the public, car sales continue to be permitted. Further covid-19 regulations came into effect on Saturday 16 January which state that outdoor motor vehicle lots may only open for the collection of a purchased vehicle or for delivery or collection of a vehicle for service, repair or MOT. Dealerships must implement safety measures, such as physical distancing and the wearing of face coverings, using staggered appointments for collections, and leaving a gap between each appointment where reasonably practicable. The full Scottish Government retail guidance can be found at on the Scottish Government website at: www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-retail-sector-guidance/
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 20 January 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether car auctions will be allowed to open under the most recent COVID-19 restrictions.
Answer
The current stay at home regulations mean that people should only leave their homes for an essential purpose. Further covid-19 regulations came into effect on Saturday 16 January which state that outdoor motor vehicle lots may open only for the collection of a vehicle that has been purchased.