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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 2230 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-33400

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 20 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there can be a variance between NHS boards on the visiting or attendance rights of the partners of women in labour when these areas are under the same COVID-19 restrictions level.

Scottish Government recently published updated Maternity and Neonatal Hospital visiting guidance that is in line with the move to COVID-19 local protection levels as detailed in Coronavirus (COVID-19):Scotland's Strategic Framework .

This guidance is intended to support maternity units in developing local guidance for visiting in maternity settings. A birth partner supporting a women during hospital visits, including induction, labour and birth is categorised as an essential visitor and is permitted at all of the five COVID restriction levels.

Some additional measures may be implemented by Boards, for example restrictions in waiting areas or time restrictions on postnatal visits, but only where required to support physical distancing.

Question reference: S5W-33321

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to statement by the First Minister on 10 November 2020 (Official Report, c.25), whether it will confirm the (a) brand name, (b) type, (c) capacity and (d) cost of each fridge used to store Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine; where these will be located, and whether they will be portable.

Twenty three ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers capable of the storage of medicines have been purchased, with at least one freezer in every territorial health board. Some boards will have more than one ULT freezer, for example three ULT freezers are being located in NHS Highland to account for the board’s geography and the current understood limitations on transporting the vaccine.

The total cost of the ULT freezers that have been purchased is £125,000. The freezers are not portable. The vaccines are packed in multi-dose vials which minimises the amount of storage space required. There is estimated to be sufficient capacity in the NHS Scotland estate to hold around 1 million doses of vaccine at any point in time. The capacity of the individual ULT freezers ranges from 101 litres to 729 litres. Due to their size and requirements these ULT freezers are not portable.

There is significant existing -8°C to +2°C refrigeration storage capacity within the NHS estate - both dedicated cold-stores in most hospital locations and stand-alone refrigeration in secondary and primary care locations. Fridges can be moved, for example to temporary walk-in and drive-through locations, as required. To support the seasonal flu programme and in preparation for the Covid-19 vaccine, 192 additional fridges, at a total cost of £210,000, have been sourced since August 2020.

If stability data supports the movement of the Pfizer vaccine to alternative locations at -8°C to +2°C, this will be managed using vaccine porters. These are specialist cool boxes that are validated to maintain temperature within a fixed range for a defined period of time. These are reusable and are used annually to support the seasonal flu campaign. Additional stock of vaccine porters and associated cool packs have been purchased to increase capacity to support the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine. The total cost of recent purchases of vaccine porters is approximately £186,000.

Question reference: S5W-33556

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 9 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it next plans to review exemptions for jury duty.

Question reference: S5W-33696

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 9 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether people serving in RAF bases who have Christmas leave will be subject to COVID-19 travel restrictions outwith the 23 to 27 December period.

RAF servicemen and women will be subject to COVID-19 travel restrictions outwith the 23 to 27 December period. However, as the First Minister stated to Parliament on 19 November, travel by armed forces personnel in Scotland to and from barracks and bases is exempt from restrictions as barracks and bases are, as elsewhere in the UK, classed as essential places of work. We are in close contact with the RAF who have confirmed that Scottish Government regulations are well understood and are being adhered to with no discrepancies.

Question reference: S5W-33680

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether battery-operated fire alarms will be allowed to be installed by property owners, or whether contractors will be required, once the new regulations on their installation come into force.

Question reference: S5W-33567

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 7 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the new £30 million fund to support taxi drivers and other people previously missed by other support packages will open for applications.

The £30 million discretionary fund is specifically designed to target small businesses and the self-employed who have not received direct financial support through other Scottish Government financial support schemes since October. We have been working closely with local authorities to develop the discretionary fund to ensure that this additional financial support quickly reaches businesses that need it. Following agreement on allocations with CoSLA, we will shortly transfer funds to local authorities, it will then be for councils to undertake their own assessment of need and develop their applications processes according to this.

Question reference: S5W-33444

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 7 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether travelling to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in an area within a different COVID-19 protection level would be allowed under the current travel regulations.

Question reference: S5W-33344

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there appears to be a distinction in its COVID-19 guidance regarding the use of buses to transport children to schools and nurseries.

Scottish Government guidance sets out the requirements that apply to arrangements used to transport children and young people to school. Typically, local authorities provide dedicated school transport services primarily for the use of school pupils. Following scientific advice from the COVID-19 Advisory Sub Group on Education and Children’s Issues, the guidance provides that dedicated school transport can be regarded as an extension of the school estate and it is not necessary to maintain physical distance between children and young people travelling on such services.

Where either young children travelling with their parents to nursery or school children are using public transport, these services are subject to the requirement to physically distance due to the range of ages of the passengers they are used by.

Question reference: S5W-33360

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether higher education students returning home at the end of the current term will be considered as essential travel and therefore exempt from travel restrictions.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-33579 on 26 November 2020, in which the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills outlined the amending Regulations made to the Health Protection (Coronavirus)(Restrictions and Requirements)(Local Levels)(Scotland) Regulations 2020 to allow students to return home at the end of term.

From 27 November 2020, there is an exemption to the travel restrictions for students travelling to or from any local authority area in Scotland, if the purpose is to facilitate the formation of an "end of term household".

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 .

Question reference: S5O-04840

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it is preparing to facilitate tourism activity and events in Edinburgh over the course of 2021.