- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with care home providers regarding the dismissal of care home staff who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Answer
The Scottish Government have been clear and consistent that whilst we strongly encourage those eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccination to do so, the decision is one of personal choice, and we have no current plans to introduce mandatory vaccination, or to impose any penalties relating to this. It is for each employer to consider their own specific circumstances and make sure their approach is consistent with their own existing obligations and relevant legislation.
We will continue to work together and engage with care home providers, staff and health boards across Scotland, to further encourage acceptance of the coronavirus vaccine to protect staff and residents.
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 17 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it offered CS Wind UK Ltd any financial incentives and/or subsidies in order to avoid it entering into administration.
Answer
CS Wind had previously received grant support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise to open their facility in Macrihanish. Providing further public sector support may have breached subsidy control limits
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish any hot debrief that was completed by the incident management team that investigated the COVID-19 outbreak at the Nike conference in Edinburgh in February 2020, as required by the Management of Public Health Incidents: Guidance on the Roles and Responsibilities of NHS Led Incident Management Teams.
Answer
Public Health Scotland have confirmed that a hot debrief is guidance and not mandatory. The Incident Management Team therefore did not completed a hot debrief relating to the COVID-19 outbreak at the Nike Conference. Public Health Scotland have, however, published the Incident Management Team Report relating to this event. Learning around Covid-19 is a continuous process and findings such as this report inform the wider response to the pandemic in Scotland.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 17 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-36076 by Humza Yousaf on 24 March 2021, whether it will provide figures for each month from March 2021 to date.
Answer
I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:
SPS is unable provide information on the breakdown of the average monthly occupancy rates as the data is not collected in this format. The table below provides details of the weekly data collated on single cell occupancy across the prison estate.
- Single Occupancy – number of people accommodated alone in a cell intended to accommodate one person
- Single Occupancy Double Room – number of people accommodated alone in a cell that is designed to be double occupancy
- Double Occupancy Single Room – number of people accommodated with another person in a cell intended for one person
- Double Occupancy Double Room, Multiple Occupancy and Single Occupancy Dorm – number of people accommodated in a cell, or dormitory, intended for more than one person
- Total Population – The total number of individuals in custody that evening.
- Single Cell Occupancy % - The percentage of the total population of that evening who are accommodated in single cell accommodation.
Date | Single Occupancy | Single Occupancy Double Room | Double Occupancy Single Room | Double Occupancy Double Room | Multiple Occupancy | Single Occupancy Dorm | Total Population | Single Cell Occupancy % |
22-03-2021 | 4992 | 258 | 1252 | 892 | 22 | 0 | 7416 | 70.8% |
29-03-2021 | 4957 | 242 | 1232 | 942 | 19 | 1 | 7393 | 70.3% |
05-04-2021 | 4937 | 248 | 1308 | 918 | 25 | 3 | 7439 | 69.7% |
12-04-2021 | 4929 | 253 | 1306 | 898 | 31 | 0 | 7417 | 69.9% |
19-04-2021 | 4933 | 267 | 1312 | 868 | 28 | 1 | 7409 | 70.2% |
26-04-2021 | 4927 | 258 | 1286 | 874 | 30 | 3 | 7378 | 70.3% |
03-05-2021 | 5015 | 274 | 1212 | 852 | 32 | 0 | 7385 | 71.6% |
10-05-2021 | 5071 | 282 | 1122 | 844 | 33 | 1 | 7353 | 72.8% |
17-05-2021 | 5072 | 280 | 1154 | 838 | 32 | 1 | 7377 | 72.6% |
24-05-2021 | 5072 | 269 | 1142 | 838 | 35 | 1 | 7357 | 72.6% |
31-05-2021 | 5133 | 260 | 1132 | 842 | 34 | 0 | 7401 | 72.9% |
07-06-2021 | 5135 | 273 | 1128 | 862 | 28 | 3 | 7429 | 72.8% |
14-06-2021 | 5056 | 269 | 1204 | 898 | 31 | 0 | 7458 | 71.4% |
21-06-2021 | 5070 | 262 | 1262 | 884 | 30 | 1 | 7509 | 71.0% |
28-06-2021 | 5001 | 265 | 1314 | 884 | 35 | 2 | 7501 | 70.2% |
05-07-2021 | 5017 | 257 | 1316 | 892 | 33 | 0 | 7515 | 70.2% |
12-07-2021 | 4982 | 251 | 1362 | 876 | 33 | 1 | 7505 | 69.7% |
19-07-2021 | 4995 | 266 | 1384 | 870 | 31 | 1 | 7547 | 69.7% |
26-07-2021 | 4971 | 248 | 1426 | 892 | 30 | 1 | 7568 | 69.0% |
02-08-2021 | 4960 | 274 | 1454 | 868 | 33 | 1 | 7590 | 69.0% |
09-08-2021 | 4919 | 280 | 1504 | 864 | 30 | 1 | 7598 | 68.4% |
16-08-2021 | 4922 | 266 | 1468 | 910 | 33 | 1 | 7600 | 68.3% |
23-08-2021 | 4964 | 252 | 1420 | 910 | 36 | 2 | 7584 | 68.8% |
30-08-2021 | 4952 | 248 | 1452 | 906 | 38 | 1 | 7597 | 68.5% |
06-09-2021 | 4934 | 256 | 1426 | 898 | 35 | 1 | 7550 | 68.8% |
13-09-2021 | 4959 | 260 | 1406 | 914 | 31 | 1 | 7571 | 68.9% |
20-09-2021 | 4957 | 254 | 1442 | 922 | 31 | 1 | 7607 | 68.5% |
27-09-2021 | 4941 | 255 | 1444 | 916 | 33 | 1 | 7590 | 68.5% |
04-10-2021 | 4901 | 250 | 1464 | 902 | 35 | 1 | 7553 | 68.2% |
11-10-2021 | 4908 | 251 | 1472 | 894 | 33 | 0 | 7558 | 68.3% |
18-10-2021 | 4872 | 248 | 1518 | 900 | 34 | 0 | 7572 | 67.6% |
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of any differences between the NHS Scotland Covid Status App and the England and Wales version of the app, in light of them both being required to meet the same international standard.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03618 on 8 November 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government when it received the UK Government’s offer to adapt the England and Wales COVID-19 vaccine status app for use in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government has never received an offer from the UK Government to adapt its app to support our needs. It is appropriate that we design a scheme that is right for Scotland, works in our context, and offers us the flexibility to adapt to our changing circumstances.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the 1,000 additional health and care support staff, announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in his statement to the Parliament on 5 October 2021, Health and Social Care (Winter Planning), to be in place.
Answer
Health Boards have already commenced recruitment activity to meet the commitment to recruit an additional 1,000 Health and Care Support staff at AfC Bands 2, 3 & 4 to provide additional capacity across a variety of services both in the community and in hospital settings. Funding of up to £15 million is being provided in-year to fully fund all costs associate with recruitment to these posts. We are directly supporting boards to fill these posts as quickly as possible within that time frame, through securing an accelerated pre-employment process and supporting the delivery of employability initiatives such as the ‘Skills Boost for Health Care’ training for staff new to health and care.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 17 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding reports that ferries have to cease operations every day while being cleaned as part of COVID-19-related protocols, and what information it has on whether all other modes of transport are similarly treated.
Answer
Enhanced cleaning takes place on a regular basis on all vessels whilst they are in service. If a vessel is confirmed as having a positive covid case onboard, it is temporarily removed from service to allow a deep clean to take place by external contractors.
In terms of bus services – enhanced cleaning of all buses takes place daily, but they remain in service.
In terms of Trains - enhanced cleaning protocols remain in place for both ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper Ltd operations.
- Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how its commitment to establishing a National Register of Ancient Woodlands relates to the existing Ancient Woodland Inventory.
Answer
The current Ancient Woodland Inventory provides an excellent starting point for a National Register of Ancient Woodlands. We are working closely with NatureScot and Scottish Forestry to determine the best approach to establishing a new National Register of Ancient Woodlands.
- Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi McAllan on 17 November 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of its commitment to establishing a National Register of Ancient Woodlands, and how it plans to work with planners and developers to protect ancient woodland and with land managers to enhance and restore ancient woodland conditions.
Answer
We are working closely with NatureScot and Scottish Forestry to determine the best approach to developing a new National Register of Ancient Woodlands. This will help us to determine how best to work with planners, developers and land managers as this project is developed. We're committed to working with a broad range of stake-holders and will make sure this includes cross-parliamentary representatives.