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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

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Question reference: S6W-05197

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring is in place to ensure that cafes, bars and restaurants record the contact details of those who use their premises.

The Scottish Government continues to promote the requirement for hospitality businesses to collect contact details from visitors to their premises, in line with regulations and guidance, to support the work of local Health Protection teams. Use of the Check In Scotland app, by premises or the public, is not a legal requirement; it is a tool to support settings to more easily comply with regulations and public health guidance.

In terms of monitoring the collection of contact details by settings covered by regulations, Environmental Health Teams within Local Authorities, as part of ongoing engagement with premises or in response to members of the public notifying them of non-compliance, encourage compliance within settings, and take any enforcement action deemed necessary.

Question reference: S6W-05199

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 5 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of hospitality businesses are using the (a) Check-in Scotland and (b) Test and Protect systems, broken down by local authority area.

It is not currently possible to identify the number of hospitality businesses nor the proportion of hospitality businesses that use the Check-in Scotland service. Whilst the collecting of customers contact details is a legal requirement, use of the Check-in Scotland service is entirely voluntary and can be used by many different types of business and venues, not just in hospitality. It is also possible to register different parts of a single venue so that they have different check-in locations (e.g. a bar with a separate address in a cinema complex could have a different check-in code to the cinema itself) and a single business may register multiple venues meaning that total figure does not equate to the number of businesses that may be using the service. Further details can be found at www.checkin.scot .

Other than the Check-in Scotland service, hospitality businesses may also use the NHS Scotland Covid Check app to verify a customers Covid Status. No personally identifiable or venue information is collected by the Covid Check App so it is it not possible to identify the number of businesses using the Covid Check app. Further details can be found at www.covidcheck.scot.

No businesses have access to any other Test & Protect systems.

Question reference: S6W-04471

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 26 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the reported increase in delayed discharge cases in NHS Lothian.

East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian Health and Social Care Partnerships have all made progress in reducing delayed discharges but numbers remain high in Edinburgh, given the specific challenges in the city. The four Health and Social Care Partnerships across Lothian have been allocated £18.535m of additional winter funding to provide interim care, enhance care at home, and develop multi-disciplinary teams. The Scottish Government is meeting weekly with the Chief Executive of NHS Lothian, the Chief Executive of City of Edinburgh Council and the Chief Officer of Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership to closely monitor progress.

Question reference: S6O-00457

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-03854

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the reported survivability bias in the Cancer Patient Experience Survey to ensure that the experiences of patients with a less survivable cancer are captured.

The care experience survey programme, of which the Cancer Patient Experience Survey is part of, is due to be under review shortly to allow for the context of COVID-19.

The Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey is run in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support and is designed to be comparable with Cancer Patient Experience Surveys run in England and Wales. A change in methodology, such as altering the sampling frame, surveying people at different stages of treatment or surveying the relatives of those who have passed away, would result in survey results that are not comparable to the English & Welsh survey results. Such a change would require extensive consultation with stakeholders.

In order to capture the experience of patients with a less survivable cancer we are using tools such as Care Opinion and working with our third sector partners to collate best available evidence.

Question reference: S6W-03783

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that customers at hospitality businesses such as cafés, bars and restaurants are using the Check in Scotland and Test and Protect systems, in order to tackle the spread of COVID-19.

The Scottish Government continues to encourage all businesses, including hospitality businesses, to encourage their customers to use the Check-In Scotland and Test and Protect systems. This activity includes engagement with businesses and sector organisations by officials and Ministers, the ongoing revision of supporting guidance and communications campaigns on the importance of the Test and Protect system in reducing transmission of Covid-19. The Scottish Government is thankful to the large majority of hospitality businesses who are using the Check-In Scotland scheme and to the very large numbers of people who are regularly ‘checking in.’

Question reference: S6W-02661

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 18 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01641 by Graeme Dey on 16 August 2021, whether it can confirm that there is no opposition from Transport Scotland to the application from the Ferymuir Gait site developer to secure planning permission for the access arrangements to the Ferrymuir Gait housing development to be amended, to allow for unrestricted access.

Question reference: S6O-00446

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has issued related to the funding of ventilation in schools.

Question reference: S6W-03941

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 11 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure the safety of club-goers, in light of reports of people being spiked by injection in nightclubs.

Question reference: S6O-00380

Asked by: Foysol Choudhury, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 November 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage the public to travel by bus, in light of reports that the recent Transport Scotland COVID-19 transport trends indicate that concessionary bus travel is down by 35% on pre-pandemic levels.