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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: S5W-29400

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many births it estimates there will in Scotland in 2020-21.

In the year to 30 June 2021, there are projected to be 51,100 births in Scotland.

1. The data is sourced from the most recent national population projections published by National Records of Scotland (NRS), which use the mid-2018 population estimates as its base population. The projections are calculated using demographic assumptions (on future levels of births, deaths and migration) based on past trends.

2. The projected number of future births are not exact forecasts and so will differ to some extent from the actual number of births.

3. The latest weekly and monthly data on births, up to April 2020, is available from the NRS website at: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/general-publications/weekly-and-monthly-data-on-
births-and-deaths-registered-in-scotland

Question reference: S5W-29454

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take in response to reports regarding chronic pain patients not being able to access their usual treatments, such as infusions, and of some patients considering travelling to England or raising funds to be treated at private clinics.

Question reference: S5W-28302

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 1,000 ventilators that have been ordered in response to the COVID-19 outbreak have been delivered.

Question reference: S5W-28773

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns regarding the accuracy of some of the COVID-19 testing kits that it has procured from overseas, and how it ensures that all such kits fully comply with safety standards.

The type of tests being used in Scotland (real time PCR assays) ar e widely used for the detection of respiratory viruses, as well as a range of other viral pathogens, owing to their speed and versatility.

Scottish laboratories are working in collaboration with the Scottish Microbiology & Virology Network (SMVN), National Laboratories Programme (NLP) and Health Protection Scotland, as well as linking in with Public Health England, to ensure that all tests are quality checked and validated for use.

Based on work by NHS Lothian on symptomatic cases the accuracy of tests for clinical diagnosis is 98%. This was presented in a Royal College of Pathologists webinar - available online .

Question reference: S5T-02243

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it did not immediately publish details of the number of patients who have contracted COVID-19 in hospital.

Question reference: S5W-29398

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many expectant mothers have attended pregnancy scans in each week in 2019 and 2020.

Question reference: S5W-29401

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many outbreaks of COVID-19 it has reported to other UK Home Nations, and on what dates.

Question reference: S5W-28905

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many two-week urgent referrals there were in April (a) 2019 and (b) 2020 for suspected (i) breast, (ii) bowel, (iii) lung, (iv) blood and (v) prostate cancer, and what impact it considers the COVID-19 outbreak had on any variation in the figures.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on urgent suspected cancer referrals for April 2019. This data is not held as we do not have a two week urgent referral target as in Scotland.

The Scottish Government focuses on the 'whole cancer pathway' rather than a 2 week wait to first appointment which the 62-day standard is in place. This covers the period from urgent suspected referral from a GP or screening to start of treatment.

In Scotland the current Cancer Waiting Times standards are as follows:

31-day standard from decision to treat until first treatment for all new cancers regardless of route of referral

62-day standard from urgent referral with suspicion of cancer, including referrals from national screening programmes

To ensure patient's with worrying symptoms were approaching their GP we launched the NHS is Open campaign on 24 April 2020. Since the launch Health Boards management information shows that for the week ending 26 April, urgent suspected cancer referrals have increased and are now approximate 55% of the pre COVID-19 level. We have emphasised, and will continue to do so, that decisions around treatment should be jointly made between patients and clinicians and fully informed conversations should be had with patients about their treatment.

Question reference: S5W-28904

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what procedure is used by the NHS to review the criteria by which it decides who should receive letters asking them to shield at home because of COVID-19.

At the outset of the pandemic, the four Chief Medical Officers covering Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, published a list of six groups where people would be considered to be at extremely high risk of severe illness should they contract COVID-19. Clinicians can also add individuals to the list if they feel it is clinically appropriate to do so.

The UK Chief Medical Officers agreed to seek consistency across the shielding list to support patients across the UK. Having differing advice in different countries would cause confusion for patients, clinicians and support groups.

In order to ensure a consistent approach is being taken across the four nations in relation to shielding, a Review Panel has was established.

The main remit of the Review Panel is to review the evidence on potential clinical risk factors for severe illness from COVID-19; and advise the senior clinicians group on whether to add or remove specific conditions to the extremely clinically vulnerable group.

Question reference: S5W-29131

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many care homes have had their registration cancelled by the Care Inspectorate in each year since 2007 due to a failure to achieve standards, and how many such failures have been recorded since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Inspection Year	Total
2016-17	1
2017-18	2
2018-19	4
2019/20	1