Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-35135

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it plans to develop a "digital platform to record vaccinations", as outlined in its draft Budget, and how it plans to utilise the data collected from the platform.

Question reference: S5W-34357

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what priority will be given to supermarket workers regarding the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

We are thankful to all the supermarket workers across the country for their continued hard work to ensure that our communities and individuals have access to food supplies especially during these challenging times.

But all decisions to prioritise one population group over another are not taken lightly, nor are they straightforward. That is why our prioritisation decisions have been, and will continue to be, guided by the independent expert advice from the JCVI, who have clearly assessed that age is the greatest risk factor from Covid-19 harm.

We are working to get vaccines to everyone as quickly as we can, and hope to have vaccinated all those on the JCVI prioritisation list by the end of spring 2021, vaccine supplies permitting.

Question reference: S5W-35299

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much capital investment there has been in each further education college in each year since 2007.

Since 2007 [i] the Scottish Government has invested £823 million in the college estates [ii]. This investment, broken down by college, is noted in the following table.

Since 2012-13 a further £330 million has been invested through Non-Profit Distribution (NPD). The Scottish Government also funds the unitary charge on the NPD college projects [iii].

College	Total capital funding 2007-20 (formulaic & projects)
Aberdeen College	22,496,223
Adam Smith College	9,447,958
Angus College	3,168,723
Anniesland College	45,960,931
Ayr College	8,650,699
Ayrshire College	17,653,621
Banff & Buchan College of Further Education	24,386,567
Barony College	1,064,694
Borders College	20,329,527
Cardonald College	5,920,999
Carnegie College	5,615,212
Central College of Commerce	2,981,252
City of Glasgow College	30,580,434
Clydebank College	9,531,475
Coatbridge College	20,607,430
Cumbernauld College	3,562,195
Dumfries & Galloway College	26,476,758
Dundee and Angus College	10,260,445
Dundee College	37,854,197
Edinburgh's Telford College	8,752,227
Edinburgh College	30,636,919
Elmwood College	2,190,438
Fife College	24,756,624
Forth Valley College	108,360,221
Glasgow Clyde College	12,746,254
Glasgow College of Nautical Studies	21,122,641
Glasgow Kelvin College	9,677,006
Glasgow Metropolitan College	5,250,493
Inverness College UHI	13,667,825
James Watt College of Further & Higher Education	11,330,398
Jewel & Esk College	27,396,967
John Wheatley College	2,863,270
Kilmarnock College	6,337,007
Langside College	35,991,485
Lews Castle College UHI	2,667,323
Moray College UHI	5,023,041
Motherwell College	46,428,145
New College Lanarkshire	19,089,051
Newbattle Abbey College	1,549,815
North East Scotland College	13,247,430
North Glasgow College	24,905,814
North Highland College UHI	7,107,972
Oatridge College	1,260,752
Orkney College UHI	1,556,568
Perth College UHI	4,954,370
Reid Kerr College	6,336,460
Sabhal Mor Ostaig UHI	2,436,257
Shetland College UHI	2,220,208
South Lanarkshire College	11,070,969
SRUC	3,196,789
Stevenson College	6,426,663
Stow College	4,464,718
West College Scotland	16,912,492
West Lothian College	12,317,187
West Highland College UHI	2,387,180
Total	823,188,319

[i] 2007 to 2018 spans the period where the sector underwent major regional mergers: some investments were in campuses which are now part of larger regional colleges.

[ii] That is, since 2007, colleges have received £823 million grant payments for capital from the Scottish Funding Council.

[iii] Since 2012-13 Scottish Government has funded the following unitary charges:

Ayrshire College - £16,665,856:

City of Glasgow - £76,925,000;

Inverness College UHI - £21,901,957

Question reference: S5W-35548

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that people with learning disabilities who are living in supported accommodation will receive the COVID-19 vaccination as part of priority group 6, and when this group will begin to be vaccinated.

We understand that many people with mild and moderate Learning/Intellectual disabilities will be eligible for priority group 6 due to underlying health conditions.

We believe our more straightforward approach of inviting everyone with a learning disability for vaccination during cohort 6 will bring peace of mind and add a small number of people to the current cohort who would have otherwise been offered vaccination later.

Priority group 6 is one of the largest on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) list. It will take several weeks to provide first doses to everyone and the speed with which we can offer first doses is dependent on our supplies.

Question reference: S5W-35298

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been provided to each further education college as a result of the 2017 college sector estates condition survey.

Of the annual capital funding allocation provided, each college received backlog and lifecycle maintenance as detailed in Tables A & B. The first column lists funding allocated to address the very high and high priority backlog maintenance identified by the 2017 college sector estates condition survey.

Table A shows that £26.89m in FY 2018-19 and Table B that £12.39m in FY 2019-20 was provided to the college sector to address the backlog maintenance identified by the 2017 survey.

Table A: Final Capital funding for FY 2018-19
College/Region	FY 2018-19 ‎ final capital ‎ based on gross ‎ very high priority ‎ backlog maintenance	FY 2018-19 ‎ final capital for ‎ lifecycle maintenance ‎ based on share ‎ of volume target	Total FY 2018-19 ‎ final capital funding ‎ for lifecycle & ‎ very high priority ‎ backlog maintenance
	£	£	£
Ayrshire College	2,764,749	928,983	3,693,732
Borders College	76,494	188,480	264,974
Dumfries & Galloway College	155,301	225,913	381,214
Dundee & Angus College	1,235,693	773,468	2,009,162
Edinburgh College	2,673,397	1,397,086	4,070,483
Fife College	1,693,221	975,008	2,668,229
Forth Valley College	56,245	630,382	686,626
Glasgow Region	3,494,799	2,759,497	6,254,296
Highlands & Islands Region	3,844,150	822,257	4,666,406
Lanarkshire Region	6,180,455	1,291,778	7,472,233
Newbattle Abbey College 1	97,316	0	97,316
North East Scotland College	1,464,603	996,239	2,460,842
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig 1	120,257	0	120,257
SRUC	0	170,294	170,294
West College Scotland	3,003,981	1,181,794	4,185,775
West Lothian College 2	34,579	168,820	203,399
Scotland	26,895,240	12,510,000	39,405,240
1 - Newbattle Abbey College & Sabhal Mòr Ostaig do not receive capital for lifecycle maintenance funding.
2 - West Lothian College's capital funding is adjusted to reflect the repayment of a loan.

Table B: Final capital funding for FY 2019-20
College/Region	FY 2019-20 ‎ final capital ‎ based on gross ‎ high priority ‎ backlog maintenance	FY 2019-20 ‎ final capital for ‎ lifecycle maintenance ‎ based on share ‎ of volume target	Total final ‎ capital funding ‎ based on high priority ‎ backlog & lifecycle ‎ maintenance
	£	£	£
Ayrshire College	124,000	645,000	769,000
Borders College	138,000	131,000	269,000
Dumfries & Galloway College	27,000	157,000	184,000
Dundee & Angus College	1,109,000	537,000	1,646,000
Edinburgh College	1,455,000	971,000	2,426,000
Fife College	964,000	677,000	1,641,000
Forth Valley College	0	438,000	438,000
Glasgow Region	1,623,000	1,917,000	3,540,000
Highlands & Islands Region	958,000	574,000	1,532,000
Lanarkshire Region	1,165,000	887,000	2,052,000
Newbattle Abbey College 1	762,000	0	762,000
North East Scotland College	1,617,000	692,000	2,309,000
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig 1	216,000	0	216,000
SRUC	492,000	118,000	610,000
West College Scotland	1,710,000	821,000	2,531,000
West Lothian College 2	35,000	69,000	104,000
Scotland	12,395,000	8,634,000	21,029,000
1 - Newbattle Abbey College and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig do not receive capital funding for lifecycle maintenance.
2 - West Lothian College's capital funding is adjusted to reflect a loan repayment.

Question reference: S5O-05084

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the finance secretary had with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in advance of setting the health expenditure in its 2021-22 Budget.

Question reference: S5W-34578

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time for (a) cataract, (b) glaucoma, (c) age-related macular degeneration and (d) other ophthalmology treatments has been in each month since March 2019, broken down by NHS board.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on sub speciality of ophthalmology.

The following table shows TTG ophthalmology ongoing waits from 31 March 2019 to 30 September 2020, on a quarterly basis:

NHS Board of treatment	31-03-2019	30-06-2019	30-09-2019	31-12-2019	31-03-2020	30-06-2020	30-09-2020
NHS Scotland	2,084	2,432	3,017	3,089	2,901	1,2026	8,004
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	7	35	114	189	294	866	596
NHS Borders	8	67	1	0	13	234	234
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	45	66	95	71	44	492	231
NHS Fife	9	2	2	6	76	777	234
NHS Forth Valley	0	2	8	2	4	279	138
NHS Grampian	441	258	309	334	360	1,461	1,418
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	629	1,052	1,201	1,044	653	2,884	2,047
NHS Highland	325	243	308	258	297	814	426
NHS Lanarkshire	179	181	263	469	497	1,587	1,309
NHS Lothian	26	34	109	55	47	966	505
NHS Orkney	25	21	6	37	61	11	2
NHS Shetland	17	5	10	19	1	77	47
NHS Tayside	373	466	591	605	554	1,520	809
NHS Western Isles	0	0	0	0	0	58	8

Question reference: S5W-34577

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) did not attend and (b) cannot attend appointments for (i) cataract, (ii) glaucoma, (iii) age-related macular degeneration and (iv) other ophthalmology treatments have been recorded by each NHS board in each month since March 2019.

Data on Ophthalmology sub specialities are not held by the Scottish Government

The following table shows ophthalmology treatment could not attend (CNA) and did not attend (DNA) rates from 31 March 2019 to 30 September 2020.

NHS Board of treatment	Indicator	31-03-2019	30-06-2019	30-09-2019	31-12-2019	31-03-2020	30-06-2020	30-09-2020
NHS Scotland	Could not attend (CNA) rate	6.8%	6.9%	6.4%	6.5%	8.5%	7.5%	4.9%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	1.0%	0.8%	1.1%	1.0%	1.0%	0.5%	0.2%
NHS Scotland (Excluding NHS Tayside)	Could not attend (CNA) rate	7.1%	7.3%	6.6%	6.8%	8.9%	8.1%	5.3%
NHS Scotland (Excluding NHS Tayside)	Did not attend (DNA) rate	1.0%	0.8%	1.1%	1.1%	1.0%	0.5%	0.2%
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	Could not attend (CNA) rate	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Golden Jubilee National Hospital	Did not attend (DNA) rate	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	Could not attend (CNA) rate	18.5%	26.1%	18.7%	16.5%	25.9%	47.7%	14.9%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	1.3%	1.3%	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	0.0%	0.2%
NHS Borders	Could not attend (CNA) rate	6.6%	3.9%	4.2%	8.0%	6.7%	0.0%	3.2%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	0.0%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	Could not attend (CNA) rate	5.1%	4.8%	4.4%	5.1%	7.1%	0.0%	4.8%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	Did not attend (DNA) rate	0.2%	0.3%	0.5%	0.0%	0.2%	0.0%	0.3%
NHS Fife	Could not attend (CNA) rate	5.9%	4.7%	5.0%	6.7%	5.6%	0.0%	2.7%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	0.5%	0.3%	0.4%	0.3%	0.2%	0.0%	0.2%
NHS Forth Valley	Could not attend (CNA) rate	6.4%	8.5%	7.5%	5.9%	7.3%	0.0%	4.3%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	0.6%	0.7%	1.6%	0.0%	1.5%	0.0%	0.5%
NHS Grampian	Could not attend (CNA) rate	3.9%	4.2%	2.9%	3.0%	4.6%	1.8%	1.5%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	0.2%	0.2%	0.7%	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	Could not attend (CNA) rate	7.3%	7.1%	6.2%	6.8%	10.3%	2.7%	5.0%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	Did not attend (DNA) rate	1.0%	0.7%	1.4%	1.5%	1.6%	0.3%	0.2%
NHS Highland	Could not attend (CNA) rate	5.9%	6.0%	7.5%	6.1%	6.1%	4.6%	3.8%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	1.6%	1.1%	1.8%	1.2%	1.3%	0.0%	0.2%
NHS Lanarkshire	Could not attend (CNA) rate	7.4%	8.5%	6.5%	7.5%	7.9%	4.1%	4.3%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	1.9%	1.0%	1.2%	1.5%	1.1%	0.0%	0.0%
NHS Lothian	Could not attend (CNA) rate	7.8%	7.2%	6.8%	7.6%	8.5%	0.9%	4.7%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	1.8%	1.5%	1.0%	2.0%	1.1%	1.1%	0.2%
NHS Orkney	Could not attend (CNA) rate	7.8%	0.0%	2.9%	0.0%	11.1%	1.1%	10.0%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	0.0%	0.0%	1.7%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
NHS Shetland	Could not attend (CNA) rate	7.2%	0.0%	9.8%	1.8%	1.9%	0.0%	2.9%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
NHS Tayside	Could not attend (CNA) rate	3.9%	3.4%	4.0%	3.2%	5.4%	0.0%	2.1%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	1.0%	1.0%	1.1%	0.6%	0.8%	0.0%	0.1%
NHS Western Isles	Could not attend (CNA) rate	6.0%	1.4%	6.2%	4.1%	7.5%	7.9%	6.9%
	Did not attend (DNA) rate	0.5%	1.1%	1.8%	2.9%	2.9%	3.5%	0.0%

Question reference: S5W-34353

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 (a) in supermarkets and (b) among supermarket staff.

The Scottish Government participates in the Defra Food Resilience Forum where there has been regular reporting of the absence across the whole of the food and drink sector, including supermarkets. Information is also collected on outbreaks so we are able to identify whether there are issues at particular retail outlets or supermarkets. Scottish Government also engages in regular dialogue with retailers to ensure there is an overview of the impact of Covid-19 on the sector.

A range of management information including some information on likely exposure settings based on interviews conducted with people who have tested positive for Covid-19 is collected and by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and used by the Scottish Government. This information is available on the PHS dashboard ( Dashboard - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org) ) and includes details of possible exposure within retail environments, such as supermarkets, and those who have been shopping.

Question reference: S5W-34356

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the transmission rate of the COVID-19 variant, whether the number of people allowed in supermarkets at any one time will be reduced to allow for greater social distancing.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor the transmission of Covid-19, including in retail settings. In light of the transmission rate of the new variant of COVID-19 we have taken steps to strengthen our guidance on the operation of retail settings.

Under Regulations, supermarkets must take all reasonable measures to ensure that a distance of two metres is maintained between any persons on the premises, with the exception of those within the same household or a carer assisting another person. They must also take all reasonable measures to ensure that it only admits people to its premises in sufficiently small numbers to make it possible to maintain that distance. This includes those queueing awaiting entry to the premises.

We are aware that a number of supermarkets already base their footfall on 3-metre distancing and have introduced additional protective measures such as the use of Perspex screens to protect staff and customers.

We will continue to work with sector leads to protect workers and customers in retail settings as we monitor the transmission risks associated with the new variant of the virus and, if appropriate, will amend the guidance and Regulations currently in place.

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