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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-32335

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 12 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what ferry repair and maintenance contracts have been awarded by CalMac for the forthcoming winter period.

As a longer-term yard strategy, CalMac is conducting a procurement exercise for vessel maintenance and upgrades. This will consist of two multi-year contracts covering the 33 vessels within the CalMac fleet. These contracts aim to deliver cost savings and improve the resilience of the fleet.

The outcome of the recent procurement exercise identified Cammell Laird as the preferred bidder, securing a contract covering 5 of the major vessels in the CalMac fleet.

There is a further procurement exercise currently ongoing for the other vessels in the CalMac fleet which Scottish yards have an opportunity to bid for.

Question reference: S5W-32352

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in the event that a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, whether it will be offered to everyone in Scotland and, if not, what percentage of the population will be offered it, and what criteria will be used to determine who is offered it.

Access to a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccination is dependent on success in at least one of over 200 vaccine trials underway worldwide. When a vaccine might become available in Scotland, and how it might be prioritised and delivered, will depend in part on which vaccine candidates are successful.

While there is no guarantee of success in any of the trials, we are planning on the basis of vaccines becoming available. In Scotland we already routinely deliver nearly 2 million doses of vaccine each year and we have a comprehensive vaccine delivery infrastructure in place. We are working on a plan to upscale this to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine, in the event that a safe and effective vaccine does become available, and we have established the Flu Vaccines and COVID-19 Vaccinations Programme Board to oversee this work.

Eligibility and prioritisation decisions will be based on clinical evidence and advice. We will be guided by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI) which provides independent advice on immunisation, including on the efficacy and safety of vaccines and on the priority groups to be vaccinated.

On 23rd October, the First Minister published " COVID-19: Our strategic approach" , which provides an update on the work which has been done and is ongoing to prepare for a COVID-19 vaccination programme, should a safe and effective vaccine become available.

Question reference: S5W-32702

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many COVID-19 cases associated with (a) primary and (b) secondary schools there have been in each week since 11 August 2020.

Weekly surveillance data on cases among children of school age are published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) with the weekly statistical report: https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/covid-19/covid-19-statistical-report/ . This includes data by week for primary and secondary age group children.

Not all of these children will be school pupils (particularly at the lower and upper age extremes), and not all will have been present in school during their illness or infectious period.

A more detailed report of testing data from Term 1 of the 2020/21 academic year, including the distribution of cases by school type and area, will be published by PHS in late-November 2020.

Question reference: S5O-04726

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that public services meet the needs of older people and that their rights are respected.

Question reference: S5W-32181

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 12 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has a target for the level of flu vaccine uptake among over 65s, and what it is doing to promote uptake of the flu vaccine among this group.

The Scottish Government aims to vaccinate more people within groups with existing eligibility than ever before. Scotland has a reputation for high seasonal flu vaccine uptake and our working assumptions for the 65 years and over is 75% for this year’s flu season, which is in line with the World Health Organisation guidance. Those over the age of 65 are at high clinical risk from seasonal flu, therefore Scottish Government will seek to utilise vaccine supply in a way which allows as many of this group as possible to be vaccinated.

The Scottish Government have developed our public health marketing campaign for this flu season, which is firmly based on research and insight on effective messaging in light of Covid-19. This extensive campaign will also involve close partnership work with public, private and third sector organisations to amplify our message.

Question reference: S5W-31659

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement the accessible home testing kit trial recommendations suggested by the Department for Health and Social Care, including introducing steps that will make these more accessible for blind and partially-sighted people, such as assisted home testing and pre-registered kits.

Home testing kits are provided by the UK Government and we continue to work with them to make accessibility improvements. DHSC has been working in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to better understand the end-to-end experiences of blind and visually impaired users of home testing services and identify potential accessibility improvements. DHSC has used recommendations arising from this research to inform service improvements and these will be trialled shortly.

Question reference: S5W-31660

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to include (a) blind and partially-sighted and (b) other disabled people in testing the accessibility of the proximity tracing that app that it plans to launch.

An assessment and accessibility testing was completed for the Protect Scotland app. This assessment informed the development of the app and considered the needs of people with a visual impairment and or a disability. These needs will be considered in an ongoing basis and if individuals wish to share their experience they can do so by contacting: testandprotect@nhs.scot

A new Equalities & Digital Inclusion group has been established to work in partnership with organisations including the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), deafscotland and Scottish Commission for Learning Disability (SCLD) to ensure that the app can provide the best possible user experience.

Question reference: S5O-04588

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reconsider its position on holding an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the murder of Craig McClelland, following the decision by the Lord Advocate not to conduct a Fatal Accident Inquiry.

Question reference: S5W-31082

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how the proportion of pupils achieving five (a) Higher and (b) Advanced Higher (i) grades A-C and (ii) grade As in 2019-20 (A) nationally and (B) in each local authority area in (aa) local authority-run and (bb) independent schools compares with the grades at in this range that had been estimated by teachers.

Question reference: S5W-31081

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how the proportion of grades A-C awarded at (a) National 5, (b) Higher and (c) Advanced Higher for 2019-20 (i) nationally and (ii) in each local authority area in (A) local authority-run and (B) independent schools compares with the grades at in this range that had been estimated by teachers.

The following table, based on information published by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), shows the national pass rates at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher for 2019-20 based on teacher estimates and based on the moderated results as published by SQA on 4 August.

Qualification	2020 teacher estimates	2020 moderated teacher estimates as published on 4/8/20	Comparison (teacher estimates minus moderated results)
(a) National 5	88.6%	81.1%	7.5pp
(b) Higher	88.8%	78.9%	9.9pp
(c) Advanced Higher	92.8%	84.9%	7.9pp

pp = percentage points

The Scottish Government does not hold this information broken down by local authority area or broken down between local authority-run and independent schools.