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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.

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Question reference: S5W-34006

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 12 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of the impact of COVID-19 on people with autism.

The Scottish Government continues to be committed to improving the lives of autistic people in Scotland. We recognise autistic people have faced and responded to a wider range of challenges than the general population. That’s why we have been working closely with autism and learning disability organisations to address emerging COVID-19 issues. In response to this the Scottish Government and COSLA are developing a joint plan for recovery and transformation which will detail our priorities coming out of the pandemic.

This draft has been put together in partnership with third sector stakeholders and takes into account research of the experiences of those with lived experience during COVID-19 restrictions undertaken by Inspiring Scotland. We are currently engaging with autistic people, people with learning disabilities, HSCPs and other stakeholders on what is important for them, building on previous strategy work.

The plan when published will have at its core the voice of people with lived experience and the promotion and protection of the human rights of autistic people and those with learning disabilities.

Question reference: S5W-34007

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 12 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what support is being given to people with autism to help with the changes to their routine caused by COVID-19.

The Scottish Government knows how difficult the Covid-19 Pandemic has been on autistic people, their families and carers. That’s why we have provided over £300,000 worth of funding to national Autism Organisations for the delivery of vital front line support including online social groups, a national advice line for autistic people, their families and carers and a coaching and counselling service.

Along with Autistic Led People’s Organisations and Autism Organisations we have provided around £250,000 worth of funding to provide a national post diagnostic support pilot for autistic people and their families, which will run till May 2021 and be independently evaluated to determine future delivery of a national service.

Winter funding of around £90,000 has just been awarded to autism and learning disability charities to address isolation over the winter months.

Question reference: S5F-04702

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-34002

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether home care workers receive regular COVID-19 testing and, if not, for what reasons.

On 25 November the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport set out to parliament our plans for expansion of routine asymptomatic testing for home care workers (including those who work in housing support).

In line with clinical and public health priorities identified through the review of the Scottish Government’s testing strategy, we will extend our testing programme to care-at-home staff.

This is a large workforce (over 80,000), who do a most critical job in supporting and caring for people so that they can continue to live as independently as possible in their own home. By the nature of their role, such staff tend to highly mobile with no fixed base hence the logistics of delivering testing are being carefully planned with input from the sector. A phased approach will start in mid-January, in the local authority areas with the highest virus prevalence.

Question reference: S5W-33847

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 11 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether pharmacists and their support teams will be offered weekly COVID-19 tests.

Question reference: S5W-33849

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 23 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many cancer screening appointments have been cancelled in each month since February 2020, broken down by screening programme.

As processes vary across the three cancer screening programmes, it is only possible to provide cancellation data for the breast screening programme.

Cervical screening programme appointments are made and cancelled within sample taker locations, primarily in general practice. Details of these appointments are not recorded by the cervical screening programme, and the Scottish Government does not therefore hold the requested data.

Appointment cancellations are not applicable to the bowel screening programme as test kits are sent to screening participants and returned by post and therefore no appointments are necessary.

The following table shows breast screening appointments cancelled by screening participants, broken down by month from 1 March until 4 December.

Participant Cancel by Month
March	2,223
April	0
May	0
June	0
July	0
August	1570
September	2147
October	2454
November	2315
1 st week of December	1441
Total	12,150

The following table shows office-cancelled breast screening appointments, broken down by month from 1 March until 4 December. It is important to note, however, that all of these office-cancelled appointments are reappointed as a matter of course and an invitation to screening sent to the participant. Where appointments are rescheduled in this way before a letter of invitation has been sent, the screening participant may be unaware their appointment has been cancelled and reappointed.

Office Cancel By Month
March	23,398
April	0
May	0
June	0
July	0
August	3768
September	4567
October	5778
November	3905
1 st week of December	2047
Total	43,463

As the breast screening programme was temporarily paused from 30 March until 3 August (due to the impacts of Covid-19), there were no cancellations in April, May, June or July.

Question reference: S5W-33850

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many cancer services referrals have been made by GPs in (a) each year since 2017 and (b) 2020 to date.

Management information on Urgent suspicion of Cancer referrals has only been routinely collected from November 2019 onwards.

The referral data is management information only which is not validated and is not currently published. However we are currently working with Public Health Scotland to develop a data set that will include referral data.

However the member may be interested to know that this unvalidated data indicates that Urgent Suspicion of Cancer symptomatic referrals have now increased from March 2020 and for week ending 6 November are 11% higher than the pre lockdown level.

Question reference: S5W-33848

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS and social care staff have died during the COVID 19 pandemic; how many of these people's families were eligible for the £60,000 death-in-service payment, and how many have received the payment to date.

I would like to express again my most sincere condolences to the family and friends of health and care workers who have died as a result of Covid-19. As of 9 December we have received 13 formal notifications of the deaths of NHS staff, and 19 formal notifications of Social Care staff. To date, there have been 15 applications to the scheme, and I would encourage all those who think they may be entitled to this payment but have not yet applied to now do so.

Payments from the NHS Scotland and Social Care Coronavirus Life Assurance Scheme 2020 are currently being processed, and will be made over the next few days.

Question reference: S5F-04680

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-33733

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 21 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) NHS staff, (b) social care staff and (c) non-medical personnel will be required for the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine.

We will continue to use the c.900 WTE experienced vaccinators involved in the extended seasonal flu programme to deliver the initial phase of the Covid-19 vaccination programme. In addition, training and recruitment is already underway to expand the vaccination workforce in anticipation of delivery to larger cohorts.

While workforce requirements are subject to a number of variables including vaccine supply and delivery channel, we estimate a daily workforce requirement of c. 1300 WTE vaccinators and c. 750 WTE support staff by the end of January, as we progress through vaccination to priority groups.

Capacity will be supplemented by further expansion of the workforce as required to support vaccination of the remaining members of Scotland’s adult population

In addition, off-site support services are being deployed to ensure that the necessary logistical support and communications are available to deliver an effective programme.