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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-33752

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government who will be responsible for identifying and contacting school pupils and staff should COVID-19 cases come to light immediately prior to or during the Christmas break, and what guidance has been issued to headteachers, school staff and trade unions on this.

We recognise the need to minimise school staff being required to support contact tracing activities over the holiday period. Public Health Scotland are working with local Health Protection teams and Directors of Education to put in place arrangements for each local authority. This will ensure that, in the event of a case within a school, the relevant individuals are in place to identify and get in touch with close contacts. Details of these arrangements will be shared as appropriate.

Question reference: S5T-02588

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the NRS publication, Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2019, in order to prevent further drug-related deaths.

Question reference: S5W-33801

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 14 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to engage with issues that specifically or disproportionately affect Black and Minority Ethnic women when developing its Women's Health Plan.

Question reference: S5W-33803

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 14 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether its Women's Health Plan takes into account digital participation and inclusion, particularly in relation to accessing remote and online healthcare in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question reference: S5W-33802

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 14 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to engage with Black and Minority Ethnic women regarding their lived experience of health outcomes and healthcare when developing its Women's Health Plan.

Engagement with women is central to the development of the Women’s Health Plan, particularly engagement with women with lived experience of health inequalities.

A series of lived experience online engagement events are scheduled to take place in early 2021 to inform development of the Women’s Health Plan. A specific focus of these sessions is engagement with those with protected characteristics, including minority ethnic women.

Question reference: S5W-33373

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local health protection teams in Lanarkshire on their guidance on self-isolation for entire households and its impact, and whether the teams plan to change this during the Level 4 restrictions.

Prior to the introduction of additional measures to request whole household isolation of close contacts, NHS Lanarkshire was involved in discussions on these proposed measures with Scottish Government, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Public Health Scotland. At these meetings it was agreed that those residing in the same household as close contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19 would have to self-isolate for the same period as close contacts. This measure was withdrawn on 29 September after review.

Since these measures were withdrawn, NHS Lanarkshire’s Test and Protect service has operated on the same basis as all other Test and Protect teams in Scotland. At this time, NHS Lanarkshire has no plans to change this approach.

Question reference: S5W-33372

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many times local health protection teams implemented measures on whole household self-isolation that differs from the national guidance.

The decision on whether to impose whole-household isolation is taken by local Health Protection Teams if, in the handling of specific outbreaks, it is deemed proportionate in tackling the spread of the virus. This decision making process follows an individual risk assessment undertaken for each case at a local level by Test and Protect. The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many times risk assessments have come to this conclusion.

Question reference: S5W-33262

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how the needs of (a) people who have received shielding letters, (b) people who have been advised to shield by clinicians, (c) people, including children, who were removed from the shielding list prior to shielding being suspended in July 2020, (d) people who have made a personal decision to shield and (e) the families and carers of people who are shielding will be met in areas under levels 3 and 4 of the COVID-19 restrictions to ensure that they have priority access to online shopping slots, grocery deliveries and the collection of medication.

The Chief Medical Officer issued guidance to people on the shielding list who live in areas that went to level 4 on 20 November on going to work, school and childcare.

The new framework sets out our strategic approach to suppress the virus. https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-scotlands-strategic-framework/ .

As the levels in a local area change, the protection advice for people on the shielding list in that area will change as well. People at highest risk should still follow the advice for the general public as a minimum, but these levels provide additional advice for areas like work, schools, shopping and contact with others.

Support is available for those at an increased risk. Guidance on support and information is available on the Scottish Government website. Detailed guidance is available on Coronavirus: Guidance on support, information, food and other essentials and includes

The advice, even at level 4, is that people can continue to shop for themselves, and we have provided checklists to ensure people can do so safely, In addition, six supermarkets (ASDA, Iceland, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose) have agreed to extend priority access to everyone who was on the shielding list as of 20 November 2020. Details of how to register for this service were issued to everyone on the shielding list in tier 4 on Friday 20 November. A further communication on how to register for the service was issued to everyone on the shielding list (in the week commencing 24 November 2020). This service does not guarantee a delivery slot, which will be dependent on availability, but provides access to view booking slots further in advance.

We suggest people should ask family, friends or neighbours to get essential items like prescription medicines. They can also ask their pharmacy if they can deliver their medicines to your home.

If people are unable to do either of these things or are unable to access the essentials they need, and have no support available to do so, they should contact the national helpline on 0800 111 4000 .

£15 million has been made available to local authorities entering level 4 restrictions, to enable them to support the needs of people in their communities who don’t have support networks and are struggling with the new restrictions or guidance at protection level 4. This may be used to provide support with access to food or medicine or other emerging needs.

Question reference: S5W-33314

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding it has provided to (a) NHS boards and (b) integration joint boards to support the roll-out of virtual pulmonary rehabilitation since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government has confirmed additional funding of £1.1 billion to support the health and social care sector in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding announcement provides support for the additional costs reported by Boards in responding to COVID-19, including additional staffing and equipment costs included in Local Mobilisation Plans. Detail on how this funding has been used to specifically support virtual pulmonary rehabilitation services, and to supplement existing baseline spend on respiratory services, would require to be requested from NHS Boards.

Detail on funding for each NHS Board area is set out in response to question S5W-32107 on 29 September 2020. Further funding will be made available in the coming months following our ongoing reviews of financial implications across the sector . All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Question reference: S5W-33302

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many obstetrics and gynaecology staff were redeployed to other areas of care during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic; whether this is happening in the second wave, and what steps it is taking to ensure that services continue as much as possible.

Scottish Ministers’ expectation remains that care for pregnant and postnatal women continues to be an essential service, and it is right that Health Boards should plan for these services to continue alongside other essential services during this unprecedented time. Their expectation is also that midwives, obstetricians and the wider maternity and neonatal workforce should not normally be redeployed out with these settings for the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Any decisions taken about the deployment of obstetrics and gynaecology staff within NHS Scotland services are the responsibility of relevant Health Boards.