- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 2 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason people who are currently receiving working age benefits, such as universal credit, and those who have recently applied but have not yet started receiving such a benefit, are not eligible to apply for the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund.
Answer
The Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund is aimed at providing hardship support to those who have lost work due to Covid-19 but are ineligible for support through the UK Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme because they have only been trading as self-employed since 6 April 2019 or later. It is specifically aimed at those who have been unable to access other forms of business support or working age benefits.
This does exclude those in receipt of Universal Credit payments, including advances, because they are receiving support.
Similarly, anybody in receipt of our hardship grant would need to declare this to DWP in any future Universal Credit application. The management of Universal Credit is a matter for the UK Government.
However it is important to clarify that people who have applied for, but not yet received, Universal Credit (or an advance on Universal Credit) are still eligible to apply.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 June 2020
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2020
To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that Scotland has one of the highest per capita death rates for COVID-19 in the world.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 3 June 2020
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 April 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 1 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of their obligation to publish efficacy data as part of their clinical testing, what information it has received from manufacturers regarding their confidence in the reliability of their COVID-19 testing kits, expressed as a percentage.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
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 .
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 1 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how many primary schools have not been inspected for 10 years or more; what the longest time is that a primary school has waited since its last inspection; how many schools are used to create the virtual comparators for South Morningside Primary School on parentzone, and how many of those have been inspected in each of the last five years.
Answer
Education Scotland has significantly strengthened its scrutiny functions and increased the number of school inspections it carries out. In the last academic year (2018-19) Education Scotland completed 252 school inspections, an increase of over 30% on the previous year.
Schools are selected for inspection each year on a proportionate basis, using a sampling approach and predetermined set criteria rather than a cyclical approach.
a) 604 primary schools have not been inspected for 10 years or more.
b) The longest time since last inspection is 16 years
c) Data from all primary schools in Scotland is used to create the comparator score on the school information dashboard. The information is used to show how pupils in the school performed against Curriculum for Excellence levels (by stage i.e. P1, P4 and P7) and by organiser (i.e. numeracy, reading, writing and listening and talking) against similar pupils across Scotland. It is therefore not a discrete group of schools that Morningside Primary School is compared with.
d) The number of primary schools inspected in Scotland in the last five years is shown in the following table.
2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
97 | 100 | 120 | 142 | 201 |
In Scotland, overall responsibility for the quality of education and securing continuous improvement sits with the local authority. There is a three-level approach to evaluating and improving education: schools have a responsibility to evaluate their performance; local authorities have responsibility for the quality of education in their area; and the third level is scrutiny activity carried out by HM Inspectors of Education.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 1 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how many people who have been identified as (a) vulnerable, (b) clinically vulnerable and (c) clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 and are shielding from the virus, and who have indicated that require assistance with access to food supplies and/or other essentials, are receiving this support, also broken down by what information it has regarding how this is being provided and by which organisations.
Answer
Individuals identified as being at the highest risk of severe illness if they become infected with coronavirus are advised to shield.
As at 20 May, 57,621 people have requested weekly grocery boxes. Under the Scottish Government’s agreement with Brakes and Bidfood, the two companies providing the grocery service, people who are shielding receive their first grocery box within 7 days of their request reaching Brakes and Bidfood. Thereafter they receive their box(es) once a week, until they cancel the deliveries.
As at 20 May, the details for all 43,725 people who have requested access to the priority delivery service have been passed to supermarkets. Details of new requests are passed on daily. The supermarkets participating are Asda, Tesco, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s, Iceland and Waitrose.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 1 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how many people who have been identified as (a) vulnerable, (b) clinically vulnerable and (c) clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 and are shielding from the virus have indicated that they do not require assistance with access to food supplies and/or other essentials.
Answer
Individuals identified as being at the highest risk of severe illness if they become infected with coronavirus are advised to shield.
The letter which shielded individuals receive sets out the support which is available to those who require it, for example those who do not have an existing local support network. This support includes supplies of food and other essentials through a free grocery box delivery service, and access to priority supermarket delivery slots. This can be requested through the shielding SMS service or local authority helplines.
As at 20 May, of the 176,713 people who have been issued with a letter advising them to shield, 57,621 people have requested a free weekly grocery box. As at 20 May, the details for all 43,725 people who have requested access to the priority delivery service have been passed to supermarkets. Some people may have requested both services. We do not hold data of how many have indicated they do not require access to services.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 1 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried of the capacity of the dedicated local authority phone lines that have been set up to provide support for people who are vulnerable to COVID-19 and are shielding from the virus with getting access to the food supplies and/or other essentials that they require.
Answer
We asked local authorities to provide information about the number of phone lines they had available ahead of the establishment of the national phone line which diverts callers to their local authority. Scottish Government is in regular contact with local authorities about the phone line, and data on line usage is being monitored, to ensure there is sufficient capacity to meet demand.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 1 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how many people who have been identified as (a) vulnerable, (b) clinically vulnerable and (c) clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 and should shield from the virus it estimates require assistance with access to food supplies and/or other essentials.
Answer
Individuals identified as being at the highest risk of severe illness if they become infected with coronavirus are advised to shield.
We do not hold estimates of the number of people who require assistance with access to food supplies and/or other essentials. The number of people accessing these services is provided in answer to S5W-29073 and S5W-29097 on 1 June 2020. 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
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 1 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how many people who have been identified as (a) vulnerable, (b) clinically vulnerable and (c) clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19 and should shield from the virus have been issued with a letter informing them of this.
Answer
Individuals identified as being at the highest risk of severe illness if they become infected with coronavirus are advised to shield.
These are individuals who have a condition or disease identified by Chief Medical Officers across the UK, or, who do not have one of those conditions or diseases but are identified by hospital clinicians or GPs because their individual medical circumstances places them at the highest risk of severe illness if they become infected with coronavirus.
As at 20 May, 176,713 people have been issued with a letter advising them to shield.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 28 May 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what programmes it has in place, and what further measures it plans, to provide free internet devices to low-income and digitally-excluded people.
Answer
The Connecting Scotland project was announced on 7 May and will support 9,000 low income individuals across Scotland that are clinically at risk.
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is working with local authorities and other voluntary sector organisations to identify and reach people who are clinically at risk and on a low income, and to provide support. SCVO will also provide training to staff and volunteers working for organisations to be able to support individuals to use the internet safely, confidently and effectively.
We are continuing to work in partnership across all sectors to identify fresh opportunities where we can build sustainable programs that will support even more people to gain or improve their digital skills. As more organisations become involved we will signpost opportunities to funding, support and access as they arise.
We also recognise that digital exclusion is an issue for some of our most disadvantaged learners. To help ensure as many children and young people as possible are able to connect with their schools, continue their learning, access support and engage with their peers, we are investing an initial £9 million which will provide devices and connectivity for 25,000 learners across Scotland.
