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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: S5O-04665

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding changes to infrastructure and consequent improvements to the region's arterial routes that will be required for the Port of Cairnryan after the Brexit transition period ends.

Question reference: S5T-02346

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on delayed discharge into care homes.

Question reference: S5W-31169

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 August 2020
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jeane Freeman on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation and use of the Safety Huddle Template in care homes across Scotland.

I can confirm that from 14 August 2020, the automated, web based Turas Care Management safety huddle tool will go live across Scotland. Data collection from the tool will commence from the week beginning 17 August 2020. I expect all care homes to be registered and using the automated safety huddle tool by 24 August.

The original Excel version of the safety huddle template was developed with the care home sector and other key stakeholders including representatives from the Care Inspectorate, Health and Social Care Partnerships, Scottish Care, Scottish Social Care Services Council, Scottish Government representatives from across Directorates, Scottish Executives Nurse Directors, Community Lead Nurses, Health Protection Scotland and NHS Board Public Health Directors. This has been used by care homes across Scotland, and we have continued to work with these stakeholders to ensure that the automated safety huddle is fit for purpose and meets the requirements of the staff who use it, both for the inputting of data at a care home level and on the reviewing of the data.

This work is incredibly important, not only now in our response to COVID-19 but beyond. This will enable more consistent national reporting of the data originally captured through the excel version of the safety huddle returns and will also help to reduce the data burden on our care homes, whilst supporting improved reporting and better analysis of the information on a local and national basis. It will also enable our Health and Social Care Partnerships, NHS Boards and oversight groups undertake their assurance roles which are so important at this time and to ensure that the necessary support is given to the care home sector when it is required.

The tool has been developed so that it is futureproofed, to allow for changes to be made in the future, post COVID-19. Suggestions for future additions to the tool include the addition of quality indicators, including number of complaints, critical incidents, falls, pressure sores, medication errors, no of initial referral discussions relating to adult support and protection etc, which would allow trend reporting for quality improvement. Furthermore, future amendments to the tool could also align with the data collected under the Care Inspectorate legislative framework through the e-form reporting and annual returns. The web based tool has the capacity to add links to the Care Inspectorate e-forms for ease of completion and the data from the safety huddle could be used to provide real time reporting for the Care Inspectorate going forward and support the delivery of evidence based in scrutiny visits.

Question reference: S5O-04487

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the South West Scotland Transport Study.

Question reference: S5O-04482

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to tourism businesses involved in the organising, planning and hosting of weddings in Dumfries and Galloway and other rural economies that are reliant on the wedding industry.

Question reference: S5W-30451

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 July 2020
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on publishing validated statistics regarding hospital-onset COVID-19 cases in Scotland.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) this week, 1 July, published validated statistics on the number of nosocomial Covid-19 infections in Scotland, based on the agreed definitions of the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC).

Scotland is the only country in the UK to have published this data to date. The data provides a detailed picture of hospital associated infections.

The information is not directly comparable to previously published unvalidated management information. The validated statistics cover a longer time period, week ending 1 March to week ending 7 June. The new statistics also capture each individual laboratory confirmed case, rather than only those in a HAI infection cluster.

These statistics will be published weekly on the PHS website as part of the wider information already published. In addition, the National Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Unit within NHS National Services Scotland are working on a statistical process to produce further information relating to COVID-19 Healthcare Associated Infection deaths where possible.

The data and supporting methodology is available at: https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/covid-19/hospital-onset-covid-19-cases-in-scotland/

Question reference: S5F-04246

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 June 2020

To ask the First Minister what guidance the Scottish Government has provided to meat processing facilities to ensure the health and safety of their workforce, in light of recent closures of such facilities across the UK due to large numbers of staff being diagnosed with COVID-19.

Question reference: S5W-30112

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 June 2020
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on NHS boards’ plans to resume services that were paused during the initial phase of the COVID-19 emergency.

On 31 May we published Re-mobilise, Recover, Re-design: the framework for NHS Scotland ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/re-mobilise-recover-re-design-framework-nhs-scotland/ ).

The Framework sets out how NHS Boards will follow national and local clinical advice in order safely and gradually to prioritise resumption of some paused services over the coming weeks and beyond, while retaining sufficient capacity to deal with COVID-19.

NHS Boards have continued to protect key services throughout the pandemic and are now gradually resuming services across key specialties including cardiology, urology, trauma and orthopaedics, as well as endoscopies and other diagnostic services. Patients will be seen on the basis of clinical need, and anyone who has been offered an outpatient or diagnostics appointment or a date for surgery should attend in order to ensure that they receive the treatment and care that they require.

We know that COVID-19 is likely to be with us for some time to come, so we will have to continue to balance the safe and effective resumption of services with the need to keep the virus under control; continuing to protect the NHS and ensuring that there is capacity to deal with any cases of the virus that need hospital treatment.

Whilst Scotland has moved to Phase 2 of the route map, we should not forget that our NHS is still on an emergency footing. Health Boards and their planning partners will continue to work on safely resuming services whilst protecting COVID-19 capacity, as informed by the evidence, clinical priorities and associated national frameworks and guidance.

As we move into Phase 2, I am pleased to report that NHS Boards are making good progress in planning the safe resumption of paused services. Boards are continuing to review how services are delivered so that treatment can be effectively provided whilst ensuring that staff and patients are safe. This work will take time and, in some cases, will mean that how patients access services will look and feel different.

Resuming services safely will mean additional use of PPE, environmental cleaning and physical distancing in clinical areas which will reduce the number of patients who can be seen during a clinical session.

A summary provided on services which are planned to be resumed, by territorial Board area prior to the end of July, was published on 19 June ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-mobilisation-of-key-clinical-services/ ).

There remains further work to be done to resume elective treatments. We are working with NHS Boards to resume these services as soon as possible, including examining all resources, such as the Golden Jubilee National Hospital and NHS Louisa Jordan.

Question reference: S5O-04428

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what support it is providing to young people and parents across Dumfries and Galloway to assist with education at home during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Question reference: S5W-29719

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide an update on the advice given to people who are shielding.

People who are on the shielding list have been sent a letter today confirming that the shielding period will continue until at least the end of July and that support which is in place will remain in place for at least that period. The letter contains updated advice to enable outdoor exercise provided strict physical distancing is followed. This advice is in place from 18 June, subject to infection rates in Scotland remaining at a sufficiently low level. The updated advice, along with the future steps on shielding are available here: https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781839608100