- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether works to alter the cladding at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh has been undertaken, and whether there is a timeline in place for work to be carried out that will make the building compliant with building standards.
Answer
It has been recommended that the spacing of cavity barriers (which stop the spread of fire through wall cavities behind the cladding) on the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences be reduced from 20 metre intervals to 10 metre intervals. NHS Lothian has been assured that the overall level of fire safety remains high and has not been significantly reduced by the spacing of the cavity barriers. Risk assessments have also been carried out to identify and mitigate any fire risks to patients, staff and visitors.
Discussions with IHSL, the consortium that built and owns the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences, about altering the cavity barriers are ongoing. IHSL has been asked to produce detailed proposals for work on the cavity barriers. Those proposals will be reviewed by the health board and its advisers, so as to ensure they meet technical specifications and minimise disruption to the hospital and department.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many category (a) purple, (b) red, (c) amber and (d) yellow ambulance call-outs took more than (i) 8, (ii) 10, (iii) 15, (iv) 20, (v) 30, (vi) 60 and (vii)120 minutes to arrive at the incident in each NHS board area in each (A) of the last three calendar years and (B) month in 2022 to date.
Answer
The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
Official statistical reports relating to the Scottish Ambulance Service can be found on the following link.
Public Health Scotland
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05100 by Humza Yousaf on 5 January 2022, whether it will publish the six-month progress reports for the nine research projects on long COVID.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no plans to publish the six-month progress reports for the nine projects funded through the Chief Scientist Office long-term effects of COVID-19 research call.
Interim progress reports are not published as their purpose is to enable monitoring of the progress of the projects, as a check that the researchers have gained all the necessary research regulatory and governance approvals, to monitor grant spend, and to determine whether adjustments to projects are required to deal with unforeseen challenges that may have arisen. Interim reports are not a vehicle to publish research results as the projects have not completed and any results are likely to be incomplete. Publication could therefore potentially lead to misleading conclusions being drawn. It is important that conclusions are drawn from research studies once all the data are fully analysed and also preferably published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature following independent scrutiny.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 August 2022
To ask the Scottish government whether it has taken action to ensure timely access to COVID-19 vaccination for any Ukrainian refugee who wishes to be vaccinated.
Answer
The Scottish Government has issued guidance to Health Boards setting out our expectation that Ukrainian refugees in Scotland will have access to all primary health care services along with vaccinations including those for COVID-19.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 29 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) assessments it has undertaken and (b) preparations it has made to ensure adequate capacity for (i) Ukrainian children to be educated and (ii) Ukrainian-speaking translators to be made available in Scottish schools.
Answer
The Scottish Government is actively working with local authorities, Education Scotland and other partners to understand and support the needs of Ukrainian children and ensure they can access appropriate education. This work is being co-ordinated through a joint Scottish Government and COSLA working group. In addition, Councillor Buchanan and I have recently written to all local authorities on this issue to ensure a joined-up approach and consistency of understanding.
Local authorities are responsible for the delivery of education and are best placed to consider the educational needs of children arriving into Scotland from Ukraine. These needs are potentially complex and dependent on the age and stage of the child, including any additional support needs such as learning English as an additional language (EAL). I have asked Education Scotland to contact all local authorities to discuss current plans, and to understand where ongoing support can best be provided.
The Scottish Government is pressing the UK Government for more clarity on the method and timing of education tariff payments to local authorities for those arriving from Ukraine. This tariff, which is to be available for 2022-23, pro rata to the time the child or young person is receiving education, can help meet specific needs that arise in relation to accessing education, including having English as an Additional Language. This is in addition to the funding the Scottish Government provides to local authorities for additional support for learning as part of their block grant.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 August 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 29 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements it has made to ensure that Ukrainian refugees have access to local dental treatment and GP practices.
Answer
The Scottish Government has issued guidance to Health Boards setting out our expectation that Health Boards will ensure Ukrainian refugees have access to local dental treatment and GP practices.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to offer vaccination to people most at risk of contracting monkeypox.
Answer
The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) are working together with Health Boards to support their planning and the safe delivery of monkeypox vaccination to support the response to the current outbreak.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended offering the vaccine to people who are at higher risk of coming into contact with monkeypox to help reduce the spread.
There is currently a limited global supply of existing MVA vaccine which Scotland has secured its share of. Vaccination is underway and it is currently being offered to those at highest risk first.
Additional supplies are expected in September, and people will be offered a first dose in priority order as soon as it becomes available.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many doses of the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine it has access to, and whether it plans to order any more doses.
Answer
Procurement of the MVA vaccine is being managed by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on a 4 nations basis. Scotland has secured a limited supply of 3,000 doses so far and will have access to more stock once it becomes available.
UKSHA have procured a further 100,000 vaccines that will be arriving in September. Date of arrival and details on Scotland’s share are still to be confirmed.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 25 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the ministerial statement by the Minister for Drugs Policy on Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards on 23 June 2022, when funding for Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) to meet MAT standards was confirmed, and when ADPs received this funding into relevant bank accounts.
Answer
The National Mission has been set out for the five years of this Parliament and with it comes a commitment to fund the MAT standards. I have previously given Parliament and delivery partners assurance that funding is to be used for Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships and front-line services to support local areas in meeting the MAT standards. Initial funding of £6 million was provided to Health Boards on 1 March 2022 following discussions with Integration Authorities on the appropriate amount required to deliver the initial set of objectives.
Funding requirements for meeting the MAT standards for 2022/2023 and beyond was agreed with ADPs between January and April 2022 as being over £10 million per year for the next 4 years, to supplement the initial £6 million. The formal notification letter for 2022-23 was sent out to Integration Authorities and Health Boards in June 2022. Health Boards will draw down additional funding for 2022-23 as and when the initial funding has been utilised.
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 29 July 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 August 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many category (a) purple, (b) red, (c) amber and (d) yellow ambulance call-outs took more than (i) 8, (ii) 10, (iii) 15, (iv) 20, (v) 30, (vi) 60 and (vii) 120 minutes to arrive at the incident in each (A) of the last three calendar years and (B) month in 2022 to date, and what proportion of the total calls in each of these categories this represents.
Answer
The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.
Official statistical reports relating to the Scottish Ambulance Service can be found on the following link.
Public Health Scotland