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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: S6W-03702

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 29 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported backlog with the provision of (a) MS and (b) other neurology services.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people living in Scotland with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are able to access the best possible care and support, and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and person-centred.

The NHS Recovery Plan, launched in August, sets out the Scottish Governments key headline ambitions and actions to be developed and delivered now and over the next 5 years, backed by more than £1 billion of investment. Scottish Health Boards are in the process of implementing their remobilisation plans for 2021-22, with an initial additional £80 million dedicated to supporting waiting times already provided this year.

We will publish a National Workforce Strategy by the end of the year, to further support the remobilisation and recovery of health and social care services and set out priorities for recruitment, training and retention. We anticipate that the Strategy will be used by workforce, service and financial planners from across Health and Social Care at all levels.

We are aware that the pandemic has impacted on waiting lists for neurology clinics and are currently implementing programmes to mitigate this situation. The Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is working closely with Neurology services to support the adoption of Active Clinical Referral Triage (ACRT) and Discharge Patient Initiated Review (PIR) approaches within Neurology. Both ACRT and Discharge PIR support better access for patients based on clinical need and can be applied in various neurological conditions, including MS.

The recent Scottish MS Register report noted that despite the challenges presented by COVID-19 during 2020-21, 87% of newly diagnosed people received contact with an MS specialist nurse within 10 working days of diagnosis and over 99% of people were contacted within 10 working days of an MS nurse receiving the referral.

We have invested £1.4m over the past year, through our Neurological Care and Support Framework, into innovative projects which improve the care and support of people with neurological conditions. This includes over £300,000 on projects which improve the health and wellbeing of people with MS in Scotland, including better integrated care and supported self-management.

Question reference: S6W-03138

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which of its departments was responsible for the decision for non-symptomatic school pupils to be offered COVID-19 lateral flow tests, as opposed to PCR tests; who made the decision, and when.

The decision to recommend the use of LFD tests for children, young people and staff in the event of having been identified as a low-risk contact was based upon expert public health advice and through engagement with the Covid-19 Education Recovery Group (CERG) and other partners. The decision was confirmed by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on the 14 th September, following previous advice from Advisory Subgroup on Education and Children’s Issues (‘the subgroup’). The minutes of all the subgroup’s meetings are routinely published here .

The updated letter templates to inform staff, parents and pupils of whether they or their child have been identified as a low-risk contact were shared with local authority colleagues on 15 September, although it was made clear that they should be discussed with local health colleagues in each area, and amended where appropriate, prior to issuing to schools.

We know that PCR and LFD testing options play different roles in supporting us to control the virus:

Lateral flow is useful for finding out if a person is infectious now, and able to transmit the virus to others. The level of sensitivity is high enough to detect the vast majority of these cases. Lateral flow testing is less likely to return a positive result outside the infectious window. Results from LFD testing are also available more quickly than PCR tests, which require to be sent to a laboratory. Therefore LFD testing is viewed to be more convenient for regular testing, and provides less disruption to peoples’ lifestyles.
PCR is useful for confirming a suspected case of COVID-19, where the person is already self-isolating and is showing symptoms. Higher sensitivity of PCR means it can identify genetic material from COVID-19 even after the active infection has passed.

Question reference: S6W-03139

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 October 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether essential workers who are (a) unwilling and (b) unable to have a COVID-19 vaccine should instead be allowed to undertake regular (i) lateral flow and (ii) PCR tests to enable them to work.

The Scottish Government encourages essential workers, along with the wider adult population and secondary school-aged pupils, to participate in regular asymptomatic testing irrespective of their vaccination status.

The Scottish Government’s asymptomatic workplace testing programmes provide free test kits to a wide range of public, private and third-sector businesses and organisations. Different testing regimens are employed as appropriate to the setting. Most workplaces offering regular asymptomatic testing use twice-weekly testing with lateral flow devices. Weekly polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing is offered to specific cohorts of staff, including Scottish Prison Service staff and health and social care staff working with clinically vulnerable patients.

Question reference: S6F-00341

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 October 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the announcement that the SQA has entered a two-year agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to improve equalities practices after the Commission established that the SQA was not routinely assessing the impact of its policies and practices against the three needs of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Question reference: S6W-03137

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 28 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangement it has with Openreach to access private land to facilitate the roll-out of fibre optic broadband.

All legislative and regulatory responsibility for telecommunications rests with the UK Government and Ofcom respectively. As such the Scottish Government has no arrangement with Openreach around access to private land in Scotland. Wayleaves are negotiated directly between operators and landowners. Where it is not possible to reach an agreement operators can seek to have an agreement imposed by the courts using the Electronic Communications Code.

Question reference: S6W-02865

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to involve the third sector in the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund.

Question reference: S6W-02863

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an annual breakdown for the allocation of the £500 million Whole Family Wellbeing Fund set out in the Programme for Government, and whether any of this funding will be redirected from pre-existing budgets.

We will work closely with The Promise Scotland and partners across local government, social justice, health, the third sector, and with children and families to design and deliver the Fund. Further details will be provided in due course.

The commitment to investing at least £500m over the life of this Parliament to create a Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is significant. This will enable transformational change by building services which are universal, holistic support services available in communities across Scotland giving families access to help when and where they need it, and help Scotland #KeepThePromise.

Our ambition is that, from 2030, we will be investing at least 5% of all community-based health and social care spend in preventative whole family support measures that will enable us to continue to #KeepThePromise and create a Scotland where more children will only know care, compassion and love.

Question reference: S6W-02864

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when it anticipates the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund will be operational, and what the mechanism for distribution will be.

Question reference: S6O-00212

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether the recent funding announcement of £50 million for homeless services will be new money or funds previously allocated to existing budgets.

Question reference: S6W-02749

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the scientific basis is for the continuing COVID-19 restrictions on parents and carers from watching their children participate in organised school sport.

Our priority remains keeping children, young people and school staff safe. The guidance on reducing COVID risks in schools, has been updated and was published on 15 September. It is in line with current advice from the COVID-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s issues. The sub-group keeps the mitigations in schools and Early Learning and Childcare settings under constant review, and will consider the issue of parental attendance at school sporting events at its next meeting on 21 September.