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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-31735

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many companies are in the pipeline to receive support funding from Scottish Enterprise.

Scottish Enterprise’s ‘pipeline’ includes companies at all stages in the large grant application process prior to a company formally accepting an offer. This includes those who have made an initial enquiry, those with projects under appraisal and those considering an offer.

Not all companies in the ‘pipeline’ will proceed to full application and, for a variety of reasons, not all will receive an offer. It is therefore not possible to accurately predict how many companies in the ‘pipeline’ will receive support funding from Scottish Enterprise.

In addition, grant funding is only one element of the support Scottish Enterprise provides to companies. The expertise and advice provided by Scottish Enterprise staff is often a key support mechanism for companies across Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-31736

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 22 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many grants have been provided by Scottish Enterprise to life-science companies in each year since 2007.

Existing information held by Scottish Enterprise grants to life sciences companies is provided in the following table:

	Number of offers
2018-19	177
2017-18	195
2016-17	273
2015-16	276
2014-15	284

Please note that this information shows the number of grant offers to companies. These are not always drawn down. These information includes grants to life science companies or to recipients where the project is a life sciences based project.

A further manual exercise is required to provide a fuller data set and Scottish Enterprise will write directly to the member with this additional information in due course.

Question reference: S5W-31534

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 10 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the minutes of the Scottish Screening Committee meeting in November 2019, whether it will provide further details of the action it will lead on for the development of a protocol for NHS boards wishing to undertake pilot programmes for lung cancer screening.

Work on development of a protocol for NHS boards who wish to undertake pilot programmes for lung cancer screening was planned following the Scottish Screening Committee meeting in November 2019. However, this was paused due to the focus on Covid-19 and the remobilisation of the NHS. In particular, efforts of the Scottish Government, Health boards and the Scottish Screening Committee have focused on ensuring that the adult national screening programmes, which also had to be paused in March, can restart safely.

Progressing this work remains important, and it will be resumed as soon as it is possible to do so.

Question reference: S5W-31465

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 10 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to concerns that some people are ignoring the mandatory requirement to wear a face covering in shops, and how it is monitoring and enforcing this requirement.

Wearing a face covering continues to be a legal requirement in certain environments open to members of the public. The enforcement of the Coronavirus Regulations is, of course, a matter for the Chief Constable and Police Scotland. Police Scotland have indicated that, to date, the vast majority of people are, as we would expect, complying with the regulations. It is, however, important to note that some people are exempt from wearing a face covering, and their reasons for this might not be immediately apparent.

In Police Scotland’s approach, enforcement has always been a last resort, where engagement, explanation and encouragement to comply have all failed. The Chief Constable made it clear at the outset that it is important that Police Scotland’s policing tone and style reflects the need for positive engagement and that common sense needs to be applied by everyone.

The Scottish Government will continue to keep the Coronavirus Regulations under review.

Question reference: S5W-31424

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 7 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported delays and bureaucracy that have been faced by retired GPs who have volunteered to help the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic; whether it will investigate these delays, and how it will ensure that all retired GPs who wish to volunteer will be available to help deliver this year’s flu vaccination programme without undue delays.

In March 2020, the Scottish Government and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) launched the Health and Social Care Covid-19 Accelerated Recruitment Portal. The Portal has allowed returning professionals, including retired GPs and others with relevant skills and experience, to come forward and support health and social care services.

Upon completion of NES pre-employment checks, portal registrants have been made available to Health Boards for deployment. At 31 August 2020, over 1,400 returning health professionals are available to Boards. NES have contacted candidates who have yet to be selected by Boards for deployment to affirm their continued interest. We remain prepared to utilise the Portal to mitigate future spikes in staffing demand.

An interim review exercise has been conducted involving the Scottish Government, NES and NHS workforce planning colleagues to gather lessons learned since the Portal’s implementation; and to inform its future direction.

Health Boards and Integration Authorities are currently developing pan-NHS planning, with support from the Scottish Government, for the safe and effective delivery of this year’s flu vaccination programme.

Question reference: S5W-31435

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that residents in the Lothian region have been unable to access COVID-19 tests due to a lack of availability of slots at testing centres, and what action it will take to address this.

Over the week commencing 21 August there was a significant increase in demand for testing, some of it associated with the re-opening of schools.

This led to issues with the booking portal. We brought these to the attention of the UK Government and have worked with them and National Services Scotland to rectify this.

In addition we were made aware that the Edinburgh Regional Testing Centre had to be closed on 25 August due to high winds, although it re-opened the following day.

Demand for testing fluctuates for a range of reasons. With winter pressures on the testing system in mind, we have been taking forward plans to expand existing capacity by:

Deploying additional mobile testing units
Increasing the number of tests that can be carried out at regional testing centres
Utilising additional NHS testing capacity, for example by activating additional drive-through facilities
Establishing new walk-in centres across Scotland: initially 11 of these are planned

Alternatively, home test kits are available through the UK Expanded Testing Programme and can be booked via the UK online digital portal, and are an option where people seeking a test are unable to attend a fixed drive-through centre or mobile testing unit. As with all COVID-19 related measures, we will continue to keep access to testing under regular review.

Question reference: S5W-31390

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 1 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether anticipated cost savings as a result of moving towards the use of non-branded and generic pharmaceutical products were a factor in the decision to remove all prescription charges, and what analysis it has conducted of cost savings as a result of moving towards the use of such products.

The prescribing of generic medicines has been a long term initiative and was not the key decision behind the abolition of prescription charges. The prescribing of generic medicines can often cost considerably less than branded equivalents, and are clinically as effective. This is actively promoted within NHSScotland and accounts for 84% of all dispensed medicines in the community.

Prescription charges were abolished in April 2011 because Scottish Ministers believe that prescription charges are a tax on ill health, and are a barrier to good health for many people. This is particularly so for those with long-term conditions and those on low incomes who in the past have faced choices about which medicines they can afford to take.

The introduction of free prescriptions has been fully funded by the Scottish Government, at no cost to NHS budgets. Prescribing decisions are ultimately matters for each clinician taking into account the individual circumstances and treatment needs of each patient.

Question reference: S5O-04549

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions ministers have had regarding reported concerns relating to the underfunding of The City of Edinburgh Council.

Question reference: S5W-28940

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it will be making the first payments from the £19 million that it announced on 28 April to support hospices.

On the 29 June, I wrote to Scottish Hospices to confirm that their funding requests (totalling £10.1m) related to loss of income during the pandemic during the first financial quarter of 2020 would be met in full. Integration Authorities and NHS Boards were also notified of this on the same date, and the funding was processed for onward allocation to hospices at the end of June 2020.

It is important to reflect that this funding was provided on a one off basis for the full first quarter of the year to account for loss of income during the pandemic, and that we expect the existing commissioning arrangements between hospices and Integration Authorities to be maintained going forward.

It is also important to reflect that in April 2020, I indicated that Scotland was likely to receive an estimated £19 million in consequentials in respect of the £200 million for hospices included in the UK Government’s announcement of £750 million for charities. HM Treasury have not yet provided an updated final consequential funding figure associated with the original announcement, although it is expected to be significantly lower than the £19m originally expected.

When we have clarification on the total consequential funding we will receive this will be allocated in full to Scottish Hospices.

Question reference: S5W-30298

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 21 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the types of COVID-19 antibody tests that it is currently using and where they are manufactured.

Type of Test	Where it is manufactured
Diasorin	Italy
Abbott	USA
Roche	USA
Siemens	Germany
Euroimunne	Germany