Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-10092

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 24 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it will support the Scottish Children’s Reporter in ensuring that all autistic young people undergoing referral are adequately supported, and what its position is on whether a disaggregation of Scottish Children's Reporter Administration data by individual disability, as opposed to "Disability" as a whole, would provide an important tool for identifying relevant needs.

The Scottish Government fully supports the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) in its efforts to meet the needs of children and young people with additional support needs. Every child’s individual needs are considered by SCRA, based on information provided by other agencies and professionals. SCRA has, for a number of years, worked on support and assistance for neurodiverse children and families. They are creating sensory spaces in their hearings centres, the first of which opened in March this year, and have updated information material and internal guidance to staff in conjunction with the charity Reach for Autism. They are currently working on plans to develop a network of local neurodiversity champions to further promote and address the specific needs of children and families in Children’s Hearings.

The new SCRA digital case management system, now in its second full year of operation, is capable of recording specific data relating to protected characteristics and SCRA are considering how this can be used to the greatest effect.

Question reference: S6W-10049

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported increasing number of cases of COVID-19, what consideration it has given to making additional support available for people who are clinically vulnerable with neurological conditions.

Whilst prevalence of COVID remains high this is not translating into severe illness and deaths in the same way as earlier in the pandemic due largely to vaccination. So we would encourage everyone who is eligible to take up their boosters as soon as these are offered to ‘top up’ their immune response. The autumn booster vaccination will be offered to people aged over 50 and those at highest risk aged 5 and over – this will include people with a chronic neurological disease.

There are additional treatment options for selected groups of people with COVID-19 who are thought to be at greater risk; this includes, but is not limited to, individuals with rare neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease and myasthenia gravis. More information, including background on the eligibility criteria and access arrangements, can be found on NHS Inform.

There are people who do still have a higher risk from Covid-19, such as those who are immunosuppressed. We are asking these people to act on the advice of their own GP or specialist clinician who knows their individual circumstances best. It’s important that everyone in society remembers there are people who are less able to mount a full immune response to the virus because of a heath condition or treatment they’re on. And there are measures we are still advising people to take to protect those people, and themselves. We have published guidance online to help people who are immunosuppressed to make decisions based on their own risk: Guidance for immunosuppressed people - Coronavirus (COVID-19): advice for people who were on the Highest Risk List - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Many people in this group are eligible for booster vaccinations and antiviral or monoclonal antibody treatments if they fall ill with Covid-19.

We continue to monitor the outcome of research into new medicines and treatments which may be of future benefit to patients in Scotland. The UKHSA is also completing in testing against variants for a number of drugs, details of which can be found here: COVID-19 therapeutic agents: technical briefings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . These tests will give experts information about the likelihood of treatment effectiveness.

We continue to engage with a number of charities and organisations who work with, and provide support to, people with neurological conditions.

Question reference: S6W-10050

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 24 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of people who are clinically vulnerable and are (a) continuing to shield and (b) restricting their activities due to COVID-19.

The Public Health Scotland COVID-19 Shielding Programme impact and experience survey which was published in March 2022 reported that 81% of respondents still make decisions that are mainly influenced by fear of COVID-19 infection, and 36% still try to minimise all physical contact with other households. While this data relates to a survey completed between 25 October 2021 and
‎ 7 November 2021, we know there are still people who continue to limit activities and contacts with other households.

The advice for people to shield was paused on the 1 August 2020. Since 19 July 2021 the Chief Medical Officer has advised people on the Highest Risk List to follow the same guidance and take the same precautionary measures as the rest of the population, unless advised otherwise by their GP or clinician who will understand their health condition and individual circumstances best.

The Highest Risk List (previously Shielding List) ended on 31 May 2022. The decision to end the list was based on evidence of the impact of vaccinations and treatments, which lowered the risk from COVID-19 for everyone in Scotland (including those who were on the Highest Risk List). The evidence to support the decision was published in our Evidence Review , which was also shared with GPs, clinicians and other healthcare partners in order to assist with discussions with patients about their risks.

We know there are a number of people who remain at higher risk of COVID-19, for example, people who are immunosuppressed because of a medical condition or treatment. We have published guidance for these people, giving information about access to support and steps they can take to safely participate in activities they enjoyed before the pandemic.

The Chief Medical Officer also wrote to everyone on the Highest Risk List to make them aware of their risks following vaccination. This included letting people know if they were no longer considered highest risk based on what we know now about COVID-19 as well as the treatments available.

People who remain at higher risk from COVID-19 may be eligible for new treatments such as antivirals or antibody treatments as well as additional booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Before we ended the Highest Risk List, we ensured we had a robust identification process in place in order to continue to quickly and accurately people who should be prioritised for vaccination, for treatments and, if the threat level increases, for additional protective advice. We are therefore able to respond very quickly if the situation around COVID-19 changes, in order to protect people who remain at highest risk.

Public Health Scotland will continue to identify people at highest risk with the help of the NHS. If needed, we could again write to people at highest risk and reopen the text messaging service used before.

In line with our Staying Safe and Protecting Others guidance , we continue to strongly encourage people and businesses to take sensible precautions to protect themselves and others. This includes choosing to wear face coverings where and when appropriate, alongside following advice on hand hygiene and ventilation. The Distance Aware scheme is also available to anyone who wants to signal to others they would like more space around them.

We continue to engage with a number of charities and organisations who work with, and provide support to, people who were on the Highest Risk List, and people who remain at higher risk from COVID-19.

We know many people need more time to consider their risk of COVID-19 in order to gradually resume the activities they enjoyed before the pandemic.

Question reference: S6W-10048

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 23 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many adults in Scotland currently receive Disability Living Allowance.

Question reference: S6W-09997

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported rise in the cost of energy, what steps will be taken to ensure that park home residents receive the full benefit of support available to households, rather than site owners.

Energy markets are reserved to the UK Government. As part of our response to the rising cost of energy, the Scottish Government has raised concerns that many consumers who are not registered directly with a licenced energy supplier may not receive a £400 energy rebate. Although no solution is currently in place, the UK Government has advised that, this Autumn, it intends to widen support to include those consumers who are not currently reached through the Energy Bills Support Scheme such as park home residents.

Question reference: S6W-09989

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to improve access for disabled people at Insch Railway Station, and when any such improvement work will take place.

Accessibility of our railways is a reserved matter for the UK Government. We will continue to press for full devolution in Scotland of all rail matters to deliver more accessible improvements. There are no immediate plans to improve accessibility at Insch railway station, however the station will be included for consideration, alongside others, for improvement to its accessibility, as part of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Access for All programme for Control Period 7, which commences in 2024.

Question reference: S6W-09867

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of reports of people that are referred by their GP for mesh removal and treatment experiencing repeated postponements of their appointments, and, if this is the case, what action it is taking to address this, and by when does it anticipate the matter will be resolved.

Over the last two years our NHS has suffered the biggest shock of its 74 year existence. Caring for large numbers of patients seriously unwell with COVID-19 has inevitably meant that planned care procedures have had to be delayed, and while we are working hard to recover and remobilise our NHS, this will not be done in a few weeks or even months. Addressing the backlog of care, while continuing to meet the ongoing urgent health and care needs of the country, remains a priority for this Government.

We know that excessively long waits have grown as a result of the pandemic, which is why we now need to focus on treating people that are waiting too long for treatment. On 6 July 2022, I introduced a new set of targets for NHS Scotland to address the backlog of planned care.

We will continue to work with the National Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to improve the waits that people are currently experiencing.

In the first instance where patients have concerns regarding their appointments these are best addressed by contacting their local Health Board who can advise on rescheduling in a timely manner. The patient feedback team within the Health Board may also be able to advise or support if required.

Question reference: S6W-09865

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 17 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to training for GPs and consultants to improve awareness of any potential hernia mesh complications.

Question reference: S6W-09994

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether there will be review of the 10% maximum commission of the price of a mobile home upon sale, and, if so, when this review will take place.

Question reference: S6W-09998

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 16 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether a Fit and Proper Person Test for park owners and managers will be introduced, and, if so, when this will take place.

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