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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: S5W-34998

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 5 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of people with cystic fibrosis have received their first COVID-19 vaccination.

Question reference: S5W-35342

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether early years staff are eligible for the lateral flow COVID-19 testing made available for the reopening of schools, and, if so, whether this includes early years staff in private settings that provide council-funded places to preschool and eligible two-year-olds.

Question reference: S5W-35513

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when, under the revised COVID-19 strategic framework, masseuses and physiotherapists will be able to offer treatments which help with muscular conditions.

Physiotherapists are one of the Allied Health Professions (AHPs) and are represented by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists - they must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) before being allowed to practice in Scotland. The Society is also a member of the Allied Health Profession Federation Scotland (AHPFS).

Physiotherapists are statutorily regulated healthcare professionals, and have legally been able to operate throughout the pandemic.

On 22 July 2020 we wrote to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (CSP) via the AHPFS advising them that where they had not already done so, privately practising Physiotherapists were able to resume elective procedures, providing that they followed the relevant guidance as set out by Health Protection Scotland, the HCPC and the Scottish Government.

On 18 December we again wrote to the CSP via the AHPFS confirming that The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 as amended set out that where ‘other services or procedures’, including those provided by privately practising Allied Health Professionals, are ancillary to medical, health or social care services they may continue in Level 4 areas. At that time we advised that face to face services provided by privately practising Allied Health Professionals in Level 4 areas focus on essential or urgent treatment of clinically diagnosed conditions, where no provision of treatment would have a significant adverse impact on the wellbeing of the patient, in keeping with the spirit of the Strategic Framework and Regulations.

Massage therapists are not subject to statutory professional regulation, and are defined as ‘close contact services’ in the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 as amended. These regulations include provision related to premises which provide a close contact service and mobile close contact services. They set out that premises based close contact services, including massage therapies, are permitted in levels 0-3, and mobile close contact services, including massage therapies are permitted in levels 0-1.

Question reference: S5W-35284

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the value of teachers in early learning and childcare settings.

There is good evidence; most recently the ‘ Rapid evidence review: Childcare quality and children's outcomes' (NHS Health Scotland, 2017); to indicate that the best experiences for children tend to be found where there is a range of staff with complementary skills and higher level qualifications, including teachers with a background in early years methodology or staff with specific early childhood qualifications, such as a BA in Childhood Practice.

Scottish Government is committed to a highly skilled ELC workforce with a mix of professionals, and welcomed figures from the most recent Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, published in December 2020, which showed that the number of graduates in the Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) workforce, including teachers, graduates and those working towards manager-level degrees, has grown 5% since 2019. This publication also showed that the number of graduates with degrees relevant to early years and the number of staff working towards these qualifications had increased by 7% and 8% respectively.

Scottish Government continues to encourage teachers to have a role in delivering learning in ELC. As a way of developing teachers’ expertise in early years, we continue to fund places for both teachers and holders of the BA Childhood Practice degree on Masters courses in early years education offered at the Universities of Strathclyde and Aberdeen. We have also worked with Education Scotland to offer a learning and development course specifically for school leadership teams, on how provision in ELC sets the foundations for future learning.

Question reference: S5W-35398

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether people with severe asthma but not on the shielding list will be prioritised for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Question reference: S5O-05108

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 March 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact might be of any reduction in the number of routes served by Edinburgh Airport following the lifting of the COVID-19 restrictions.

Question reference: S5W-35274

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on people who can verify that they have being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 being exempted from managed quarantine in hotels.

Vaccine certification is not currently an alternative to managed isolation.

We are, however, contributing to the World Health Organisation Safer Vaccination Programme on vaccine certification. This includes consideration of technical details, ethical and equality issues, and privacy standards. The outcome of those discussions will guide our work in this area.

It is too soon to introduce any form of certification. We need to know more about the efficacy of the vaccines, their impact on transmission and the length of immunity before it would be safe to introduce a vaccine certificate. However work has started to scope and develop a technical solution to allow secure, authenticated access to Covid vaccination status. This is to ensure technology is not the limiting factor should the work underway indicate it would be appropriate to introduce certification at the right time.

Question reference: S5W-35272

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria must be met before it will end the policy of managed quarantine in hotels.

Question reference: S5W-35273

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 3 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on spouses who are returning from travelling overseas to work being exempted from managed quarantine in hotels.

There will be limited exemptions from the requirement to enter managed isolation. We understand how difficult this is, but to manage the risk of importing new variants and to give vaccine deployment the best chance of bringing us closer to normality these limits on international travel are necessary.

The clinical advice is clear that a comprehensive system of managed quarantine is essential to minimise the impact of new COVID-19 variants. This means that we must restrict how many exemptions are in place otherwise the policy will not be effective.

Question reference: S5W-35275

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 3 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether lateral flow testing kits will be made available to playgroup staff in time for the return of full education in early learning settings.

On the 2 February, the First Minister confirmed that the Scottish Government will introduce a routine testing programme for schools and childcare staff. This includes all Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) and School-aged Childcare staff (SAC) who work in a setting that is registered with the Care Inspectorate.

Phase one of the testing programme is being rolled out to all schools, ELC and SAC settings that are attached to school buildings, during week commencing 22 nd February. Phase two will see testing rolled out to all local authority and private, voluntary and independent led standalone settings which are not attached to schools.

We are currently gathering data for settings, in conjunction with local authority partners, to enable delivery of testing kits to settings included in phase two. We will confirm a delivery schedule for phase two, following this data collection.