Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 45790 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6W-04239

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals have downloaded the COVID-19 vaccine passport app on a digital device and, of those who have downloaded it, how many have (a) successfully used it to produce evidence of a vaccination on the device of their choice, (b) called or emailed the service provider to report a fault with the app or process and (c) been unable to use the app due to database issues that have resulted in an incorrect vaccination status being shown.

Public Heath Scotland publish a weekly COVID-19 statistical report every Wednesday which includes this information. As at 15 November 2021 the COVID Status app had been downloaded over 1.5 million. It is important to note a single user may choose to download the App on multiple devices so this total figure does not represent unique individuals.

As we do not track individual’s use of their certificates, it is not possible to indicate how many people have used their certificate.

For part’s (b) and (c), the Deputy First Minister wrote to the Covid-19 Recovery Committee setting out the information requested in detail. This can be accessed on the Scottish Parliament website here .

Question reference: S6W-04381

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 15 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that there is a shortage of (a) COVID-19 booster and (b) seasonal flu vaccines in NHS Lothian.

Question reference: S6W-04237

Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 12 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what data it has on any causational link, direct or indirect, between the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine passport scheme for certain entertainment, sporting or large-scale events and any changes in (a) the take-up of the COVID-19 vaccine and (b) COVID-19 rates of infection since the scheme launched.

Question reference: S6W-04250

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the rate of uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination by 18- to 29-year-olds, in light of the COVID-19 vaccine passport reportedly being introduced, among other reasons, to encourage uptake of the vaccination by this age group.

We are continuing to make progress within this age cohort. With 582,135
people aged 18-29 (70%) having their second dose of the COVID -19
vaccination, and 659,241 people aged 18-29 ( 79%) having their first dose
of the vaccine, as at 30 November.

The latest figures on vaccinations are published and can be viewed at: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/phs.covid.19#!/vizhome/COVID-19
DailyDashboard_15960160643010/Overview

We have encouraged uptake by utilising a range of communication channels,
including TV, radio, digital and social, to encourage younger people to get
vaccinated and we have also shared messaging and resources with
organisations, such as Young Scot and the Scottish Professional Football
League (SPFL).

Question reference: S6W-04249

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine passport scheme, and on the number of times the vaccine passport app has been downloaded, broken down by the age of those who have downloaded it.

We published an updated evidence paper on the Covid 19 status certification scheme on Friday 19 November 2021.

Public Heath Scotland also publish a weekly COVID-19 statistical report which includes the number of times the NHS Scotland COVID Status App has been downloaded. As at 15 November 2021 this is 1.5 million times. The statistical information for the app is provided by Apple and Google and we do not receive a breakdown by age or demographic.

Question reference: S6W-04216

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that not all of the companies, NetCompany, Service Now, Jumio, iProov, Albasoft, Amazon Web Services, CFH Docmail, Microsoft Azure, Gov.uk Notify Service and Royal Mail, are able to access data from the NHS Scotland COVID Status App, even though it is shared, whether it will provide clarification of what this means.

Question reference: S6W-04211

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had any communication with the Scottish Human Rights Commission regarding its reported concerns about the NHS Scotland COVID Status App, and, if so, whether it will publish any such correspondence and the minutes of any meetings.

Question reference: S6W-04099

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 01 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the findings from each three-week review of the COVID-19 vaccine certification scheme.

We continually keep our COVID-19 Status Certification scheme under review and consider a range of evidence, data, and information which is already published. Information such as the “ trends in daily data ”; the weekly report on the “ state of the epidemic ”, and the anticipated pressures on our public services. Following that consideration Ministers then report to parliament, detailing the outcome of their review every 3 weeks.

Question reference: S6W-03952

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 October 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards have (a) declared themselves to be Code Black and (b) triggered escalation procedures for Code Black since 1 September 2021.

Each Health Board operates their own escalation policy for the management of inpatient capacity that includes well established processes with locally agreed trigger points for maintaining a safe service and ensuring patient safety. At present, we are only aware of NHS Lanarkshire operating at the highest level of their local escalation - “Black”.

Health Boards across the country are operating under significant pressure due to the direct and indirect consequences of the pandemic, which has been the biggest challenge the NHS has faced in its 73 year existence.

The Scottish Government is in daily contact with all Health Boards to monitor the pressures in the system and continues to support improvement work to minimise delays for patients no matter where they are in the system.

Question reference: S6W-04140

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with (a) Police Scotland and (b) businesses about any potential circulation of counterfeit vaccine passports.

Ministers and officials are in regular contact with Police Scotland and other stakeholders on a range of issues associated with the COVID-19 Status Certification scheme, which includes but not limited to security of the certification.

The app has a number of counter fraud elements built in. This includes a secure QR code, visual motion elements including a ‘shimmer’ icon, and a clock showing the current time which protects against screenshots being presented as certificates. In addition, we have a secure identification verification process.

Although not a requirement for business to use, we also encourage use of the NHS Scotland Covid Check App as it is specifically designed to verify the authenticity of a certificate by checking that the QR code was issued by a trusted authority (e.g. NHS Scotland, or any of the countries linked to the EU Digital Covid Certificate).