- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding estimates of the number of people in the Glasgow region who have been affected by an underpayment of benefits after transitioning from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance.
Answer
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is reserved to the UK Government. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publishes an estimate of ESA and other income-related benefits every six months, at a UK-wide level only. The latest figures published (covering 2018-2019) show that 94% of the total amount of Income Support or Income-related ESA that could have been claimed was claimed. On 8 July 2021 the DWP published their final update on cases that were potentially affected by underpayments of Employment and Support Allowance on transition from Incapacity Benefit. This information is also at UK-wide level, and shows that the UK Government has paid £613 million to those affected by the move from Incapacity Benefit to ESA.
- Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the reserves that would be required for an independent Scottish central bank.
Answer
The Scottish Government will bring forward a prospectus for an independent Scotland, including the arrangements for a central bank, in good time before the independence referendum to allow people to make an informed choice over their future.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what the current ratio is of people who need stoma care to specialist stoma nurses in NHS Scotland, and what assessment it has made of how this compares with the ratio in the NHS elsewhere in the UK.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold or collate this information.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on track to apply its guidance on active carbon management to each City Region and Growth Deal.
Answer
We have been proactive in our approach to minimising carbon emissions associated with the City Region and Growth Deals programme, taking expert advice from industry on the latest national and international best practice. We have now rolled out our innovative carbon management guidance across all 12 Deals. This is an ongoing and proactive carbon management process, facilitated by our dedicated Deals Sustainable Development Manager. Support and training is being provided to all regional partners to ensure the guidance is correctly applied, and that carbon emissions are minimised in accordance with best practice.
- Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is the case that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Yellow card system, including the Genpact UK artificial intelligence tool, is used to monitor and process COVID-19 vaccine adverse drug reactions occurring in Scotland and, if it is not the case, what monitoring system is in use.
Answer
The safety of all vaccines and medicines is monitored by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on a UK-wide basis. This includes reports from the Yellow Card Scheme which allows health professionals and patients across the UK to flag up suspected adverse reactions to any vaccine or medicine, as well as reports from worldwide use and on-going scientific evidence.
The MHRA has a range of resources and technology to support the safety monitoring of the COVID-19 vaccination programme. The use of artificial intelligence is one element of that and helps to reduce the amount of manual coding for each report to the Yellow Card Scheme on COVID-19 vaccines, thereby saving resource in processing cases and ensuring they are more rapidly available for scientific analysis. The tool is not used for assessment of data, but to help ensure that all information from reports is well structured to support analysis and is subject to robust quality assessment.
Concerns over the safety of vaccines are not taken lightly. Please be assured that the MHRA keep the safety of all vaccines under close and continual review, and would take appropriate regulatory action if new evidence emerged which called into question the safety of any vaccines currently in use in Scotland.
- Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of HEPA filters in school classrooms.
Answer
Expert advice from bodies including SAGE and the Health and Safety Executive indicates that air cleaning/filtration devices, such as HEPA filters, are not a substitute for efforts to improve ventilation in order to mitigate against the risks of COVID. Our guidance for schools reflects this advice, and makes clear that air cleaning/filtration devices should not be used as a substitute for natural or mechanical ventilation (including the opening of windows and doors).
Our updated guidance for schools does, however, make clear that air cleaning/filtration devices may be used as a temporary mitigation in exceptional circumstances when no other mitigations are achievable, while working to achieve a more sustainable solution.
The Scottish Government keeps its guidance under regular review in light of the latest expert advice, and will consider any necessary updates as research and evidence evolve.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent stoma care clinical specialist nurses are currently employed by NHS Scotland.
Answer
Information on the number of full-time equivalent stoma care clinical specialist nurses currently employed by NHS Scotland is not centrally held.
Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) data by NHS Board from 2009 to the most recent data published in September 2018, can be found at:
https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/media/4ndpx4za/clinical_nurse_specialists_s2018.xlsx
Given data quality concerns all historical data, whilst published, should be treated with caution. NES will continue to work with the Scottish Government and NHS Boards to ensure improved recording going forward.
A national review into the Clinical Nurse Specialist role and its definition is currently under way. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) will work with NHS Boards to improve the quality of CNS data once this is complete.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of how NHS Education for Scotland (NES) can work with the Scottish Stoma Nurse Forum to develop a framework of post-graduate educational and clinical preparation requirements for stoma care nurses, in line with the NES Career Development Framework and the Chief Nursing Officer Directorate's Transforming Roles Programme.
Answer
We recognise and value Stoma Care Nurses as a role in the wider Clinical Nurse Specialist workforce and as such they were included under the auspices of the national work which reviewed the Clinical Nurse Specialist role, in line with the NHS Education for Scotland Career Development Framework and the Chief Nursing Officer Directorate's Transforming Roles Programme.
NES will continue to work closely with the Scottish Government and NHS Boards to develop a clear education and career pathway for Clinical Nurse Specialists to maximise the contribution of the role in line with the current and future needs of Scotland’s health and care system. The existing Education and the Career Pathway model will support Stoma Care Nurses to identify their education needs.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress on the implementation of a Once for Scotland care model and improved care services for people who require stoma care.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all people who require stoma care services are able to receive the best possible care and support wherever possible and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and put the patient at the centre of their care.
A range of nurses and support workers with mixed responsibilities can support patients who have stomas across health and social care. There are many nurses within differing units and specialities within NHS Boards and social care, including in the community, who are able to support stoma patients alongside stoma clinical nurse specialists.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 28 January 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the victims and stakeholders involved in the Fornethy House abuse case.
Answer
To date, Scottish Ministers have had no formal discussions with the survivors or stakeholders involved in the allegations of abuse at Fornethy House Residential School. The abuse of children in all circumstances and settings is wrong, and the Scottish Government takes this abuse very seriously.
Scottish Government officials have exchanged correspondence with a number of members of the Fornethy House Residential School Survivors Group in relation to the eligibility criteria of Scotland’s Redress Scheme. As the circumstances in which individuals came to be at Fornethy may vary, it is not possible to determine eligibility for the group as a whole.
The Scottish Government is committed to supporting all survivors of childhood abuse. Through the Scottish Government’s Survivors of Childhood Abuse Support (SOCAS) Fund, 29 organisations across Scotland are funded to provide support to adult survivors of childhood abuse including (but not exclusive to) those who have been abused in care.
