Question reference: S5W-35408
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 22 February 2021
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Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 4 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the COVID-19 infection rate has been each month across the prison estate, and when it plans to have vaccinated all (a) prison staff and (b) prisoners.
Answer
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has provided regular updates on the number of prisoners who have tested positive with Covid-19 throughout the pandemic. As this information relates to the number of active positive cases within prisons on a given day, rather than the number of people who have newly tested positive over a specified time period, it is not possible to calculate an infection rate in the same way as would be calculated for the population across Scotland more generally. SPS publish the number of active cases daily, you can access this information through Scottish Prison Service (sps.gov.uk) .
Consistent with the wider community and in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation clinical guidance, which prioritises those most at risk, vaccination of prison staff and prisoners who are eligible has commenced by Health Boards. We anticipate reaching everyone on the JCVI priority list by mid-April, subject to supply.