Chamber and committees

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: S5O-04677

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Part 2 of its Hate Crime Bill does not require the consent of the Lord Advocate before proceedings for stirring up offences may be instituted, when similar sections of the Public Order Act 1986 and Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 require the consent of the Attorney General or Director of Prosecutions, and whether it will amend Part 2 to include this safeguard.

Question reference: S5O-04586

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what account it takes of the impact on people who have booked holidays when determining which countries to add to its list of those where people must self-isolate for 14 days when they return.

Question reference: S5O-04579

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it is having with Scottish Roads Partnership regarding noise mitigation in light of reports of increased noise levels being experienced by residents next to the Uddingston section of the M74.

Question reference: S5W-30891

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 July 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the advice issued on 14 July 2020 that funfair operators could re-open their funfairs on 15 July, which it rescinded shortly afterwards, when operators will be given permission to reopen, and what urgent financial support it will provide to showpeople, who are self-employed, have not earned in four months, and whose businesses are being impacted by the current pandemic.

As we continue to ease lockdown measures, it is imperative that the changes we make continue to suppress the virus. Throughout the process, we have been clear that not all changes in each phase will be implemented at once, however we will not keep anything closed for longer than is absolutely necessary. The First Minister confirmed in her update of 20 August, following guidance, that funfairs can open from 24 August. This applies to all funfairs, both travelling and static, indoor and outdoor, as per the regulations.

We do not underestimate the difficulty the virus and restrictions have caused for the sector which is why we have worked hard to provide a support package for businesses and the self-employed valued at over £2.3 billion. This has included the £30m Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund. Funfair and fairground ride operators were eligible to apply for this fund which closed for new applications on 18 May.

Whilst it will not be possible to offer funding to everyone affected by the impacts of COVID-19, we will continue to consider what more support can be offered to businesses in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-29993

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 15 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in each NHS board area have been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnoea, also broken down by how many have been given a continuous positive airway pressure machine.

The following tables provide numbers of patients admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of sleep apnoea and the number of these patients receiving treatment using non-invasive ventilation, including continuous positive airways pressure. Until 2020 it has not been possible to identify continuous positive airways pressure separately. Information is shown by NHS board area from 2015 to 2019 in tables 1 and 2.

Table 1: Number of patients admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of sleep
apnoea at least once during each year, and recorded as receiving treatment using
non-invasive ventilation; 2015 to 2019

NHS Board of Treatment	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019p

National Waiting Times Centre	-	2	-	2	-
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	7	3	1	4	4
NHS Borders	2	3	-	-	2
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	2	1	1	1	-
NHS Fife	1	2	2	4	3
NHS Forth Valley	-	1	1	-	-
NHS Grampian	16	19	7	7	8
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	27	42	35	48	37
NHS Highland	18	12	14	7	14
NHS Lanarkshire	4	3	7	5	8
NHS Lothian	658	658	650	733	692
NHS Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Shetland	-	-	-	1	-
NHS Tayside	-	1	1	2	1
NHS Western Isles	-	1	-	1	1
Non-NHS Provider/Location	-	-	-	-	-
Total	735	748	719	815	770

p Indicates provisional data.

Source: PHS Scotland, SMR01.
Date extracted: June 2020.

Table 2: Number of patients admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of
sleep apnoea at least once in each year, but not recorded as receiving
treatment using non-invasive ventilation; 2015 to 2019

NHS Board of Treatment	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019p

National Waiting Times Centre	35	38	41	69	72
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	82	70	63	75	123
NHS Borders	48	23	30	34	29
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	108	125	104	83	116
NHS Fife	185	200	193	191	224
NHS Forth Valley	24	31	49	58	47
NHS Grampian	216	249	243	255	254
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	799	744	629	669	701
NHS Highland	251	287	284	259	280
NHS Lanarkshire	136	163	161	195	172
NHS Lothian	643	602	686	656	673
NHS Orkney	6	4	3	4	7
NHS Shetland	9	7	8	8	12
NHS Tayside	127	139	125	122	129
NHS Western Isles	3	5	-	5	4
Non-NHS Provider/Location	4	3	1	1	3
Total	2,676	2,690	2,620	2,684	2,846

p Indicates provisional data.

Source: PHS Scotland, SMR01.
Date extracted: June 2020.

Question reference: S5W-29992

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 15 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many sleep tests each NHS board has carried out in each of the last five years on people with (a) obstructive sleep apnoea and (b) other sleep disorders.

The number of sleep tests for patients with sleep apnoea and other sleep disorders in each NHS board from 2015 to 2019 is shown in table 1 and table 2 respectively.

Table 1: Number of sleep tests for patients with sleep apnoea; Calendar year 2015 to 2019

NHS Board of Treatment	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019p

National Waiting Times Centre	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Borders	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	8	8	5	5	5
NHS Fife	59	49	51	36	1
NHS Forth Valley	-	-	-	-	1
NHS Grampian	12	12	19	11	23
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	262	215	179	164	136
NHS Highland	125	120	98	64	63
NHS Lanarkshire	1	-	2	2	4
NHS Lothian	353	300	453	390	476
NHS Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Tayside	3	-	3	2	1
NHS Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-
Non-NHS Provider/Location	-	-	-	-	-
Total	823	704	810	674	710

p Indicates provisional data.

Source: PHS Scotland, SMR01.
Date extracted: June 2020.

Table 2: Number of sleep tests for patients with other sleep disorders;
Calendar year 2015 to 2019

NHS Board of Treatment	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019p

National Waiting Times Centre	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Borders	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	10	5	4	3	-
NHS Fife	5	6	3	4	-
NHS Forth Valley	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Grampian	22	17	7	6	3
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	161	195	225	190	210
NHS Highland	10	6	8	7	3
NHS Lanarkshire	-	1	1	-	1
NHS Lothian	1,152	1,032	835	788	785
NHS Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
NHS Tayside	-	-	4	16	13
NHS Western Isles	-	-	-	-	-
Non-NHS Provider/Location	-	-	-	-	-
Total	1,360	1,262	1,087	1,014	1,015

p Indicates provisional data.

Source: PHS Scotland, SMR01.
Date extracted: June 2020.

Question reference: S5O-04381

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the current fine is for illegally dumping rubbish in the countryside, and whether it will increase this as soon as possible to deter this behaviour.

Question reference: S5W-28151

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 13 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason herceptin and perjeta courses of treatment for people with cancer have reportedly been stopped earlier than planned.

Whilst the ongoing COVID-19 situation is putting unprecedented strain on our National Health Service. Patient safety remains our absolute priority and COVID-19 is a very significant risk in relation to cancer treatment. For that reason, many patients will be offered alternative or delayed treatment plans, and a discussion between them and their clinical team should take place explaining this. We understand how distressing that can be for patients and their families, but these new approaches are aimed at reducing the risks to clinically vulnerable people as much as possible. Specific change to treatments are individual to patients and are best discussed with their clinical team. Any cancer patient worried about symptoms should call their existing cancer treatment helpline or the national cancer treatment helpline.

Question reference: S5W-28253

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 5 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many cases of COVID-19 have been reported by care homes in the (a) Uddingston and Bellshill constituency and (b) rest of the country.

This data is not reported by constituency area. The following data is routinely published: The Scottish Government currently publishes a range of information on daily basis on COVID 19 including testing, NHS Board data on the number of people in Scottish hospitals with either confirmed or suspected COVID-19 and management information such as number of 111 calls and NHS absences. National Records of Scotland (NRS) also publishes a report every Wednesday on COVID-19 related deaths with a breakdown of deaths by age, sex, setting (hospital, care home or home) and area (NHS Board area and Local Authority). It is updated every Wednesday.

From 22 April the Scottish Government published further management information about how the COVID-19 outbreak is affecting care homes. This includes the proportion and total number of adult care homes that have reported a suspected COVID-19 case at any time during this outbreak; the number and proportion of care homes that have current suspected cases; and the daily and cumulative number of suspected individual COVID-19 cases reported by care homes. This information is available 2pm daily on the Scottish Government website and can be found here:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-data-for-scotland/ .

Question reference: S5W-27892

Asked by: Richard Lyle, MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 15 April 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to direct people seeking medical attention to the new NHS Pharmacy First Scotland Service.

The NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service will replace the existing Minor Ailment Service and provide greater accessibility to the population of Scotland allowing people to visit their pharmacy first for the treatment of minor illnesses and common clinical conditions.

The service was due to go live in April 2020 but due to the current unprecedented pressure on the community pharmacy network in responding to COVID-19, I have decided that now is not the right time to introduce a major new service and the implementation date has been postponed.

I announced on 23 March that we would extend the eligibility of the existing Minor Ailment Service as an interim measure, allowing pharmacy teams to support Covid community Hubs and Assessment centres and also taking unnecessary pressure away from general practice for minor illnesses and common conditions.

It is intended that NHS Pharmacy First Scotland should go live at the earliest opportunity once COVID-19 pressures on community pharmacies have subsided to the extent that they are in a position to fully deliver the new service.

When the service goes live we will use national media opportunities, including social media, to raise awareness of NHS Pharmacy First Scotland. Information about the service will be made available to members of the public on the NHS Inform website. A new set of patient information leaflets and posters for display in health and social care settings are in production. The patient information leaflet will be available online in a range of languages. Resources are also being produced for GP practices and other Health and Social Care settings to assist in directing patients to community pharmacies where appropriate once the service is in place.