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: S5F-04753

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 25 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 January 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5F-04732

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 January 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5F-04704

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 11 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2021

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-33759

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the financial support available to people with blood cancer who live in areas with high COVID-19 rates and who cannot work from home, and whether it is considering any changes to this.

The advice for people on the shielding list at all protection levels is to work from home where possible. If people cannot, there are several options. The occupational health advice is that the majority of workplaces can be made safe even at protection level 4 providing employers make the necessary adjustments to make the workplace safe. Individuals and employers can draw on advice from Occupational Health Services, Health and Safety representatives, trade unions and professional bodies.

At protection level 4, the Chief Medical Officer issues a shielding notification for those most clinically at risk. While this does not say that those who are at highest clinical risk must stop working if they cannot work from home, it means that they can stop working and access Statutory Sick Pay if, following discussions with employers or other advisors, their work place can’t be made safe, for the whole period that the area they live or work in remains at Level 4.

For those who have been on the shielding list and furloughed the Jobs Retention Scheme (furlough) remains the best way of providing financial support. The Job Retention Scheme has been extended until March 2021.

We are working together with Citizen’s Advice Scotland to help people understand what help is available if they find they are in financial hardship (including help with mortgage and council tax payments). To find out more visit: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/scotland/health/coronavirus-what-it-means-for-you-s

Question reference: S5W-33760

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting people with blood cancer to make informed choices during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it is supporting them to put their choices into practice.

We want to balance protection with empowering people to make their own decisions about what is right for them. We have introduced extra protection level advice (click here for table of extra advice )to protect people with the highest clinical risk, aligned to the 5 protection levels within the Strategic Framework. As the levels in a local area change, the protection advice for people on the shielding list in that area will change as well. People at highest risk should still follow the advice for the general public as a minimum, but these levels provide additional advice for areas like work, schools, shopping and contact with others.

We are encouraging people to adapt this advice to make it right for them. It is a personal decision how to balance the benefits of protection with quality of life. To support this and to assist those with specific health conditions, we sent (week commencing 7 December), everyone on the shielding list a booklet called Balancing the risks of daily activities during coronavirus ’. This will also be published on-line at mygov.scot.

Our aim is to provide the information, advice and tools to enable and empower those who are on the shielding list to make their own decisions about their day to day activities and interactions. This new advice and guidance will sit alongside a range of information and support including:

SMS Text Alert Service
PHS dashboard data on neighbourhood infection levels
Information on specific conditions
Individual workplace risk assessment tool
Information on how to shop safely
Online priority shopping slots
National Helpline (0800 111 4000)
Local Authority and Third Sector support
Mental and Physical Health and Wellbeing support
Offer of Vitamin D over the winter months

Question reference: S5F-04682

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 21 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 December 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-33467

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff are working in Scotland on the Coronavirus (COVID-19): ONS Infection Survey, broken down by (a) role, (b) qualifications required and (c) level of pay; who they are employed by; how many survey teams there are, and how current staff numbers compare with forecasts.

Question reference: S5W-33761

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how its National Cancer Recovery plan has helped blood cancer patients, and what unmet needs it has identified.

Throughout drafting our National Cancer Recovery Plan, we have had extensive engagement with our third sector partners, such as the Scottish Cancer Coalition (SCC). The SCC’s membership includes charities such as Blood Cancer UK, Myeloma UK and Anthony Nolan, who are able to convey the issues facing blood cancer patients. Alongside this engagement, Myeloma UK and Anthony Nolan were kind enough to share recent patient survey results with us, for consideration and integration into the recovery plan.

These survey results helped us identify the need for more emotional and practical support, which we aim to address through the Transforming Cancer Care Programme (TCC). Through TCC, we are funding a £18 million joint partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, which aims to provide cancer patients with a specialised nurse contact, who can provide emotional, practical and financial support.

Our actions around a single point of contact for cancer patients will also help with improved patient communication and navigation through diagnostic and treatment pathways- also identified as a key issue for blood cancer patients.

Additionally, Rapid collaboration is key to accessing medicines for blood cancer patients. We have asked that, as part of the recovery of cancer services, Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s (HIS) Medicines and Pharmacy Team, reframe the Off-Label Cancer Medicines (OLCM) programme in order to support the recovery and ongoing delivery of cancer services in Scotland. This is being taken forward through the National Cancer Medicines Advisory Programme (NCMAP), hosted within HIS Medicines and Pharmacy team and supported by a national group of key experts and stakeholders. This work will build on the existing benefits of the OLCM programme, such as improving patient outcomes, reducing unwarranted variation and improve equity of access, improving service efficiency and effectiveness, and improvement in the quality of assessment of treatments.

Alongside this, the NCMAP will reduce duplication of review and assessment beyond OLCM within regional prescribing groups and streamline implementation procedures.

Question reference: S5F-04659

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 December 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5W-33469

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) scheduled, (b) completed and (c) missed visits to participant households there have been in each week since the Coronavirus (COVID-19): ONS Infection Survey began in Scotland, and how this compares with other parts of the UK.

Management information provided below shows data on the number of scheduled, completed and missed visits to participant households there have been in each week since the survey began, from 21 September to 27 November. Data relate to non-unique household visits.

Visit Week	Households Scheduled	Households Completed	Incomplete Household Visits
21 to 27 September	508	264	244
28 September to 04 October	1,374	840	534
05 to 11 October	2,543	1,706	837
12 to 18 October	3,650	2,536	1,114
19 to 25 October	4,811	2,546	2,265
26 October to 01 November	3,882	2,217	1,665
02 to 08 November	5,056	2,522	2,534
09 to 15 November	5,040	2,952	2,088
16 to 22 November	5,456	3,532	1,924
23 to 27 November (partial week)	4,436	2,633	1,803

The ‘Incomplete Household Visits’ statistic is calculated by subtracting the number of completed household visits from the number of scheduled household visits. A household visit that is incomplete in one week will likely be completed in a subsequent week.

The Scottish Government does not have this information for other parts of the UK, this is a matter for the Office for National Statistics who is conducting the survey on behalf of the Scottish Government.