- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 19 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government when it considers it will be safe to fully resume cervical screening tests and, in light of reports that many tests are overdue because of the COVID-19 lockdown, what action it will take to deal with the backlog.
Answer
The Scottish Government announced a structured pause of the cervical screening programme on 30 March 2020. Work is underway to prepare for the resumption of all of the national cancer screening programmes as part of the remobilisation of our NHS and in line with the routemap out of lockdown. We envisage that the cervical screening programme will start with the prioritised recommencement of non-routine screening and women who had been invited for screening prior to the pause being announced. Arrangements will also be put in place to ensure that no one need miss their screening appointment as a result of the pause.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 19 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how long it considers it safe for a cervical screening test to be overdue.
Answer
The decision to pause the cervical screening programme was taken with the advice of the Chief Medical Officer and follows careful consideration of all of the risks involved.
While there are risks to individuals through delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer, the majority of people participating in national population screening programmes are well and do not have early disease. These risks needed to be weighed up in the context of the pressures on the NHS in Scotland presented by Covid-19 and the need to prevent the further spread of coronavirus.
We continue to advise the public that it is important for those in between screening appointments or awaiting a rescheduled appointment to be aware of any symptoms or signs of the conditions screened for. More information on cervical cancer symptoms can be found on the NHS inform website, which can be accessed at the following link, https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/screening/cervical/cervical-screening-smear-test . Anyone having these symptoms should contact their GP practice immediately.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 19 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is still considering implementing self-testing kits for cervical screenings and, if so, what its position is on whether these are viable, in light of the reported difficulties in carrying out the procedure.
Answer
The Programme for Government 2019-20 included a commitment to begin work to pilot self-sampling for cervical screening at a national level. Although the work to establish a pilot in Scotland was paused due to the escalation of COVID-19, it will be resumed and prioritised following the restart of the screening programmes.
At this stage the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has not approved self-sampling for use in a national screening programme, and this work will require further study in pilots and research projects before it can be introduced safely into the cervical cancer screening programme.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28658 by Jeane Freeman on 18 May 2020, on what date it was advised by (a) its and (b) the UK advisory group on COVID-19 that there should be a lockdown in response to the outbreak.
Answer
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) met and advised all Governments in the UK via a COBR(M) meeting to enter lockdown on the 23 March 2020. There was no recommendation to enter lockdown earlier.
The Scottish Government Covid-19 Advisory Group held its inaugural meeting on
26 March 2020, three days after lockdown was announced.
Advice from SAGE is not routinely published, however minutes and papers from SAGE and the Scottish Government Covid-19 Advisory Group which are published can be found on the UK Government website and the Scottish Government website .
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported concerns with safety in such facilities because of the COVID-19 outbreak, what action it is taking to ensure that risk assessments are carried out by contact/call centre employers, trade unions and staff health and safety representatives, and what support it can provide to those representatives in facilities without an organised union presence.
Answer
The health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and the economy is the priority of the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government has produced Business and Physical Distancing Guidance to help businesses and their employees to follow health protection advice. It is clear that employers have a statutory duty to ensure that workers’ health and safety is protected. This includes undertaking risk assessments of their work activity, assessing the risk from Covid-19 spread in the workplace, and putting in place appropriate mitigating measures.
Where companies and their workforce do not have access to the skills to undertake risk assessments in-house they should together explore external support options to put in place appropriate mitigation measures, for example through their trade association, health and safety consultancies or trade union health and safety representatives.
We understand that some sectors may not have a significant level of trade union membership in all areas. Where this is the case, employers should engage with workforce representatives in the way that they would engage with trade union representatives. There is HSE guidance available on worker involvement at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/involvement/ .
We are working closely with the key regulatory bodies; the Health and Safety Executive, Local Authorities and the Police, to ensure a joined up approach to the enforcement and monitoring of workplace public health measures. We have issued a joint statement that sets how these bodies will work together to ensure workplaces operate safely and in compliance with regulations, this is available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-work-places-statement/ .
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 18 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that its senior managers have been awarded pay rises of up to 12%, and whether these were negotiated with the respective staff trade unions.
Answer
I refer the Member to the answer to his previous question S5W-29552 on 15 June 2020 . All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported concerns with safety in such facilities because of the COVID-19 outbreak, what action it will take to ensure that all contact/call centre staff are tested for the virus and that any people found positive are isolated, treated and subject to contact-tracing, in line with the South Korean model of best practice.
Answer
The health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and the economy is the priority of the Scottish Government. All employers in Scotland should follow the existing Scottish guidance, support workers to follow health protection advice and have a statutory duty to ensure that workers’ health and safety is protected. This includes undertaking risk assessments of their work activity, assessing the risk from Covid-19 spread in the workplace, and putting in place appropriate mitigating measures.
As part of risk assessments companies should explore with trade union or workforce representatives how to respond should anyone develop symptoms while at work, including whether it is possible to identify any particular parts of the workplace the individual may have accessed or equipment used while symptomatic. This should include consideration of how best to monitor health of all individuals in a workplace.
Test and Protect is Scotland’s approach to implementing the 'test, trace, isolate, support' strategy. It is a public health measure designed to break chains of transmission of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the community. The NHS will test people who have symptoms, trace people who may have become infected by spending time in close contact with someone who tests positive, and then support those close contacts to self-isolate. Test and Protect Guidance for Employers is available on the Scottish Government website.
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 June 2020
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting older people during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2020
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-29557 by Jeane Freeman on 10 June 2020, what the information governance issues being faced by Public Health Scotland are.
Answer
Public Health Scotland have been working with the Scottish Government to agree the Information Governance Framework to support the transfer of data into PHS. This is now achieved and the data arrived on 12 June 2020. Once analysis has been completed a publication date will be pre-announced by PHS on their website in the forthcoming publications section.
The delays occurred simply due to the amount of time it took to get multiple and subsequent iterations of both the data sharing agreements and data privacy impact assessments cleared by both the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (or Information Services Division, ISD, as it was at the time).
- Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 June 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 17 June 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-29035 by Jeane Freeman on 4 June 2020, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding how many (a) hotel (i)) staff and (ii) residents who were not attendees at the conference and (b) shop workers, bar workers, taxi drivers and others whom the delegates might have been in contact with, were contact-tested.
Answer
As stated in the answer to question S5W-29035, risk of deductive disclosure leading to a breach of patient confidentiality means that data about the number of people at the hotel or nearby who tested at that time will not be released. However, any case that tested positive, whether related to this event or not, has always been included in our daily COVID-19 updates.
You may also wish to note that research from the University of Glasgow published on 8 June on viral lineages of the disease concluded that the actions taken to manage the Nike outbreak were successful in containing spread from that incident. This led to the eradication of this particular viral lineage, with no evidence of any wider outbreak associated with it in Scotland since that time.
