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: S5W-28660

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it decided to introduce a lockdown in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and whether it will publish the advice that it received that led to this decision.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28658 on 18 May 2020 ; advice and guidance on moving into lockdown in response to the Covid-19 outbreak was received through SAGE, COBR, and the Scottish CMO and all decisions were made on the scientific and medical advice.

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

Question reference: S5W-28658

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when 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, and whether it will publish the advice that was provided.

Our decision making in the approach to responding to Covid-19 has been and continues to be guided by the latest scientific evidence from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), which feeds into SAGE.

SAGE advises both COBR and the Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) Group which comprises of the CMOs from all four administrations in the UK. Scottish Ministers received further advice from the Scottish CMO and the Scottish Government Covid-19 Advisory Group.

Advice and guidance on moving into lockdown was provided by these groups and all decisions were made following scientific and medical advice.

Published papers from SAGE and the Scottish Government Covid-19 Advisory Group can be found on the UK Government website and the Scottish Government website .

Question reference: S5W-28698

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 24 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospital patients who had been categorised as a delayed discharge case but were subsequently discharged since 1 March 2020 have died each day.

Question reference: S5W-28707

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been discharged from hospital to care homes since 1 February 2020, and how many have subsequently died.

Question reference: S5W-28187

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether people should have the right to know whether or not they have COVID-19.

Question reference: S5W-28806

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a public holiday as mark of respect for the people who lost their lives during the COVID-19 crisis, and in recognition of the contribution of workers at this time.

It is important that we acknowledge the role and sacrifice made by key workers and others during the COVID-19 pandemic. The First Minister stresses this in her daily briefings and also notes the personal loss that is experienced by friends and family to those who have tragically lost their lives.

The Scottish Government’s focus is currently on tackling the disease, its impact on our society and how we might safely ease the country’s current lockdown restrictions. In the fullness of time, we will consider what would be an appropriate and meaningful way for the nation to pay its respects.

Question reference: S5W-28801

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will hold a public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Scottish Government's focus is currently on tackling the disease, its impact on our society and how we might safely ease the country's lockdown restrictions. This will continue to be our priority. It is right that a process of scrutiny should takes place once it is possible to determine the scope and scale of such a process. Scottish Ministers will carefully consider the most appropriate options for doing so in the fullness of time so that lessons can be learned.

Question reference: S5W-28641

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 14 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have died on each day since 1 February 2020, and how this compares with each of the last five years.

Number of deaths which occurred in Scotland, day by day between 1 February and 19 April

		Year
		2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Month Died	Day Died
Feb	1	170	160	188	158	192	166
	2	193	154	205	161	166	151
	3	213	172	172	168	179	191
	4	207	163	176	196	157	143
	5	180	188	167	166	181	171
	6	188	173	175	171	181	172
	7	200	173	174	191	173	174
	8	200	189	158	177	160	157
	9	198	195	165	173	173	176
	10	193	136	170	207	172	174
	11	202	173	181	195	182	169
	12	179	170	178	176	176	149
	13	213	183	184	177	174	159
	14	181	148	172	180	168	169
	15	190	192	207	196	163	166
	16	192	152	179	168	203	182
	17	184	191	152	169	168	163
	18	161	184	166	172	166	171
	19	191	175	183	175	170	170
	20	179	202	162	194	164	179
	21	177	185	171	169	192	177
	22	188	182	157	167	161	162
	23	189	155	167	176	148	157
	24	180	162	166	167	166	169
	25	170	148	156	178	156	174
	26	201	169	181	175	161	160
	27	157	177	196	189	155	153
	28	172	154	159	173	161	157
	29	.	169	.	.	.	182
Mar	1	188	160	170	176	158	199
	2	176	158	155	218	168	154
	3	166	160	152	178	156	187
	4	148	185	168	186	154	148
	5	183	170	193	186	173	153
	6	178	174	152	190	176	166
	7	165	174	160	195	150	165
	8	170	171	169	157	187	176
	9	154	160	163	170	158	158
	10	172	172	154	147	140	171
	11	153	178	176	159	157	164
	12	161	167	174	161	157	189
	13	195	173	145	187	153	146
	14	166	158	168	169	176	186
	15	156	173	166	186	175	169
	16	159	184	151	162	139	173
	17	179	169	188	186	147	164
	18	164	163	153	160	167	183
	19	170	163	187	140	164	172
	20	169	163	135	163	162	166
	21	172	159	162	152	139	164
	22	149	161	154	187	134	194
	23	175	176	152	176	171	190
	24	173	160	183	151	150	196
	25	163	160	143	141	166	198
	26	151	157	150	143	166	184
	27	156	145	150	195	144	189
	28	170	175	190	171	141	203
	29	171	145	141	155	142	206
	30	166	152	159	160	133	263
	31	169	160	151	146	125	223
Apr	1	178	183	140	178	148	257
	2	171	151	163	159	147	244
	3	181	157	181	172	161	249
	4	176	156	160	175	138	255
	5	154	165	165	154	155	264
	6	144	156	148	172	149	303
	7	144	162	151	174	149	251
	8	171	144	152	157	168	270
	9	147	138	146	156	152	281
	10	134	113	178	183	145	271
	11	175	151	155	157	145	257
	12	143	144	165	167	136	250
	13	161	169	162	135	135	250
	14	160	154	165	160	143	247
	15	149	172	164	156	134	268
	16	144	142	136	161	137	268
	17	156	150	136	166	148	235
	18	158	165	133	148	171	249
	19	159	150	151	141	162	243

Total		13440	13021	12832	13288	12419	15354

NB: these figures were produced by National Records of Scotland on 28 April.

There may be slight under-counts for some of the later dates in 2020 due to a few

deaths not being registered in time to be included in NRS's statistical data on 28 April

Based on date of occurrence

Data for 2019 and 2020 are provisional and subject to change.

Question reference: S5W-28644

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 14 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many excess deaths there have been on each day since 1 February 2020, and how this compares with what would normally have been expected based on the last 20 years of data.

Number of "excess" deaths which occurred by day between 1 February and 19 April compared with "what would normally have been expected" based on the previous 20 years.

		Deaths in 2020	Annual average deaths from 2000 to 2019	Difference: "excess" deaths on this basis


Month Died	Day Died
Feb	1	166	169	-3
	2	151	171	-20
	3	191	165	26
	4	143	170	-27
	5	171	163	8
	6	172	170	2
	7	174	169	5
	8	157	166	-9
	9	176	166	10
	10	174	165	9
	11	169	171	-2
	12	149	166	-17
	13	159	167	-8
	14	169	163	6
	15	166	170	-4
	16	182	169	13
	17	163	164	-1
	18	171	164	7
	19	170	165	5
	20	179	164	15
	21	177	170	7
	22	162	163	-1
	23	157	160	-3
	24	169	164	5
	25	174	160	14
	26	160	160	0
	27	153	167	-14
	28	157	165	-8
	29	182	161	21
Mar	1	199	161	38
	2	154	164	-10
	3	187	160	27
	4	148	161	-13
	5	153	165	-12
	6	166	166	0
	7	165	162	3
	8	176	166	10
	9	158	163	-5
	10	171	160	11
	11	164	160	4
	12	189	160	29
	13	146	166	-20
	14	186	159	27
	15	169	156	13
	16	173	155	18
	17	164	162	2
	18	183	155	28
	19	172	161	11
	20	166	156	10
	21	164	159	5
	22	194	159	35
	23	190	162	28
	24	196	157	39
	25	198	154	44
	26	184	154	30
	27	189	156	33
	28	203	160	43
	29	206	154	52
	30	263	156	107
	31	223	159	64
Apr	1	257	157	100
	2	244	158	86
	3	249	158	91
	4	255	158	97
	5	264	158	106
	6	303	159	144
	7	251	153	98
	8	270	158	113
	9	281	153	128
	10	271	154	117
	11	257	150	107
	12	250	153	97
	13	250	153	97
	14	247	156	91
	15	268	153	115
	16	268	152	116
	17	235	153	82
	18	249	153	96
	19	243	157	86
Total 1 Feb to 19 Apr

NB: these figures were produced by National records of Scotland on 28 April.

There may be slight under-counts for some of the later dates in 2020 due to a few deaths not being registered in time to be included in NRS’s statistical data on 28 April.

The average figure for each day in 2000 to 2019 has been used as a proxy for “what would normally have been expected” for 2020 as a definition was not provided by the requester.

The 20-year average is not the standard measure of excess deaths which is included in weekly NRS publication, such as ‘Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland, week 17, which was published on the 29 th April 2020. This report looks at the 5-year average.

Some days have a negative number of "excess" deaths, because there were fewer in 2020 than the average for the previous 20 years.

Question reference: S5W-28643

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 April 2020
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 14 May 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who died on each day since 1 February 2020 and who tested positive for COVID-19 (a) had and (b) had not been hospitalised on the suspicion that they had the virus.