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-35007

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of Scotland Food & Drink's funding it provides; how much it allocated to Scotland Food & Drink in 2020-21; what the structure of the organisation is, and what the nature is of its relationship with Scotland Food & Drink.

The Scottish Government is providing up to £5.5m this financial year to a range of bodies across the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership to support delivery of the Food and Drink Recovery Plan, which seeks to mitigate the adverse effects that Covid-19 and Brexit have had on the industry. This funding is primarily channelled through Scotland Food & Drink who manage the delivery of the programme on behalf of the Partnership. The food and drink industry is also contributing to the delivery of the plan through its own funds.

Information on Scotland Food & Drink’s structure and the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership can be found at www.foodanddrink.scot . Through the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership, the Scottish Government and its agencies work collaboratively with Scotland Food & Drink and other key food and drink industry organisations to help deliver growth for the sector.

Question reference: S5W-34869

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 16 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the proposed increase in discretionary funding for local authorities in its recent Budget, when the new funding will be received by local authorities, and what the earliest date is on which businesses will receive the new uplift.

At the Finance and Constitution Committee on 9 February I announced a further £60 million in funding for the Local Authority Discretionary Fund. Alongside the additional £30 million I announced in my Budget Statement this means we have now quadrupled the financial support available to businesses through this fund significantly increasing the capacity of Councils to direct funding towards businesses based on the specific challenges being experienced in their local economies and business communities. We are working closely with CoSLA to agree a fair and equitable distribution of this funding to local authorities. They are considering our proposal, and soon as they have agreed the allocation formally we will issue grant offer letters to individual councils.

Question reference: S5W-35115

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will outline the timescales for soft play centres to reopen.

Beyond the phased re-opening of schools (ELC, P1-3 possibly from 22/2 and to be reconsidered on 16/2), we are not in a position, at this time, to offer any dates for the re-opening of soft play centres and the sector.

We are currently revisiting our overall strategic approach to suppressing the virus which will enable us to map out our approach for the period ahead in the light of emerging variants and the roll out of the vaccine.

Our decision to reopen the soft play centres will be considered, in due course, within this new context/framework and will be contingent on the epidemiological data and wider evidence about the rollout and success of our vaccination programme .

Question reference: S5W-34745

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 5 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it can provide to allow community events to be held digitally, in light of them having to be cancelled because of COVID-19 restrictions.

In September 2020, the Scottish Government launched the £40m Scottish Government Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme, which aims to support community groups, charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises by providing support on planning and implementing changes to help adapt to a different social and economic climate as well as providing ongoing crisis support.

The Adapt & Thrive strand of the Programme aims to support organisations change and adapt following the impact and challenges of Covid 19.

The Communities Recovery Fund strand of the Programme focusses on support for delivering community services; which may have had to stop due to Covid 19, be experiencing increased demand, or be needed to respond to new challenges.

Organisations can receive tailored, specialist advice, as well as grants and loans, to support them to develop a plan so they can operate sustainably. This may mean developing new income streams, restructuring the organisation, or changing how services are delivered, such as delivering events digitally, in order to allow them to continue to have a positive impact in their communities.

Further information on the Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme can be found at the following https://scvo.scot/support/coronavirus/funding/scottish-government/community-recovery

Question reference: S5W-34786

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time taken to respond to correspondence from MSPs to Scottish Ministers has been in each of the last 12 months.

The Scottish Government aims to respond to all ministerial correspondence within 20 working days. Due to the Covid pandemic, the Scottish Government have received a significant increase in correspondence. The following table outlines information as at 1 February 2021:

Month	Average working days taken to respond to MSPs
February 2020	21
March 2020	27
April 2020	27
May 2020	27
June 2020	22
July 2020	24
August 2020	23
September 2020	27
October 2020	28
November 2020	22
December 2020	18
January 2021	12

*taken from MiCase, SG Corporate Correspondence system

Question reference: S5O-05013

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what research it is funding to drive efficiencies in agriculture.

Question reference: S5W-34705

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in care homes have received vitamin D supplements each month since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Information on the number of people in care homes that have received vitamin D supplements each month since the last of the pandemic is not held centrally.

The Chief Medical Officer issued a letter to all adult care home providers on Thursday 21st January 2021 providing advice on vitamin D supplements for care home residents. The letter states that residents should be assessed for vitamin D supplements (as per local formulary) as part of their regular routine clinical review and that decisions on whether to prescribe vitamin D for care home residents, including those who are shielded, should be taken on an individual basis.

In addition to this, the Chief Medical Officer also issued a letter to those individuals on the shielding list on 23rd October 2020 which included the offer of 4 months free supply of vitamin D. The letter stated that, for people in care homes, their GP or nurse will discuss whether vitamin D will be of benefit.

Supplies of 90,000 units of Vitamin D were procured with 71,833 people opting in to the offer. These were posted to individuals from W/C 23 November 2020.

Question reference: S5W-34704

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 3 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government when the Farming and Food Production Future Policy Group will publish its final advisory report.

The Farming and Food Production Future Policy Group was established as an independent Group, comprising representatives from the farming and food production sectors in addition to environmental and land management representatives. Given the industry involvement in the Group, it is unfortunately inevitable that Covid and Brexit have significantly impacted upon the Group’s work. As an independent Group, it is for the Group to determine when to publish their Report.

Question reference: S5W-34403

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 3 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the timescales are for criteria to be made available to local authorities in respect of the £185 million funding announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance on 9 December 2020 to enable local authorities to distribute funding to businesses in their areas, and when local authorities may expect the funding to be released.

Question reference: S5W-34407

Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 2 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, in the light of the recent publication of a paper by Griffin et al in the Clinical Medicine Journal, "Peventing vitamin D deficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic: UK definitions of vitamin D sufficiency and recommended supplement dose are set too low", whether it plans to set up a national programme to assess and, where clinically appropriate, prescribe regulated medicinal vitamin D at 800 IU or above to people living in care homes and care at home settings.

Our advice for adults and children over one year of age to take a daily 10 microgram vitamin D supplement is based on the recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), as set out in its 2016 report Vitamin D and Health.

The report is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sacn-vitamin-d-and-health-report

Ten micrograms is the average amount needed per day by the majority (97.5%) of the population to maintain adequate vitamin D levels when UVB sunlight exposure is minimal.

SACN published an updated rapid review on vitamin D and Acute Respiratory Tract Infections (ARTI) on 17 December 2020. It recommended the reference nutrient intake for vitamin D remain unchanged and reiterated that a vitamin D intake of 10 micrograms per day is recommended for the UK population aged 1 and above. The rapid review is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sacn-rapid-review-vitamin-d-and-acute-respiratory-tract-infections

We have no plans to set up a national programme for vitamin D for people living in care homes or care at home settings. Anyone who needs vitamin D should receive it. Decisions to prescribe it in care homes or care at home settings is a matter for the individual’s clinician.

The Chief Medical Officer wrote to care home providers, including NHS Directors of Pharmacy, and Community Pharmacy Scotland on 21 January outlining that residents should be individually assessed for vitamin D supplements as part of their regular routine clinical review.

We will continue to be guided by SACN as the evidence base on vitamin D develops.