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-32900

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact that reduced charitable funding due to COVID-19 for medical research in Scotland will have on the health of people in Scotland.

From data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the Scottish Government has established that charities invested around £101 million into medical and health research at Scottish universities in 2018-19.

We also know, from information provided by the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), that some UK medical research charities project a 41% reduction in their research expenditure over the next year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mitigation measures, both at Scottish and UK level, have been put in place, including a £75 million support package for university research from the Scottish Government.

We are therefore not expecting that a short term reduction in charity funding for medical research will have a long term impact on the health of people in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-32349

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 October 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 30 October 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the work of its Rehabilitation Framework and the role this has had in responding to the COVID-19, what plans it has to expand and develop the allied health professional workforce, and what funding it will allocate to (a) local authorities, (b) NHS boards and (c) third sector service providers to assist with this.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31349 on 1 September 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 .

In addition to this, I can confirm that when the National Advisory Board for Rehabilitation is operational in the new year it will be considering aspects of workforce delivery and system affordability for different models of care.

Question reference: S5O-04709

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when the First Minister first became aware of hospital patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 being discharged to care homes.

Question reference: S5W-31436

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 14 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when clear Type IIR masks will be available for use in health and social care settings.

Currently there are no commercially available transparent masks that are approved for use in medical settings in Scotland. The Scottish Government recognise the potential role of transparent masks in clinical settings and has been working to explore options for transparent masks and face coverings.

On 5 August the UK Government announced the procurement of 250,000 transparent face masks from the company ClearMask for use in health and social care. These masks will be trialled in England in specific circumstances and feedback will be sought from users before any decisions about future procurement are made. NHS National Services Scotland will be carrying out a clinical evaluation of the ClearMask through the relevant channels in due course to determine if these masks are suitable for use in health and social care.

Scottish Enterprise recently awarded £50,000 of funding from their Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF) to an Edinburgh-based company to expand its production of face coverings to include coverings with transparent panes, which facilitate lip-reading. This company is being supported by the National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland (NMIS) to upgrade these face coverings to type IIR masks which are suitable for use in clinical settings. The company are currently working towards submitting the masks for the relevant testing that will allow for the certification of the masks for use in clinical environments.

Question reference: S5O-04567

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage domestic tourism.

Question reference: S5W-30981

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance analysis of the advocacy scheme for disabled people accessing social security.

Question reference: S5O-04523

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the required social distancing measures in schools.

Question reference: S5W-30982

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what consultation it undertook before launching the advocacy service for disabled people accessing social security.

Question reference: S5O-04475

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its creation of a nitrogen balance sheet.

Question reference: S5W-30184

Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 July 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether resomation (water cremation) can be an environmentally-sustainable end-of-life option, and what analysis it has made of the scientific research carried out by Middlesex University, which informed the decision by Yorkshire Water to approve the practice.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has not assessed the environmental credentials of the process as Resomation Ltd wish to discharge the effluent by-product to public sewers. This is a matter for Scottish Water and I refer the member to the answer to S5W-30183 on 10 July 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