- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when it expects COVID-19 restrictions to be eased to allow pregnant mothers to take their young children with them when attending midwife appointments, in order to alleviate the need to find alternative childcare.
Answer
Scottish Government guidance ‘Visiting in Maternity and Neonatal Settings During COVID 19 Pandemic’ is intended to support maternity and neonatal units in developing local guidance for visiting. It sets out that, as a minimum, women may have one supportive person accompanying them to all antenatal appointments, and one additional visitor (adult or child) may also attend subject to local risk assessments and physical distancing. In the event of an active outbreak management scenario, Boards may restrict visiting to essential visits only, which would allowone supportive person to accompany a pregnant mother to the booking scan, 20 week scan and any emergency appointments. These additional restrictions should be time-limited during management of an active outbreak.
The Scottish Government would encourage pregnant mothers to discuss any individual requirements with their midwife who will be able to advise further on local policy.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what specialist support Police Scotland offers to police officers and staff experiencing poor mental health.
Answer
The provision of Health and Wellbeing services, for the police workforce, is a matter for the Chief Constable.
Police officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their physical and mental health through Police Scotland's “Your Wellbeing Matters” programme. This includes the signposting of services by ‘Wellbeing Champions’ and the programme has resulted in a raised awareness of the services available, such as occupational health and employee assistance, which offer counselling, and specific interactions through the Trauma Risk Management programme (TRiM).
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government which minister is responsible for the implementation of its Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer
Portfolio responsibility for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) lies with me as Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity.
In line with the principle of extended producer responsibility and the polluter pays principle, the work to deliver DRS is being led and paid for by industry, in particular the scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL). I meet with CSL on a monthly basis to ensure that the agreed implementation timetable is maintained.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Dorothy Bain on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Lord Advocate’s statement on 22 September 2021, whether guidelines have been issued to Police Scotland on the use of recorded police warnings for simple possession offences involving Class A drugs, and, if not, when these guidelines will be issued.
Answer
Lord Advocate’s guidelines to Police Scotland on the use of Recorded Police Warnings have been in place for a number of years. My statement to the Scottish Parliament on 22 September 2021 was reflected in a corresponding amendment to the guidelines.
The current guidelines permit a police officer to issue a Recorded Police Warning in relation to an offence involving simple possession of all classes of controlled drug.
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland provides financial support to officers and staff seeking to attend the psychological wellbeing and counselling programmes at the two Police Treatment Centres, in Harrogate and Auchterarder.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally. Any financial support provided to the Police Treatment Centres, by Police Scotland, is a matter for the Chief Constable and the Scottish Police Authority.
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether local authorities, emergency services, and energy and connectivity suppliers will be permitted to share vulnerable people's contact information to facilitate the provision of support to those people in times of emergencies, such as during the response to Storm Arwen.
Answer
During times of emergency, those responders designated as either Category 1 or 2 by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 are permitted to share personal information by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) Regulations 2005.
- Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many pregnant women have been admitted to an intensive care unit, in each month since October 2021.
Answer
The Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit Group (SICSAG) report on COVID-19 published on 2 February 2022 includes data on the numbers of COVID positive pregnant women admitted to critical care facilities (excluding obstetric High Dependency Units) to 9 January 2020. The data is presented by COVID infection wave, but not by month. SICSAG report annually on numbers of pregnant women admitted to Intensive Care Units. 2021 data is expected to be reported in summer 2022.
Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit Group report on COVID-19 - as at 11 January 2022 - Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit Group report on COVID-19 - Publications - Public Health Scotland.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what additional financial support will be made available to households to help meet the new fire alarm standard, in light of the recent increase in energy prices and the extra pressure this puts on household budgets.
Answer
We know that some homeowners may not be able to meet the cost of fitting the necessary alarms which is why we provided £500,000 through Care and Repair Scotland to help elderly and disabled people. We have also made available a further £500,000 to Care and Repair to extend this support beyond 1 February 2022.
This is in addition to the £1m funding provided to SFRS for its Home Fire Safety Visit programme to owner occupied properties assessed to be at high risk from fire.
We also provided £15m loan funding to social landlords to support them to fit compliant alarms for all tenants.
Flexibility is built into the existing legislation through a provision setting out that the work should be done “within such period as is reasonable in all the circumstances”, allowing flexibility for home owners unable to install alarms by 1 February 2022.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider launching public health campaigns to address the stigma around hepatitis C and other blood borne viruses.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the negative impacts of stigma, both on individuals and on wider efforts to prevent blood borne viruses. Over the next year, the Scottish government will focus on progressing the commitment to eliminate Hepatitis C by 2024; developing a plan to eliminate HIV transmission by 2030; and re-invigorating the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses Framework. In all these strands, we will consider a range of actions to tackle the stigma around blood borne viruses in order to improve outcomes for individuals and encourage testing and earlier diagnosis.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2022
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 7 February 2022
To ask the Scottish Government when the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB) will publish its next report on farm policy.
Answer
As one of our 100 Days Commitments we launched the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB), which will develop new proposals for sustainable farming support by considering the Climate Change Plan Update and the Farmer-led Groups recommendations, helping Scottish agriculture become more economically and environmentally sustainable.
ARIOB meets regularly and its current priority is helping develop the National Test Programme, which begins this Spring and, over the next three years will deliver Scottish Government investment of up to £51 million. It is based on and informed by the work and recommendations of the Farmer-led Groups, particularly to ensure we are beginning to tackle the most urgent needs and creating a base upon which to build a whole-farm low carbon approach. An outline of the National Test Programme has already been published: https://www.gov.scot/news/ambitious-future-for-rural-scotland/
ARIOB acts in an advisory capacity to the Scottish Government and have no current plans to formally report. It is for the Scottish Government to co-develop and publish agricultural policy based on this type of a collaborative approach. The Scottish Government is wholly committed to supporting farmers and crofters to start our collective journey towards becoming global leaders in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
