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-34336

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 4 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the expected COVID-19 vaccination wastage rate is, and how it is monitoring this.

Question reference: S5W-34340

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage GP practices to work together to administer the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, similar to the approach in Winsford, Cheshire, which reportedly administered 975 doses in three and half days.

NHS Scotland territorial health boards are working closely with GPs to coordinate the appropriate delivery mechanisms to meet the Vaccination targets outlined in the Scottish Government's Covid -19 Vaccines Deployment Plan. Different sized GP practices and vaccination sites will process different numbers of vaccines per day depending on populations they service, their demographic grouping and geographical spread.

Question reference: S5W-34341

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage retired health professionals to sign up to administer the COVID-19 vaccination.

Question reference: S5W-34338

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 29 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the process is for identifying suitable settings for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out

Question reference: S5W-34466

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 26 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what research it is aware of regarding the degree to which COVID-19 is spread by people who are asymptomatic, and how any such research has influenced its public health policies during the pandemic.

Asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission of COVID-19 occurs, which is a challenge for suppressing the virus as there is a risk of individuals mixing with others, whilst not presenting symptoms. The Scottish Government does not hold information on the transmission rates of COVID-19 by only asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic people. For this reason, the decision-making process around asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission, as well as any other COVID-19 related issue, will continue to be based on the available scientific and medical evidence from:

• the World Health Organisation;

• the UK Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies;

• the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group.

Please note that SAGE and the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group, as well as other UK advisory groups such as the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) and the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), discuss the emerging evidence of transmission of COVID-19 separately. Each of them also publishes separate papers, which may cover the asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission of the virus.

The paper ‘SARS-COV-2: Transmission Routes and Environments, 22 October 2020’ (available from SAGE meetings, October 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) reported that:

“The contribution of asymptomatic infection to transmission will depend on:
‎ • the relative degree of infectiousness (this is approximately 1/3 as infectious compared to those who have or go onto have symptoms [45]),
‎ • the proportion of infections that are asymptomatic (recent estimates suggests 20% (95% CI 17%–25%) of individuals remain asymptomatic throughout the infection [45])
‎ • the relative number of contacts (asymptomatic cases are unlikely to self-isolate so may have more contacts than symptomatic cases). It is plausible therefore that both asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic cases make a significant contribution to transmission. People with mild symptoms (paucisymptomatic), who feel otherwise well, still carry large amounts of virus in the upper respiratory tract, which might particularly contribute to transmission of SARS-CoV-2 [43].”

The Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scotland’s Strategic Framework was published on 23 October 2020, setting out how we will work to suppress the virus to the lowest possible level and keep it there, while we strive to return to a more normal life for as many people as possible and tackle the four harms we know the virus causes. We will keep our approach under review, informed by scientific evidence and continued engagement with business and communities.

Sources:
‎ 43. Cevik M, Tate M, Lloyd O, Maraolo AE, Schafers J, Ho A. SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV viral load dynamics, duration of viral shedding and infectiousness: a living systematic review and meta-analysis. medRxiv 2020: 2020.07.25.20162107.
‎ 45. Buitrago-Garcia D, Egli-Gany D, Counotte MJ, et al. Occurrence and transmission potential of asymptomatic and presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections: A living systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS Medicine 2020; 17(9): e1003346.

Question reference: S5W-34632

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 25 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding has been given to mental health charities during the COVID-19 pandemic to help their services respond to any increase in demand.

The Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan published in October 2020 outlines the actions we are taking forward in response to the mental health impacts of COVID-19. Over £1.1 million additional funding has been made available directly to third sector mental health organisations during the pandemic to help services respond to increased demand.

More generally, a £350 million emergency communities fund comprising 8 funding pots was announced in March 2020 to ensure local authorities, community groups and the third sector were able to support people and communities affected by COVID-19.

In response to a demand for a move away from resilience to recovery, a £25 million Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme (CTSRP) was announced in the Programme for Government 2020-21, as part of Scottish Government’s £350 million emergency response to coronavirus.

The CTSRP aims to support Third Sector Organisations (TSOs), such as charities, community groups, social enterprises and voluntary organisations that are, in turn, supporting people and communities through the move from lockdown to recovery; bringing clear practical and mental health benefits.

The CTSRP opened for applications on 21 September and can be accessed via the SCVO funding page Community & Third Sector Recovery Programme – SCVO .

Question reference: S5W-33792

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the advice in the Green Book that underpins advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to ensure that clear and unambiguous advice is given to GPs in relation to the eligibility for the flu vaccine of people with Crohn’s and colitis.

The Scottish Government policy on all vaccination programmes are an formed by advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), an independent scientific advisory committee that advises all administrations in the UK.

The JCVI currently does not recommend offering flu vaccine routinely to all those with Inflammatory Bowel diseases such as Crohn’s and Colitis unless they have other risk factors due to treatment or associated chronic conditions. There are however options for GPs and other clinicians to offer flu vaccine to any of their patients if they feel that their patients would benefit from a flu vaccine.

Question reference: S5W-33796

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 18 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of people with inflammatory bowel disease being at greater risk of hospitalisation from flu, whether all people with this condition will be included as a priority group in the roll-out of the 2020-21 and future flu vaccination programmes.

Question reference: S5F-04672

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 December 2020

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government plans to help students who will lose out financially on their accommodation costs as a result of the staggered return to universities.

Question reference: S5O-04864

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what impact it anticipates the end of the Brexit transition period could have on delays to the delivery of vaccines.