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: S5T-02306

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when it will begin talks with trade unions regarding NHS staff pay and conditions.

Question reference: S5W-29385

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Scotland reportedly has the highest COVID-19 care home death rate, proportionately per population size, in the UK.

National Records of Scotland (NRS), Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish statistics on deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate (including suspected COVID-19 deaths).

Due to differences in recording and diagnosis the most accurate figures to use to make comparisons in relation to the number and rate of deaths from Covid in any environment are those for all excess deaths over a particular period. Comparisons should also take account of differences in the demographics of care home residents across the UK.

Excess deaths are the total number of deaths registered in a week in 2020 minus the average number of deaths registered in the same week over the period 2015 to 2019. For all parts of the UK, figures are available for excess deaths from all causes, including Covid-19.

During weeks 11-25 of 2020, excess deaths in care homes in England and Wales have been 83% above the five year average compared to 66% for Scotland.

NRS statistics show Covid-19 deaths in care homes, year-to-date up to 21 June (week 25) as being 47% of Scotland’s deaths from Covid-19. NISRA statistics for this period also show 42% of deaths from Covid-19 in Northern Ireland as being in care homes. The percentage of Covid-19 related deaths occurring in care homes in Scotland is broadly in line with many other European countries.

Question reference: S5W-30720

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the hospital occupancy rate has been in each week since the NHS was placed on an emergency footing on 17 March 2020, broken down by (a) hospital and (b) NHS board, and what the rate was during the same period in 2019.

Public Health Scotland publish data on bed occupancy on a quarterly basis. They have pre-announced that Acute Hospital Activity and Beds data to end March 2020, is scheduled for publication in September 2020 and that quarterly data for April to June 2020 is scheduled for publication in November 2020.

https://beta.isdscotland.org/forthcoming-publications/

Public Health Scotland also publish weekly data on hospital inpatient admissions as part of their weekly COVID-19 publication. This data shows that the number of hospital inpatient admissions dropped to its lowest level compared to the pre-COVID average during April and has steadily increased in recent weeks. The reduced number of admissions is likely to have had an impact on the overall occupancy during this period also. A link to this data is provided here: https://scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-covid-wider-impact/

Question reference: S5W-30297

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the daily COVID-19 testing capacity is of NHS Scotland labs, broken down by NHS board.

Testing capacity fluctuates on a daily basis, but as at 1 July, the testing capacity of NHS Scotland laboratories, broken down by NHS board, was as follows:

Health Board	AA	BO	DG	FF	FV	GGC	GJ	GR	HG	LN	LO	OR	SH	TY	WI	UoE	Moredun	SNBTS	UoA	Total
Weekday testing capacity	236	107	258	100	470	2714	50	600	260	1112	1310	40	35	420	64	1000	588	288	1000	10,652
Weekend testing capacity	236	83	258	100	470	1425	50	600	232	642	1110	10	35	328	64	1000	588	288	1000	8,519

Key:

AA Ayrshire and Arran

BO Borders

DG Dumfries and Galloway

FF Fife

FV Forth Valley

GGC Greater Glasgow and Clyde

GJ Golden Jubilee National Hospital

GR Grampian

HG Highland

LN Lanarkshire

LO Lothian

OR Orkney

SH Shetland

TY Tayside

WI Western Isles

Moredun - Moredun Research Institute

UoE University of Edinburgh

SNBTS Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service

UoA University of Aberdeen

Question reference: S5W-30554

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 5 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what impact lockdown has had on access to sexual health services.

From 20 March 2020, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, sexual health services were necessarily limited to urgent and essential care only during lockdown.

Significant efforts have been made to maintain care provision to meet public health priorities such as preventing unplanned pregnancies and onward transmission of sexually transmitted infections and blood borne viruses. In responding to the major challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been significant and rapid service redesign in order to prioritise essential care while protecting patients and staff, with care being provided virtually where possible, including through the use of telephone or video consultations and assessments, postal testing kits and self-test kits.

In order to support the recovery and renewal of sexual health services as we move through the phases out of lockdown, the Scottish Government, following discussions with the Scottish Health Protection Network, has committed to developing an Interim Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses Framework. This Interim Framework will take stock of the impacts of COVID-19 on sexual health, and seek to build on the many examples of innovation and best practice developed at this time to transform sexual health services in the future.

Question reference: S5W-30563

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 5 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce drug-related deaths linked with benzodiazepines.

The harms caused by the use of benzodiazepines in Scotland is a serious concern, especially as evidence indicates that the number of deaths involving them has increased over recent years. The Drug Deaths Taskforce is focused on ensuring that drug treatment services adapt to meet the specific needs of those individuals who are most at risk in their area by offering treatment and support services that focus on the use of a range of drugs, including benzodiazepines. The Scottish Government committed £20m of additional funding in the 2019 Programme for Government to support the taskforce between 2020-2022.

Furthermore we are also continuing to push the UK Government to commit to regulating the sale of pill press machines that are capable of producing counterfeit benzodiazepines on an industrial scale. I have raised this with UK counterparts on a number of occasions and will be following this up when I next meet with UK Ministers.

Question reference: S5W-30560

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 5 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many children have lost a parent or parental figure in each of the last five years due to drug-related deaths.

Question reference: S5W-30305

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many telephone or video consultations have been carried out for outpatient clinic appointments since March 2020, broken down by NHS board.

Question reference: S5W-30294

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the (a) construction, (b) equipment and (c) monthly running costs of the NHS Louisa Jordan.

Question reference: S5W-30293

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 June 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 3 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when the current lease for the NHS Louisa Jordan expires, and what plans it has to extend it.

The current license is due to expire at the end of August. The discussion of licence renewal is underway but is commercially sensitive.

The Louisa Jordan has conducted a successful pilot, which has seen 315 patients receive orthopaedic and plastic surgery outpatient consultations since the start of July. Following the successful three-week project by NHS Lanarkshire, plans are now in place to expand the services offered at the hospital and increase the number of patients it can receive daily from health boards across Scotland.