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: S6W-02451

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many cervical cancer screenings have taken place in each month since the start of 2019.

The following table shows the number of samples collected within the cervical screening programme from 1 January 2019 to 26 August 2021. As part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the cervical screening programme was paused between 30 March 2020 and 29 June 2020. The table below shows that a small number of samples were collected during this time; this is because colposcopy and gynaecology continued taking samples for clinical management, and some GP practices continued screening for those on non-routine recall.

Screening resumed on 29 June 2020 in a phased, careful and prioritised way, as part of the remobilisation of the NHS in Scotland. Anyone who was invited for cervical screening before the pause in March and had yet to make an appointment or had it cancelled was able to make an appointment from 29 June 2020. Non-routine cervical screening appointments resumed in mid-July and routine screening appointments from September 2020.

It is important to note that the data below is management information and has not been subject to the necessary quality checks carried out for an official publication.

Cervical Smears collected	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2019	38273	40620	40346	36124	34509	29171	28268	28353	26273	26217	24979	18760
2020	26533	24435	14329	322	541	1099	7562	12465	13506	19855	25386	21378
2021	20332	24510	28819	22228	21615	22037	18275	13014

Question reference: S6W-02449

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many abdominal aortic aneurysm screenings have taken place in each month since the start of 2019.

The following table shows the number of people who attended an abdominal aortic aneurysm screening appointment between January 2019 and July 2021. The programme was paused between 30 March 2020 and 6 July 2020 and when screening resumed it prioritised higher-risk screening participants.

It is important to note that the data below is management information and has not been subject to the necessary quality checks carried out for an official publication.

2019	Jan-19	2270
	Feb-19	2268
	Mar-19	2429
	Apr-19	2475
	May-19	2890
	Jun-19	2538
	Jul-19	2503
	Aug-19	2787
	Sep-19	2421
	Oct-19	2795
	Nov-19	2677
	Dec-19	1953
2020	Jan-20	2516
	Feb-20	2292
	Mar-20	1786
	Apr-20	0
	May-20	3
	Jun-20	0
	Jul-20	124
	Aug-20	772
	Sep-20	1698
	Oct-20	2030
	Nov-20	2633
	Dec-20	1857
2021	Jan-21	2026
	Feb-21	2267
	Mar-21	2757
	Apr-21	2536
	May-21	3085
	Jun-21	3070
	Jul-21	2568

Question reference: S6W-02450

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many breast cancer screenings have taken place in each month since the start of 2019.

Question reference: S6W-02329

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the digital COVID-19 vaccination pass will be made available for people living in Scotland and travelling abroad.

The NHS Scotland COVID Status app is being developed for release to the public by the end of September with vaccination information initially. We are developing our app to meet the EU requirements so we expect this to be compatible with the IATA Travel Pass. We are engaging with international stakeholders and UK Government to ensure the app is compatible with the other countries requirements of entry.

PDF downloads of vaccination status and 2D barcodes (known as QR codes) were made available for international travel from 3 September to facilitate international travel.

Question reference: S6W-02321

Asked by: Katy Clark, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 August 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what COVID-19 vaccination (a) targets and (b) timescales it has set for (i) prisoners and young offenders and (ii) prison staff, and how these are being monitored.

I would refer the Member to the fact as previously answered in S6W–02319 on 21 September 2021, prison staff are under no obligation to tell their employer of their Vaccination status, as it is not mandatory to be vaccinated. Although staff are paid away from work to attend a vaccination appointment and are offered paid leave if symptoms deliver, as part of employee support arrangements.

We are guided on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme by the Covid Vaccine Deployment Plan which was last updated in July 2021.

We are actively monitoring and evaluating the vaccination status for prisoners and young offenders. NHS bodies and public health agencies, are working collectively with The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to ensure we are constantly striving to make progress, on these matters, to ensure best practice is maintained. Each prison establishment has a Local Coronavirus Response Group to assist with planning locally.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-01658

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the latest Modelling the Pandemic report, which claims that the true scale of COVID-19 infections is being underreported in official figures, and warns that virus prevalence in recent wastewater sampling "significantly exceeded levels suggested by case rates".

Changes in patterns of mixing, adherence to restrictions, levels of asymptomatic infections and school holidays all impact on cases numbers and will influence the recent drop in positive cases. Waste-water Covid-19 levels continue to exceed case rates. However, relative to the peak reported at the start of July, levels have declined nationally. We will continue to monitor wastewater Covid closely and report the trend weekly in the modelling the epidemic/pandemic publication.

Question reference: S6W-00764

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date secure COVID-19 vaccination status documents will be ready for use by people travelling from Scotland to Norway.

Question reference: S6T-00179

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to research stating that no recommendations to improve practice are made in nine out of 10 fatal accident inquiries into deaths in prison.

Question reference: S6T-00160

Asked by: Emma Harper, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed the impact of the increase in wholesale gas prices on food and energy availability in Scotland, particularly ahead of winter.

Question reference: S6F-00287

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 September 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 September 2021

To ask the First Minister what steps are being taken to ensure that women who have endometriosis are diagnosed within a year.