Jackie Baillie

17 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Water Industry Commission for Scotland has (a) played a leadership role in developing the framework for future investment requirements for the future of the water industry within the Strategic Review of Charges 2021/27 and (b) provided analysis and papers on potential future …

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) has worked with Scottish Government, Scottish Water, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Drinking Water Quality Regulator to identify the future investment requirements. The minutes of key meeti…

17 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the 2020 decision paper, Prospects for Prices, by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, whether the average price ranges envisaged for the 2021-27 period are based on a smooth price trajectory to meet investment levels defined as necessary in 2040.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: This is a matter for the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, and I have asked them to respond directly in writing to your question.

17 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much capital expenditure Scottish Water plans for 2020-21.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: In its 2020 Delivery Plan Update, Scottish Water forecast capital expenditure of £730 million for 2020-21, however due to the COVID-19 crisis, this figure will be reduced. Scottish Water will be updating and re-forecasting in the next few months as the capita…

17 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of the 2020 decision paper, Prospects for Prices, by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, whether it is aware of the documentary source of the references made to the work of JASPERS and UKWIR, and whether it will publish any such documentary sources.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: This is a matter for the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, and I have asked them to respond directly in writing to your question.

11 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-29350 by John Swinney on 4 June 2020, whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) a full breakdown of the data and methodology used in the Silver Swan exercise.

Answer · John Swinney: The data and methodology used in Exercise Silver Swan was provided by Public Health England and adapted by Health Protection Scotland for use in Scotland. That health protection function has now been integrated into the new Special Health Board, Public Health…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce local COVID-19 lockdowns in areas where it believes that the R rate might go above 1.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The R number is calculated for Scotland and we publish it on a weekly basis. The R number is not calculated for smaller areas such as Scottish local authorities as the ranges around the estimates would be very large and it would not allow us to understand the…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has not provided guidance and resources to local authorities to ensure that all care home staff are tested for COVID-19.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: On 17 May, new arrangements to significantly strengthen oversight of Scotland’s care homes were published ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-care-home-oversight/ ), with clinical and care professionals at NHS boards and local authoriti…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to roll out COVID-19 antibody testing more widely, and when will these tests will be made available by the NHS to the general public.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Any decision to purchase tests for a large-scale roll-out of antibody testing in Scotland will be led by clinical advice. Antibody testing has been underway since 6 May in Scotland to support disease surveillance and we are in the process of validating a num…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason all care home staff have not yet been tested for COVID-19.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: A further expansion of testing for care home residents and workers was announced on 1 May, which again focused on social care workers and care home residents. This includes undertaking enhanced outbreak investigation in all care homes where there are cases; c…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many care home residents have received COVID-19 tests since it announced the expansion of testing, whether they are symptomatic or not.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The COVID-19 data and trend charts for Scotland are published daily and provide a range of information, including the number of care homes notifying cases of COVID-19 and the number of suspected cases of COVID-19 in care homes. The data also includes the dail…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, for what reason local authorities are reportedly continuing to hire agency staff to work in different care homes.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The National Clinical and Practice Guidance for Adult Care Homes in Scotland states that staff should not work in more than one facility and movement between care homes must be restricted. It is recognised that this can be a fine balance in achieving appropri…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that there will be no shortage of (a) COVID-19 tests and (b) PPE if there is a second wave of the virus.

Answer · Clare Haughey: We continue to work closely with all parts of the UK to ensure we all benefit from mutual co-operation on procurement and distribution. The Scottish Government has its own supply, procurement and logistics arrangements in place working with manufacturers in S…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what modelling it has undertaken of what impact schools reopening in August 2020 might have on the R rate.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: SG is informed by the outputs of SAGE. The relative increase in R value using different models and assumptions for school openings is published in the behavioural science report on relaxing school closures. As these model outputs demonstrate relative increa…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the R rate has increased during phase 1 of the route map out of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Any effects on the R number from moving to phase 1 would be apparent after 2 to 3 weeks. We now publish the R range on a weekly basis. Up to the 22 May, R in Scotland was estimated to have remained between 0.7 & 1.0, though this has fallen to the range 0.6-0.…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the COVID-19 R rate on a regional basis.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The R number is calculated for Scotland as well as for the other three countries of the United Kingdom, and we publish it on a weekly basis. The R number is not calculated for Scottish regions, because the ranges around the estimates would be very large and t…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the different phases of the route map out of the COVID-19 lockdown and the impact each might have on the R rate.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The roadmap document published on 21 May sets out the criteria for easing restrictions: as we move beyond the first phase, future phases will be based on meeting particular criteria, including those set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). There have been…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people who have tested positive for COVID-19 have the contact tracers been in touch with so far, and how many of their contacts have the tracers subsequently alerted.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: From 28 May to 7 June, 681 index cases have been recorded in the Test and Protect system. From these, 741 contacts have been traced. An 'index case' is a person with a positive test result recorded in the Test and Protect system. New data will be released we…

8 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a one-off grant to dairy farmers affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, similar to that being offered in England.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29470 on 10 June 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/2…

4 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will extend COVID-19 testing to asymptomatic oil and gas workers to enable a safe increase in production activity.

Answer · Clare Haughey: Our testing strategy is based on expert clinical and scientific advice, and it is kept under constant review. At this time, we are not offering testing to oil and gas workers who do not have symptoms. Testing people who are not presenting with symptoms canno…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the COVID-19 lockdown arrangements, whether Scottish Water (a) is required or (b) has offered to pay contractors that are unable to continue delivery of work on capital investment and maintenance programmes and, if so, what the estimated or actual value of these payments has…

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Contractors delivering capital investment and maintenance programmes for Scottish Water operate under contracts that use the recognised New Engineering Contracts published by the Institution of Civil Engineers. These contracts include provisions relating to c…

3 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to questions S5W-29285 and S5W-29287 by Ben Macpherson on 3 June 2020, in light of it not holding this information about the business support grants scheme centrally, how it can assess effectively the (a) level of support that has been delivered to each industry se…

Answer · Ben Macpherson: We have engaged extensively with businesses, business organisations, and local authorities, to understand progress on the grant schemes, and identify and address where there are gaps in support, including gaps in support schemes provided by UK Government. As…

1 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of what the impact will be on portfolios that have seen a total of £255.2 million redeployed within the Scottish Budget Summer Revision in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Answer · Kate Forbes: No portfolio budgets are being cut in the Summer Budget Revision and all reprioritisation amounts within portfolios are set out in the detailed tables within the budget revision document. All funds are being redeployed to support the industries and infrastruc…

1 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-28665 by Jeane Freeman on 18 May 2020, how many people were discharged from hospital to a care home in (a) March, (b) April and (c) May 2020, also broken down by how many were tested for COVID-19.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29039 on 2 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/28…

1 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the New Lanark Trust with emergency funding to cope with its loss of income due to the COVID-19 outbreak and in order to avoid its potential closure.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government recognises the importance of New Lanark as one of Scotland’s six World Heritage Sites, and we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure it can continue to thrive. My officials attended two online meetings on Friday 29 th May,…

1 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting mental health charities through the COVID-19 crisis to help meet with increased demand.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Scottish Government’s £50 million Wellbeing Fund is supporting third sector organisations that have expanded their work to provide vital assistance for communities at risk in the face of Covid-19. Among the 558 organisations recently offered funding in th…

1 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps have been taken to prepare the NHS for any increase in demand for mental health services because of the COVID-19 crisis.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Scottish Government is working closely with NHS Boards during the pandemic to monitor the impact of Covid-19 on demand and capacity. We wrote to NHS Boards on 14 May highlighting mental health as a clinical priority and asking them to set out plans for re…

1 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans are in place to provide mental health services for (a) NHS staff and (b) carers, in light of evidence suggesting that they will be disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

Answer · Clare Haughey: I am working closely with partners across the health and social care sector, including NHS Boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and local employers, to ensure mental health and wellbeing support is in place for the workforce. A range of support servic…

1 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) suicides and (b) attempted suicides have been recorded since January 2020, and how this compares with the (i) same period in and (ii) calendar year (A) 2018 and (B) 2019.

Answer · Clare Haughey: Unfortunately, I am unable to provide this data at this time. In response to part a) Information on deaths by suicide are published yearly by National Records Scotland (NRS), usually in June for the previous calendar year. The report for 2019 has been delaye…

1 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people it estimates will be affected by mental health concerns because of an increase in the levels of domestic violence during the COVID-19 crisis, and what steps is it taking to support them.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Scottish Government does not hold estimates on the number of people that will be affected by mental health concerns as a result of domestic abuse during the COVID-19 crisis. However, we understand from regular discussions with key stakeholders that the me…

1 Jun 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the risks to public health and wellbeing from associated mental health concerns during the COVID-19 crisis, including from alcohol and substance abuse.

Answer · Clare Haughey: Clinical advice and available scientific evidence suggests that it is too early to draw conclusions on what the long-term physical and mental health impacts of the Coronavirus outbreak will be. However, the Scottish Government is undertaking research and acti…