Lewis Macdonald

22 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to ensure that there are enough suitable applicants to fill consultant physician vacancies in the North of Scotland NHS region.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34269 on 20 January 2021. 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/parliamentarybusines…

22 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to address concerns that 44% of consultant physicians in the North of Scotland NHS region are expected to reach retirement age in the next decade.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34269 on 20 January 2021. 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/parliamentarybusines…

17 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to complete delivery of superfast broadband speeds of over 30 Mbps to all premises in the north of Scotland under Lot 1 of the R100 project.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: As outlined in my response to S5W-34020 on 14 December 2020, we have issued BT with an updated intervention area taking account of changes in commercial roll-out plans. It is only once this remodelling work is finalised that we will be able to say with certai…

17 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands in its press release of 14 December 2020 on superfast broadband for homes and businesses in the north, that "complex engineering work to lay 16 new subsea cables will provide resilient connections for our …

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: New subsea cables will be laid in Argyll and Bute, Highland, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands local authority areas. This will build on those already laid as part of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project in the Highlands and Islands. As outlined…

17 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands in its press release of 14 December 2020 on superfast broadband for homes and businesses in the north, that “more than 80% of the build we are funding will provide full fibre to the premises and speeds of …

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: At contract signature, BT indicated that they would build to almost 71,000 of the 90,530 premises that were in scope. Of these, BT have indicated that they planned to build to 60,700 as Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) or 85.6% of their build. This is an excellen…

17 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many care homes (a) have and (b) do not have isolation facilities with a dedicated staff team for residents with COVID-19.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: This information is not collated centrally. Each outbreak requires to be managed on an individual basis because of the particular needs of each home and the answer to S5W-34142 on 14 January 2021 sets out what support and guidance is available to care homes. …

17 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-30282 by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020, whether it is satisfied that all care home staff receive at least statutory levels of sick pay when absent from work, and what evaluation it has carried out to confirm this.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34138 on 22 February 2021. 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/parliamentarybusine…

17 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-30282 by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020, whether it is satisfied that all care home workers employed under local authority contracts are in receipt of the Living Wage, and what evaluation it has carried out to confirm this.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Since 2016 The Scottish Government has had a joint policy with COSLA to ensure that all adult social care workers are paid at least the real living wage. During 2018-19, this commitment was extended to include those undertaking overnight social care support. …

17 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-30282 by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020, whether it has conducted any assessment of the growth or reduction in zero hour contracts in the care home sector since reaching its initial agreement with COSLA that employees under local government contracts…

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34138 on 22 February 2021. 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/parliamentarybusine…

17 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is regarding care home residents who test positive for, or show symptoms of, COVID-19 where their care home has no isolation facility or dedicated staff team.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Guidance from Health Protection Scotland supports those working in Social, Community and Residential Care settings. It sets out measures to prevent spread of COVID-19 and how to provide care for individuals as safely as possible, including staff cohorting. Th…

17 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-30282 by Jeane Freeman on 16 July 2020, whether it has examined whether any care home providers have responded to the requirement to pay staff at least the Living Wage by reducing (a) sick pay and (b) paid training.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34138 on 22 February 2021. 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/parliamentarybusine…

9 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings of its report on Exercise Iris, whether Health Protection Scotland considered the feasibility of community testing and, if so, what (a) the outcome was and (b) action has been taken to address the issues raised.

Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The High Consequence Infectious Disease sub group of the Scottish Health Protection Network, which was set up in September 2018 to specifically look at preparedness for managing HCIDs, has identified work to develop clinical pathways for the safe management o…

9 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings of its report on Exercise Iris, whether discussions regarding additional capacity requirements have been held with the Resilience Unit and, if so, what action was taken to address the issues raised.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Exercise Iris report noted that capacity and resilience should be considered at each meeting of the incident management team (IMT) dealing with a High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID), and that Scottish Government would work closely with Boards to en…

9 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings of its report on Exercise Iris, whether NHS boards considered the resource impact of extensive contact tracing; what resources were allocated to each board to address this, and whether it will publish the final assessment made by (a) the NHS overall and (b) each…

Answer · Jeane Freeman: Exercise Iris was delivered in March 2018 to test the response to an outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), which is a High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID), in one or more NHS Board areas in Scotland. It was not designed to test a p…

9 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings of its report on Exercise Iris, whether the PPE requirements for primary and secondary care were addressed, and whether a clear policy regarding high-consequence infectious diseases was produced by the Health Protection Preparedness Group.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: A High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) sub group of the Scottish Health Protection Network was set up in September 2018 to specifically look at preparedness for managing HCIDs. As part of the Group’s work to date, the Respiratory Protective Equipment Su…

9 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings of its report on Exercise Iris, whether health and social care partnerships are now included in NHS board command and control structures.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: As part of The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014, Integrated Joint Boards (IJBs) were created to assume responsibility for the strategic planning and commissioning of health and social care services. All IJBs were fully operational by April 20…

9 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it allocated to public bodies for the development and maintenance of track, trace and contact systems in each year since the H1N1 pandemic in 2010.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: On 29 September 2020 I announced £1.1 billion in additional funding for NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships to meet COVID-19 related costs. A breakdown of the initial provision for Boards included for NHS Test and Protect – as included in this …

9 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many Additional Dwelling Supplement payments have been paid in each year since 2016, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Ben Macpherson: Figure 18 in Revenue Scotland’s Annual Summary of Trends in the Devolved Taxes provides an estimate of the number of Land and Buildings Transaction Tax returns received with Additional Dwelling Supplement declared due by local authority in each year. The lat…

9 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many home owners there have been in each financial year since 2016-17 who own an additional residential property valued at £40,000 or more, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. However, data is available in relation to the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax Additional Dwelling Supplement, which applies in general terms to the purchase of additional residential properties of £4…

9 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-30890 by Clare Haughey on 17 August 2020, whether the data regarding the number of people with learning disabilities who have died from COVID-19 has now been collated and, if so, whether it will publish this.

Answer · Clare Haughey: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-33545 on 07 December 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/parliamentarybusine…

3 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recommendations the Grampian Incident Management Team (IMT) presented to local partners on 18 August 2020 regarding the lifting the of the Aberdeen local lockdown, and on what dates the Grampian IMT recommended that the local lockdown should be lifted.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Incident management team recommended on August 18 2020, that a staged opening of hospitality venues in Aberdeen should be considered, subject to risk based site specific reviews. They suggested lower risk settings could be lifted on August 22, with higher…

2 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is any scientific evidence of a link between the ban on playing background music in pubs and a reduction in COVID-19 transmission rates, and if (a) so, when this evidence will be published and (b) not, whether it will commission scientific research into this.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: An expert advisory group, comprising industry and independent acoustic experts, environmental health and government officials, and industry trade representatives, was set up to look at how low level background sound can be safely managed in hospitality. Follo…

2 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the economic impact has been of the ban on playing background music in pubs to reduce COVID-19 transmission rates.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: This has not been quantified. However, the measure to stop background sound in hospitality was a cautious approach pending a better understanding of how low level sound can be managed safely. An expert advisory group, comprising industry and independent acous…

2 Dec 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted any research or monitoring on the impact of the ban on background music in pubs on the volume of conversations within and between socially-distanced groups of customers.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: An expert advisory group, comprising industry and independent acoustic experts, environmental health and government officials, and industry trade representatives, was set up to look at how low level background sound can be safely managed in hospitality, inclu…

27 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list all respondents to the public consultation on its draft Offshore Wind Policy Statement.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The list of respondents to the draft Offshore Wind Policy Statement, of those who gave permission for their details to be published, can be found on our Consultation Hub: https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/draft-offshore-wind-poli…

27 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish its final Offshore Wind Policy Statement.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Scottish Government published its final Offshore Wind Policy Statement on 28 October 2020. The Scottish Parliament was informed of the publication via a Government Initiated Question (GIQ). I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-32728 on 28 Oct…

27 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether ministers will meet trade unions representing offshore energy workers in Scotland before publication of its final Offshore Wind Policy Statement.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Scottish Government published its final Offshore Wind Policy Statement on 28 October 2020. Trade Unions responded to the public consultation on the draft document, which ran from December 2019 to March 2020, and their views were therefore considered in th…

27 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had since 28 October 2020 with the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council in relation to its final Offshore Wind Policy Statement.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Members of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) received an embargoed copy of the Scottish Government’s Offshore Wind Policy Statement on 27 October 2020, the day prior to publication. The Offshore Wind Policy Statement and Marine Scotland’s new …

27 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether all allied health professionals, who have the necessary prescribing rights and are trained to do so, will be utilised to help administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: An existing core of trained and experienced vaccinators from the flu programme will transition to the Covid vaccination programme during this month and next and we are actively recruiting from NHS Scotland’s accelerated recruitment portal, and drawing from th…

26 Nov 2020 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has issued to the integration authorities regarding taking the views of staff and patients into account when considering any decision to move primary care medical practices from direct provision by these authorities to provision by independent contractors.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 sets out the legislative framework for integrating health and social care. It requires Integration Authorities to engage and consult with a range of stakeholders, working with local communities and profess…