Parliamentary questions
Neil Findlay
2,296 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
7 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it was given specific scientific advice regarding COVID-19 testing prior to 1 February 2020.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Scottish Government received expert health protection and public health advice from a range of scientific experts including the Chief Medical Officer, Public Health Scotland, the Scottish Health Protection Network, NERVT…
7 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what statements, comments, announcements and news releases about her policy remit have been issued by the Minister for Older People and Equalities since the COVID-19 lockdown began.
Answer · Christina McKelvie: The Scottish Government has ensured a strong focus on equality and human rights throughout the response to this pandemic, an approach set out in a letter to the Scottish Parliament’s Equality and Human Rights Committee on 12 May 2020 ( https://www.parliament…
6 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many times ministers have met representatives of Murray Capital and/or Charlotte Street Partners to discuss the Garden District project, and which ministers attended.
Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government proactively publishes details of all Ministerial meetings. This information can be found at the following link https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/ .
5 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's reported comment on Channel 4 News on 16 March 2020 that "we have absolutely adequate testing in Scotland".
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government has significantly increased testing capacity in Scotland in response to this outbreak. NHS lab testing is now available in all 14 health board areas with a capacity of around 6,000 tests a day. Combined with capacity from the Glasgow L…
4 May 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether non face-to-face communications should be excluded from the Lobbying Register (a) during the COVID-19 outbreak and (b) at any other time, and what action it will take to amend the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016 in light of COVID-19.
Answer · Graeme Dey: The operation of the statutory framework for lobbying is a matter for the Scottish Parliament.
30 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a public holiday as mark of respect for the people who lost their lives during the COVID-19 crisis, and in recognition of the contribution of workers at this time.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: It is important that we acknowledge the role and sacrifice made by key workers and others during the COVID-19 pandemic. The First Minister stresses this in her daily briefings and also notes the personal loss that is experienced by friends and family to those…
30 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will hold a public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government's focus is currently on tackling the disease, its impact on our society and how we might safely ease the country's lockdown restrictions. This will continue to be our priority. It is right that a process of scrutiny should takes place …
28 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have been registered in hospital on each day since 1 February 2020, and how this compares with the figures on these dates in each of the last five years.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Public Health Scotland has recently started to publish weekly data on the wider impact COVID 19 is having on the healthcare system, comparing recent trends in activity with historic norms. There is a section on Hospital Admissions in their publication, which …
27 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when personal protective equipment (PPE) for COVID-19 will be provided to all dental practices.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: NHS dental treatment is available to those with an acute dental problem, through 56 Urgent Dental Care Centres (UDCCs) across all Health Board areas. The UDCCs have been put in place in response to the initial closure of routine dental services on 23 March an…
27 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's reported comment on Channel 4 News on 16 March 2020 that Scotland would begin testing 1.2 million people for COVID-19; how many of the 1.2 million people have since been tested, and, at the current rate, when testing of all 1.2 mil…
Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28708 on 16 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…
27 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's comments, reported on 16 March 2020, that "we will almost certainly, as a four-country UK, we will move to a position in the next few weeks where we will ask those groups (the over-70s and those with pre-existing conditions) to not…
Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28708 on 16 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/2…
27 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's comment, reported on 13 March 2020, that he was "comfortable" with a Celtic v Rangers football match going ahead.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Professor Leitch is the National Clinical Director for the Scottish Government. Advice provided publicly by Professor Leitch has been in this capacity. Guidance and advice has evolved over the course of recent months to reflect both changing circumstances wi…
27 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's comments on Channel 4 News on 16 March 2020 that he is "not so sure" he likes the phrase, herd immunity, but that "what we're trying to do is manage the spread of the virus safely over time in the population", and how these comment…
Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28708 on 16 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…
27 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's comment on 16 March 2020 that, for "public health reasons", it was fine that people, including his wife, had recently been to a music concert.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28708 on 16 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/2…
27 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's comments, reported on 16 March 2020, that "schools don’t help us much with the spread of the virus. It seems counter-intuitive I know”, and that it might be appealing to close schools and colleges and "shut the border, hunker down……
Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28708 on 16 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/2…
27 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the National Clinical Director's reported comment on BBC Breakfast on 22 March 2020 that he knew there was enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the COVID-19 outbreak.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Professor Leitch is the National Clinical Director for the Scottish Government. Advice provided publicly by Professor Leitch has been in this capacity. Guidance and advice has evolved over the course of recent months to reflect both changing circumstances wi…
27 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been discharged from hospital to care homes since 1 February 2020, and how many have subsequently died.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: This specific information requested is not held centrally.
24 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many hospital patients who had been categorised as a delayed discharge case but were subsequently discharged since 1 March 2020 have died each day.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of patients who may have died after discharge from hospital.
23 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide transport to test centres for social care staff with suspected COVID-19, in line with what is offered to healthcare workers.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Social care staff who are symptomatic can request home testing kits to be sent through the post. All Boards do have in place arrangements for safe transport of persons who have (or are suspected of having) Covid-19.
23 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the (a) status and (b) location of patients who were in hospitals waiting on care packages (delayed discharge cases) and who have been discharged to increase capacity for COVID-19 patients on each day since 1 February 2020.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Reducing delayed discharge is a long standing objective given the clinical benefit to patients. Following the Covid-19 outbreak the Scottish Government commenced the collection of daily delayed discharge management information from Health and Social Care Part…
23 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position was up until 21 April 2020 on discharging patients from hospitals to care homes without first testing them for COVID-19; what its position has been since then, and for what reason there has been any change in its position.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The basis of infection control in Scotland has been, and continues to be, the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM) (here: https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/guidance/nipcm/ The NIPCM was first published in 2012 and is updated in real time to …
23 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been contacted through contact tracing following a patient testing positive for COVID-19 on each day since 1 February 2020.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government was clear that if a point of sustained community transmission for COVID-19 was reached, we would rely less on contact tracing and focus instead on providing the best care to those who had developed the disease, delay and reduce the spr…
22 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it decided to introduce a lockdown in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and whether it will publish the advice that it received that led to this decision.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28658 on 18 May 2020 ; advice and guidance on moving into lockdown in response to the Covid-19 outbreak was received through SAGE, COBR, and the Scottish CMO and all decisions were made on the scientific and me…
22 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it was advised by (a) its and (b) the UK advisory group on COVID-19 that there should be a lockdown in response to the outbreak, and whether it will publish the advice that was provided.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Our decision making in the approach to responding to Covid-19 has been and continues to be guided by the latest scientific evidence from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), which f…
22 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) it and (b) Police Scotland was aware at the time of the Duke of Rothesay travelling to and from Scotland after it instructed people to avoid unnecessary travel due to COVID-19; when it was informed, and what its response was.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government are not routinely informed of visits which members of the Royal Family make to Scotland, particularly when they are undertaken privately without a public engagement aspect. Police Scotland have advised that they were informed of HRH T…
22 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many excess deaths there have been on each day since 1 February 2020, and how this compares with what would normally have been expected based on the last 20 years of data.
Answer · Clare Haughey: Number of "excess" deaths which occurred by day between 1 February and 19 April compared with "what would normally have been expected" based on the previous 20 years. Deaths in 2020 Annual average deaths from 2000 to 2019 Difference: "excess" deaths on…
22 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people who died on each day since 1 February 2020 and who tested positive for COVID-19 (a) had and (b) had not been hospitalised on the suspicion that they had the virus.
Answer · Clare Haughey: This information is not held centrally. It may be available on request from individual health boards.
22 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have died on each day since 1 February 2020, and how this compares with each of the last five years.
Answer · Clare Haughey: Number of deaths which occurred in Scotland, day by day between 1 February and 19 April Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Month Died Day Died Feb 1 170 160 188 158 192 166 2 193 154 205 161 166 151 3 213 172 172 16…
21 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it considers Addiewell prison to reportedly have more prisoners testing positive or self-isolating than any other prison.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows: The reason for the variation in the level of people testing positive or self-isolating between different prisons is not immedi…
21 Apr 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners have tested positive or self-isolated due to COVID-19, broken down by prison.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows: The Scottish Prison Service publishes a daily update on the number of individuals self-isolating across our estate, as well as…