Parliamentary questions
Alexander Burnett
1,406 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
7 Dec 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the prevalence of executors who are considered problematic.
Answer · Ash Denham: The Scottish Government has carried out no analysis of the prevalence of executors who are considered problematic. It is not clear where such information may be held or how it may be gathered. The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service may have figures for the…
7 Dec 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will bring forward additional succession law reforms following the Succession (Scotland) Act 2016.
Answer · Ash Denham: The Scottish Government’s response to its most recent consultation on succession law reform was published earlier this year. The Scottish Government committed to taking forward several issues on which there was a degree of consensus. Not all these matters may…
7 Dec 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the ability of legislation and common law to allow executors to be removed where they are not carrying out the responsibilities and duties of that role.
Answer · Ash Denham: The Scottish Government continue to consider the recommendations of the Scottish Law Commission’s on reform of the law of trusts. Among those recommendations was reform of statutory powers to remove trustees and which would include executors. Once considerati…
7 Dec 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to amend the (a) Trusts (Scotland) Act 1921 and/or (b) common law to broaden the circumstances whereby an executor or trustee can be removed.
Answer · Ash Denham: The Scottish Government continues to give full consideration to the extensive work of the Scottish Law Commission on reform of Scots law of trusts, which includes recommendations on the removal of trustees. Regarding executors, the Scottish Government has alr…
7 Dec 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the actions being taken by the Scottish Dispute Resolution Delivery Group.
Answer · Ash Denham: The Scottish Government response to the Report of the Independent Review of Mediation in the Civil Justice System in Scotland confirmed our intention to work with key stakeholders on a collaborative basis to understand fully the implications of the proposals …
4 Dec 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether its current epidemiological models attempt to capture numerically the impact of lockdown restrictions on increased mortality in the (a) short and (b) long term in order to draw comparisons with the number of lives that are considered to have been saved by the restrictions.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The aim of the Strategic Framework restrictions are to suppress the growth in total infections and deaths. Predicting the exact effects of the restrictions on deaths is difficult, though Scottish Government is closely monitoring changes in the epidemic on an …
3 Dec 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much additional funding care homes will receive to support them with plans for expanding COVID-19 testing for care home visitors, following the announcement on 25 November 2020 that testing for visitors will be introduced from 7 December, with a full roll-out planned for January 2021.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The Scottish Government will provide the necessary funding across health and care services to recognise the additional costs of responding to COVID-19, to support remobilisation of services, and to ensure that patient and staff safety remains the top priority…
3 Dec 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to care homes that have not yet implemented the visitation guidance and are not allowing window and outdoor visits, as well as indoor visits, for family members of residents.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Visiting is a fundamental part of the health and wellbeing of those who live in care homes and the Scottish Government recognises the impact that visiting restrictions has had on care home residents and their loved ones. We are continuing to work to support h…
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures are being taken to validate positive polymerase chain reaction COVID-19 tests with an initial value greater than 25, such as a retest after 48 hours and assuming a false positive if the cycle threshold is greater than the index sample.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: NHS Scotland Laboratories have a protocol in place to carry out confirmation testing (or repeat testing) in certain circumstances to confirm whether low positive test results should be reported as positive or negative. NHS Scotland Labs have instigated a meth…
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the cycle threshold for the polymerase chain reaction process being used by (a) NHS and (b) Lighthouse Labs laboratories for COVID-19 tests is known, and when this information will be made public, in light of it playing a critical role in diagnosis and the development of policy.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The cycle threshold (Ct) can be used as an indicator of the concentration of viral genetic material in a patient sample; a typical PCR assay will have a maximum of 40 thermal cycles. Ct values are not directly comparable between assays and may not be reported…
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the cycle threshold is for the polymerase chain reaction process being used for COVID-19 tests processed at (a) NHS and (b) Lighthouse Labs laboratories.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: PCR tests are used to detect the presence of viral genetic material in a sample and the cycle thresholds (Ct) can be used as an indicator of the concentration of viral genetic material in a patient sample. A typical PCR assay will have a maximum of 40 thermal…
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government at what level of population infection will the COVID-19 testing strategy change from maximising sensitivity to find every possible case in high-volume throughput laboratories to a focus on maximising specificity in low-volume laboratories with high levels of quality control in order to a…
Answer · Jeane Freeman: No laboratory test is 100% accurate. The laboratory tests being used to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Scotland are real-time RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) assays which are the gold standard for respiratory viruses. The likelihood …
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS staff who have had to self-isolate due to COVID-19 were (a) symptomatic and (b) asymptomatic.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Information on how many NHS staff who have had to self-isolate due to COVID-19 were (a)symptomatic and (b)asymptomatic is not centrally held by ISD or NES. Information available on Covid absence is published daily and can be found on the following link: htt…
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether positive COVID-19 tests for NHS staff that result in them having to self-isolate have confirmatory retests performed.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Staff members who test positive for COVID-19 following a PCR test do not require a confirmatory retest.
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, aside from statistical modelling in relation to COVID-19, what checks have been carried out to ensure that cross-contamination of a negative patient sample by the positive control synthetic sequence would not be mistaken for a positive whole genome sequence result, and how many control …
Answer · Jeane Freeman: NHS Scotland Laboratories are UKAS accredited and thus have quality procedures in place to minimise and guard against cross contamination of samples, and protocols in place to communicate and organise retesting if found to have occurred. Public Health Scotlan…
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many patient deaths in intensive care units there were between 1 September and 31 October 2020, and how this compares with each of the previous five years.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The number patient deaths in intensive care units there were between 1 September and 31 October 2020, and how this compares with each of the previous five years can be found in the following table. Table 1. Number of deaths in Intensive Care and Combined Uni…
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the explanation is for the reported fall in all acute respiratory infections since 1 September 2020 compared with previous years, and what its position is on whether there has been a misclassification of any such cases as COVID-19.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: The Scottish Government understands that the fall in reduction in reported acute respiratory infections (ARI) is likely due to a combination of factors. This includes changes in the behaviour of the population because of the infection control measures we have…
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement antibody testing of everyone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 since 1 September 2020 in order to confirm that the diagnoses were correct.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government is not currently planning to test everyone who has been diagnosed with Covid-19 for antibodies. There is currently no clinical certainty around what proportion of people may have a detectable antibody response following infection, and…
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of pillar 1 and pillar 2 positive COVID-19 tests on each day since 1 September 2020.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The information required is provided through the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-data-for-scotland/ Pillar 1 is NHS Scotland labs Pillar 2 is UK Government testing programme
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people who have died as a result of COVID-19 since 1 September 2020 had a post mortem.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Authorised post-mortem examinations are undertaken for deaths in hospitals by NHS Boards, where the cause of death is unknown, to establish the medical cause of death. They are also undertaken under the direction of the Procurator Fiscal for relevant cases a…
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will introduce measures to exclude false positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 tests of hospital patients through the use of confirmatory testing with lateral flow kits.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: PCR tests provide the “gold standard” for SARS-CoV-2 testing in Scotland. There are no plans to use lateral flow tests for confirmatory testing of hospital patients, as lateral flow tests currently available are less sensitive than PCR tests.
26 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the outline business case for its proposed publicly-owned energy company.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Scottish Government made a commitment to discuss the outcomes of the outline business case and agree next steps with local authorities before publishing the report. We have not been able to do this as we and local authorities have had to prioritise effort…
19 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving to local authorities that have had to minimise or reduce concessions for disabled people who regularly use their public facilities, such as swimming pools.
Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: It is the responsibility of each local authority to provide local facilities for sport and leisure, and to set a fair pricing structure for these facilities. Many of these facility operators offer concessionary schemes, including a variety of membership opti…
18 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32700 by Richard Lochhead on 18 November 2020, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding what support it can provide to students who are unable to access jobs that they have to support their studies in the event they are r…
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government recognises that this has been and continues to be an extremely difficult time for students, particularly for those who would normally have taken up employment opportunities during their studies. Eligible students in Further and Higher…
17 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to co-ordinate and focus investment to ensure there will be dedicated port facilities to support floating wind.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Scotland has enormous floating offshore wind potential and the Scottish Government is committed to maximising the economic benefits of both floating and fixed offshore wind farms in Scottish waters. Without doubt, Scotland’s ports are a key part of our offsho…
17 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to support the timely availability of grid connections to allow ScotWind projects to contribute to the 2030 renewable energy targets.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The regulation and funding of electricity networks are reserved to the UK Government. However, we are engaging closely with Ofgem and BEIS to ensure that its policy and regulation recognises and enables Scotland’s world leading net zero target, and unlocks in…
17 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there are timely site award and consenting processes in place to allow ScotWind projects to be in a position to compete in the 2025 CfD 6th Auction Round.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Crown Estate Scotland is responsible for awarding lease agreements to offshore renewable energy installations in Scottish waters and have confirmed a closing date for applications to ScotWind Leasing of 31 March 2021. Crown Estate Scotland expects to be able …
17 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether ScotWind will be in a position to deliver floating wind by 2030.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Scotland has already become a global leader in the deployment of floating wind. We are home to the world’s first floating offshore wind farm, Equinor’s 30 MW Hywind Scotland, with a second, the 50 MW Kincardine project, currently under construction. The Scott…
6 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider re-categorising museums and galleries as public buildings so that they might remain open in areas under level 3 restrictions.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The published Coronavirus (COVID-19): local protection levels guidance indicates that for level 3, visitor attractions, such as museums and galleries, can remain open with protective measures. This is the same status as that for public buildings for level 3. …
6 Nov 2020 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review and update the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Scotland) Regulations 1984.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: There are no current plans to review the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Scotland) Regulations 1984.