Parliamentary questions
Alex Cole-Hamilton
2,700 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
1 Aug 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to recruit Ukrainian speakers, who are already living in Scotland, to help welcome and communicate with refugees from Ukraine.
Answer · Neil Gray: When displaced people from Ukraine arrive at Scotland’s Ukraine Welcome Hubs, they are given an immediate warm welcome to Scotland and immediate support in a safe and secure space. Welcome Hub staff will talk to those who have arrived about their immediate ne…
1 Aug 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding Ukrainian refugees, whether it plans to (a) create a transportation support fund to help them attend school and seek employment, (b) expand the Job Start Payment to help with the transition to employment and (c) include them in the free bus pass scheme.
Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government has ensured that all refugees and displaced people from Ukraine have access to the same transport entitlements as other people resident in Scotland. Those who are aged over 60, under 22 or meet certain disability criteria, are able to …
1 Aug 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) assessments it has undertaken and (b) preparations it has made to ensure adequate capacity for (i) Ukrainian children to be educated and (ii) Ukrainian-speaking translators to be made available in Scottish schools.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government is actively working with local authorities, Education Scotland and other partners to understand and support the needs of Ukrainian children and ensure they can access appropriate education. This work is being co-ordinated through a joi…
1 Aug 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements it has made to ensure that Ukrainian refugees have access to local dental treatment and GP practices.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government has issued guidance to Health Boards setting out our expectation that Health Boards will ensure Ukrainian refugees have access to local dental treatment and GP practices.
29 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many category (a) purple, (b) red, (c) amber and (d) yellow ambulance call-outs took more than (i) 8, (ii) 10, (iii) 15, (iv) 20, (v) 30, (vi) 60 and (vii)120 minutes to arrive at the incident in each NHS board area in each (A) of the last three calendar years and (B) month in 2022 t…
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Official statistical reports relating to the Scottish Ambulance Service can be found on the following link. Public Health Scotland
29 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many category (a) purple, (b) red, (c) amber and (d) yellow ambulance call-outs took more than (i) 8, (ii) 10, (iii) 15, (iv) 20, (v) 30, (vi) 60 and (vii) 120 minutes to arrive at the incident in each (A) of the last three calendar years and (B) month in 2022 to date, and what propo…
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The information that has been requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. Official statistical reports relating to the Scottish Ambulance Service can be found on the following link. Public Health Scotland
28 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many doses of the Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine it has access to, and whether it plans to order any more doses.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Procurement of the MVA vaccine is being managed by UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on a 4 nations basis. Scotland has secured a limited supply of 3,000 doses so far and will have access to more stock once it becomes available. UKSHA have procured a further…
28 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions ministers have had with their ministerial counterparts in other parts of the UK regarding the monkeypox outbreak.
Answer · Maree Todd: The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care attends regular meetings with his counterparts in the UK and other Devolved Administrations to ensure that the Scottish Government is represented in relation to public health incidents which require a coordinat…
28 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to offer vaccination to people most at risk of contracting monkeypox.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) are working together with Health Boards to support their planning and the safe delivery of monkeypox vaccination to support the response to the current outbreak. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and …
28 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what briefings and information ministers have received from health officials regarding the monkeypox outbreak.
Answer · Maree Todd: Scottish Government Ministers regularly meet with and are briefed by health officials and clinical advisers to ensure they are kept up to date with the ongoing situation regarding case numbers, treatment pathways and public health information messaging on the…
28 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the (a) First Minister and (b) Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care has had discussions with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation regarding the monkeypox outbreak.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Each Health Department in the UK and across Devolved Nations is made aware of all JCVI advice though their designated observers. The Scottish Government’s Senior Medical Officer (SMO) is a member, and attends JCVI and Sub-Committee meetings and receives all C…
27 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09614 by George Adam on 19 July 2022, how many times in each of the last five years it has exceeded the time limit for responding to (a) freedom of information requests and (b) letters to ministers.
Answer · George Adam: The Scottish Government remains committed to answering all correspondence as quickly as possible and within agreed timescales. In relation to (a) freedom of information requests, the figures for the last five financial years are as follows: Year Number of …
27 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the ministerial statement by the Minister for Drugs Policy on Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards on 23 June 2022, when funding for Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) to meet MAT standards was confirmed, and when ADPs received this funding into relevant bank accou…
Answer · Angela Constance: The National Mission has been set out for the five years of this Parliament and with it comes a commitment to fund the MAT standards. I have previously given Parliament and delivery partners assurance that funding is to be used for Alcohol and Drugs Partnersh…
26 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether works to alter the cladding at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh has been undertaken, and whether there is a timeline in place for work to be carried out that will make the building compliant with building standards…
Answer · Humza Yousaf: It has been recommended that the spacing of cavity barriers (which stop the spread of fire through wall cavities behind the cladding) on the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences be reduced from 20 metre interva…
26 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what funding and provision it currently gives to make translators available to refugees and asylum seekers when they first arrive in Scotland, and what additional funding and provision it has made available since the start of 2022.
Answer · Shona Robison: Asylum is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of support and accommodation for people seeking asylum. The Home Office Interpreter Language Services Unit (ILSU) holds overall responsibility for the delivery of …
26 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what additional funding and provision it has made available since the start of 2022 (a) in total and (b) for nurseries, schools and colleges to teach English as a second language to refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Scotland.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Local authorities can claim a general tariff of £10,500 per Ukrainian Displaced Person (UDP) arriving on the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Local authorities will also receive additional education funding for Ukrainian Children and Young People under the Homes fo…
25 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how the £12 million that it provided for the financial year 2021-22 to support the wellbeing of people working in health, social care and social work was (a) allocated and (b) spent, and whether it will provide a breakdown of how much was spent on each service that was allocated money.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government previously provided a response advising where the £12 million to support the wellbeing of people working in health, social care and social work was allocated and what was spent. https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/writt…
25 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many properties have received funding to date from the £500,000 it allocated to meet the cost of installing interlinked fire alarm systems; what the average cost has been per property of those that received funding to have interlinked fire alarms installed, and how many of the system…
Answer · Shona Robison: In 2021-22, total funding of £1.1 million has been provided to Care & Repair (C&R). This was, in addition to the £1 million allocated to Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS) for its Home Fire Safety Visit programme to install interlinked fire alarms in the h…
22 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-09460 by Humza Yousaf on 13 July 2022, by what date NHS boards had submitted applications to the Long COVID Support Fund, and whether any applications made by the 13 NHS boards ever had to be resubmitted due to rejection of proposals by the Strategi…
Answer · Humza Yousaf: All territorial health boards were invited to submit a gap analysis providing an assessment of care and support available to people with long COVID and areas identified for future development. Returns were discussed during a meeting of the Strategic Network…
12 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many GP surgeries there are and what percentage of those have dedicated mental health professionals; and how many (a) additional mental health professionals in GP surgeries have been recruited under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and (b) mental health professionals…
Answer · Humza Yousaf: As at 1 October 2021, there were 922 GP Practices. This data was published on 14 December 2021 – ( GP Workforce and practice list sizes 2011 - 2021 - Publications - Public Health Scotland ) The Scottish Government does not hold a global figure for the perc…
12 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many A&E departments there are and what percentage of those have dedicated mental health professionals; and how many (a) additional mental health professionals in A&E departments have been recruited under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and (b) mental health profess…
Answer · Kevin Stewart: There are 91 locations providing A&E services across Scotland. Of these, 30 are classed as Emergency Departments - larger A&E services that typically provide a 24 hour consultant led service. The requested data on the number of mental health workers in A&E d…
12 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many police station custody suites there are and what percentage of those have dedicated mental health professionals; and how many (a) additional mental health professionals in police station custody suites have been recruited under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 a…
Answer · Keith Brown: Police Scotland currently have 69 police station custody suites. However, the Police Scotland custody estate is flexible and the number of custody centres open at any one time may change depending on demand. The NHS assumed legal responsibility to provide h…
12 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many prisons there are and what percentage of those have dedicated mental health professionals; and how many (a) additional mental health professionals in prisons have been recruited under Action 15 of the Mental Health Strategy 2017-2027 and (b) mental health professionals in total …
Answer · Kevin Stewart: There are 15 prisons located throughout Scotland, 2 of which are managed privately. Responsibility for providing prison healthcare was transferred from Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to NHS in 2011, and as such the Scottish Government does not hold data on th…
11 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide financial and other support to NHS staff with Long COVID after the transitional arrangements for COVID Special Leave end on 31 August 2022.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: On 24 June it was confirmed that all Temporary Covid Policies (including Special Leave) will be removed ( https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/dl/DL(2022)21.pdf) and that from 1 September 2022, NHS Scotland colleagues who are absent due to COVID-19 will revert to c…
8 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what specific criteria it is using to prioritise those who are most in need of treatment as it addresses the NHS Scotland backlog, and what is the evidence used to determine the criteria.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government has recently announced a new set of ambitious targets to eliminate long waits, with an initial focus on long waits over two years for new outpatients by August 2022 and for inpatients and day case procedures by September 2022. We have…
8 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of mosquito devices to deter the gathering of young people, and whether it considers that the use of such devices should be legal.
Answer · Ash Regan: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 2022. 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-committee…
8 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation of the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland that mosquito devices should be banned in Scotland.
Answer · Ash Regan: The Scottish Government is opposed to the use of mosquito anti-loitering devices and does not believe the use of these devices is consistent with our approach to tackling antisocial behaviour which seeks to promote strong and supportive communities where the …
8 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to review the use of mosquito devices in Scotland.
Answer · Ash Regan: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 2022. 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-committee…
8 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to (a) regulate the use and (b) ban the sale of mosquito devices in Scotland.
Answer · Ash Regan: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 2022. 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-committee…
8 Jul 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the position of the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland that the use of mosquito devices infringes a number of rights in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Answer · Ash Regan: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09757 on 2 August 2022. 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-committee…