Parliamentary questions
Alex Cole-Hamilton
2,700 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
28 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the current arrangements are regarding continuing pay for NHS Scotland staff who are experiencing prolonged absence from work due to long COVID.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: We introduced temporary Special Leave measures at the beginning of the pandemic to support our NHS colleagues and help the service manage infection levels. Since March 2020, NHS Staff who have been absent due to COVID have been paid in full as if they had be…
28 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to recognise long COVID as a work-related injury, particularly for health and social care workers.
Answer · Ben Macpherson: Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit continues to be delivered by the UK Government who decide which conditions should be prescribed for the purposes of the benefit. Once the Scottish Government commences delivery of Employment Injury Assistance, it will b…
28 Mar 2022 · Topical Question
To ask the Scottish Government what urgent action it will undertake to resolve waiting time delays in A&E following recent reported estimates from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine that the delays have contributed to 240 avoidable deaths this year.
25 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05800 by Humza Yousaf on 28 January 2022, how many (a) primary care referrals, (b) secondary care referrals and (c) self-referrals have been made to Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s Long COVID Support Service since the service was established.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government does not hold this information broken down by referral type.
25 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-05100 by Humza Yousaf on 5 January 2022, whether it has received (a) six-month and (b) 12-month progress reports for the nine research projects on long COVID.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: For reference details of the 9 projects are available from the Chief Scientist Office website Long Covid Call – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk) Six-month progress reports have been received for all 9 projects A twelve-month progress report has been r…
24 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is monitoring the effectiveness of its plans to protect and improve the wellbeing of NHS staff.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: We use a range of measures to monitor the wellbeing of the workforce taking into account the diverse nature of the workforce operating in a range of roles and geographies, the broad spectrum of wellbeing ‘needs’ at both a professional and personal level and d…
24 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) whether and (b) how it works with the UK Department of Health and Social Care to tackle medical malnutrition in Scotland.
Answer · Maree Todd: We engage with the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on a range of issues. We are not working with DHSC on this particular matter.
24 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how to improve the regulation of products in the medical nutrition industry.
Answer · Maree Todd: The regulations for foods for special medical purposes are one of the categories covered by the foods for specific groups legislation. Retained Regulation (EU) No 609/2013 on Foods for Specific Groups replaced the former Foods for Particular Nutritional Uses …
23 Mar 2022 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what plans it has to tackle homelessness.
21 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many places have been provided in the National Clinical Skills for Pharmacists Programme for (a) 2021 and (b) the first three months of 2022.
Answer · Maree Todd: From November 2020 to October 2021 a total of 551 delegate places of clinical skills training for pharmacists were delivered. 126 delegate places of clinical skills training for pharmacists were delivered from November 2021 to end of December 2021 and a furth…
21 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many new healthcare support workers have been recruited as a result of its £300 million investment in winter planning and preparedness.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government continues to work hard to bring in new workforce capacity across NHS services. This is why we announced our commitment to recruit an additional 1,000 health and care support staff by 31 March and provided up to £15 million in funding t…
21 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how the £5 million that it provided for the financial year 2020-21 to support the wellbeing of people working in health, social care and social work was (a) allocated and (b) spent.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government allocated £5 million in the financial year 2020-21 to support the wellbeing of people working in health, social care and social work. This money was allocated to the following services;Coaching for WellbeingDigital ResourcesFormal Psyc…
18 Mar 2022 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether there are any Hikvision cameras in or around the Scottish Parliament building, and whether any such cameras have been installed since the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report was published in July 2021 recommending that they not be used in the UK.
Answer · Claire Baker (On behalf of the SPCB): A project to deliver an essential upgrade of the Parliament’s security system was completed in 2019. Part of that project involved the upgrade of the Parliament’s CCTV system. The specification required that all components, including CCTV cameras, successful…
17 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on replacing the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: NHS Lothian is currently developing plans for The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion replacement project which is one ten new National Treatment Centres that form part of the National Treatment Centres (NTC) Programme. NHS Lothian reports that progress of Princ…
17 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it last reviewed the use of confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements, and whether it has any plans to update the guidance and legislation on these in (a) general and (b) relation to sexual harassment, victimisation and assault cases.
Answer · Ash Regan: Non-disclosure agreements (NDA) are used for a variety of purposes and may be included in a number of different contractual and settlement arrangements. The Scottish Government has no plans to review the use of NDAs at this time. In an employment context, the…
17 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent report on Edinburgh's children's homes by the City of Edinburgh Council, which reportedly states that there was "illegality, maladministration and injustice" in the running of Edinburgh’s secure accommodation for young people.
Answer · Clare Haughey: The report has not been shared with the Scottish Government, but children and young people living in this type of accommodation should receive the highest level and quality of care. Officials have contacted the City of Edinburgh Council to offer support. We …
17 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to (a) review and (b) update the National Care Standards for children and young people, and when the standards were last reviewed or updated.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The new Health and Social Care Standards came into effect in April 2018. These replaced the National Care Standards and are applied to a diverse range of services, including early learning and childcare and services for children and young people. The Health a…
16 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps have been taken to improve data collection for metastatic breast cancer.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government has been discussing the need for better data on metastatic breast cancer over several months including seeking advice from Public Health Scotland and breast cancer specialists. Additionally, officials have met with the Third Sector to …
16 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with representatives of (a) NHS Scotland and (b) the charity sector on improving data collection on metastatic breast cancer.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government has had several discussions with lead breast clinicians. The most recent was on 18th March at a meeting with the group leading on quality performance indicators for breast cancer. The group has indicated an interest in improving data o…
15 Mar 2022 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has for the future of the COVID-19 certification scheme.
14 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will take to ensure the safeguarding of Ukranians living in Scotland who experienced domestic abuse in Ukraine and are concerned that their former partner or family member may be given leave to remain in the UK as a result of the Russian invasion.
Answer · Neil Gray: Asylum and immigration are reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes decisions relating to leave to enter and remain in the UK. The Scottish Government has no control of these processes. However, the Scottish Government is c…
14 Mar 2022 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.
10 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on a plan B for achieving the equivalent abatement should Negative Emission Technologies fail to deliver, as recommended in the response to the Draft Updated Climate Change Plan by the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee, published on 4 March 2…
Answer · Michael Matheson: The updated Climate Change Plan (CCPu) introduced a chapter on Negative Emissions Technologies (NETs), and accompanied this with a commitment to review progress for developing NETs. Policies in this chapter place a focus on developing the evidence base for NE…
10 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether boys born before 2007 can be vaccinated for HPV via NHS services in order to protect against the spread of HPV and, if not, whether it has any plans to expand the availability of HPV vaccination for boys.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: Vaccination policy in Scotland, is based on recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Following the Committee’s recommendation, from August 2019 the HPV immunisation programme in Scotland was extended to adolescent boys…
10 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many people and (b) what proportion of the population (i) have received a (A) positive (1) predictive and (2) diagnostic and (B) negative (1) predictive and (2) diagnostic test for Huntington’s disease, and (ii) are at risk of inheriting Huntington’s disease but have not been tes…
Answer · Maree Todd: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07334 on 25 March 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…
10 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which NHS board areas have a Huntington’s Disease Clinical Lead, and, in each of these cases, regarding Huntington’s Disease Management clinics, how (a) long each lasts and (b) regularly they take place.
Answer · Maree Todd: The information for parliamentary questions S6W-07334, S6W-07336 and S6W-07337 on 25 March 2022 is not held centrally. Please visit the National Care Framework for Huntington’s Disease website to obtain further information on the services and support availa…
10 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which NHS board areas have a Huntington’s disease specialist service providing home visits, where the practitioner providing the support works exclusively with Huntington’s disease cases.
Answer · Maree Todd: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-007334 on 25 March 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-committe…
10 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to motion S6M-00923, which was supported by 99 MSPs from all parties, what steps it is taking in response to the motion’s call to expand specialist Huntington’s disease services in line with rising cases.
Answer · Maree Todd: Since 2015 we have committed over £500,000 in funding to the Scottish Huntington’s Association (SHA) towards the development of the national care framework for Huntington’s Disease (HD) and in funding towards the organisation’s specialist support services and…
10 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether any Hikvision cameras are currently installed in or around any Scottish Government building.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government has a number of legacy items manufactured by Hikvision which are being phased out as part of an on-going security improvement programme.
10 Mar 2022 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether any Hikvision cameras have been installed in any Scottish Government building since the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report Never Again: The UK's Responsibility to Act on Atrocities in Xinjiang and Beyond was published in July 2021, which recommended that equipment …
Answer · Ivan McKee: No Hikvision cameras have been installed on the core Scottish Government estate since July 2021.