Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-07671

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 April 2022

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.

Question reference: S6W-07670

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how to improve the regulation of products in the medical nutrition industry.

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 approach and begun a new EU phased process to review and update the composition and labelling for each category. As part of this process, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/128 was introduced and has applied to businesses since 2019.

This, now retained Regulation, lays out the compositional, labelling and notification requirements of foods for special medical purposes. These foods are a category of Foods for Specific Groups , specially processed or formulated and intended for the dietary management of patients and to be used under medical supervision.

These foods are intended for the exclusive or partial feeding of patients with a limited, impaired or disturbed capacity to take, digest, absorb, metabolise or excrete ordinary foodstuffs or certain nutrients contained therein or metabolites. They are also intended for use by patients with other medically-determined nutrient requirements, whose dietary management cannot be achieved only by modification of the normal diet, by other foods for particular nutritional uses, or by a combination of the two.

The powers to enforce the requirements in Scotland are contained within The Foods for Specific Groups (Scotland) Regulations 2016 (as amended).

Question reference: S6W-07727

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 22 April 2022

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.

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 been at work.

Prior to any changes made in the future as we move towards living with Covid, we will engage with both NHS Scotland Employers and Staff Side representatives to ensure an effective and smooth transition back to standard Sickness Absence terms and conditions .

Question reference: S6W-07577

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 April 2022

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.

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 to take forward that recruitment.

I am delighted to announce that following a period of intense recruitment activity by our health boards, we have welcomed over a thousand additional Agenda for Change bands 2 to 4 staff.

This additional influx of staff will provide longer term improvement in service capacity across our health and social care systems as we continue to recover from the pandemic and provides them with an opportunity to develop a career in health and social care.

Question reference: S6O-01013

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-07524

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 20 April 2022

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.

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 are assured that the findings and recommendations of the report are now being taken forward as part of a robust and detailed action plan to improve the quality of care.

Question reference: S6F-00987

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 April 2022

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S6W-07709

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 April 2022

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.

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 received for project LTE/20/04

On 31 March 2022 the Chief Scientist Office hosted a virtual symposium where the lead investigators for each of the 9 projects presented the results obtained to date

Question reference: S6W-07529

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Ash Regan on 19 April 2022

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.

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 UK Government consulted on measures to prevent the misuse of NDAs in situations of workplace harassment or discrimination in 2019 and further information can be found here . Responsibility for employment law is a reserved matter.

Question reference: S6W-07537

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 March 2022
Current Status: Answered by Claire Baker (On behalf of the SPCB) on 12 April 2022

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.

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, successfully passed a security evaluation prior to installation. Careful consideration was also given to information handling and storage of CCTV images.

The SPCB can confirm that the Hikvision brand of CCTV camera has never been used at Holyrood. They were not used prior to 2019 and are not a component part of the current system.

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