Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 23 December 2020
23 Dec 2020 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Covid-19 (Vaccine and Testing Programmes)
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement and I welcome Mairi Gougeon to her new role as Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing.
The Government’s target was to have daily testing capacity of up to 65,000 tests by the end of December, but daily testing numbers are still averaging only about 20,000. Are delivery plans for the cabinet secretary’s intended capacity still on track? She is well aware that we have worried care-at-home staff who want to get testing soon. If we have spare capacity, can that be used to reassure our care-at-home staff?
On a local issue, I am aware that, in NHS Lanarkshire, only half of our eligible staff who work in long-stay old-age psychiatry and learning disability wards were tested last week and that, in relation to about half of those who were not tested, the reason was that the staff declined to test. Is the cabinet secretary keeping a close eye on that? What more can be done to build staff confidence and reassure people that the testing is important to keep both staff and patients safe?
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Lewis Macdonald)
Lab
The next item of business is a statement by Jeane Freeman on an update on Covid vaccine and testing programmes. The cabinet secretary will take questions at ...
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport (Jeane Freeman)
SNP
I welcome this opportunity to update Parliament on our extended testing programme and our NHS Scotland Covid-19 vaccination programme. The discovery of a ne...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Lab
The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions, after which we will m...
Donald Cameron (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
I thank the cabinet secretary for providing advance sight of her statement. I welcome the news that more than 56,000 people have been vaccinated so far, and ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
On Mr Cameron’s second question, I cannot provide any more information than I have provided so far. As I said, Matt Hancock and I have written to the JCVI to...
Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement and I welcome Mairi Gougeon to her new role as Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbei...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I am grateful to Ms Lennon for her very important questions. The 65,000 figure was split between our expanding NHS capacity and expansion in the Lighthouse c...
Annabelle Ewing (Cowdenbeath) (SNP)
SNP
Will the cabinet secretary advise what role the Scottish Government’s new vaccine app could play in ensuring that people are fully informed about the vaccine...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
The vaccine management tool is for staff. It is not a tool for citizens to use for either engagement or information sharing. The point of the tool is that it...
Maurice Corry (West Scotland) (Con)
Con
I, too, welcome Mairi Gougeon to her new ministerial role. NHS Dumfries and Galloway says that care home staff and residents will have received their dose o...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
No, I cannot give a definite date for that because, as I keep saying, it is dependent on vaccination supply. I explained that the problem that we have across...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Lab
A number of members still want to ask questions, so I ask for succinct questions and answers.
Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP)
SNP
I welcome the cabinet secretary’s statement. I appreciate her comments regarding the difficulties in distributing the vaccine to remote and island communitie...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Yes, there is a catch-up programme. There is a catch-up programme for precisely the situation that Mr Gibson referred to and a catch-up programme for not get...
Pauline McNeill (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I give my sincere thanks to everybody who is involved in the programme, which is incredible. How will the Scottish Government decide who gets which vaccine,...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
No, I cannot give a planning date for that. I understand why Pauline McNeill asked that question, and I would like to be able to give that date but, as with ...
Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Green
As asymptomatic testing increases, it will inevitably result in more people needing to self-isolate. Has the Government considered making the self-isolation ...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Both points are linked, of course, and both are important. On the last point, a number of things about the new variant are not yet confirmed. We know for sur...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
There have already been reports of several hundred missed appointments for the vaccine. Given the fragility of the vaccine, can the cabinet secretary confirm...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
On the latter question, once we have worked our way through the JCVI list—our objective is to do that in the spring of next year—we will then move to those w...
Shona Robison (Dundee City East) (SNP)
SNP
I add my thanks for the incredible efforts of all those involved. As I understand it, the initial guidance on the roll-out of the vaccine indicated that un...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
Today, all members will receive what is becoming the weekly letter from us to them. In this week’s one, we give the JCVI priority list and its definition of ...
Jamie Greene (West Scotland) (Con)
Con
Can the cabinet secretary elaborate on the large vaccination centres that were mentioned in her statement in urban and other populated areas? Where will they...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I will answer the last point first. A great deal of work is under way to get more confirmation around aspects of the new strain. However, there is no evidenc...
Fulton MacGregor (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP)
SNP
I have been contacted by constituents in the Chryston part of my constituency, which includes the small towns of Gartcosh, the Moodiesburn estates, Auchinloc...
Jeane Freeman
SNP
I can give that assurance without any doubts. I am glad that NHS Lanarkshire has been helpful to Mr MacGregor. As I have said, today all members will receive...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Lab
That concludes questions on the statement. 12:17 Meeting suspended. 12:20 On resuming—