Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-33465

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, further to it stating that response rates for the Coronavirus (COVID-19): ONS Infection Survey were "higher than initially expected", whether it will provide details of what this involved, and what implications this had for the operation of the survey.

Recruitment into the survey commenced in September, with letters inviting households to participate in the survey reaching the first Scottish households on 18 September. Field work started on 21 September, with survey teams starting to visit participant households from that date. The initial target for individuals swabbed per fortnight in Scotland was 15,000 with the aim of reaching this target as quickly as possible, and maintained within ±10% of this target. The timeframes for achieving this were based on registration data from the survey in England. In practice, these initial predictions on uptake in Scotland were underestimated and participant registration levels were significantly higher than those observed in England. Therefore, in order to not overshoot the target, recruitment was slowed down.

The increased number of participants recruited earlier in the study allowed more samples to be processed by an earlier date than expected, thus increasing the amount of data available and allowing analysis to be carried out sooner than anticipated for Scotland. It was originally planned that the first results for Scotland would be published on 6 November, however this was brought forward by two weeks to 23 October.

Question reference: S5W-33462

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 10 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the Coronavirus (COVID-19): ONS Infection Survey began in Scotland; how this compares with other parts of the UK, and, if there were different commencement dates, what the reason was for this.

The COVID-19 Infection Survey began as a pilot survey in England with fieldwork commencing on 26 April, initially inviting 20,276 English households to participate. The first results for England were published on 14 May. Fieldwork began in Wales on 29 June and the first results for Wales were published on 7 August. Fieldwork in Northern Ireland commenced on 26th July, and the first results including Northern Ireland were published on 25 September.

The Scottish Government announced on 17 August that, as part of its Testing Strategy, Scotland would be opting into the now UK-wide COVID Infection Survey with the aim of testing 15,000 individuals per two week period. Fieldwork commenced in Scotland on 21 September and has been ongoing since then. The first results for Scotland were published on 23 October on the Scottish Government website and on the ONS website alongside results for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Department of Health and Social Care announced on 19 th August that the Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey would be expanded to 400,000 people in England.

Decisions behind the timing of Scotland opting into the survey were affected by whether or not the survey would be expanded in England, increasing the scale and analytical potential of the survey in each of the four nations of the UK.

Question reference: S5F-04639

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 07 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5O-04834

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review the financial support for businesses in the rural economy and tourism sector that are affected by COVID-19 restrictions.

Question reference: S5F-04615

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S5O-04820

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support it can give to businesses that face an increase in their non-domestic rates because they have invested in renewable energy and decarbonisation.

Question reference: S5F-04590

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 23 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 November 2020

Question to be taken in the Chamber.

Question reference: S5O-04779

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 November 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to assess the potential economic impact of the commitments set out in its Programme for Government.

Question reference: S5F-04569

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 16 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 November 2020

Question to be taken in the Chamber.

Question reference: S5F-04540

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 09 November 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 November 2020

Question to be taken in Chamber.

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