– in the Scottish Parliament at on 3 September 2020.
Alexander Burnett
Conservative
8. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Minister for older people has had with the health secretary regarding allowing more visitors and increasing social interaction for older people who are self-isolating. (S5O-04548)
Christina McKelvie
Scottish National Party
I have been kept fully apprised with regard to the restrictions on visiting self-isolating older people and I have taken the opportunity on many occasions to feed in the views of older people from regular engagement with our older people’s strategic action forum.
Restrictions are guided by the science controlling the transmission of the coronavirus and older people have been taken into account as restrictions have eased. We definitely appreciate the sacrifices that older people have made while isolating and I hope that many now find themselves able to reconnect with their friends and family.
Alexander Burnett
Conservative
Several constituents have been in touch to say that, because of lockdown restrictions and a severe lack of social interaction, family members have found their quality of life so diminished that they are losing the will to live. Many conditions affecting older people, such as dementia, advance exponentially without human contact. Is the Minister even aware of that and, if so, what action is being taken to ensure that the impact of lockdown restrictions is being considered in relation to the elderly and those who need social interaction to, quite literally, save their lives?
Christina McKelvie
Scottish National Party
We are well aware of the impact of lockdown on older people, particularly in our care homes. We recognise the sacrifices that older people in care homes have made while isolating. We published a plan and guidance on 25 June to support a staged approach to a return to care home visiting, because we realise the value of such visits. Care homes are now facilitating controlled outdoor and indoor visits where it is safe to do so.
Other visiting options will be opened up that I hope will help to connect many more people with their loved ones. Alexander Burnett makes an excellent point about the importance of that connection. Further easing of restrictions on communal activities inside care homes and a return of visiting services to care homes were announced today by the Cabinet secretary and certain communal activities and services will resume from 7 September. A lot of the routine face-to-face care from health and social care professionals, including podiatrists, physiotherapists, optometrists and dentists, as well as other communal activities for residents, will resume from 7 September. I hope that Alexander Burnett is pleased to hear that and will articulate those changes to the constituents who have contacted him.
If he has any further specific issues that he wishes to raise, I am more than happy to ensure that we look into them and I will work closely with the health secretary to respond.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
