Contents
- Attendance
- Covid-19 (Impact on Sports Clubs and other Local Recreational Facilities)
- Subordinate Legislation
Subordinate Legislation
Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel and Public Health Information) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/431)
The next agenda item is consideration of a made affirmative instrument relating to the coronavirus and international travel. It is laid under section 94(1), on international travel, of the Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008. Its provisions are in force, and it is for the Health and Sport Committee to consider the instrument within 28 days of the date on which it was made.
We have an evidence session with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity and his officials on the regulations. They remove the Canary Islands from the list of exempt countries and territories, and add Botswana and Saudi Arabia to the list. They make further amendments and clarifications to other exemptions, and make provision to amend the period for which a person must remain in quarantine from 14 days to 10 days.
I welcome Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, who is accompanied by Craig Thomson, border measures review team leader; David Pratt, policy lead for the health performance and delivery team; and Peter Brown, from the police enforcement, liaison and performance team. Thank you for joining us.
I ask the cabinet secretary to give an update on the position relating to the regulations. In particular, to what extent has the quarantine of those who have come from abroad been monitored over the Christmas period, and what are the updated numbers?
Good afternoon, convener. Thank you for your invitation to join the committee.
As you have pointed out, the regulations remove the Canary Islands from the exempt list and add to the list Botswana and Saudi Arabia, which, after assessment, have moved down from red to amber.
The regulations add a further category of “elite sportsperson” to schedule 2, which allows new signings to professional sports clubs to be exempt from quarantine requirements when they travel between locations to participate in elite sports events or training for such events.
The regulations add a new defence of leaving quarantine
“on compassionate grounds, for reasons related to the end of a person’s life”.
As the convener mentioned, the regulations also introduce a reduction in the quarantine period from 14 days to 10 days. The provision came into force from 14 December, so anyone who requires to quarantine from that date should do so for 10 days rather than 14 days.
The committee will be aware that, during the Christmas period, our test and protect colleagues and the national contact tracing facility have been presented with significant challenges, given the increase in the number of cases, particularly with the new variant of the virus. However, despite those challenges, colleagues have continued to make 2,000 contacts per week during the Christmas period, as they have done since October last year. During that period, they have continued to prioritise action that has been seen as clinically necessary. For example, given the risks associated with the new variant, individuals who have returned from South Africa have been prioritised for direct contact by the national contact tracing facility. Colleagues have maintained their performance during the Christmas and new year period, and they will continue to do so.
Thank you. I ask colleagues to put an “R” in the chat box if they have questions for the cabinet secretary.
There has been discussion of a new requirement for people coming back into the country to have an entry certificate to show that they do not have Covid. Can you tell us a little about that?
We have been in discussions with the United Kingdom Government for some time on options for reinforcing the existing measures that we have in place at our borders. One issue that we have been exploring with the UK Government is the introduction of pre-departure testing, and we had a meeting last week at which it was agreed that we would move forward with the introduction of that. The UK Government has announced today that pre-departure testing will come into force for those travelling from abroad into England as of 4 am on Friday. That will be the same for Scotland. In a recent answer to a Government-inspired question, I outlined to Parliament that pre-departure testing will become a statutory requirement as of 4 am on Friday of this week.
That will require anyone who is travelling from abroad outwith the common travel area to have undertaken a test equivalent to a polymerase chain reaction test, which is a much higher level of test, 72 hours before they arrive in Scotland and to demonstrate that the result was negative. Before a person is allowed to board their flight, train—if it is Eurotunnel—or vessel, the operator will be required to check that the person has a certified negative test. That statutory requirement will be placed on train and flight operators. The requirement will reinforce the existing arrangements. I emphasise that it is in addition to the quarantine arrangements and the other arrangements at our borders. It will become operational at 4 am on Friday.
What will be the consequence of a test not being negative? What happens then?
If a person does not present with the appropriate certificate or if they present a certificate that shows a positive test result, they will not be allowed to board the flight or train. A negative test result serves as the gateway to boarding the flight or train in the first place. There will be a statutory requirement on operators to ensure that the certification is in place before they allow people to go on a flight or train.
Brian Whittle has a question.
It might have been answered already, convener, as I missed some of the cabinet secretary’s responses to your questions.
There has been a lot of discussion of testing passengers arriving in the UK, even if that is a simple temperature test as they come through. Does the Scottish Government have any plans to introduce statutory testing of people as they arrive from abroad into the country?
I am not a clinical expert, but my understanding is that temperature testing is not a good mechanism for testing whether someone may have Covid and does not provide much in the way of an assurance.
We are in discussions on and we have been assessing the potential for introducing a test after five days in quarantine, as happens with the test to release scheme that operates in England. Just prior to the Christmas recess, we considered in a bit of detail the potential for running a pilot of test to release in Scotland. Clearly, now that pre-departure testing is being introduced, we are doing further assessment work on how any potential test to release pilot would interact with pre-departure testing. We will engage with the airports and airlines on how that scheme might operate.
We are looking at the potential for a test to release scheme. However, given that we are changing the pre-departure arrangements, such a scheme might operate differently. Any system that operates in Scotland would be piloted to test how it operates and how effective it is before any wider implementation.
I always seem to ask about travel to and from Ireland because the port of Cairnryan is in south-west Scotland. I assume that folk coming from Ireland will not require entry certificates, although we must be aware of travel back and forward.
What is the role of the Scottish Government in supporting private ferry companies such as Stena or P&O to apply the same standards and rules? Those companies are sailing between Northern Ireland and Scotland and passengers move back and forward. It would be good to hear about that support, given that the number of Covid cases in south-west Scotland has been really high in the past couple of weeks.
Pre-departure testing will be for those who come from countries outwith the common travel area. That area includes Ireland, which removes the need for pre-departure testing. Arrangements for the common travel area are kept under review and when we implement any changes we ensure that transport operators, such as those operating ferries between Scotland and Northern Ireland, are informed of any changes and how those might affect them. Information is cascaded to operators so that they are kept up-to-date with any changes in regulations for the common travel area.
We now move to the debate on the made affirmative instrument on which we have just taken evidence. This will be a formal debate, so there is no opportunity to ask questions, although members can contribute to the debate.
I invite the cabinet secretary to move motion S5M-23720.
Motion moved,
That the Health and Sport Committee recommends that The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel and Public Health Information) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/431) be approved.—[Michael Matheson]
No members wish to contribute to the debate.
Motion agreed to.
That concludes our consideration of the instrument. We will report to Parliament accordingly. I thank the cabinet secretary and his officials for their attendance.
Official Feed and Food Controls (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/398)
The next item of business is further consideration of subordinate legislation, this time of three negative instruments.
Does any member wish to make a comment about the first instrument?
I am interested in the food and feed regulations that we are looking at because some of them are beginning to consolidate other statutory instruments. I would like some clarification of the language. The purpose of the instrument is to amend existing domestic food and feed law to provide for the execution and enforcement, in Scotland, of the delegated and implementing regulations of Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/625.
I am interested to know whether we are assuming that we are carrying forward current European Union food and feed safety regulations in order to maintain and protect our food and feed supply chains in Scotland. Are the regulations a keeping pace instrument that makes sure that our food and feed controls continue to be safe?
12:30
That would certainly appear to be the implication of the language that you set out; therefore, I think that we are probably safe to proceed on that basis. However, I think that we have time to explore the matter further before we have to sign off the instrument. If members have no other comments or questions in relation to the instrument, and are content to do so, we could agree to make no recommendation on it at this stage, but contact the Government to ask for clarification about the point around keeping pace powers. Emma Harper, did you want to come back again?
Yes, just to say that the language that is used is about wanting to create a
“harmonised approach to official controls”.
We have had issues with other consolidated legislation, around the way in which the wording is formed. I am not suggesting that we write to the Government, but I am keen to make sure that the instrument is part of the process that ensures that we continue to support the best food and feed safety standards across Scotland.
Thank you. In that case, if it is acceptable to the committee in general, and to Emma Harper in particular, given that there will be a series of other regulations in the same mode, I suggest that we ask for some advice on the matter, and make sure that the questions are answered before further items are considered.
Subject to that assurance, do members agree to make no recommendation on the instrument at this stage? I can see that members are nodding, so we are agreed.
Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008 (Notifiable Organisms) Amendment Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/408)
We come to the second negative instrument to consider today. Given that members have no comments to make, is the committee agreed to make no recommendation on the instrument? Members are nodding, so that is agreed.
National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/420)
We come to the third and final negative instrument. Given that members have no comments to make, is the committee agreed to make no recommendation on the instrument? Members are nodding, so that is agreed.
That concludes the public part of the meeting. We will now move into private session.
12:33 Meeting continued in private until 12:53.