Chamber and committees

Thank you.

Under agenda item 2, the committee will take evidence from the Scottish Government on the latest ministerial statements on Covid-19 and on subordinate legislation.

I will start by saying a few words about the draft Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment (No 4) Regulations 2021. Last week, George Adam, the Minister for Parliamentary Business, asked to speak to me about the changes to the Covid vaccination certification scheme that the First Minister outlined on 23 November. At our meeting, George Adam explained that the Government is mindful of the concern that this committee and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee have expressed about the use of the made affirmative procedure and he suggested an approach whereby an expedited affirmative procedure might be used on this occasion.

Members will have seen the correspondence from the Minister for Parliamentary Business explaining the Government’s position. On this occasion, I was minded to accept that suggestion. That meant that the regulations were formally laid on Monday and were considered by the DPLR Committee on Tuesday.

Following its consideration of the regulations, the DPLR Committee has written to this committee. Members have a copy of that correspondence. Following our consideration of the regulations this morning, the regulations will be taken at decision time later today in the chamber.

Although I was minded on this occasion to agree to the Scottish Government’s proposed expedited timetable for scrutiny, that should not be viewed as setting a precedent for future scrutiny. That is something that we can keep under review.

I welcome to the meeting our witnesses from the Scottish Government: John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for COVID Recovery; Professor Jason Leitch, the national clinical director; and Elizabeth Sadler, the deputy director of the Covid ready society. Thank you for your attendance this morning.

Deputy First Minister, would you like to make any remarks before we move to questions?

That concludes our consideration of item 2. I thank the Deputy First Minister and his officials for their evidence.

Item 3 is consideration of the motion on the expedited draft affirmative instrument that we considered under the previous agenda item. Members will note that Scottish statutory instrument 2021/425 was laid on 19 November, and we had intended to take the motion on the instrument at this meeting. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has decided to consider the instrument at its meeting next week, so we will defer consideration of the motion.

Deputy First Minister, would you like to make any further remarks on the draft affirmative instrument on the vaccination certification scheme before we take the motion?

I invite the Deputy First Minister to move motion S6M-02332.

Motion moved,

That the COVID-19 Recovery Committee recommends that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 4) Regulations 2021 [draft] be approved.—[John Swinney]

Susan McKellar’s screen has frozen. Can we bring in Michael Clancy?

The question is, that motion S6M-02332 be agreed to.

Motion agreed to,

That the COVID-19 Recovery Committee recommends that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 4) Regulations 2021 [draft] be approved.

The committee will publish a report to the Parliament later today setting out our decision on the regulations. That concludes our consideration of this item and our time with the Deputy First Minister. I thank him and his supporting officials for their attendance this morning.

The committee’s next meeting will be on 9 December, when we will take evidence from stakeholders on the vaccination programme.

That concludes the public part of our meeting.

Thank you, Deputy First Minister. I remind members and witnesses that we are restricted for time and each member has around eight minutes for questions.

I will start with the first question. Deputy First Minister, the committee agreed to the expedited timetable because the Scottish Government’s view is that the regulations require to come into force on 6 December. For the record, could you please explain why the Government considers that 6 December, and not another date, is when the regulations should come into force?

It is crucial that we reiterate the importance of following the guidance.

Good morning and welcome to the 12th meeting in 2021 of the COVID-19 Recovery Committee. We continue our inquiry into baseline health protection measures; today, we will focus on schools. I welcome to the meeting Gary Greenhorn, who is co-chair of the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland resources network; Larry Flanagan, who is the general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland; Margaret Wilson, who is the chair of the National Parent Forum of Scotland; and Jim Thewliss, who is the general secretary of School Leaders Scotland.

The evidence session forms part of our short inquiry into baseline health protection measures, including ventilation, face coverings, social distancing and vaccination, which are the main tools that we are using to respond to Covid-19. This is the final evidence session on the measures that we have planned. The committee will lead a debate next Thursday, when we plan to highlight to the whole Parliament the evidence that we have heard during the inquiry. The committee will provide a copy of the Official Report of today’s evidence session to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee to inform its inquiry on the health and wellbeing of children and young people. We very much value our witnesses’ contribution to the inquiry and thank them for giving us their time this morning.

Each member will have approximately 12 minutes to speak to the panel of witnesses and ask their questions. We are tight for time and have a number of witnesses, so please keep responses as brief as possible and do not feel that you must all answer every question. I apologise in advance because, if time runs on too much, I might have to interrupt members or witnesses in the interest of brevity. I turn to questions.

I thank the members of the Scottish Youth Parliament who have provided insightful evidence on their general thoughts about Covid restrictions and challenges through the pandemic. The young people who gave evidence had mixed feelings about the current restrictions, and I was surprised to learn that, in general, young people are happy to wear face coverings because they feel safer. The evidence shows that there is still hesitancy and, although we all want life to be back to normal, there is an element of our young people continuing to be quite cautious about Covid.

That leads me to my first question. What feedback have you received about the requirement to wear face coverings in school? Is there demonstrable evidence that that is having an impact on pupils and their behaviour? I will start with Gary Greenhorn.