Chamber and committees

Yes. I will come on to the point about the online system in a moment. Supplies are under pressure because demand is rising. That is a good thing. Let me say again, as a statement of fact, that although the devolved nations make a financial contribution, the procurement and distribution are done on a UK-wide basis.

The issue yesterday with the online system—it might be that the issue has kicked in again while I have been in the chamber—was not supply but distribution. There has been a limit—work is under way to increase it—to the number of tests that can be distributed daily through the Royal Mail, and the number was breached in recent days because of increased demand. That is a distribution issue, not a supply issue, and because it is not a supply issue we can say with confidence—although I know that other procurement efforts are under way—that, if people cannot order online, they can go to a local pharmacy or test site to get supplies. Supplies are also being distributed to local authorities, to be made available in other areas.

As I said, I took part in a four-nations call on Sunday, during which the head of the testing system went into a lot of helpful detail about the work that is under way to increase supply and ensure that distribution is sufficient. It was not a problem with supply that led to the issue on the website.

I think that I have addressed that issue in the chamber before. We encourage people who come into the country to take the PCR test on day 2 after their arrival, but they are actually able to take it within two days of arrival, and the regulations have always allowed that. Therefore, people do not have to wait until boxing day if they arrive in the timescale that Emma Harper set out. They should make sure that they know how to get their test; a list of test providers is available on the UK Government’s website.

I encourage—or would have encouraged—the member to listen to my statement. We will issue guidance. We are asking hospitality businesses to take measures to avoid crowding in bars, but we have not so far asked people to go back to table service. We are trying to be as proportionate as possible while having an impact on transmission.

If the member wants to say to me that we should close nightclubs, she should perhaps say that. If there is funding in that regard, we can consider it, but let me add that I do not want to close any business again if that can properly be avoided.

There is never going to be 100 per cent consistency, and there never has been since the days when we simply made everybody stay at home all day apart from going out for one walk.

As elected representatives, we have a duty, right now, to explain to people why they are being asked to do certain things and why one thing might look a bit inconsistent with another. We are political opponents across this chamber and we have vigorous disagreements, but we are again in the teeth of a serious public health crisis and our overriding duty is to unite to explain the advice to the people of Scotland, so that they have the best chance of following it.

At this stage, we intend for the change in regulations to take effect on Friday this week and the guidance to be issued before that. I return to the point that I made to one of the member’s colleagues: we want to give businesses as much time as possible, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that we are facing a variant of the virus that means that cases are doubling every two to three days—it is closer to every two days. It is moving very fast, and if we do not try to move as fast as it is moving, we will have very serious problems.

There is a real issue there, and it is not being political to point it out.

For whatever reason, and whatever anybody’s view of this is—I am not going to comment on that—it is very difficult for the UK Government to impose more protective measures, while, in my view, those protective measures are really essential. That is the right of the UK Government, which is responsible for protecting public health in England just as the Scottish Government is responsible for doing that in Scotland. It is just as entitled to take the decisions that it thinks are right. However, what is not fair, right now, is that, when it decides to do things, it can trigger financial support that is denied to us when we take decisions that we think are necessary.

Hopefully, we will get to a better position and today’s announcement is indicative of more of a willingness to listen to that point—as I have certainly seen, in recent days—than has been the case at some previous points in the pandemic. However, that basic issue of public health fairness is at the heart of it. Not only am I raising that issue; the Welsh and Northern Irish First Ministers have raised it. The devolved Governments are responsible for protecting public health; however, if we are denied the wherewithal to do that, we are in an invidious position that is unfair not just to the Governments involved but, fundamentally, to the populations that we serve.

Yes, we will take steps to do that. I have not been aware of particular issues at local pharmacies. There are more than 1,000 community pharmacies and dispensing general practitioners across the country that are providing access to lateral flow tests, and they can place daily orders to ensure that supply is sufficient. We are working with the UK Government to encourage pharmacies to place daily orders and increase the amount of tests that they are able to order each day where that is needed.

In the event of any supply issues in a particular pharmacy, people will be redirected to collect at another local pharmacy or testing site. If you want to know where your nearest source of lateral flow devices is, you can go to the website and put in your postcode, and it will tell you.

In general—I raised this at a four-nations discussion on Sunday—we need to ensure, given the higher demand for LFDs, which is really positive and good, that their procurement and supply stays healthy. I know that the team in the UK Government that is responsible for LFDs is working extremely hard on that. There was a temporary issue with the online ordering system yesterday, which has been rectified today, but it is really important that we keep the supply of these tests flowing, because they are an important part of our defence.

Yes, I agree. We are pressing both for funding arrangements that are, even if only in the Covid context, more appropriate to the situation that we face, and for as much clarity as possible. I will not repeat what I said about not knowing the detail of what was announced just after 2 o’clock.

This is a basic issue of good sense when it comes to dealing with a pandemic. We cannot have our hands tied on public health by funding arrangements that are asymmetrical and unfair to the devolved Administrations.

I hope that we are going to see some progress. It is really important that we all have the maximum ability to steer our way through the next phase of the pandemic without businesses unduly paying the cost of what we do because we do not have the wherewithal to compensate them properly.

I think that I made it clear in my statement. I am not trying to override the judgment of every person. We are two years into this pandemic and people have a lot of experience of it and need to be able to make judgments. What I am saying is that, in the run-up to Christmas and after the core celebrations of that time, people should reduce their contact with people in other households as far as possible. That means minimising socialising. That will help us to slow down the virus while we get more and more people boosted.

Secondly, because I appreciate that some people will want to socialise and will socialise—although my advice is to minimise that—I ask those who are doing that, whether it is in their own home or in a hospitality setting, to limit the number of households in that group to a maximum of three. I am trying to explain why that is important.

That kind of thing has always been important with an infectious virus but, as we have seen from the outbreaks over the past two weeks and from all our evidence since the emergence of omicron, the attack rate of omicron means that if someone is in a group of people where one person is infected, the majority of people in that group are being infected. That almost took out an accident and emergency unit in Lanarkshire last week.

That is why we are giving this advice. It is horrible advice to give and is the last thing that people want to hear, but it is essential if we are to get on top of this virus before it overwhelms us.

On the final question, yes, that was the case previously and it is the case now.

I covered this at some length in my statement. It is part of the challenge that we are facing. It is not just through isolation, but through people having mild illness from being infected by the virus that they cannot go to work. That is why we need to crack down on the virus; otherwise, we will see impacts on our schools, public transport and people who rely on care packages. We will continue to work with the health service and social care to mitigate impacts as far as possible. I absolutely understand the impact on anybody of not having their care package for a single day, let alone multiple days. The route with this is to get the virus under control. That is why what I have set out today is so important, and it is why it is so important that we all continue to urge people across Scotland to do the right thing by following all the guidance.

The guidance that we have given today is to people on the interactions that they have with people in other households. That is specifically for indoor events. We are also considering strengthening face-covering requirements and, as part of that, we will consider whether we want to encourage people to wear face coverings even outdoors in some crowded events.

We are not cancelling events at the moment. Particularly if we have more financial wherewithal to compensate companies and events, we will consider whether there is more proportionate action that we can take. However, the advice that we are giving today is the advice that was set out in my statement, which will be backed up with more detail and guidance to be issued over this week.