Chamber and committees

In guidance, we will ask that measures to ensure safety start to be introduced in public places in which people gather. I talked particularly about hospitality and the need to ensure that there is no crowding between tables, because we are asking people to stay in smaller groups if they are in hospitality settings. We will give that message consistently, whether people are in their own home or in a public place.

I have today set out candidly the financial reasons why we cannot do more for some of the public places, although, as I have said, we will look again to see whether we can do any more to support some sensible measures.

I understand the importance of people understanding, which is why I have set out the reasons for what we are asking people to do. This is about all of us trying to reduce our contacts as much as possible. If we all reduce our contacts a bit, and as much as we can, we will reduce the virus’s overall ability to spread. It might be easier for somebody to do that by not going to hospitality venues, or it might be easier for them to do it in their own home—let us do whatever works for us. If we all take the number of our contacts down in the run-up to Christmas, I hope that we will be able to enjoy Christmas and not see a surge of infections after it.

None of this is guaranteed. Omicron is a highly infectious variant of the virus, but doing all that will give us the best possible chance of achieving a smoother path through the winter.

We are providing funding of £30 million to support general practices to continue to provide a high level of care to patients through the winter. The funding will help with the provision of existing services. It will include support for more face-to-face appointments, extra GP sessions, practice nurse time and non-core hours to cover all appointments, for example.

We want face-to-face appointments to resume and to happen as necessary. Many people will continue to prefer online or telephone appointments with their GP, but we need to make sure that we get the balance right. GPs have been working extremely hard throughout the pandemic to provide essential services, and it is right that we support them with funding to ensure that they continue to do so.

I do not know, because I have no idea what money is on the table. When I get out of the chamber and back to my office, perhaps I will have that information, but I might not. If there is more money and it enables us to take other decisions that we think are appropriate, we will have to go through a decision-making process. When we arrive at further decisions, I will come to Parliament. I cannot say at the moment whether that will be tomorrow.

What I would say to all MSPs is that we all have a choice. These are difficult decisions and, when we are dealing with a pandemic, there will always be inconsistencies no matter what we do, because we are all trying to reduce our contacts as much as possible. We can choose to go around telling people about the inconsistencies, or we can explain why things are as they are and encourage people to comply with the advice that we are giving. That is in the overall national interest.

We keep all those things under review. With schools in particular, there is a fine balance to strike, as we want to minimise the risk of children’s education being disrupted. If we had a blanket self-isolation policy for a whole class where one pupil tests positive, we would very quickly see large numbers of pupils and classes isolating. On the other hand, as Ross Greer rightly says, we do not want a situation in which we allow the virus to spread more easily in schools than it would otherwise do.

That is why the risk-based approach that test and protect uses is so important. As the situation develops, we are going to have to keep all that under review to strike the right balance between protection and allowing schools, and the economy and critical services, to operate. None of that is easy—none of it has ever been easy—and it will be tricky in the weeks ahead, but there is a real focus on trying to get those balances as right as possible.

I could hear the enthusiasm for that from members on the Conservative and Labour benches as Christine Grahame was speaking.

Whatever people might think, I do not miss having to do daily updates on Covid, although we do not know what lies ahead. I respect the Parliament: I should come to the Parliament, be accountable to the Parliament and make announcements to the Parliament. It is not for me to decide the days on which the Parliament sits. If the Parliament wants a recall, that is a matter for the Presiding Officer. What I cannot do during a public health emergency is withhold decisions or advice to the public from 5 pm on a Thursday evening until 2 pm on a Tuesday afternoon, as that would literally put lives at risk. It is sometimes important for me to be able to communicate to the public with the chief medical officer and the national clinical director there to answer clinical questions.

I will continue to do everything that I can to get key public messages across. In an emergency such as this, it is incumbent on us all to try to put our differences aside and unite to get those public health messages across.

I am just going to be blunt: I think that that was a deeply irresponsible contribution. It was not only irresponsible because it mischaracterises the position of test and protect; it is an insult to those who are working in test and protect to help schools to stay safe every single day, using a risk-based approach, trying to strike the right balance between protection and maintaining children’s education.

We distributed laptops and connections to tens of thousands of children at an earlier stage in the pandemic, having identified those who are most at risk, and we will continue to do everything that we can to keep schools open, because, as we see today in the attainment figures, that is important for the sake of children’s learning and education.

As I say that, I absolutely accept that schools must also be safe for children and staff, which is why we have given local authorities additional resources to help with ventilation and the education advisory sub-group is looking at all those matters again right now. Members should, by all means, scrutinise the issue, but I ask them not, in the midst of the crisis, to come to the chamber and irresponsibly mischaracterise the situation.

I encourage all MSPs to think about volunteering in a local vaccination centre over the Christmas break if there is a need for volunteers. I have asked all ministers to think about doing that if it would be helpful.

I said last week that we had already increased the paid professional workforce by 300 full-time-equivalent posts. Many people want to volunteer. We will make available details of how people go about registering their interest.

Volunteers are restricted in what they can do, but their activity and contribution can help to free up time. Taking on reception tasks or stewarding people who are turning up for vaccinations frees up the time of clinical staff to do the vaccinations. It is all hands on deck over the next few weeks to get the booster jags into as many arms as we can as fast as we can.

I congratulate any venues—I know that there are many of them—that are going the extra mile to keep the venues and people who go to them, whether performers or spectators, as safe as possible.

As I said, we will put a legal obligation on people who run businesses and provide services to take all practical measures to keep their premises as free from transmission as possible. We know that nobody can eradicate the risk of transmission—it is important to be clear about that—but there are many things that we can do to reduce the risk. I give credit and my appreciation to businesses the length and breadth of the country that seek to do that.

The Deputy First Minister is telling me that the detail that I have given members is the detail that we have at the moment. More money will be made available, but we do not know how much it will be and we do not know whether it is genuinely additional money or whether it will be netted off against expected savings elsewhere. I welcome the money. I welcome any movement on the issue. Members will appreciate that I need to see the detail before I can comment further.

We want to be in a position to take the necessary measures to protect public health without having to plead for financial support in a situation in which, if the UK Government were taking those measures, it would be able to make that financial support available. This is about parity. Whether we are talking about furlough, protecting workers’ wages, or compensating hospitality businesses for the significant knock to their Christmas trade, we need to be in an equal position to compensate for the necessary public health measures that we are taking.

I hope that we have seen progress today and I will happily report back to the Parliament when we have more detail.

As I said last week and repeated today, we have already increased the numbers: we have added 300 full-time-equivalent posts. Health boards are also training new vaccinators and we are recruiting extra volunteers. All of us have to do it.

My appreciation of those who are doing the vaccinations knows no bounds. When I went for my booster a week or so ago, I had a good conversation with the lead nurse about the pressures that they are under and the heroic work that they are doing. We often talk glibly about the contribution that NHS workers make to all our lives but, right now, everybody who is helping with the vaccination effort is literally saving lives and helping the country to get through the most difficult period. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude, but the Government owes them the support that they need. That is what we are focused on providing as we ask them to do even more over the next few weeks.