Chamber and committees

I certainly hope so. At this stage, I am very optimistic about that, and it would be my expectation. I am conscious that, last year, we ended up with an unexpected development in the virus. I really hope that that does not happen this year.

I am very hopeful that we will all have a much more normal Christmas. However, to make that possible, we need to comply with all the protections that are in place, and we must continue to do so through Christmas, so that we have not only a better, happier, more normal Christmas, but a brighter new year as well.

That is an important question, and I make it very clear that that consideration is always high up in the minds of the Cabinet when we are reaching those decisions. For those of us who are fit, healthy and relatively young, all the protections that are still in place are an inconvenience and we cannot wait to get rid of them. However, for people who are much more vulnerable, by dint of either their age or other clinical conditions, those protections are vital and without them people would be less able to enjoy the freedoms that we all are enjoying.

Often when we consider protections, we do so from the perspective of the most vulnerable, because we want everybody to be able to participate in normal life. Some people would prefer vaccination passports to be used in all settings, and I understand that. We must take proportionate and balanced decisions, and that is what we seek to do.

For those of us who are fit, healthy and relatively young, it is worth bearing in mind that we have to bear a bit more inconvenience for the sake of the more vulnerable, and we should all make sure that we comply with all the protections that we are asked to comply with, because it helps not only us but everybody else, particularly those who are most at risk.

My answer is based on clinical advice. The clinical advice is that people who have had a positive PCR test within 90 days need not participate in twice weekly LFD testing. The clinical view is that in the 90-day window after a positive test, given the low rate of reinfection, it is significantly more likely that a positive LFD test would be a false positive result rather than someone being reinfected, which may cause people to isolate unnecessarily.

If someone recovers from Covid and later develops new symptoms, they must book a new PCR test at NHS Inform and follow the advice on self-isolation and household isolation. People should not use an LFD test if they have symptoms or are self-isolating, and anybody who wants further guidance on when to use an LFD test and when to use to a PCR test can find it on the NHS Inform website

Again, that is a really good and helpful question. We consider on an on-going basis how we can reach parts of the population in which uptake rates are not as high as they are overall. Young people are, of course, one of those groups.

There is a variety of reasons why people will not yet be vaccinated. Some people will have chosen not to be vaccinated. I urge them to think again. There will, of course, be some people who are not yet vaccinated because they have recently had Covid. As we know, if a person has had Covid, there will be a period of four weeks between having the virus and getting vaccinated. Some people, particularly in the younger age groups, will be facing that. However, we are continuing to take steps to say to people that, if they are not vaccinated yet with a first, second or booster dose and they are eligible, it is not too late, and they should come forward for that. I encourage MSPs across the chamber to do everything possible in their constituencies to reiterate and emphasise that message.

Guidance on seasonal events is already available to local authorities—if my memory is wrong about that, I will correct what I have said in writing to Rona Mackay. The current guidance advises that there should not be live audiences for Christmas concerts and nativity plays in schools, but I know that schools are using alternative means of ensuring that such events are available and accessible to parents. The guidance remains under review and will continue to be informed by the advisory sub-group on education.

On vaccination certification, Anas Sarwar is fundamentally wrong. The error that he makes is to suggest that we can always pick one thing over another and not, at different stages, have a combination of things. In the early stages of the vaccination certification scheme, one of the primary objectives was to drive up vaccination rates—

We know that many Conservatives find Parliaments frustrating places to work in and possibly that is why so many of them have second jobs—in this Parliament, some have second and third jobs.

More seriously, on the issue of the incorporation of the booster vaccine, I have said that work is under way so that we can incorporate boosters in the Scottish Covid certification app. That is important and it is right that it happens. I am not sure what the Conservatives are suggesting. Are they saying that we should have waited 12 months in order to be part of an English app that does that? If we had done that we would not have any Covid certification right now.

We are doing such things properly and effectively. We are also addressing issues that arise—as they will in a scheme that is as large and complex as this one. Members whose constituents have raised issues with them should write to me or to the health secretary or the relevant minister and we will address them as we go along.

I do not wish in any way to underplay the importance of rectifying any issues, but I remind members and the public of one central fact: right now, Scotland is the most vaccinated part of the entire UK on first doses, second doses, third doses and booster doses. I am sure that issues will arise that we will need to address, but we should remember that the Scottish vaccination programme is going extremely well. Perhaps the Conservatives might want to acknowledge that.

We should all be on the side of victims of crime, but we should also all be on the side of making Scotland as a whole safer. That means trying to ensure that we have in place a penal system that not only punishes—–a vital principle in any justice system—but helps us to reduce the risk of those who serve sentences in prison reoffending. That is the wider issue that we have a responsibility to consider.

I know that it is an easy soundbite for the Conservatives, but it is simply not accurate to describe our country as having soft-touch justice when we have some of the lowest crime rates in many years and, as I have already said today, send a higher proportion of our population to prison than any other country in western Europe.

The question that we have to ask ourselves is whether our justice system and the approaches that are taken to dealing with offenders are always as effective as they should be, both in punishing and reducing reoffending. I accept that that presents difficult, challenging and, at times, contentious issues, which is why we are consulting carefully on the proposed reforms. We will listen carefully to all the responses that we receive.

I thank Clare Adamson for raising what I know is an important constituency issue for her. I was also very sorry to hear that Weir & McQuiston had ceased trading after such a long period of time—some 45 years. My thoughts are with the employees who are affected by that decision and their families. I can assure Clare Adamson that our local PACE team has already been in touch with the administrators. It is working closely with the redundancy payments office, which will ensure that information on pay support is issued to the affected employees. We stand ready to do anything reasonable that we can to support them at this very difficult time.

First, we will try to lead by example through our actions at home. That is why the decision that we have taken to increase our climate justice fund and our decision to allocate resources to the issue of loss and damage are important. That allows us to use that leadership to seek to encourage others to do likewise.

I have already had discussions on the issue with other Governments, and I know that there is a willingness now to step forward on loss and damage. We will continue to play our part in building that momentum.

It is really important that we focus on actions to mitigate climate change and to help countries to adapt to the future impacts of climate change. However, as Kaukab Stewart has rightly said, many countries across the world are suffering loss and damage right now. They are struggling to cope with that, and the developed world, which has, of course, done the most to cause climate change, has a real moral obligation to step up and play its part in helping with that. Scotland will continue to do everything that we can to play our full part.