Chamber and committees

We will indeed give consideration to doing that. That is a perfectly sensible suggestion.

I think that the numbers bear out that the vast majority of people who downloaded the app on their phone still have it and use it. There will be some people who do not realise that it is switched off for some reason and forget to switch it back on, so regularly reminding people will be important.

Test and protect will continue to be important, and using the app will continue to be a really important way of helping test and protect. If we help test and protect, we help the rest of us. We will give consideration to reminding people of the importance of that.

Yes. That is an important issue to raise. I will ask the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to write to Meghan Gallacher with more detail on the work that we are doing on mental health in general and on that issue in particular.

The question is about mental health. It is important to focus on mental health, but the transition from child to adult services can be a challenge in all aspects of healthcare. I know that it is a challenge in cancer care, for example. It is an issue that we must focus on and get right; we must continue to learn and adapt. For obvious reasons, that is particularly important in the field of mental health.

I very much agree with the premise of the question and, as I said, I will ensure that more detail is provided on exactly what is being done.

I do not favour the use of vaccine passports for access to care homes. There might be arguments that could be made for that, but I do not know whether Monica Lennon heard me say—certainly not in my statement, but possibly in answer to a question from Patrick Harvie or Liam McArthur—that I would be strongly opposed to using vaccine or Covid certification for access to public services or places to which people have no option but to go, which obviously includes visiting people in care homes.

We have to take the most stringent measures to protect vulnerable people in care homes, but we also have to make sure that people have access to care homes. I will not elaborate too much further on that, because we have not yet taken those decisions and it is important that Parliament is properly and fully consulted.

Obviously, nightclubs are the kind of setting that has most often been talked about. Because nightclubs are places where many—not all—young people like to go and they have higher risks of transmission, there is an argument for us to introduce certification, not as a substitute for other precautions, but as an additional measure. I am not yet convinced that that is definitely the case and no decision has been taken, which is why I continue to voice caution and give a commitment to fully involve Parliament in those decisions.

As Murdo Fraser knows—or certainly should know—we are waiting on JCVI advice. When I say “we”, I am obviously referring to the Scottish Government, but the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish Governments are in the same position. In a press briefing last week, I indicated from the platform behind me that the four chief medical officers had asked the JCVI to look again at its advice on vaccination for young people, and our chief medical officer has also written to the JCVI. I am hoping for—possibly veering towards expecting—updated advice from the JCVI in the next day or so, and I very much hope that that expectation will be realised. It is for the JCVI to advise, but I hope that it will recommend further vaccination of people in the 12 to 17-year-old age group. Assuming that it is safe and that the risk benefit analysis bears it out, in the fullness of time, I would like us to be able to offer vaccination to all people in that age group. Obviously, informed consent would determine uptake, but first, as a priority, I am particularly hopeful that we will see updated recommendations for 16 and 17-year-olds. You can probably hear in my voice that I am as anxious as anybody—perhaps more than many—to get that updated advice as quickly as possible and to see whether the committee advises what I hope it will. I am sure that the JCVI will make its advice known however it chooses; depending on what the advice turns out to be, I will set out the steps that the Government will take to implement it as soon as possible.

It is important that we give people who are being offered vaccination the confidence and ability to come forward and get it. As Collette Stevenson is aware, the most recent JCVI advice recommends that children and young people aged 12 to 17 with certain underlying health conditions, including severe learning disabilities, be offered the vaccine.

There is information to assist those who might face particular challenges or who might be anxious about visiting a vaccination centre, which will include some individuals with autism—I recognise that. Information is available on the NHS Inform website, and we will continue to do everything that we can to make the process of vaccination as easy and straightforward as possible, particularly for those who will find it most challenging.

As I indicated in my statement, we will issue guidance that advises people of the basic things that we can all do, and that we all should still do, to try to minimise the risk of transmission. I set out why it is no longer, in our judgment, necessary or proportionate—if we cannot satisfy those tests, we cannot always satisfy that these things are lawful—to keep legal restrictions in place on all those issues. However, we will still advise people that when they are with people whom they do not know, keeping a safe distance is a sensible mitigation, and that if they are going somewhere that is very crowded—particularly indoors—perhaps they should not go. Hand washing is really important. Personally, I am not sure that I will immediately start shaking hands with people, because there are other ways to reduce the risks. Those are all things that we all have to think about in terms of our own risk approach and trying to operate in a way that reduces the risk.

We will issue guidance—that is the first thing that we will do to try to help people with that—and information continues to be available through all the usual Scottish Government sources. As I said, the chief medical officer will write directly, as he has done on previous occasions, to people who have been at the highest risk and who previously shielded with bespoke advice about how risk can be mitigated, so that people in that category can, like the rest of us, responsibly enjoy the greater easing of restrictions that we are looking forward to.

We have listened to teachers all along, but we also follow the expert advice of the JCVI on the order of vaccination. As I have said many times before, the people who call on me to do something different from the expert advice would probably be the first to criticise me if I, as a politician, chose to second guess and overturn the advice of the experts.

Vaccination has not made the virus a different beast; it is the same beast that it has always been, although it has mutated a little. The vaccine is helping us to combat the beast that is the virus. It is therefore absolutely right to talk about the need to get the vaccine to everybody in eligible groups as quickly as possible.

Teachers have been vaccinated in line with the priority set out by the JCVI. For example, every teacher over 40 will already have had the offer of their second dose. Any teacher over 18 will have the offer of their first dose, and second doses will be under way, as of now, for the eight weeks after the offers of first doses were completed. That has been done quickly and in line with the JCVI recommendations. With every day that passes, more and more teachers will be getting the protection of full vaccination.

Where we think the UK Government is taking the right approach, we continue to try to co-ordinate and take a four-nations approach. Broadly speaking, our approach on international travel at this point is consistent across the four nations. That has not always been the case, as there have been times when we have thought that a more rigorous approach was required.

We are working hard—I think that all four Governments are working hard—to co-ordinate both the substance of our policy approaches and the announcements. We do not always succeed in getting that four-nations co-operation, and there were some frustrations in the past couple of weeks about announcements that were made ahead of four-nations agreement to make them, but we will continue to pursue that.

I do not want travel restrictions to be in place any more than I want any other forms of restrictions to be in place. However, again, we would be irresponsible if we did not have them, given that perhaps the biggest risk that we face in the next phase of the pandemic is the possibility of a new variant that may start to challenge the efficacy of our vaccine. Although I hope that that never happens, we have to keep in the toolbox the tools to deal with that as effectively as possible.

Given that we live on an island, the more consistency there is across the different Governments, the better. However, my first and most important responsibility is to take the decisions that I think are right for Scotland, and I will continue to seek to do that.

I will take Bob Doris’s question away and come back to him with more detail. If he wishes to do so, I ask that he passes on the details of his constituent’s case, and we will see whether we can help to speed up the process. If the process is not as smooth as it needs to be, I undertake to work with other Governments in the UK to improve matters.

I thank Alasdair Allan for that question and I know that the sentiments behind it will be felt very strongly by other members who represent island communities.

Physical distancing has restricted capacity on ferries, and that has resulted in significant problems for people who travel to and from the islands. Although that is frustrating for anyone who wants to travel to or from our islands, it has been particularly and horrendously difficult for those who live on our islands. I understand that, and I thank people for the forbearance that they have shown. In light of today’s announcement on physical distancing, operators will be able to make more foot passenger capacity available from Monday, and that will ease some of the problems that Alasdair Allan talked about. Due to the continued need for enhanced cleaning regimes, there will continue to be a slightly reduced number of timetabled sailings on some routes; as in other settings, it remains important that we keep the environment on our ferries as safe as possible.

Regarding the essential travel needs of islanders, some capacity is being held back for turn-up-and-go travel and, in addition, for urgent medical appointments, islanders are guaranteed a space on the ferry as well as a taxi. The situation has been difficult, but I hope that today’s announcement, which will be operational from Monday, will lead to a significant easing of the challenges that islanders have faced.