Chamber and committees

The length of time that test and protect takes to contact and trace people is published on a weekly basis, so people can look at that. Test and protect performs a very good service to short timescales but, in some circumstances—particularly in complex outbreaks—it takes time to go through all contacts, and it might take time for some contacts to come forward, although I am not saying that that is the case in the situation that Jackie Baillie mentioned. Speed is of the essence, but different characteristics in different outbreaks will determine the complexity of that. I cannot comment more on the specific cases, because I do not know the specific details.

All administrative glitches in the system are quickly identified and rectified. We do not want them to happen, and lessons are learned from them all. It is important to put the issue in context, not least for those who are working round the clock to deliver the vaccination programme. This is the biggest ever population vaccination programme that the country has delivered, and it is going exceptionally well. In that context, the administrative glitches that have been mentioned are tiny. They are not unimportant, but let us not take away from how well the vaccination programme is going. It is running smoothly, and it is accessible. We will learn all lessons as we, potentially, go into a booster period in the autumn and a further round of vaccination next year or the year after.

I pay tribute to everyone who is running the vaccination programme. Yesterday, I got my second dose at the NHS Louisa Jordan, which was running like clockwork. All the people who are delivering the programme deserve our grateful thanks.

I am sure that Willie Rennie was paying close attention, so he will have heard something today that might make the biggest practical difference.

First, however, I could not have been clearer that I advised against football fans travelling to London—as I advise against football fans gathering in groups outwith the limits. I have spent the past 15 months trying to persuade people to stick to the rules that are there to keep them and their loved ones safe, and the majority of people have complied with them. I get frustrated when people do not do that, but we all have personal responsibility and we are moving into a phase in which that personal responsibility will become more important as we ease the legal restrictions. Every day, I will continue to seek to persuade people to behave in a way that is within the spirit and the letter of the rules, to keep us safe and as firmly on the right track as possible.

As I said last week, it is not the case that services for adults with learning disabilities cannot open. Local authorities must consider how they can open safely. At the moment, the biggest restriction is the 2m physical distancing rule, and we are keen to reduce—to the point of completely eliminating—the need for a legal requirement for physical distancing. If we go to level 0 on 19 July, and if that allows us to reduce indoor physical distancing to 1m, that will significantly increase capacity in services for adults and in many other settings. That does not mean that such services are closed between now and then. It does mean, however, that local authorities or the providers of such services can continue to plan for increasing capacity further.

No matter how frustrated we might get when people, whoever they are—football fans or anyone else—are not complying with the advice, the response to that is not to reduce protection for other people, including, and in particular, vulnerable people. I understand that the situation is really difficult for people who are in that category, but getting everybody through as safely as possible continues to be most important.

We are working with universities and I will ask the education secretary to write to Liz Smith on that specific point. Of course, universities also have an obligation to make sure that they have in place the services and support that international students, who are fee paying, need. We are also giving access to the vaccination programme to international students who arrive here having not already been vaccinated in their country.

We will take such issues very seriously. We learned a great deal—not all of it good—from the experience of university return last year, and a lot of work has gone on to make sure that the right arrangements are in place this year.

Yes—I do not want to have to wear face coverings for longer than is necessary and I cannot imagine that there are many people across the country who do. I want us to get to a position where we do not have to think about Covid in our day-to-day lives in any respect.

We are much closer to a position where we can lift legal restrictions, and that is welcome. However, if we want to continue in that way, we might all have to accept basic mitigations for a longer period. I hope that the period is not significantly longer, but if measures such as wearing face coverings, washing hands and—even if it is not legally required—keeping a careful, safe distance from other people in certain circumstances are required in order that we can live without limits on having people in our homes or limits on what we can do in the more fundamental parts of our lives, such as in services for adults with learning disabilities, I think that people are willing to pay that price. Nevertheless, we all hope that it will not be for any longer than is necessary.

I could not agree more—I am sure that everyone across the Parliament agrees.

I appeal to everyone—as I do almost every day—to get vaccinated when they are invited to an appointment and particularly to get the second dose. We know that the first dose of the vaccine gives some protection, but it is the second dose that gives significant protection, including protection against the delta variant. Please turn up for the vaccine appointment.

The more people who are fully vaccinated, the more the link between cases, serious illnesses, hospitalisation and death will weaken, hopefully to the point of being broken almost completely. Every person who is not vaccinated is someone who is still vulnerable to the virus. As a way of protecting yourself, but also as part of the collective civic duty that we owe to each other, please come forward for the vaccine.

We have seen an extraordinarily high uptake so far. Uptake is not as high in younger groups as it is in older and frailer groups, but it is still high in comparison with other vaccination programmes. Every one of us can play a part in encouraging everybody we know to get double vaccinated. That is absolutely the way out of this for us all.

I will insert the caveat that I have inserted throughout my remarks today: that is all dependent on meeting the vaccination milestones that we have set out and on meeting the strategic aim of keeping cases at a level that allows us to alleviate the harms. If we do that, I hope that by 19 July, the legal requirement for physical distancing outdoors will be removed and the requirement on indoor premises, including those that do not already have a 1m dispensation, will be reduced from 2m to 1m.

If the data allows it—and I stress that “if”—our intention is to completely remove the legal requirement for physical distancing indoors and outdoors by 9 August. As I said, we may still advise people to take care with safe distancing, but we want to bring the legal requirement to an end as soon as it is safe to do so. We are setting out those expectations today so that businesses, including those in the culture sector, can begin planning along those lines. We will keep people as updated as possible as we review the data in the weeks ahead.

Podiatry services, like all the health services that people require, should be available on the NHS. The member raises an important issue. As she has said, podiatry services can make the difference between being able to get out and about and be active and not being able to do so. I will ask the health secretary to write to the member in more detail about specific plans and the work that is under way to get podiatry and other services back on track as quickly as possible.

More than 90 per cent of community pharmacies have opted into providing that service. Not all community pharmacies will be able to do so, but I think that 93 per cent are. Since the community pharmacy service was launched at the start of June, more than 18,000 free home test kits have been collected from more than 1,100 community pharmacies. At least 87 per cent of the population live within a 30-minute walk of a pharmacy collection point, and the journey will be much shorter in urban areas.

We will continue to work to try to open up access and make the process as flexible as we can, but I think that the system and the service that community pharmacies now provide have been a step change in making test kits accessible to people across the country.

No Government in the history of devolution has done anything other than base its vaccination and immunisation decisions on JCVI advice. I will be corrected if I am wrong in any way here, but I think that that is a statutory requirement in England and Wales, although not in Scotland.

As members know, I spent many years as health secretary. One of the most difficult things that politicians can be asked to do, and one of the things that any politician should resist doing, is to interfere with that advice when it comes to whom to vaccinate. I understand the point that has been made, but we are eagerly awaiting the JCVI’s advice and will act on that advice.

There has been speculation in the media about what direction the advice might go in, but it is likely that the vaccination programme will not be a one-off and will continue. Regardless of what the JCVI advice is right now for younger age groups, those at the margins are likely to be vaccinated in a future programme anyway, even if the advice is not to lower the age recommendation.

I understand all those points and the reasons why calls such as Mr Johnson’s are made, but it is such an important principle that we follow clinical advice on vaccination, given the need to maintain public confidence and address some of the sensitivities and concerns around the issues