Chamber and committees

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

We expect to receive JCVI guidance on that point over the next few weeks, but I do not know when exactly that is likely to be. I very much hope that it will be sooner within those few weeks rather than later. I know that all UK Governments are in that position.

In a small number of cases, those who were vaccinated at the earliest stage of the vaccination programme got their first dose of the vaccine in December and January, so a booster campaign might well be needed through the autumn. We are making sure that we are planning for that right now so that, whatever the advice may be on whether to do booster vaccinations in the autumn, we are ready to get going with that as soon as possible. We hope to get the advice within the next few weeks.

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.

I accept that we are not yet in the place where we want to be in terms of drug treatment and services generally, and in terms of drug rehabilitation services, in particular. Angela Constance, who is the Minister for Drugs Policy, will of course later set out the progress that we have made, the funding that we have committed and the steps that we are taking to address the matter. There are few things that the Government is more serious about doing. We are keen—and are open to doing so—to work across the chamber, as far as possible.

I have been open—notwithstanding our efforts and determination in this area of policy—in saying that I do not think that we have yet developed a package of policies that is sufficient to tackle the severity of the challenge that we face. I do not shy away from that. However, we are determined to ensure that we do just that; I know that Angela Constance is determined and is working hard to do it.

A decision was taken through NHS Fife’s multidisciplinary management group not to conduct remote assessments via Near Me during the pandemic, but the board plans to start face-to-face autism assessments in July, so there is a need to get that service back to normal and address the backlog. We will continue to work with NHS Fife and other health boards to support them to do that.

The importance of a diagnosis cannot be overstated and families’ frustration and anxiety around delays is understandable, so there is a need for NHS Fife and other health boards to make sure that the issue is being addressed. I will ask the health secretary to write to the member with more detail on exactly how and when that will happen.

Yes, I think that how we use land is an important part of how we meet our targets for the future, and we need to support our farming community—and not undermine it as the UK Government is doing right now in trade deals—to make the changes that will allow them to deal with that. There is a great appetite and willingness across the farming sector, and we will continue to support it through funding mechanisms and in other ways.

This week’s figures include a major technical change to the reporting of our emissions from peatlands, which is part of the report that was published. Agriculture is a central part of the process. I am not suggesting that Patrick Harvie is saying that we can do so, but we cannot just wish all the changes into being—hard work is under way and there is more hard work to be done to bring them about.

I am not simply comparing us with the rest of the UK—I want us to lead by example, and we are ahead of most other countries in the world. Is it going far enough, fast enough? No, but it is important in motivating us all to go further that we do not lose sight of the significant progress that we have already made.

One of the reasons why I hope that my party can reach a co-operation agreement with Patrick Harvie’s party is that it is important that we are all challenged to go further and faster on the issue. The determination is there, which I am sure is shared across the chamber, so let us celebrate the progress that we have made but also use it to motivate us all to go further. That is what we owe to the generations that will come after us.