Chamber and committees

Yes—100 per cent. I take the opportunity to thank police officers and staff for the incredible job that they have done throughout more than a year of significant challenges. There is never any excuse for any assault on a police officer, but some of what we have heard in recent days is particularly inexplicable and is beyond the comprehension of decent people everywhere. This has been a really difficult time for the police, who have had to police sensitively—as they have done under the regulations that are in place—and to help people in a range of different ways. They deserve our gratitude for the wonderful job that they have done, often putting themselves at risk in the process.

It is good news that the Janssen vaccine has now been authorised for supply to the UK. We expect to secure around 20 million doses for the UK overall, with Scotland receiving a proportionate population share of all vaccines that are procured. Although this is not yet certain, we anticipate that some doses of that vaccine will be available for use in Scotland later this year. If that is the case, we will incorporate that into our modelling. We base our current modelling on the supplies of the vaccines that we know are available and that are already flowing through the supply chain; we will continue to do that.

Let me say, first, that whether people in this Parliament and across the country agree or disagree with the decisions that I have taken—and it is perfectly legitimate to question and indeed to disagree with them—I hope that everyone accepts that the Government and I do not take any of these decisions lightly. I absolutely long for the day when I can stand here and say, “No more restrictions are required anywhere in Scotland.” There is no part of me that wants to hold us back from that for a single second longer than is necessary.

However, at this juncture, if we are to maintain progress overall in the right direction, it is important that we are cautious and careful. I have been criticised for erring on the side of caution—again, criticism is perfectly legitimate—at various points over the past 14 months or so. I do not pretend that the decisions that the Government and I have taken have been perfect—far from it. However, every time we have erred on the side of caution, I think that time has told that that was the correct or necessary thing to do. It is important that we do that now.

We are not taking a one-size-fits-all approach to this. If we were taking a pure public health approach—indeed, some public health voices might prefer us to be doing that today—we would simply have held the whole country in the levels that they are at right now. On some of the raw figures, it could be argued that some areas should be at a higher level. We are taking all the different factors into account, not least the progress with vaccination.

I can give an example to illustrate that. Case numbers in Highland look as if they are going in the wrong direction quite fast, but we know that there is an issue particularly in the Fort William area that we know is being managed. We are not applying higher restrictions to Highland overall. We are allowing the public health interventions to do their work, just as we did in Clackmannanshire and East Renfrewshire in the past few weeks. We are taking a targeted approach, but we also have to recognise travel patterns and the interactions between different areas. This is not perfect and it is not ideal, but we are taking the most proportionate and balanced approach that we can.

I will briefly refer to some of the other points. We do not have to go very far to hear public health experts warning against a lack of caution right now but also pointing to the fact that, although vaccination is proving to be effective—all the news on vaccination is good—slightly more than 50 per cent of the adult population has not had both doses. While that is the case, we remain vulnerable to the new faster-spreading variant. That is why we need to be cautious.

Vaccinations are speeding up. For example, today we have reported just under 31,000 second doses; yesterday the figure was 21,500. We are speeding up on vaccination, and we continue to do that and to make the process more flexible, too.

I did not say that the health service was at “imminent” risk of “severe pressure”. What I said—again, it is based on public health advice—is that, if we do not act with caution, it is possible that, from the unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated pool, we will still start to see hospital numbers go up.

The other key point that I made is that although, earlier this year, the NHS coped at 2,000 Covid patients at peak, we do not want to get back to anything like that, because that means that the health service can do virtually nothing else. We are trying to get the health service back to normal.

Presiding Officer, I am sure that I have missed some points, but I will end with this. I do not want to keep a single part of this country in tougher restrictions—or any restrictions—for longer than necessary, but I have a duty to continue to navigate us through this safely and, where necessary, cautiously, so that we can keep to our progress overall.

My very last point in response to Douglas Ross is that level 2 is still tough. I do not pretend otherwise. However, it is not lockdown, and we do nobody any favours by suggesting that it is. We can go into one another’s homes and hospitality can stay open indoors. There are significant steps forward there that are important for businesses and for the mental and physical health of the population.

Yes, we will keep all those things under consideration. The ban on evictions was extended for level 4 and level 3 areas but, as of Saturday, no part of Scotland will be at level 3, so we need to continue to consider the nature of our response.

I do not underestimate the importance of the eviction ban—we have extended it on more than one occasion, I think—but it is also important that we do as much as we can to help people with the causes of rent arrears and to deal with those rent arrears. For example, the loan fund that we set up to help people who are having difficulty with paying their rent is important, as is getting more money into people’s pockets through help for low-income families. There needs to be a package of measures and we will continue to keep that under on-going review.

I absolutely recognise how difficult the situation has been for everybody, but particularly for people who are vulnerable—adults with special needs are definitely in that category. As far as is possible in difficult circumstances, I ask people to take it in good faith—as I know Willie Rennie does—that we are managing the issues as carefully and sensitively as we can, with safety being paramount.

We are in a phase in which more of the services that Willie Rennie talked about can get back to normal. I understand why people compare events with such services, but very different issues are often at play, so doing that can be an oversimplification.

We want all the services that are most important for people back as quickly as possible. To widen the point slightly to cover the NHS, that is why we should not be complacent and say that we have only 100 people in hospital today and we know that the health service can cope with 2,000. We do not want to get anywhere near that figure, because it would mean that we had to pull back again on non-Covid services.

Some of today’s caution relates to opening up as much normal service provision across the piece as we can. I give the assurance that adults with learning disabilities and groups with vulnerabilities remain absolutely at the top of our list of priorities.

We have seen good uptake of registration among 18 to 29-year-olds across the country, as well as in Ayrshire, using the online portal. I can get the precise figures for Willie Coffey, although I am not aware of any particular difference between the figures for Ayrshire and those for Scotland as a whole.

NHS Ayrshire and Arran has written to all those who did not attend their appointment to invite them to arrange a subsequent appointment. A second letter to all those who did not attend their appointment, inviting them to reschedule, has been sent nationally. There was a drop-in clinic for those who missed their first dose on 23 May at Kilwinning academy, and the health board is planning a further drop-in session. It is also carrying out outreach vaccinations to support its inclusivity plans.

It is an on-going process. No one who does not turn up for their vaccine appointment will simply be forgotten; considerable efforts will be made to reach out and get people who have missed their appointment to reschedule and come forward for vaccination. I encourage all members to continue to play their part in encouraging their constituents to do that.

I apologise if I did not respond to a question earlier. Understandably, in some of these questions, I am being asked multiple questions and I am trying to answer as many of them as I can while the beady eye of the Presiding Officer is urging me to be briefer.

We are working to understand the reasons why people do not attend and to address that. As we go down the age bands, the approach is more about having flexible drop-in appointments than about having booked appointments. The online portal for registration is also helping to make sure that people’s address details are fully up to date.

Let me reassure people that health boards are overbooking appointments daily so that, if a percentage of people do not turn up, that does not reduce the overall number of vaccinations that they do in a day. We are seeing the expected daily numbers notwithstanding the number of DNAs, but, for protection purposes, we want to get the number of DNAs down.

We publish a lot of information on vaccination, but I will look to see what more we can publish as we go through the programme.

Our vaccination rates are broadly in line with those in the rest of the UK. We are all dealing with these challenges in slightly different ways, but we are continuing to make progress, to learn and to evolve the system as we go.

I hope that Pauline McNeill will recognise that I am not somebody who needs to be reminded of the importance of the city of Glasgow. It is my home and it is where my constituency is, so I know personally and on behalf of my constituents how important it is that we get Glasgow out of the current situation and back on track, and then, in the medium to longer term, work with the city council to support economic recovery.

The Deputy First Minister has had discussions with the city council. Its preference is that the Government work to support it in its recovery plans, and that is what we will do. As I said, the specific and bespoke measures that we have taken in Glasgow in the past couple of weeks will now inform learning in other parts of the country. Those measures have been effective. We are back on a better track in Glasgow, but the need for economic support will continue for a significant time to come, and we will continue to work on that with the city council.

I reassure anyone who might be in that position that it would not be breaking the law to travel to another area for an essential purpose such as getting a vaccine. Of course, that is not what we want in the bulk of cases.

We are restricted by supply, and that factor is outwith our control, unfortunately. We are trying to strike the right balance. There will never be a perfect balance between very local access and mass vaccination clinics that get people through as quickly as possible. There will be some people for whom travel to a mass vaccination clinic is not desirable or possible, which is why people have the ability to reschedule and rebook appointments.

Introducing and implementing a programme at such a scale and pace means that it will not be absolutely perfect for everyone on every occasion—I wish that I could say otherwise. There are many people—including in the Government, although that is the least of it—across the country who are working hard to avoid difficulties for individuals. The programme is going well and we continue to try to improve it and to iron out any issues that individuals are experiencing.

I am happy to write to Gillian Martin with specific details on the oil and gas sector. Generally, we ask people to comply with the rules that are in place for red, amber and green list countries. We continue to discuss with the UK Government how we can ensure that the controls at the borders are as tight as they need to be. I will not go into detail now, but I have spoken about the frustration that I have had about that in the past. We continue to try to make sure that we have as tight a system as possible.

Gillian Martin is absolutely right to draw attention to the fact that the global pandemic is not over. The World Health Organization is at pains to remind countries, almost on a daily basis, that we are not out of it yet. The UK as a whole is in a relatively strong position because we have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, but we also have the new variant—the Indian variant, or the delta variant as it is now called—which is spreading quite significantly.

There are upsides, as I said, but there are also significant challenges, which means that we must continue to abide by all the rules—particularly those around international travel, which are important. My advice remains that, unless it is essential, people should not travel overseas right now. Not doing that is another important way in which we can reduce the risk that new variants of the virus pose to us.