Chamber and committees

I will make some comments on the contents of these sets of regulations.

The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Alteration of Expiry Date) (Scotland) Regulations 2022 extend the expiry date of temporary provisions in the UK Coronavirus Act 2020 by a further six months, thus ensuring that specific powers in the UK act will continue to be available to ministers until 24 September 2022.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Directions by Local Authorities) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 change the expiry date of the local authority direction regulations and will ensure that the powers given to local authorities in those regulations continue to be available to manage local outbreaks of coronavirus.

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts (Amendment of Expiry Dates) Regulations 2022 extend all the provisions in part 1 of each of the two Scottish coronavirus acts from 31 March 2022 to 30 September 2022, except for four provisions that will be expired by a further statutory instrument, the Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts (Early Expiry of Provisions) Regulations 2022.

Finally, the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment (No 5) Regulations 2022 remove from the principal regulations of the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 the provisions in relation to the Covid-19 vaccination certification scheme.

There will always be judgments to be made about the longevity of the testing arrangements. Obviously, there is financial provision in the budget for 2022-23 that enables some testing activity to be undertaken. I would have to clarify what specific guidance on that point was previously given to health boards, because that relates to an internal health portfolio transaction and advice, so I had better write to the committee about that specific point.

That said, I would not imagine that it was likely that commitments were given to that extent or to that degree of specificity. There might have been a commitment in respect of, say, the need for on-going testing—I would not be at all surprised by that—but I will check and write back to you to provide clarity on the point.

I am happy to look at that to see exactly how that can be resolved. We sometimes face competing medical opinions about the right thing to do. I will not give clinical advice, but I will ensure that the issue can be addressed.

Ministers have made clear to the Parliament on countless occasions that you can write to me about certification issues. Mr Fraser is welcome to write to me, and I will see that there is a resolution to that particular issue.

I unreservedly accept that there is a danger that people will become complacent about Covid. However, I want to assure the committee that the Government does not take that view. We have insisted on undertaking population-wide surveillance activity so that we are able to assess the general position on infection. Waste water sampling allows us to narrow that down to parts of the country and see where levels of infection are perhaps more intense. That can then inform outbreak management. We will still be active in that field. Some of the regulations that the committee will consider today are all about enabling us to undertake outbreak management. Without the regulations, we would not be able to do that as well as we should.

In addition, the risk-based approach to testing is part of the plan that the Government has issued.

For the absolute avoidance of doubt, lateral flow tests will remain free of charge.

Yes.

We think that that is the case because, as I said in my previous answers, we believe that we have passed the peak of the BA.2 variant. We see that in a number of respects, including in cases and hospital admissions. Although the numbers in hospital are high, they are not being added to with the same vigour as was the case previously. Provided that that pattern continues, I would content, in the face of the evidence that Mr Fairlie puts to me—I know that this is a contested proposition and not everyone agrees with us—that the Government has taken prudent steps to deal with that.

If, for example, we had gone ahead and removed the legal obligation for face coverings on Monday, I think that Mr Fairlie would have had legitimate additional questions to put to me. However, we took the decision that we did. It caused some controversy—a number of people are kicking off about it—but, in my view, it was the responsible thing for us to do in order to provide a bit more protection and to try to get the situation under control.

You have exaggerated by 50 per cent.

This debate will deliver on the First Minister’s commitment to seek the approval of Parliament for the Scottish Government’s updated strategic framework, which we published on 22 February.

Earlier, the First Minister announced that, from next Monday, 21 March, the remaining domestic legal measures—with one temporary precautionary exception—will be lifted and replaced with appropriate guidance. We will lay in Parliament tomorrow regulations to implement those changes.

The requirement to wear face coverings on public transport and in certain indoor settings will be retained for a further short period, due to the current spike in case numbers. That decision is consistent with our evidence-based approach to managing the pandemic. We will review that again in two weeks—before the Easter recess—and our expectation now is that that regulation will convert to guidance in early April.

For the debate, I will set out the key strands of the new framework and explain what it will mean for our collective response to Covid-19 in the coming months and years.

However, before I do that, I am sure that colleagues throughout the chamber will want to join me in offering our condolences to everyone in Scotland who has suffered a loss during the pandemic. Everyone in our society has been affected by the pandemic, and there have been some very dark times, but our country has demonstrated significant resilience over the past two years.

I also express my gratitude to all those who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much during the pandemic to enable our society to make the recovery that we have been able to make from the challenging circumstances that we have faced.

Despite the on-going presence of the pandemic, we believe that we are now able to look forward to the rest of 2022 with increased optimism. That has been made possible by the remarkable progress on vaccinations and new treatments. Indeed, at the heart of our framework is an increasing confidence in our ability to achieve a sustainable return to a more normal way of life, even as we remain prepared for any future threats that Covid-19 might present. That is important, because there are many issues other than Covid-19 that we need to tackle as a society.

In the early stages of the pandemic, we focused our strategic intent on suppressing case numbers. Now, with widespread vaccination and immunity, we are more focused on reducing and mitigating wider harms than we were able to be previously. Our new strategic intent is therefore to manage Covid-19 effectively, primarily through adaptations and health measures that strengthen our resilience and recovery, as we rebuild for a better future.