Chamber and committees

I gave that assurance on the Government’s behalf at the end of last week. It is important to consider the matter in its proper context. The ICO has asked the Government to redraft the privacy notice in order to present the information in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form. That is an entirely reasonable request. Mr Lumsden will be familiar with the enormous complexity that exists in relation to the general data protection regulation. It is important that the information is set out clearly and simply, so the Government will do that.

We welcome the engagement with the Information Commissioner’s Office, but there must be acknowledgement that there is a huge amount of complexity involved in wrestling with many of the questions. The Government tries to present the information as clearly and as transparently as possible.

I am breathing a sign of relief because Mr Rennie is able to say that the issue has been resolved. I feared that we would have a rematch of the previous portfolio question time. I am glad that it has been resolved and I am grateful to him for his engagement on the matter.

The information-sharing agreements that are in place with England are more straightforward than those that we have with Wales. We are trying to resolve the issues. There is no difficulty in working our way through them; it is just taking time. I assure Mr Rennie that we are working to resolve the specific issues in relation to the agreements.

The Covid recovery strategy is focused on bringing about a fairer future, particularly for the people who have been most affected during the pandemic. Our actions will increase financial security for low-income households, enhance the wellbeing of children and young people, and create good green jobs and fair work.

We are working closely with our partners to deliver that strategy. Alongside the president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, I chair the Covid recovery strategy programme board, which will oversee the ambitious transformation of public services. Further details on the matter are available on the Government’s website.

There is an established process for individuals who have received their coronavirus vaccinations outside Scotland to upload official proof of their vaccination in an approved country to their Scottish vaccination record, through NHS Inform. That will allow those who have been vaccinated in the UK or internationally to receive a combined “fully vaccinated” status. We are currently working to increase the number of countries to which that applies.

It is very clear to anyone who looks at the experience of the pandemic that the inequalities that existed prior to Covid were exacerbated during Covid. The Government is determined to address that, which is why tackling inequality, addressing hunger and work to eliminate child poverty lie at the heart of the Government’s Covid recovery strategy.

I very much agree with the point that Audrey Nicoll has advanced and I assure her of the Government’s determination to use the aftermath of Covid and implementation of the Covid recovery strategy to make the maximum impact when it comes to tackling poverty and eliminating it from our society.

In Scotland, self-isolation has always been set out in guidance for the general population. It is for the United Kingdom Government to decide how to tackle Covid-19 in England. Currently, the Scottish Government will continue to ask people who test positive for Covid-19 to isolate for the recommended period, and we will continue to make self-isolation support payments available to people who are eligible while isolation remains in population-wide guidance.

We will publish a detailed transition plan for test and protect in March, which will set out our priorities in more detail. As with all Covid interventions, all decisions, including those on the future of test and protect, will be informed by the latest scientific and clinical advice, as well as careful consideration of the four harms.

As I indicated, it is up to the United Kingdom Government to decide on self-isolation policy in England.

My response to Mr Beattie is that we all have to proceed with a great deal of care. The point of self-isolation is to try to break the circulation links of the virus, and if we do not do that effectively when the virus is still a very significant presence in our society, we run the risk of cases increasing and the burdens on our national health service increasing as a consequence.

The Scottish Government intends to proceed by listening to the clinical advice and epidemiological information and taking actions that we think are appropriate for Scotland. The application of guidance to continue with self-isolation and the support arrangements is, in our view, appropriate at this time.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting a fair recovery from the pandemic, including for businesses and communities in the Highlands and Islands. Since the start of the pandemic, businesses in Scotland have benefited from £4.5 billion in support from the Scottish Government, and we have engaged extensively with businesses to ensure that our support is effective.

Last week, we announced a new £80 million Covid economic recovery fund that will target support for businesses and communities as we move into a new phase in the pandemic. Subject to parliamentary approval, councils in the Highlands and Islands will receive more than £8 million from the fund and they will have flexibility in determining how best to use the funding to support local businesses and low-income households.

The Scottish Government recognises the unequal impact that the pandemic has had on our communities, businesses and public services. We are providing significant investment to support recovery, such as the £80 million Covid economic recovery fund that was announced just last week and, of course, the investment of more than £1 billion in the national health service recovery plan.

If Mr Carson would like to send me further details of that example, I will certainly look into it. He will appreciate that there are financial rules that have to be followed and there has to be appropriate scrutiny of grant allocations. With those caveats, I am happy to look at the issue.

I know that a number of local authorities are sitting on unspent allocations of resources for Covid purposes. I encourage them, provided that these are prudential decisions to take, to make sure that the financial support is available to fund recovery in the way that Mr Carson puts to me.