Chamber and committees

I have been contacted by individuals living in England and Northern Ireland who have season tickets for Scottish clubs and who hope to travel to Scotland in two weeks’ time to attend a football match. However, as things stand, I understand that there is no technology that allows those who have certification from outside Scotland to be permitted to access Scottish events. Do you have any clarity about that issue, or do you have any sense of how that will be resolved?

That is very helpful.

I have one more question. It is on the slightly different issue of vaccination certification, and it came from a constituent who emailed me this week. He said that he downloaded his record of vaccination and was able to change every element on the certificate. In fact, he sent me a copy of his download, in which he had changed all the information. He was even able to remove large sections of the QR code. Is that an issue? How robust is the security around this? Although I hope that only a small minority of the population would ever seek to amend their vaccination certificate, how robust are the mechanisms to make sure that it does not become a widespread problem?

Thank you. It is very helpful to get that on the record.

A short time ago, we heard evidence from Neil Doncaster, who raised a number of practical issues around implementation, one of which was the practicality of stewarding at football grounds. As everybody knows, there are issues in the labour market at the moment. Recruiting the number of stewards that would be required to make the system credible is a real challenge for clubs, notwithstanding the cost implications. Has the Scottish Government reached a view on whether spot checks will be deemed sufficient? What other practical engagement is there, and what guidance is being given to clubs about how the system can be set up within the next two weeks?

I have just one more question for, I think, Professor Leitch, given that he is the expert on vaccinations.

The convener asked about the problems of those who have been vaccinated overseas, but another issue that lies closer to home relates to those who participated in early vaccine trials and who therefore did not get certification. In fact, my colleague Douglas Lumsden, who is a North East Scotland MSP, falls within that category, and last week he raised the issue with the First Minister, in the chamber. Has that issue now been resolved and are those who took part in vaccine trials able to get certification?

We know that such codes were available to residents in England and Wales much earlier. Is there any reason why it took the Scottish Government so long to introduce them?

Before I come to my substantial questions, I want to ask a process question. Cabinet secretary, it looks as though you are sitting in your ministerial office, which is a few feet away from our committee room. Is there any particular reason why you are not joining us in the committee room, which, from our point of view, would be a better venue and would enable us to have a more helpful exchange than we can have with you sitting in your office contributing via videolink?

Thank you, cabinet secretary. I think that that would be helpful and is perhaps something that we can discuss with your officials separately.

I want to ask a couple of follow-ups to the convener’s questions. Constituents of mine who are travelling to France for family reasons are concerned that the QR code will not be available in time. I understand that it was made available as of Friday last week, but it would be helpful if you could confirm that. To the best of your knowledge, is it working well? Have there been any problems with it, or is it too early to say?

Thank you for that answer. I suppose that the question is then, “When is dancing not dancing?” Perhaps that question is for Michael Gove, rather than for the Deputy First Minister. However, if there is an exemption for people who are exercising, does that apply to people who are walking, for example? What constitutes exercise?

Thank you. I am sure that we could pursue the matter in great detail, but I think that the discussion highlights the need for a degree of precision in relation to the drafting of the instruments.

I am grateful to Mr Swinney for that answer, but I am not sure that it entirely addressed the question that I asked, which was more about which of the two purposes was the primary intention behind the new initiative that has been introduced. However, constituents have raised a number of other issues with me, so perhaps I could raise a couple of them.

It is clear that there are concerns about the civil liberties angle of introducing vaccine passports. The Scottish Government has said, entirely reasonably, that those who have medical conditions that mean that they cannot be vaccinated will be exempt from the requirement. Does the Government intend to exempt those who might have objections to taking passports—for example, because they might be a member of a religious group that believes that the vaccination is wrong? Will individuals in that category also be treated as exempt?