Health and Sport Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Official Report 682KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No 24) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/404)

Agenda item 5 is consideration of a made affirmative instrument. As in previous weeks, the regulations are laid under section 94(1) of the Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008, which is on international travel. They were made on the basis that they are emergency regulations, but they need to be approved by Parliament. It falls to us to consider them and report to Parliament accordingly.

We will hear from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, who is accompanied by officials. The regulations remove Latvia and Estonia from the list of exempt countries, add a number of countries and territories to that list and amend the additional provisions that a previous set of regulations made for travellers who arrive from Denmark.

I welcome Humza Yousaf, the cabinet secretary, who is accompanied from the Scottish Government by Craig Thomson, border measures review team leader, James Boyce, unit head in health performance and delivery, and Peter Brown from the police enforcement, liaison and performance team.

I ask members who have questions to enter an “R” in the chat box. Will the cabinet secretary outline the special provision that was made in relation to Denmark in the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No 22) Regulations 2020 and say what SSI 2020/404 changes and what the reason is for the change in approach?

I thank the committee for allowing me to speak to the regulations. I will not rehearse too much of the explanation. The committee will remember why a ban was introduced on travelling back and forth to Denmark. The UK Government did that under its reserved powers, but we absolutely agreed with the approach that it took. Members will remember that the reason for the ban was that a mutation of the coronavirus was found in mink in North Jutland in Denmark, which caused concern about interference with the efficacy of any vaccine.

That ban and a range of other restrictions were put in place in relation to Denmark—for example, the sectoral exemptions that exist were removed for Denmark. Because further detail has emerged about the control of that mink mutation, it was thought that the travel ban—in effect—for visitors could be lifted. However, these regulations make clear that Denmark is still not exempt from quarantine measures, so travellers still have to quarantine for 10 days—you might know that the isolation period, which was 14 days, has been changed to 10 days.

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Airline crew will be able to travel into the UK from Denmark and will no longer have to self-isolate as they would have had to do before, because the exemption for airline crew now includes Denmark, as do other exemptions that are in place. Essentially, because of the regulations, Denmark has reverted to being a country that is not on the travel corridor list but—other than that—has no additional restrictions placed on it.

You referred to the reduction in the quarantine period from 14 days to 10 days; clearly, all the regulations that we have considered up to now have been on the basis of a 14-day period. Will that require further regulations to come to the committee or will the matter be dealt with elsewhere?

No, it will not have to be done specifically for international travel, because it is related to another regulation, which I think has been discussed and debated—forgive me if it has not—and which came into force yesterday, so there will no separate regulation. My understanding is that there will not be a requirement for separate regulations, but officials might want to come in and correct that.

The change to reduce the isolation period from 14 to 10 days was included in the regulations that were introduced last week on the travel corridor changes, which at some point—perhaps next week or into the new year—will be considered by the committee, but there is no independent set of regulations to make the change.

Thank you; that clarifies the position. There are no questions from committee members, so we move to agenda item 6, which is the formal debate on the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No 24) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/404). I invite the cabinet secretary to move S5M-23535.

Motion moved,

That the Health and Sport Committee recommends that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No 24) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/404) be approved.—[Humza Yousaf]

Do I have the option to speak at this point?

You certainly do.

It is just to thank the committee for its scrutiny of the regulations. I have been in discussions with my colleague Michael Matheson over the past couple of weeks, because most of the committee’s focus has, quite understandably, moved on from enforcement issues. I was leading on travel regulations in relation to enforcement issues, particularly Police Scotland enforcement, but the issues have moved on, as you have just demonstrated, to test and release and measures that will need to be taken forward in discussion with airports and airlines. I have therefore asked Michael Matheson, who leads on domestic travel regulations, also to lead on the international travel regulations, so I am pleased that, after a couple of weeks of discussion, he has agreed to take over the lead responsibility in that regard—hence his having written to you last week.

I thank the committee for its scrutiny, which I am sure will continue, with Michael Matheson attending the committee. Of course, if the committee wants me to attend on enforcement issues, I will be happy to do so. However, this should—he says, touching wood—be my last appearance at the Health and Sport Committee.

I thank you for your many appearances to give evidence on such matters over recent months. It is clearly a case of a new year, a new minister. We look forward to scrutiny work with your colleague in due course.

No committee members have indicated that they wish to speak in the debate on the motion.

Motion agreed to,

That the Health and Sport Committee recommends that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No 24) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/404) be approved.

That concludes our consideration of the instrument. We will report to Parliament accordingly. I thank the cabinet secretary and his officials for their attendance.