Chamber and committees

In the summer of 2020, the Scottish Government undertook a Capital Spending Review of its capital budgets against the backdrop of Covid-19, which necessitated a review of rail enhancements priorities.

Following the 2020 review, amid significant financial pressures on the available rail enhancements capital budget, the North Hanover Street development was deferred. Against a backdrop of rising costs and pressures on the rail enhancements budget, Network Rail was instructed to return to Transport Scotland with a proposal to progress the development, with options for alternative funding.

Transport Scotland await a revised proposal from Network Rail. Officials continue to remain engaged in regular meetings with key stakeholders such as Glasgow City Council, Network Rail and Scottish Futures Trust aimed at keeping each other updated in respect of developments in and around the Queen Street station area.

We recognise the incredible contribution that Scotland’s unpaid carers make to our communities and know that the pandemic has added significant additional pressures. We are committed to giving a strong voice to unpaid carers, listening to their needs and acting on what they tell us.

We will develop and publish a stand-alone Carers Strategy with a focus on recovery and improving carer support in a meaningful and sustainable way. The strategy will focus on carers and their needs, setting out how policies across the Scottish Government can work together with other public bodies to support carers as we recover from the pandemic and beyond.

We will engage with unpaid carers about the strategy’s scope and purpose in the coming months, and this will inform its development. Our approach to the development of the strategy will be both a collaborative and an iterative one which will draw on the knowledge and lived experience of unpaid carers so that the strategy is shaped by those who best understand the many challenges faced. We will seek to publish the strategy as soon as possible to provide a clear vision for how we will respond to the challenges faced by so many carers.

Local authorities were issued with non-statutory guidance to support them in their administration of the Tenant Grant Fund on 17 September 2021. A copy of this guidance can be found here .

We know some local authorities are already delivering Tenant Grant Fund payments at pace. For example, Dundee City Council has already paid out over £36,000 in grants, providing vital support to tenants in financial need caused by the pandemic.

All 32 local authorities are required to submit their first quarterly report by the end of December 2021, which will set out the number and level of grants issued (broken down by tenure); how many of these grants paid off the rent arrears in full or partially; and how many tenancies were sustained, at that time, as a direct result of the grant being paid.

Following observations on a small number of patients with long COVID symptoms who received an experimental drug called BC 007 at the Universittsklinikum Erlangen in Germany, a trial of this drug as a potential therapy for long COVID is reportedly being planned by this research institute.

Applications from the Scottish clinical research community for research projects on possible treatments for long COVID can be submitted to the independent research funding committees operated by the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office ( Response Mode Funding Schemes – Chief Scientist Office (scot.nhs.uk) ). Applications are assessed through independent expert peer review and funded based on the recommendations of the funding committees. No applications to trial BC 007 have been received for consideration.

The Forestry Grant Scheme, delivered through the Scottish Rural Development Programme and Scottish Forestry, will provide £307,759 of support specifically for capercaillie between 2016 and 2025. Prior to this, the Scottish Government paid out £781,452 through the Rural Priority (RP) Scheme’s Capercaillie Package between 2008 and 2019.

NatureScot, (formerly Scottish Natural Heritage), made payments of £544,705 towards the research and conservation of capercaillie in Scotland during the period December 2011 – December 2021.

Other Scottish Government funding in support of habitat management is likely to have benefited capercaillie but where not specifically provided for this species no breakdown is available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04874 on
‎ 20 December 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Decisions on local staffing requirements and recruitment are the responsibility of individual NHS Boards. However, Scottish Government officials are continually engaging with NHS Boards to identify particular areas of concern.

NHS Highland advise that they, like all NHS Scotland boards, are experiencing sustained pressures on their services and a shortage of registered professionals to fill posts. NHS Highland recognises that staff across the organisation are feeling tired and concerned about their ability to provide the high standards of care that they wish to, and are doing all they can to support them.

NHS Highland has been actively managing the situation in partnership with staffside colleagues to understand the greatest areas of pressures and to address these.

This dialogue will continue over winter months, allowing local healthcare providers and Scottish Government to anticipate emerging pressures and implement targeted responses where necessary.

Although NHS Scotland’s staffing levels are at a record high, following nine years of consecutive growth, we are fully aware of the difficult circumstances that Boards and frontline staff are working in. That is why we have announced a record £300 million of investment to support Health Boards and their staff over the coming months.

As part of this investment, NHS Highland is receiving additional in-year and recurring finance to support international recruitment of registered nurses and additional Healthcare Support Workers for acute services. The Board has also received a share of in-year investment to provide additional support to its recruitment team and to recruit an international recruitment lead.

The vast majority of people can wear a face covering and everyone who can is required to do so where it is mandated by law.

The Scottish Government was the first of the devolved administrations to produce guidance on the use of face coverings – recognising exemptions where people are unable to, or it would be inappropriate to, wear a face covering. Discrimination against people in this situation is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

The Scottish Government, in conjunction with a range of equality stakeholders, developed a face covering exemption card, to support those who are unable to wear a face covering to feel more confident and safe when accessing public spaces and using public services.

Further information is available on the Exemption Card Scotland website .

Health boards have a list of people currently registered as housebound with their GPs, and are in the process of contacting them all to receive their flu and Covid-19 booster in line with eligibility.

Procedures are in place for when the nature of an individual’s condition means they cannot travel, so that a home vaccination appointment can be organised. People should contact the number on their appointment letter.

Health boards are also able to offer assistance to those with mobility issues in travelling to and from their vaccination appointment.

An Incident Management Team was stood up on 27 November specifically for Omicron. The team has met daily since and continues to do so. The group is chaired by Public Health Scotland’s Incident Directors. The team meets with other UK nations and wider partners to share intelligence on a four nations basis. The team’s composition does not extend to international public health agencies but they do receive information on the latest international situation with Omicron.