Chamber and committees

Public Health Scotland collect and publish data on the coverage of health visitor 6-8 week reviews pertaining to each financial year. In 2019-20, of children who became eligible for their 6-8 week review, coverage was 91.4% and in 2020-21 coverage was 91.8%.

Information for 2019/20 is available on the Public Health Scotland website in their Annual Report on Child Health Pre-School Review Coverage - https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-health-pre-school-review-coverage/child-health-pre-school-review-coverage-2019-to-2020/ .

The Annual Report on Child Health Pre-School Review Coverage for 2020-21 is not yet published but updated statistics on 6-8 week coverage can be calculated using data published alongside the Public Health Scotland Infant Feeding Statistics - https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/infant-feeding-statistics/infant-feeding-statistics-financial-year-2020-to-2021/ . It should be noted that health visiting data from previous years are updated within each annual infant feeding publication, and can change slightly from earlier publications due to increased data completeness. This is mainly due to late submission of data rather than reviews being carried out very late.

Data up to and including August 2021 are available on the Public Health Scotland (PHS) wider impacts dashboard - https://scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-covid-wider-impact/ .

Public Health Scotland data does not show exactly when each review took place, only that an eligible child received the review. It is therefore not possible to say how many reviews took place between the first 6-8 weeks of a baby’s life. In determining the extent of coverage for the first visit, Public Health Scotland will calculate the percentage of eligible children who received the review by the time the data is extracted. Further detail on how coverage is calculated can be found within relevant Public Health Scotland publications.

Scottish Ministers received updates on Defra’s public consultation on changes to the regulation of genetic technologies in England at the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on 28 June 2021 and 13 September 2021. You may view the minutes for these meetings at https://www.gov.scot/collections/inter-ministerial-group-for-environment-food-and-rural-affairs-communiques/ .

Officials from the four UK administrations also meet on a regular basis to share information on topics of mutual interest, including the area of GMO regulation. These conversations have included updates on Defra’s public consultation and planned changes to the regulation of genetic technologies in England in relation to gene editing.

Public Health Scotland collect and publish data on the coverage of health visitor first visits pertaining to each financial year. In 2019-20, of children who became eligible for their first health visitor review, coverage was 97.5% and in 2020/21 coverage was 97.2%.

Information for 2019/20 is available on the Public Health Scotland website in their Annual Report on Child Health Pre-School Review Coverage - https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/child-health-pre-school-review-coverage/child-health-pre-school-review-coverage-2019-to-2020/ .

The Annual Report on Child Health Pre-School Review Coverage for 2020/21 is not yet published but updated statistics on first visit coverage can be calculated using data published alongside the Public Health Scotland Infant Feeding Statistics - https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/infant-feeding-statistics/infant-feeding-statistics-financial-year-2020-to-2021/ . It should be noted that health visiting data from previous years are updated within each annual infant feeding publication, and can change slightly from earlier publications due to increased data completeness. This is mainly due to late submission of data rather than reviews being carried out very late.

Data up to and including August 2021 are available on the Public Health Scotland (PHS) wider impacts dashboard - https://scotland.shinyapps.io/phs-covid-wider-impact/ .

Public Health Scotland data does not show exactly when each review took place, only that an eligible child received the review. It is therefore not possible to say how many reviews took place between days 11 – 14 of a baby’s life (the agreed timeframe for the first visit). In determining the extent of coverage for the first visit, Public Health Scotland will calculate the percentage of eligible children who received the review by the time the data is extracted. Further detail on how coverage is calculated can be found within relevant Public Health Scotland publications.

The First Minister travels for a range of reasons including ensuring that the people of Scotland are effectively represented and ensuring that Scotland’s voice is heard on important issues.

Before arranging to travel on official business, Scottish Government employees and Ministers are first required to consider if their journey is really necessary. If they conclude that they are unable to conduct their business by other means, such as video or teleconferencing, they are then required to travel in the most cost–effective and time-efficient method available.

Travel is an essential part of official government business we take our responsibility to travel sustainably very seriously and aim to use more sustainable forms of transport wherever possible.

Any business flights taken by Ministers and Scottish Government employees are subject to a carbon levy payment. Pre-Covid the levy collected approximately £40,000 per year, and is used to compensate for carbon emissions generated. For example, in August 2019 the levy was used to partially fund solar panels on the roof of St Andrews House in Edinburgh. The panels have so far saved 15 tonnes of CO2 equivalent to planting 696 trees.

The shift to electric vehicles is an important part of responding to the climate emergency and improving air quality in our cities. To help incentivise this shift, we have, since 2011, provided loans valued over £140 million to the people and businesses of Scotland to make the transition to ultra-low emission vehicles. Last year our interest free loan scheme that supports the purchase of electric vehicles was extended to include used electric vehicles.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government through Transport Scotland has funded the Low Carbon Transport Loan (LCTL) this interest free loan has supported almost 5500 individuals and businesses in Scotland.

The breakdown between individuals and businesses receiving the LCTL is listed in the following table.

Transport Scotland undertook a public messaging programme to inform and forewarn the public of the need to plan their journey during COP26, directing people to the Get Ready Glasgow website, which held detailed heat maps of affected areas and suggested alternative routes. This campaign proved to be successful in reducing the background demand, which allowed space for the events to take place while leaving capacity on transport networks for key workers and unplanned disruption.

A zero emission Shuttle Bus service was put in place to support the extra demand on public transport between Glasgow City Centre and the venue. This was positively received by delegates, and proved to be popular, transporting almost 5000 people on its busiest day. Rail and subway services were strengthened to support the demand. Free cycle hire was also available in Glasgow, provided by Nextbike.

Furthermore, the Transport Co-ordination Centre and Transport Scotland Resilience Room were stood up throughout the conference to monitor and help mitigate any transport related issues.

NHS health boards lead on the local delivery of the vaccination programme. Vaccination centres have frequently changed throughout the programme, with some facilities being repurposed, and drop-in clinics being made available as we have had to exercise flexibility.

As such, the Scottish Government do not hold the requested level of information.

Information regarding the number of vaccination centres operating in each health board area, and their opening hours can be found on NHS inform.

Analysis published by Public Health England (PHE) showed high effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccinations against hospitalisation after 2 doses. The Pfizer vaccine is 96% effective against hospitalisation after 2 doses, with the AstraZeneca vaccine being 92% effective against hospitalisation after 2 doses. These are comparable with vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation from the Alpha variant.

A study published by PHE on 22 May demonstrated high effectiveness levels of 2 doses of both Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines against the Delta variant. 2 doses offer protection levels of 88% and 60% for Pfizer and AstraZeneca respectively after 2 weeks.

A single dose of either vaccine offers protection of 33% against Delta variant after 3 weeks, compared to 50% against the Alpha variant.

Booster doses can be offered any time at least 6 months after the second dose and help to reduce the risk of hospitalisation due to coronavirus over the autumn/winter period. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice on boosters indicates that booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines provide a substantial increase in vaccine-induced immune responses.

Further information on vaccine efficacy and effectiveness is available online at:

Overview - COVID-19 vaccine information and resources - COVID-19 vaccinations - COVID-19 - Our areas of work - Public Health Scotland

Greenbook COVID-19 chapter 14a (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Vaccination is the best way to keep you, your friends, family, and community safe and we encourage everyone to consider getting the vaccine. In the vast majority of cases a successful route to safe vaccination can be found.

If vaccination is not straightforward, support is available to help people achieve the benefits of protection from the Covid-19 vaccines. Local vaccination centre can help answer questions about the vaccine and can advise what arrangements may be put in place to enable safe vaccination. In the rare cases where that support does not lead to vaccination, the offer of an exemption will be a part of the process.

A person who is identified as clinically unable to safely receive the vaccine will receive a secure paper exemption certificate in the post.

These certificates are fully equivalent to the certificates provided for all other people who have been fully vaccinated and can be used for access to domestic venues and will also permit smoother inbound entry to the UK. The Scottish Government have published ‘ Vaccine certification scheme – information for business and event organisers ’ and a ‘ toolkit ’ which provides guidance and example certificates, so venues are fully aware that they should be accepting the certificate issued to medically exempt individuals for entry to their venue or event.

Scottish Government representatives last met with oncologists in Tayside linked with the HIS report in July 2020, where all independent reviews of the service were discussed, as well the ongoing delivery of the breast cancer services in Tayside. During the work of the Independent Advisory Group (Tayside Breast Cancer) which reported in August 2019, there was also discussion with the same oncologists as part of the group’s evidence gathering.