Chamber and committees

Test and Protect will change as the population becomes more protected by vaccination, but will still play a role in mitigating clusters and outbreaks where they arise, slowing infection spread and protecting populations at risk.

Contact tracing and testing of close contacts will continue as we move forward through the pandemic, including beyond Level 0.

We are following the clinical trials on daily contact testing closely, and will review Scottish Government policy in light of the evidence as it emerges. Any change to Scotland’s self-isolation policy continues to be informed by clinical and scientific advice, and would be subject to MHRA approval of lateral flow tests for ‘test to release’ purposes.

We will continue to consider the appropriateness of existing public health guidance on self-isolation in light of the emerging evidence regarding the efficacy of the vaccine in preventing infection and onwards transmission of Covid-19.

The Scottish Government is satisfied that the industry protocols developed by the UK Chamber of Shipping represent current best practice. These have been fully considered by the Scottish Government and approved for use as part of our Guidance for domestic cruise operators which can be found here: Coronavirus (COVID-19): travel and transport - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Cruise must however be considered in the wider health context and due to the upward trajectory in Covid cases, concerns around the more transmissible Delta variant and the potential to transfer Covid (that has a relatively long asymptomatic incubation period) to multiple touchpoints across different locations, even with the use of near-person testing regimens, the Scottish Government has recommended that cruise start when all of Scotland reaches level 1. Once cruising can commence, these protocols will stand the industry in good stead, allowing for a quick and safe resumption of activity.

The Scottish Government’s position is that cruises may dock at Scottish ports when all of Scotland is in level 1. If the evidence supports the planned lifting of restrictions at the next review point, domestic cruising will be allowed from 19 July. Further information on this can be found in the Guidance: Coronavirus (COVID-19): travel and transport - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government has not conducted a national gap analysis across all mental health services. However, within our programme of enhanced improvement support to seven Boards, we have undertaken demand and capacity modelling to inform local improvement plans for CAMHS and Psychological Therapies, with the aim of meeting the waiting times standards and clearing backlogs by end March 2023. This support, where required, will be extended to the remaining Boards over 2021-22.

The Scottish Government published the outcome of its review into Physical Distancing on 22nd June and it is available through the following link: Coronavirus (COVID-19): review of physical distancing in Scotland - June 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Between 1 May 2021 and 30 June 2021, Marine Scotland have inspected 11 Wrasse fishing vessel catches and found no infringements of the license derogation conditions.

We are working closely with Local Authorities, the Health and Safety Executive and Police Scotland to ensure we are taking a joined up approach to enforcement of regulations and wider workplace health measures. We have committed to £2.9m in funding to support Covid related work carried out by Local Authority Environmental Health and Trading Standards Officers to year end 2021-22. We continue to engage with the Local Authorities to understand how this funding is being used to ensure they have the capacity to support businesses including hospitality to comply with the regulations and guidance. Local authorities are responsible for prioritising enforcement work within their area, and they are doing so using a risk based and 4 Es approach (Engage, Explain, Encourage and Enforce).

To date we have spent £478,975.94 on the Protect Scotland - Proximity Tracing App and the Federated Server. The costs are broken down in the following table:

The total number of downloads of the app are shown in the table attached in reply to S6W-00767 on 30 June 2021. The functionality to count the number of active daily app users has been improved since launch and currently indicates that there are around 980,000 active users each day.

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

Reflecting on the success of the vaccination programme, our revised strategic intent is to work “to suppress the virus to a level consistent with alleviating its harms while we recover and rebuild for a better future.” Deciding when to remove COVID-19 restrictions will be informed by conditions based on clinical advice. These conditions will ensure that the virus remains sufficiently under control in Scotland and that enough people are protected by two doses of the vaccination. At present, our current analysis of the state of the epidemic indicates that the lifting of Level 0 restrictions should not happen until at least all adults over 40 years of age have been protected by two doses of the vaccine. We expect this to happen by 9 August. However, in order to maintain the progress we have made in returning to more normality, it will be important that people continue to stick to a set of baseline measures to stop the virus resurging and to protect those who do not have protection from vaccination.

I want us to get to a position where we do not have to think about Covid in our day-to-day lives in any respect. However, if we want to continue our progression towards that time, we might all have to accept baseline protective measures for a longer period, and we will work with stakeholders on what these should be.

But ultimately, we are dealing with an unpredictable virus, and we have to respond to what the data is telling us at the time.