Chamber and committees

Work to preserve and increase the stock of grey partridge has traditionally been led by shooting interests such as the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

GWCT lead on the PARTRIDGE project in the UK, supported by the EU via the Interreg North Sea Region programme. It show-cases how new and improved management solutions can improve biodiversity and ecosystem services at 10 demonstration sites across the region. There are two demonstration sites in Scotland at Balgonie Farm in Fife and Whitburgh Farms in East Lothian promoting land management techniques specifically to benefit grey partridge https://northsearegion.eu/partridge/ .

More widely, the protection of Scotland’s biodiversity is a key priority for the Scottish Government, and we are committed to doing more to safeguard our species and habitats. Our high level Statement of Intent on biodiversity, published in December 2020, signalled our ambitions for biodiversity in Scotland, and the development of a new post-2020 biodiversity strategy. We have committed £7 million to date to the Biodiversity Challenge Fund and recently launched a new £10 million Nature Restoration Fund to help finance projects that support nature recovery and address climate change. Action to restore biodiversity is also central to our Green Recovery from Covid-19.

The Scottish Government is considering funding arrangements for student allied health professions as part of the ongoing Allied Health Professions Education review.

The Scottish Government continue to meet and work collaboratively with the recognised representative body for community pharmacy contractors in Scotland, Community Pharmacy Scotland.

Discussions have included the pharmacy networks response to the COVID-19 pandemic, additional support provided to the community pharmacy teams in providing a safe working environment and access to mental health and wellbeing support. The delivery of current and development of future pharmaceutical care service to support the NHS recovery from the pandemic and the impact of the pandemic to the financial sustainability of pharmacy network and the Scottish Drug Tariff.

Officials have also met with NHS Board Directors of Pharmacy to discuss the provision of pharmaceutical care services.

At present we are awaiting Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice on whether all those aged 12 to 15, and all 16 and 17 year olds should be offered COVID-19 vaccination – and once we have this we will be preparing policy guidance as to how we will operationalise this for Scotland. No 16-17 year olds outwith the previously identified JCVI priority groups will have vaccination prior to the pending JCVI advice.

On 15 June 2021, the Advisory Sub-group for Education and Children’s Issues provided advice on whether groups of parents should be permitted to attend ELC settings for outdoor events such as nursery graduations. Their advice was that groups of parents and carers should not attend end-of-year events in Early Learning and Childcare settings, whether indoors or outdoors. This was a carefully considered decision that weighed up all of the risks involved to safeguard public health.

In relation to the Fan Zone Scottish Ministers have undertaken significant consultation with public health officials and clinicians who have provided advice throughout development of Glasgow City Council’s proposal. The Fan Zone provides an outdoor, highly regulated space for fans to watch the tournament. Although there will be up to 3,000 people in attendance per session, this is in a large, outdoor space with normal capacity for up to 80,000 people. Necessary physical distancing and hygiene measures are in place. In addition, there is comprehensive stewarding, cleaning and contact tracing provisions in place and everyone attending are encouraged to take a lateral flow test prior to the event. Rapid lateral flow test kits are being mailed to all visitors to the Glasgow Fan Zone. This move is part of a series of measures to help reduce the risk of transmission before and after the event.

The OCTAVE trial funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) is a collaborative project involving the Universities of Birmingham, Glasgow, Oxford, Liverpool, Imperial College London and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. This research work is investigating the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines being used in the UK in 2021 in up to 5,000 people from certain clinically at-risk patient groups who have impaired immune system function through underlying disease or drug treatment.

Further information is available here:

• Vaccine responses studied in patients with impaired immune systems – UKRI
• University of Glasgow - Research - Coronavirus research - OCTAVE to study vaccine responses in patients with impaired immune systems .

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) constantly review all published and unpublished data to inform vaccination policy recommendation. The JCVI have reviewed data already on this topic and will do so in an on-going basis.

The Scottish Government stays up-to-date on all national and international developments regarding COVID-19, and are continuing discussions on a 4 Nations basis regarding development and possible use of new COVID-19 vaccines.

The approval of medicines is a reserved matter and all approval is managed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

On 28 May, the MHRA approved the single-dose Janssen vaccine for use in the UK for adults aged 18 and over, and we anticipate receiving some stocks of the vaccine later this year. As with all new COVID-19 vaccines, we anticipate that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will provide a recommendation on how the Jansen vaccine should be deployed. The UK Vaccine Taskforce has secured 20M doses, of which Scotland will receive a proportionate share.

The Novavax vaccine is also reporting encouraging results from stage 3 clinical trials (90% efficacy in the US study). If the vaccine is successful in trials and the MHRA assesses it as appropriately safe and effective for use, the UK will be able to access 60 million doses and Scotland will receive a proportionate share. However the timetable for supply is not clear as the supplier requires to implement a significant increase in manufacturing capacity.

The Self Isolation Support Grant (SISG) is a demand driven grant with one overall budget that is not allocated by period or location. We have committed to providing funding for both the programme and administration costs for these payments. Local authorities are reimbursed for each award paid.