Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government continues to promote the requirement for hospitality businesses to collect contact details from visitors to their premises, in line with regulations and guidance, to support the work of local Health Protection teams. Use of the Check In Scotland app, by premises or the public, is not a legal requirement; it is a tool to support settings to more easily comply with regulations and public health guidance.

In terms of monitoring the collection of contact details by settings covered by regulations, Environmental Health Teams within Local Authorities, as part of ongoing engagement with premises or in response to members of the public notifying them of non-compliance, encourage compliance within settings, and take any enforcement action deemed necessary.

As advised in my previous answer, health boards lead on the local delivery of the vaccination programme and they manage the process for housebound people locally. We therefore do not hold information on average, longest, or shortest waiting times for housebound people and this information would have to be requested from the relevant health board.

The commitment to reduce car kms by 20% by 2030 (against a 2019 baseline) as set out in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan update (CCPu) published in December 2020 remains unchanged, either in terms of measurement or time scale.

An incorrect graphic was posted on social media on the 10 th of December. As soon as the error was noticed, the post was removed at the earliest opportunity to avoid further confusion, and we remain fully committed to reducing car km driven in Scotland by 20% by the year 2030.

NHS Lothian has, as part of their response to the reports, sent diagnostic appointments for those children identified in the review as being of clinical concern and requiring recall. In addition, the Board is working with the British Academy of Audiology to review the Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) recordings of all children seen by the service for ABR testing during the last five years. An agreed escalation process is in place to highlight any cases of concern on a weekly basis and those of significant concern within 24 hours.

The Board is also undertaking work to review children known to the service who have risk factors for hearing loss and, based on the outcome of each review, recall children where appropriate in line with national guidance.

NHS Lothian will continue to report to the Scottish Government on a monthly basis.

COVID vaccines are procured by the UK Government on a four nations basis, and the cancellation of the contract with Valneva is a matter for the UK Government. Valneva is a valued contributor to our life sciences sector and the Livingston facility is an important asset, developing vaccines for the treatment of many infectious diseases and supporting high quality jobs. This includes their COVID-19 vaccine, and I welcome the positive results Valneva has reported from clinical trials. I met with Valneva last week to hear more about their COVID-19 vaccine and the impressive work underway at their Livingston facility. Ministers and Scottish Enterprise are in advanced discussions with the company to agree a package of support which would underpin the company’s operations in Scotland.

The Scottish Government will continue to be guided by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations in deploying vaccines in the face of Omicron. In line with the JCVI’s advice, the best defence against the virus is for everyone who is eligible for a booster to come forward now, alongside following the Scottish Government’s guidance on testing, face coverings and restrictions.

The list of private providers is owned by the UK Government. All providers included on the list must complete or be working towards full United Kingdom Accreditation Service accreditation. If a provider does not complete this or fails the accreditation then they are removed from the list.

Officials continue to work with UK Government to monitor performance of private tests providers. This is done at the private testing provider working group with the Department of Health and Social Care and the devolved administrations, which meet every 2 weeks.

The providers have various standards to meet, which are defined in our regulations and the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are set on turnaround times, customer service and sequencing requirements. Any provider not achieving these standards or engaging in unethical practices are removed from the list.

If individuals are having or have had an issue with a private test provider, they should first report this back to the provider. If they are not satisfied with this then they can submit a complaint here: https://enquiries.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/s/enquiries where the complaint will be investigated.

The amount spent on executive search, advertising and assessment centre costs for the Director General Net Zero role is £26,837. Three candidates were shortlisted and assessed. Two candidates were interviewed by the final panel.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) (and prior to this the Modernising Patient Pathways Programme within Scottish Government), have supported the rollout of the Digital Dermatology Appointment (DDA) system. This platform allows patients to interact with dermatologists by answering a series of questions and uploading images of their skin condition for the clinician to review. This system is used for both new and return patients. The system was offered for rollout to all Health Boards during COVID and to date is live in five Health Boards, with over 4000 patients having appointments this way.

In addition, the CfSD is actively promoting Active Clinical Referral Triage in Dermatology and encouraging the use of images to support this where this can be done safely. We are currently engaged in a piece of work to understand the use of images in referral pathways across all Scottish Health Boards and the output of this will support key work in 2022 to increase the use of images to support timely access to Dermatology care.

As we set out in our 2021 Programme for Government we will: ‘ deliver the recommendations of the Grouse Moor Management Review Group as a matter of urgency, including the licensing of grouse moors. Licensing or further regulation will cover the key areas identified in the review, including muirburn, wildlife control, the use of medicated grit and wildlife crime .’

The Grouse Moor Management Group chaired by Professor Werritty did not make any recommendations for a system to quantify and publish the number of gamebirds and other quarry species that are shot in Scotland each year and we have no plans to introduce such a system at present.

We are working with NatureScot to develop proposals for a licensing scheme for grouse moor businesses and it is conceivable that such a system might require records of quarry species shot on grouse moors. We will engage closely with relevant stakeholders as those proposals are developed.

Our NHS workforce, across all specialties and care settings, have been remarkable throughout the pandemic. We are deeply grateful for their continued courage, commitment and professionalism.

This year we have made £12 million available to support the wellbeing of our workforce including across primary and social care services.

We are continuing to develop the National Wellbeing Hub, a 24/7 National Wellbeing Helpline, confidential mental health treatment through the Workforce Specialist Service and funding for additional local psychological support. We are also providing further support for practical measures to aid rest and recuperation alongside additional resources including Coaching for Wellbeing and grief and bereavement support.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is working with a number of Health Boards to implement the Digital Dermatology app, which allows patients to interact with a clinician at a time convenient to them, without having to attend hospital. This will support dermatology teams in conducting more virtual appointments.