Chamber and committees

Later today the Scottish Government will announce the launch of Phase 2 of the FWDF which will adopt a test and learn approach to the delivery of the existing FWDF support for Levy payers. This new approach will see the Fund expanding to include SME’s; and access to specialist training via private training providers not available via the college sector. Scottish Ministers have agreed that:

• £2 million will be allocated to Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to enable Levy payers to access FWDF training through private providers; and
• £5 million will be allocated to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to enable the introduction of support for non-levy paying SMEs. £4 million will be allocated to colleges, with £1 million to be used by the Open University (OU) in Scotland to provide complementary support at a national level.

Since its inception, a number of levy paying employers have made representation to Scottish Ministers that – for a variety of reasons – FWDF college provision was not suitable for their needs. Skills Development Scotland (SDS) will also test a grant making approach where they will work with eligible businesses to access non-college based training.

In seeking to support more businesses, the Scottish Government recognises that many businesses are struggling at this time. We know that enabling businesses to access relevant upskilling opportunities for their existing workforce could help them adapt and respond to the challenges they face. We also know that many small and medium sized enterprises are not levy payers and therefore not eligible for FWDF at present.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the direction of the Fund has changed slightly to seek to strengthen employer/employee relationships with a particular focus on upskilling the existing workforce to retain jobs and support employers as they adapt to a new and very different working environment as a result of Covid-19.

Therefore, from 16 November 2020, the FWDF eligibility rules will be changed to enable SMEs to access support of up to £5,000 in upskilling support, on a first come, first served basis by college regions. Colleges and the Open University in Scotland will work in partnership to ensure that the Fund supports the existing core aims of improving productivity and economic growth and provides upskilling opportunities for Scotland’s businesses as they adapt and respond to the impacts of Covid-19.

In the 2020 Programme for Government, the First Minister re-affirmed our commitment to the landmark investment of over £500 million in bus priority infrastructure.

We had paused work on that during the pandemic for obvious reasons, but now we want to look ahead. I am therefore pleased to announce that the Bus Partnership Fund will be launched today.

This will support local authorities, in partnership with bus operators, to tackle the negative impact of congestion on bus services so that bus journeys are quicker and more reliable, encouraging more people to travel by bus.

I believe that partnership is key and I want to see ambitious proposals placing bus priority at the heart of holistic sustainable transport futures, linking with active travel alongside further action and investment from local authorities and bus operators.

Revised guidance on reducing the risks from COVID-19 in schools was published earlier today, Friday 30 October. Guidance for the early learning and childcare sector is expected to be published later today.

Keeping schools, early learning and childcare settings and childcare safe, open and welcoming remains our shared priority. Our guidance has been updated and strengthened to help achieve that, and to support the extraordinary work that local authorities, and staff in school and childcare settings across Scotland, are doing to deliver education to our children and young people in such challenging circumstances.

The revised guidance takes account of the new Strategic Framework for COVID-19, and refreshed scientific and public health advice from the Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues. It has benefited from input from a range of key stakeholders, including members of the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group and the ELC Workstream Group.

The Scottish Government has today published COVID-19: Scotland’s Strategic Framework. This new Strategic Framework sets out how we will work to suppress the virus and sets out our proposal to move to a strategic approach to outbreak management based on five levels of protection, each with graduated packages of measures to reduce transmission of the virus, that can be applied locally or nationally, according to the evolving patterns of infection and transmission. We will engage with Parliament on the detail of the framework, and put this to a debate and vote next week.

The measures currently in place are due to expire at 6 am on 26 October. In light of the clinical evidence and advice, we have judged that these measures are required for a short additional period, until a levels-based approach can be debated in Parliament and then implemented. Regulations will be made to extend the current measures for a further seven days which will give them a new expiry date of 6 am on Monday 2 November. We will continue to keep the various restrictions under review and will keep the Scottish Parliament updated.

The pandemic has been an extremely challenging time for dentistry and the Government recognises NHS contractor efforts, patience and resilience throughout the period. The Government is committed to ensuring that the needs of patients to be seen for NHS dental treatment can be met, in a way that supports the good efforts of the dental community to maintain the high standards of health and safety needed to minimise the threat from COVID-19.

NHS dental services will be able to return to the High Street dental setting from 1 November to provide patients with access to the full range of treatments for all NHS patients. The Government is clear that this is not business as usual but by making available a full range of treatments for NHS patients, this enables dentists and dental teams to provide a wider range of NHS care for their patients, prioritised by clinical judgement and in line with wider public health protection measures.

The Scottish Government is making available funding of £1.1 billion to support additional COVID pressures in 2020-21. This follows our detailed review of financial implications across the sector, and ensures that frontline health and care services continue to receive the support required throughout this pandemic.

Details of allocations for NHS Boards and Integration Authorities are set out in the following table:

Our health and care system continues to respond magnificently to the enormous challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

NHS Scotland has begun safely and incrementally resuming some services that have been suspended, delayed or deferred due to coronavirus, whilst continuing to protect emergency, urgent and maternity care, support for social care and continuing to maintain COVID-19 capacity and resilience; in line with Re-mobilise, Recover, Re-design: the Framework for NHS Scotland, published on 31 May.

The reality is coronavirus is likely to be with us for some time to come, and so many changes made in the coming weeks and months have to be measured against the need to keep the virus under control, continuing to protect the NHS and save lives. Health Boards and their planning partners will continue to work on safely resuming services whilst protecting COVID-19 capacity, as informed by the evidence, clinical priorities and associated national frameworks and guidance.

Nonetheless, I am mindful of the challenges that winter is likely to bring over the coming months, including seasonal flu and bad weather. I want to ensure that our health and care services are fully supported across winter, so NHS Scotland will remain on an emergency footing until at least 31 March 2021, at which point I will review the situation again.

As of 10 July, our delivery partner, Sustrans, has awarded a total of £29,603,681 to local authorities and statutory bodies through the Spaces for People programme. We are also considering repurposing a final amount of funding from the active travel budget for additional bids in the pipeline amounting to £8,647,487.

The fund is therefore now closed to further applications. However, I would urge local authorities to continue to discuss proposals for active travel infrastructure with Sustrans as other funding routes and programmes may be appropriate.

I would also like to remind local authorities that the Cycling, Walking and Safer Routes grant distributed to every local authority through the Local Government Settlement, was increased by £15 million pounds this year, to £23.9 million pounds in total and that too should be used for active travel infrastructure.

A breakdown of awards is shown at Table 1

Table 1 Spaces for People awards by Organisation

The Scottish Government has today published COVID-19: Scotland’s route map through and out of the crisis – Update on approach to physical distancing in light of advice from the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group which provides an update on the approach to physical distancing in Scotland as we move through Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Route Map. This approach continues to be informed by evidence and has been updated in light of advice from the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group which has also been published today.

The publication also updates on the final stage of Phase 2 of Scotland’s Route Map. Continued progress in suppressing the virus, as measured by the latest data, means that we are able to confirm the indicative dates for the remainder of Phase 2, concerning relaxation of the 5 mile guidance on travel for leisure purposes, the re-opening of self-contained, self-catering accommodation and the re-opening of outdoor hospitality. Changes to allow children and young-people more opportunity to meet up are also set out.