Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government Fair Work agreement covers the following bodies:

• Accountant in Bankruptcy
• Disclosure Scotland
• Education Scotland
• Social Security Scotland
• Scottish Public Pensions Agency
• Student Award Agency for Scotland
• Transport Scotland
• Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
• Scottish Prison Service
• Food Standards Scotland
• National Records of Scotland
• OSCR
• Revenue Scotland
• Scottish Fiscal Commission
• Scottish Housing Regulator
• Registers of Scotland.

The former Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work, wrote to all public bodies in August 2019 encouraging them to adopt Fair Work agreements similar to that entered into by the Scottish Government and the relevant Civil Service Trade Unions. There is no central record of which bodies have entered into such agreements. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture wrote jointly in December 2020 to public bodies reiterating the Scottish Government’s expectation for them, alongside the Scottish Government, to lead the way in mainstreaming Fair Work.

The Ministerial Working Group for Fair Work Action Plans is chaired by me and the remainder of the current membership of the group is as follows :

• Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science
• Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government
• Minister for Older People and Equalities
• Minister for Children and Young People
• Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands
• Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport
• Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment
• Minister for Community Safety

Membership of the group will be reviewed to reflect evolving priorities. The working group has met on four occasions: 28 November 2018, 13 June 2019, 5 February 2020 and 21 October 2020. Minutes from the meetings of this group are not currently published, but this will be considered going forward.

The Scottish Government supported the development of a rapid clinical guideline on the long-term effects of COVID-19, often described as ‘long COVID’. The guideline was produced jointly by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and makes recommendations about care in all healthcare settings for adults, children and young people who have new or ongoing symptoms 4 weeks or more after the start of acute COVID-19.

An equalities impact assessment for the guideline, containing information on pregnancy and maternity, race, sex and other definable characteristics is available to view at https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng188/documents/equality-impact-assessment.

The guideline has been published as a ‘living’ document, which means that targeted areas will be continuously reviewed and updated in response to emerging evidence.

Public Health Scotland host a Case Management System which holds the contact details of every person who has tested positively for COVID-19. The information collected will include contact details for the person who has tested positive, information on workplaces and venues they have visited and contact information on those they have met while infectious. Data that is collected for contact tracing includes the following protected characteristics: age, sex and ethnicity. Public Health Scotland will use anonymised data to help them identify trends and hot spots.

In line with the Scottish Government’s duty to advance equality of opportunity and eliminate unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act (2010), an Equalities Impact Assessment will be undertaken specifically for Employment Injury Assistance (EIA). The Scottish Government plans to carry out a public consultation on the Equalities Impact Assessment alongside the draft regulations. Responses to the consultation will inform detailed policy proposals regarding the rules, administration and promotion of EIA.

The Scottish Government has undertaken engagement with stakeholders, including experts in occupational health, to begin to understand the reasons behind low take-up rates of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit by women. Further engagement will be carried out as part of the public consultation on Employment Injury Assistance.

S5W-34507 was answered on 25 February 2021. We are experiencing a very high volume of correspondence on the vaccination programme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-31293 on 4 September 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Scottish Ministers have accepted Public Health Scotland’s clinical advice that practices should make every effort to triage all patients by telephone to avoid patients presenting at the practice unnecessarily. The published guidance is consistent with Scottish Government policy that practices should remain open whilst reducing opportunities for infection where possible.

Scottish Ministers will be advised by Public Health Scotland on when it is safe to relax these measures.

To assist with the Operator of Last Resort contingency plans for both franchises, one contractor and three suppliers have been engaged. The three suppliers are MacRoberts, Ove Arup and Partners Limited and Bramble Hub who replaced Ernst and Young in 2020.