Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting unpaid carers in recognition of the vital role they play, and we have already improved the social security support available to unpaid carers in Scotland, through our Carer’s Allowance Supplement and Young Carer Grant.

On 17 March we issued a discussion paper to stakeholders setting out proposed aims for Scottish Carer’s Assistance, our replacement for Carer’s Allowance. The aims are based on what we have heard from carers, and the organisations who support them, about how the existing support could be improved. The paper has been designed to inform consultation with carers and stakeholders to develop final aims for this support and also sets out our intended process for making decisions on proposals for Scottish Carer’s Assistance. It recognises that some proposals may be capable of being put in place from the launch of the new assistance but others could only be taken forward over the longer term.

The Scottish Government follows the advice of the Joint committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) as they continue to monitor all aspects of data and evidence of vaccine effect in different groups, and have considered this data in people with cancer. At this time, the JCVI have not recommended any change in the approach to vaccination of this group. We are continuing to monitor evidence and will adapt their advice only if this becomes necessary. The CMO letter published on 9 March advises that clinicians may propose a shorter schedule if they think it’s needed in individual cases.

As of Monday 1 March 2021 the total number of doses allocated was 2,138,450. The total number of doses allocated refers to the number of doses that have been made available by Public Health England to the Scottish Government for ordering, and is the cumulative amount allocated up to 11:55 1 March 2021.

The Scottish Government has been very clear from day one that the pace of our national vaccine programme is dependent on vaccine supply and delivery timescales and we continue to work closely across the 4 nations to ensure this is as smooth as possible .

Our modelling contained within the Scottish Government’s Vaccine Deployment Plan took a deliberately cautious approach. Based on the information provided by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) we set our expectations of delivery based on our expectations of available supply, using an assumption of 5% wastage.

Some wastage is unavoidable for a variety of reasons based on the characteristics of the vaccine, logistical issues with cold chain supply, storage failure and/or specific clinical situations such as a breakout of COVID-19 in a care home.

To date, our latest management information indicates a wastage rate of around only 1.8% - well below our planning assumption of 5%, which is a precautionary approach for worst case scenarios and in line with global best practice.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the Scottish Singles Chart to Scotland’s music scene, in helping to bring artists to wider audiences and boosting their profile. The chart has played an important role in showing what the people of Scotland are listening to and buying, and often reflected different trends when compared to UK charts.

The Scottish Government has spoken to the Official Charts Company to understand why the chart has been withdrawn. We are continuing to engage with the Official Charts Company along with Creative Scotland, the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) and representatives from Scottish radio stations to explore options to bring about the return of the Scottish Singles Chart, and to consider any further opportunities to support Scottish artists in reaching wider audiences.

All of our decisions in response to COVID-19 have been guided by the latest evidence and advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, Health Protection Scotland, our Chief Medical Officer, and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI advises all UK Health Departments on immunisation, including the efficacy and safety of vaccines.

Senior clinicians do not support the prioritisation of foster carers in cohort 2 as the JCVI prioritisation list is based on the objective of the COVID-19 immunisation programme being to protect those who are at highest risk from serious illness or death. Currently prioritisation for staff is based primarily on the vulnerability of the group that a carer is working with rather than their own role, and children and young people are not deemed to be high-risk.

The Scottish Government has met our mid-February target to offer the first dose of the vaccine to everyone over 70 and everyone with an extreme clinical vulnerability. Over 1,661,879 people have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination and 92,550 have received their second dose. We are now working on vaccinating priority group 6.

The Scottish Government is continuing to engage with the Joint committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the issue of priority vaccines for terminally ill patients and those at risk of being immunosuppressed. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport has written to the JCVI on this matter, and the response provided by JCVI advised that for the first phase of the COVID-19 mass vaccination programme, priority should be given to protecting those most at risk of dying from COVID-19.

The order of priority is based on estimates of the risk of dying from COVID-19, because age is so strongly associated with COVID-19 mortality, modelling indicates that offering the vaccine to older age groups first is the optimal strategy. The priority order for phase 1 reflects the estimated number of persons that need to be vaccinated to save one life, with every life considered precious and of equal value; no additional value being placed on anticipated life expectancy, whether long or short.

It is also important to reflect that people can be described as being terminally ill due to a very wide variety of medical circumstances or clinical conditions. Many individuals who are clinically extremely vulnerable or nearing the end of life will have some degree of immunosuppression or be immunocompromised and may not respond as well to the COVID-19 vaccine as we would hope.

JCVI have confirmed that their position is that terminally ill patients will be vaccinated in either group 4 or 6. Individuals who are defined as clinically extremely vulnerable will have been vaccinated as part of group 4.

161,101 people who are clinically extremely vulnerable have now received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of 4 March 2021. This represents around 90% of the shielding list.

JCVI priority group 4 includes all those 70 years of age and over, and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals. Group 6 includes all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality. Group 6 also includes unpaid carers, including all adult carers and young carers aged 16 to 18.

Priority groups 4 and 6 are not completely distinct groups as such. In practice, delivery to these groups will be a matter of weeks apart. A person can therefore move in and out of these two groups with time rather than being static in one group.

We will continue to work with the JCVI to monitor vaccine delivery.

Fang Tian FT-045A FFP3 masks are not used by the public health and social care sector in Scotland, and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) has never made purchases of such masks. Likewise no such masks have been purchased under the Scottish Government’s third party supplier contract (Lyreco), and there is no record of public authorities buying these masks through Scotland Excel.

The Scottish Government does not know about all PPE purchases by private users. However we are not aware of any private purchases of FT-045A FFTP3 masks and our enquiries with NSS, Scotland Excel and Lyreco lead us to believe that there is either no use of these masks in Scotland or that any such use is very limited. The Department of Health and Social Care has published guidance on withdrawing these masks from use.

Some people with asthma will receive the vaccine as part of cohort 6 on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) prioritisation list, if they require continuous or repeated use of systemic steroids or have had previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission. Supplies permitting, we aim to have offered first doses to everyone on the JCVI priority list by mid-April.

The independent JCVI recommends continuing prioritising people for vaccinations by age, as well as certain underlying conditions, as this is assessed to be the best way to address the risk of severe illness and mortality.