Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government published ‘ Strategic Framework for Reopening of Schools and ELC Provision’ alongside Scotland’s Route Map on 21 May.

This puts in place a framework to ensure that children and families can access safe, high quality ELC and childcare services as early as it is safe to do so.

The Strategic Framework will support both Local Authorities and private and third sector providers to identify the capacity available within their settings, and if necessary to prioritise access to that capacity.

The full reopening of childcare services is not scheduled to begin until Phase Three of the Route Map. At this point all childcare providers will be able to reopen their services subject to public health measures.

The Critical Childcare and ELC work stream of the Education Recovery Group, in collaboration with the newly-established sector working group, will now lead the development of a suite of clear operating guidance, supported by public health advice. This will ensure that sector specific issues relevant to reopening across the early learning and childcare and out of school care sectors are addressed in guidance ahead of reopening. Guidance was issued to the childminding and fully outdoor childcare sectors on 1 June, ahead of the reopening of this part of the sector.

Parent Club Scotland has also created an extensive digital hub to provide evidence based advice for parents and carers around coronavirus, which is regularly updated with information, advice and resources for parents. This includes a new Frequently Asked Questions section which covers for example when providers will reopen and safety issues.

The Scottish Government is maintaining a cautious approach to changing lockdown measures as outlined in the Route Map and each step taken is based on scientific evidence that it is safe to do so. The Framework for Decision Making makes clear that we are putting equality and human rights at the heart of our response to Covid-19.

We know that the measures currently in place to lower the transmission of the virus can themselves cause a wide range of harms. For children who are missing early learning and childcare, these may be wide ranging.

Our first priority is, of course, for the safety of staff, parents and children who access early learning and childcare settings. While Phase One of the Route Map allows for a limited reopening of childminding and fully outdoor childcare services, this is conditional upon the scientific and medical advice confirming that the reopening of these settings can be done in a manner that is consistent with wider efforts to control the reproduction rate and protects all those accessing these services. Settings must also have in place a comprehensive implementation of complementary public health measures, including adhering to ‘test, trace, isolate and support’ practices, the use of appropriate personal protective equipment and a range of other enhanced hygiene measures. These measures are set out in detail in section five of the ‘ Strategic Framework for Reopening of Schools and ELC Provision’ and in addition to this comprehensive guidance was issued to the childminding and fully outdoor childcare sectors on 1 June, ahead of reopening.

The full reopening of childcare services is not scheduled to begin until Phase Three of the Route Map. At this point all childcare providers will be able to reopen their services subject to public health measures. Further guidance will be issued to support that on 15 June.

Public Health Scotland issues shielding letters on behalf of the NHS Boards.

The following table provides information on the number of individuals who have been sent shielding letters by area of residence.

Letters are sent as people who should shield are identified.

Number of individuals sent Shielding letters by area of residence (as at 26th May 2020)

The Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund is aimed at providing hardship support to those who have lost work due to Covid-19 but are ineligible for support through the UK Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme because they have only been trading as self-employed since 6 April 2019 or later. It is specifically aimed at those who have been unable to access other forms of business support or working age benefits.

This does exclude those in receipt of Universal Credit payments, including advances, because they are receiving support.

Similarly, anybody in receipt of our hardship grant would need to declare this to DWP in any future Universal Credit application. The management of Universal Credit is a matter for the UK Government.

However it is important to clarify that people who have applied for, but not yet received, Universal Credit (or an advance on Universal Credit) are still eligible to apply.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The type of tests being used in Scotland (real time PCR assays) ar e widely used for the detection of respiratory viruses, as well as a range of other viral pathogens, owing to their speed and versatility.

Scottish laboratories are working in collaboration with the Scottish Microbiology & Virology Network (SMVN), National Laboratories Programme (NLP) and Health Protection Scotland, as well as linking in with Public Health England, to ensure that all tests are quality checked and validated for use.

Based on work by NHS Lothian on symptomatic cases the accuracy of tests for clinical diagnosis is 98%. This was presented in a Royal College of Pathologists webinar - available online .

Education Scotland has significantly strengthened its scrutiny functions and increased the number of school inspections it carries out. In the last academic year (2018-19) Education Scotland completed 252 school inspections, an increase of over 30% on the previous year.

Schools are selected for inspection each year on a proportionate basis, using a sampling approach and predetermined set criteria rather than a cyclical approach.

a) 604 primary schools have not been inspected for 10 years or more.

b) The longest time since last inspection is 16 years

c) Data from all primary schools in Scotland is used to create the comparator score on the school information dashboard. The information is used to show how pupils in the school performed against Curriculum for Excellence levels (by stage i.e. P1, P4 and P7) and by organiser (i.e. numeracy, reading, writing and listening and talking) against similar pupils across Scotland. It is therefore not a discrete group of schools that Morningside Primary School is compared with.

d) The number of primary schools inspected in Scotland in the last five years is shown in the following table.

Individuals identified as being at the highest risk of severe illness if they become infected with coronavirus are advised to shield.

As at 20 May, 57,621 people have requested weekly grocery boxes. Under the Scottish Government’s agreement with Brakes and Bidfood, the two companies providing the grocery service, people who are shielding receive their first grocery box within 7 days of their request reaching Brakes and Bidfood. Thereafter they receive their box(es) once a week, until they cancel the deliveries.

As at 20 May, the details for all 43,725 people who have requested access to the priority delivery service have been passed to supermarkets. Details of new requests are passed on daily. The supermarkets participating are Asda, Tesco, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s, Iceland and Waitrose.

Individuals identified as being at the highest risk of severe illness if they become infected with coronavirus are advised to shield.

The letter which shielded individuals receive sets out the support which is available to those who require it, for example those who do not have an existing local support network. This support includes supplies of food and other essentials through a free grocery box delivery service, and access to priority supermarket delivery slots. This can be requested through the shielding SMS service or local authority helplines.

As at 20 May, of the 176,713 people who have been issued with a letter advising them to shield, 57,621 people have requested a free weekly grocery box. As at 20 May, the details for all 43,725 people who have requested access to the priority delivery service have been passed to supermarkets. Some people may have requested both services. We do not hold data of how many have indicated they do not require access to services.