Chamber and committees

The amount self-funders pay for their care home costs is a contractual matter between the individual and their care home provider. This agreement is protected by consumer protection laws.

Guidance on Social Care is on the Scottish Government website: Social care support - Social care - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Further guidance on free personal and nursing care can be found here - Care Support and Rights.dot (scot.nhs.uk)

Recovery certificates contained within the NHS Scotland Covid Status App adhere to the standard set by the European Commission, through the EU Digital Covid Certificate scheme which Scotland is a member of. This recognised standard does not allow for unsupervised self-reported LFD tests to be used to create a recovery certificate.

We are aware that there will be situations where those looking to travel will have tested positive for COVID-19 using an LFD test since 11 January 2022, when confirmatory PCR testing was no longer required. Further information is available from NHS Inform .

Travellers can use the text message and/or email from private PCR test results more than 10 days before travel as proof of recovery if an NHS PCR was not taken.

There are also some countries where a private supervised LFD test is acceptable and can be used instead of a PCR.

Different nations have different requirements for entry. That is why we encourage everyone to continue to check the entry requirements of the countries they intend to visit.

The Communications Sector, which includes resilience of the telecoms network, is reserved and the responsibility of the UK Government.

There are no specific obligations on telecoms operators to disclose assets that are at risk of flooding or a single point of failure to the Scottish Government.

However there is a broad requirement for telecoms operators to mitigate and minimise, in accordance with good industry practice, the number of single points of failure within the Network.

The Scottish Government works closely with the UK Government, telecoms operators and owners to ensure Scotland’s telecoms networks are resilient to a variety of risks, including flooding and other climate change related factors.

In 2020, we published the ‘Keeping Scotland Running’ Guidance Suite, which seeks to support the delivery of Scotland’s Critical Infrastructure Resilience (CIR) Strategy. This Guidance Suite comprises seven separate guidance documents designed to equip and enable CIR stakeholders to work together to build resilience across the critical infrastructure sectors in Scotland. Two of these guides specifically look at Building Resilience to Natural Hazards and Building Resilience to Climate Change (Adaption).

Our approach to building resilience to the impacts of climate change more widely is set out in the statutory Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme 2019-2024. One of the high level outcomes the Programme is structured around is that “Our society’s supporting systems are resilient to climate change”.

The Ready Scotland website – ready.scot – is a core part of our public-facing communications work to help make Scotland more resilient to emergencies. It provides up to date, accessible and comprehensive information on a range of threats and risks, including flooding, to help people in Scotland to prepare for and respond in ways that keep themselves safe and help others in their communities to stay safe.

The Scottish Government works closely with resilience partners to respond to and also prepare for significant incidents, providing information regularly through its own website and social media channels, and also working with resilience partners to disseminate information more widely.

This includes working with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scotland's national flood forecasting and warning authority which runs Floodline Scotland and works closely with local communities to strengthen resilience, prepare for and reduce the impacts of increased flooding.

A national study on the impacts of climate change on NHS assets was undertaken by Health Facilities Scotland (HFS) in 2016. This included flood risk assessments of 240 key sites utilising SEPA flood risk data. A follow up review of the sites identified as being at high risk of flooding was undertaken by HFS in 2021 and recommendations were made to the respective NHS Boards.

In addition Health Boards are working to complete Climate Change Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plans for their areas later this year. This work includes identifying any sites at risk of flooding both now and in the future as a result of climate change and preparing plans to mitigate those risks.

As part of our civil contingencies risk assessment work, the Scottish Government’s Resilience Division works closely with resilience partners, including the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Met Office, to assess climate change risk. This work includes the development of the Scottish Risk Assessment (SRA), which is designed to supplement UK Government’s National Security Risk Assessment. Together these documents assist Scottish responders and policy makers in understanding the most significant civil contingencies emergencies which Scotland may face over the next two to five years. The current SRA includes six new risk assessments themed around major impacts from climate change, as well as a dedicated climate change overview chapter.

Local Resilience Partnerships (LRPs) undertake multi-agency tabletop exercises involving flooding or severe weather scenarios as a matter of course. Local flood defence mechanisms are tested by resilience partners on a regular basis.

We aim to ensure the arrangements in place covering spending decisions on flood risk management are transparent.

In 2016, agreement was reached between Scottish Ministers and COSLA on a new strategic funding plan for flood protection schemes. The agreement guarantees that until 2026 the level of flooding capital grant in the local government settlement is set at a minimum of £42 million per annum. A further £150 million for flood risk management was confirmed in 2020. Support to local authorities in a given year is included in the Scottish Budget that is considered and approved by the Scottish Parliament. The annual allocations are set out in the relevant Local Government Finance Circulars.

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 provides the framework for effective management of flood risk. In January 2022, SEPA published 14 regional Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMP) for the period 2022-2028. Approved by Scottish Ministers, they have been prepared in collaboration with all 32 local authorities, Scottish Water and other organisations with a responsibility or interest in managing flooding. They have also been shaped in consultation with the public.

These plans complement the separate local flood risk management plans that will be published later this year. The local plans will explain in more detail how the actions set out in the 14 FRMPs will be delivered. They are published by the local authority who is nominated as the lead local authority for the Local Plan District.

These arrangements give local authorities the certainty they need to deliver the broad range of actions set out in the regional and local plans, recognising local needs and priorities.

The Energy Sector which includes resilience of the electricity network is reserved and the responsibility of the UK Government.

The Scottish Government works closely with the UK Government, electricity network operators and owners to ensure Scotland’s energy networks are resilient to a variety of risks, including flooding and other climate change related factors.

In 2020, we published the ‘Keeping Scotland Running’ Guidance Suite, which seeks to support the delivery of Scotland’s Critical Infrastructure Resilience (CIR) Strategy. This Guidance Suite comprises seven separate guidance documents designed to equip and enable CIR stakeholders to work together to build resilience across the critical infrastructure sectors in Scotland. Two of these guides specifically look at Building Resilience to Natural Hazards and Building Resilience to Climate Change (Adaption).

The National Planning Framework 3 (NPF3) and Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) also contain planning policies on managing flood risk and drainage. This includes specific policies which deal with the development management and development planning aspects of managing flood risk.

Our approach to building resilience to the impacts of climate change more widely is set out in the statutory Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme 2019-2024. One of the high level outcomes the Programme is structured around is that “Our society’s supporting systems are resilient to climate change”.