Chamber and committees

The rapid scoping exercise to develop an ePrescribing system across primary care is progressing even with the added ongoing pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic response. In addition to initial work undertaken to clearly outline an initial solution required to develop a nationally implementable digital solution for ePrescribing and dispensing, work has also taken place by NHS NSS to outline the current digital infrastructure supporting medicines, prescribing and dispensing which will be used as a baseline for development. The initial tranche of the work is planned to start in February 2021.

The Scottish Government has prioritised the needs of vulnerable pupils, including those with additional support needs, as part of our response to COVID-19. While schools remain closed for the majority of pupils, our guidance for the phased start of the spring term, asked that schools remain open to provide for vulnerable pupils and children of key workers.

Our guidance sets out which children and young people may be considered to be vulnerable in the current circumstances. Decisions on which children and young people attend at this time are best made by those who work directly with children and young people with complex additional support needs. It is vital that these decisions reflect the need to continue to manage the transmission of the virus in these very difficult and exceptional times.

In addition to specific provision for vulnerable children, Education Scotland has put in place a wide range of support, including specific resources to support families of children with complex additional support needs. Further Information has also been published on the Parent Club website.

Good hand hygiene remains one of the most effective methods for reducing the spread of COVID-19, as reflected in our FACTS campaign. To this end we have worked with Public Health Scotland and clinicians to develop guidance supporting the operation of supermarkets, and other retail, during the pandemic. This includes the use of hand sanitisers and appropriate signage to support customers in using such products.

This supports the legal requirement on a person who is responsible for carrying on a business to take measures which are reasonably practicable to minimise the risk of the incidence and spread of coronavirus on their premises.

Our position remains that we support public understanding of the importance of hand hygiene to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus, however we will keep this under constant review. Should evidence suggest non-adherence to this or the need to strength our approach, we will update our guidance and Regulations accordingly.

The possible extension of the agreement between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and the China Wildlife Conservation Association regarding the loan of Giant Pandas to Edinburgh Zoo and related conservation and research activities is primarily a matter for those two bodies.

The Scottish Government would of course very much welcome an extension of the agreement and will be pleased to offer the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland any support requested in facilitating discussions about future arrangements with interested parties.

The Local Authority Install Programme (LAIP) is the main delivery vehicle to provide grant funding Scotland’s local authorities to install publicly available electric vehicle (EV) charge points. This scheme has been running since 2011 with over £32 million pounds invested to provide over 1,500 publicly available charge points. It is up to each individual local authority to develop their EV charging infrastructure plans to meet the specific needs of their area and to improve and enhance the network. Since 2011, Transport Scotland has provided over £1.2 million of grant funding to the City of Edinburgh Council to roll-out publicly available EV charge points in their area.

In addition, our Switched on Towns and Cities Programme (SOTC) provides targeted funding to help Local Authorities develop and implement complementary investments in EV infrastructure. The City of Edinburgh Council was awarded £2.39 million in June 2019 to support investment in EV Infrastructure to strengthen and expand the existing network.

In December 2020, the Scottish Government reached an agreement with the three PFI hospital car park providers to extend the free car parking arrangements until March 2021. This extension of free parking continues to support staff and remove the barriers to our staff working with the NHS during these unprecedented times.

The Health Boards, together with the PFI providers, are currently reviewing the options for beyond that period. Parliament will be updated once these discussions have concluded, but as they are commercially sensitive negotiations we are not in a position to provide further detail at this point.

Information for individuals who want to offer their support as Covid-19 vaccinators can be found at: Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance on offering support - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . Further pro-active communications are planned to signpost this guidance to regulators for onward dissemination to registrants who may be interested in working as part of the programme.

Individuals can apply for specific vaccinator roles advertised on the NHS Scotland Recruitment website, with applications routed directly to local Health Boards. We have provided all NHS Scotland boards with access to the GMC and NMC emergency registers of qualified healthcare workers, and boards have been able to recruit qualified staff that previously registered their interest via the Accelerated Recruitment Portal. Data extracted on 19 January 2020 from the Covid Vaccinations Management Tool shows that nationally boards have collectively registered approximately 7,500 vaccinators.

Offers of volunteer support, for those not wishing or qualified to undertake work as a paid vaccinator, are being coordinated via a national agreement with the British Red Cross.

Raising Scotland's Tobacco-free Generation, the Scottish Government's Tobacco-Control Action Plan 2018, lists tackling the problems caused by some individuals smoking in communal stairwells as one of the actions planned. It pledges to explore, together with local authorities and housing associations, the idea of tobacco-free clauses in tenancy agreements. Also to be considered is the possibility of introducing offering smoke-free housing alternatives in social housing.

These are among a series of measures planned to reduce smoking prevalence in Scotland to five per cent or less of the adult population by 2034.

The Scottish Government introduced COVID-19 reliefs at the start of the pandemic to reduce business costs, including 1.6% rates relief for all non-domestic properties and 100% relief for non-domestic properties in the retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation sectors. There will be one-off payments to hospitality businesses in January to help them deal with the traditional post-Christmas dip in demand. These will be £25,000 for larger businesses and £6,000 for smaller businesses, depending on rateable value, and will be additional to other payments made under the Strategic Framework.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): school re-opening arrangements for January 2021 provides guidance on the arrangements for the re-opening of schools in January including the provision for vulnerable children and young people and the children of keyworkers. Those who work directly with children and young people are best placed to identify children and young people who will require support in order to ensure their wellbeing, as a result of these exceptional phased opening arrangements.

When determining which vulnerable children should attend school in person, local authorities and schools should have regard to the overarching policy aim of these exceptional school closures, which is to reduce the number of children, young people and adults from different households interacting in- person within communities (including schools) as far as possible, in order to prevent COVID-related harms. If it is possible for children to be cared for safely and have their learning supported sufficiently well at home, that approach should be preferred.