Chamber and committees

The online vaccine booking portal closed on 11 June.

The online portal was part of the Scottish Government’s measures to widen the accessibility of vaccine appointments, and was extended for another week, on top of the original three week window. 40% of the young people aged 18-29 who were still to be vaccinated, self-registered on our online portal.

Those who did not register online, are being scheduled for an appointment on the system, and letters are coming out over this week and next. However, to give advanced sight of appointments online, we are launching an appointment checker on NHS Inform to help people view their pending appointments. This will help those people, like students, who may have moved away from their registered GP term time address. This will also help them view their offered appointment earlier and chose to reschedule to fit with their work and life.

The National Vaccination Scheduling System (NVSS) has successfully appointed millions of Scottish citizens while achieving exceptionally high uptake rates this demonstrates a massive success for a system built from scratch in the space of 8 weeks.

Our intention has always been to evolve and continually enhance the NVSS. As the programme has engaged with younger cohorts it has become evident a digital first online booking approach would be beneficial. The programme team are in the process of designing an online booking system for the autumn/winter Flu vaccinations.

Any consultation on mandatory calorie labelling for food and drink purchased out of home would consider all relevant matters.

Data on vaccination is compiled and forwarded to the Scottish Government by Public Health Scotland.

We do not hold data on vaccination rate for specific illnesses of conditions, but on how many people in a specific cohort have been vaccinated.

Latest vaccination figures can be found here : Coronavirus (COVID-19): daily data for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and COVID-19 Daily Dashboard | Tableau Public

No agreement has been signed between CalMac and Pentland Ferries as commercial discussions are still taking place

Ferguson Marine closely tracks all projects that could potentially benefit the shipyard.

To improve the resilience of ferry services serving island and remote mainland communities, we are exploring opportunities for chartering additional tonnage including the temporary time charter of the MV Pentalina. Industrial relations are a matter for CalMac Ferries Ltd, its employees and the recognised trades unions. I understand discussions have been taking place between CalMac and its local Union representatives on these matters.

Discussions are progressing between CalMac and Pentland Ferries with regards to the time charter of the MV Pentalina. The impact on the annual level of subsidy cannot be confirmed until negotiations have been completed.

The Scottish Government has received no assurance from the UK Government that the MV Pentalina or MV Alfred, are safe to operate on ferry routes in Scotland. All vessels are required to meet all relevant regulatory requirements as set out by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) and any other regulatory authority.

While our aim is to release information whenever possible, due to the commercially sensitive nature of the information in this instance, we are unable to disclose the findings of the report.

Berthing trials of the MV Pentalina were carried out during the week commencing 14 June 2021, at the following ports on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) network: Campbeltown, Ardrossan, Brodick, Craignure, Kennacraig, Port Ellen, Oban, Stornoway and Ullapool.