Chamber and committees

The following table gives spend to date for the 30 local authorities who have received Spaces for People funding; other statutory bodies have also received funding.

Many local authorities have yet to claim their full agreed grant. We do not have details of the split between installation and removal of schemes; this information is held at local authority level.

The Draft Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) was laid in Parliament on 10 November 2021. The draft sets out that ‘Local development plans should identify and protect locally, regionally, nationally and internationally valued natural assets, landscapes, species and habitats’. In addition to the parliamentary scrutiny of the draft, a public consultation runs until 31 March 2022 and the Scottish Government welcomes responses and comments being provided to support the production of a finalised NPF4. Further information is available from: www.transformingplanning.scot .

No appointments were cancelled as a result of the de-prioritisation of the flu programme. Appointments for co-administration of vaccines were then repurposed as the COVID-19 vaccine was still being offered. All scheduled flu appointments, especially those for the protection of more at risk individuals were administered.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05400 on 24 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Minutes of the third meeting of the Fire Safety Review Panel will be ratified at the fourth review panel meeting on 24 January 2022 and published shortly thereafter.

The next fire safety review panel meeting on 24 January 2022 will be the final panel meeting, subject to any new evidence emerging from the Grenfell Inquiry. The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2022 are expected to be laid in the Scottish Parliament by the end of March with supporting guidance published in the Spring. The new regulations and guidance are planned to come into force on 1 October 2022.

As you know, the NHS in Scotland is under unprecedented pressure, particularly as a result of this latest Covid wave, and a number of services have been stood down in order to support urgent and emergency demand.

The latest data shows Boards are reporting a 65% increase in coronavirus absence compared to the previous week and significantly faster rate of increase in Covid hospitalisations this year compared to last January. This is a reminder of the challenges our NHS continues to face, having a high impact on waiting times for those people waiting to receive scheduled treatment.

Those waiting for treatment should be signposted to help on how they can manage their condition, and are encourage to seek support if they feel their mental health is being impacted.

The NHS Recovery Plan, which is backed by over £1 billion of additional investment, sets out how the Scottish Government will increase NHS capacity by at least 10% as quickly as possible in order to address backlogs and meet the ongoing healthcare needs for people across the country, including gynaecology patients.

Women’s Health is key priority for this government, which is why we published an ambitious Women’s Health Plan in August 2021. The Women’s Health Plan underpins actions to improve women’s health inequalities by raising awareness around women’s health, improving access to health care for women across their life course and reducing inequalities in health outcomes for girls and women, both for sex-specific conditions and in women’s general health.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05400 on 24 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

VisitScotland is a member of the Scottish Government’s stakeholder working group, which has met four times since February 2021. Details of these meetings can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/groups/short-term-lets-stakeholder-working-group/ . VisitScotland also provided input through the virtual workshops held as part of the 2020 consultation.

Each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities will be responsible for establishing and running the licensing scheme for short-term lets in their areas. VisitScotland has no role in the operation of the licensing scheme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05411 on 24 January 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Booster information was made available in the international travel section of the NHS Covid Status App on 9 December and on paper/pdf versions of certificates from 13 December.

The inclusion of booster information will allow those travelling to the small number of countries that are seeking evidence of more recent doses to provide evidence of their booster or third vaccination.

The domestic section of the NHS Covid Status App was updated on 13 January to include booster information. From Monday 17 January, for the purposes of domestic Covid certification, a person will need to show they have had a booster to be considered ‘fully vaccinated’ if their last vaccine dose was more than four months ago. This is in recognition of vaccine waning against Omicron, and will ensure that the scheme provides a greater level of protection to those attending venues.