Chamber and committees

It is our intention to make it easier for health & care professionals to access relevant information about the person being cared for, regardless of organisational boundaries. We also intend on providing patient access to their health & care information, as set out in our Digital Health & Care Strategy and in the Programme for Government. The ambition is to enhance and improve existing investments in technology to provide digital views on patient records for both clinicians and citizens to access relevant information when and where they need it. This will support urgent care, decision making and improve patient safety.

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.

This information is not routinely published. We are currently undertaking an exercise to analyse the data about how many people with learning disabilities and autism have died in inpatient units in Scotland. I will write to the member in due course when we have the information.

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

The information displayed on the NHS Scotland Covid Status App is described in detail in the privacy notice .

Venues are required to display a privacy notice in areas where the app will be used. This will help members of the public understand the purpose of the data processing that will be done by the app and provide assurance about how their personal data will be safeguarded by the venue staff. A privacy notice template can be found here .

Rigorous data minimisation controls have been put in place, including the use of the “Green Tick” for domestic purposes, to ensure that as little personal data is displayed as possible, through the NHS Scotland COVID Pass Verifier app.

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

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

Scotland’s strong homelessness rights mean households are placed in temporary accommodation as a legal right, with three quarters of families with children in temporary accommodation housed in social housing. Temporary accommodation should always be a short term option, and local authorities are working hard to ensure people have the appropriate support and move as rapidly as possible into settled accommodation.

The Scottish Government collects information on individual temporary accommodation placements and whether or not they are unsuitable, as defined by the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2014.

Temporary exceptions were put in place to allow local authorities to provide households with accommodation in response to COVID-19. The legislation noted that a placement was not considered unsuitable if:

• a person in the household has symptoms of coronavirus and the household requires to isolate; or
• the accommodation is required to provide temporary accommodation to ensure that a distance of 2 metres can be maintained between a member of the household and a person who is not a member of the household; or
• the local authority is unable to place the household in suitable accommodation as a result of the impacts of coronavirus on temporary accommodation supply in the area, provided that where a household includes a child or a pregnant woman the household is not placed in unsuitable accommodation for more than 7 days.

(To note: the first two of these were introduced in May 2020 and the third in September 2020.)

It is possible that local authorities applied the COVID-19 exceptions in different ways, which may impact upon comparability in data reporting and the figures in the below table.

A household placed in unsuitable accommodation where an exception did not apply must still be recorded as an unsuitable accommodation placement.

The most recent data available is up to 31 March 2021. The following table shows snapshot data of the number of individuals and households in unsuitable temporary accommodation as at 31 March 2021, defined as above.

In the absence of a definition of ‘families’, this has been taken to mean any household with children.

The Scottish Government collects information on the composition of households making homelessness applications through the HL1 data collection. The HL3 data collection gathers information about temporary accommodation placements connected to homelessness applications.

Therefore, information relating to the number of individuals and household composition of those within temporary accommodation placements has been derived by linking household records between the HL1 and HL3 data collections. However, it is important to note that the household composition included in the HL1 return may not be a true reflection of those who are present in the associated temporary accommodation placement(s). This can be particularly the case for children e.g. where households make alternative arrangements for children when entering temporary accommodation.

Households and individuals in unsuitable temporary accommodation as at 31st March 2021

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.