Chamber and committees

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2021, which amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, were made today and will take effect on Friday, 1 October 2021, with the offence provisions coming into effect on 18 October.

The Regulations implement the Scottish Government’s COVID-19 vaccine certification scheme. The scheme is intended to add to the other control measures currently in place and help reduce the rate and impact of transmission of coronavirus while seeking to alleviate the economic harm caused by its transmission. The Regulations support the Scottish Government’s strategic intent to “suppress the virus to a level consistent with alleviating its harms while we recover and rebuild for a better future”.

In line with our strategic intent, the COVID-19 vaccine certification scheme will allow us to meet the following aims:

• reduce risk of transmission;

• reduce risk of serious illness and death and in doing so alleviate pressure on the healthcare system;

• to allow high risk settings to continue to operate as an alternative to closure or more restrictive measures; and

• increase vaccine uptake.

The Regulations provide that late night premises and premises where a relevant event is taking place must operate a reasonable system for checking that persons on, or seeking to enter, their premises are fully vaccinated against coronavirus or are exempt from the requirement to demonstrate that they are fully vaccinated. Relevant premises must also prepare a compliance plan describing how their systems will operate and other measures in place to prevent or minimise the spread of coronavirus.

The Regulations enable a local authority to take appropriate steps to enforce the requirement to operate a vaccine checking system and introduce a right of entry for persons designated by a local authority to enter premises to which this requirement applies. The Regulations also remove capacity limits on stadia and live events above which a capacity exemption application must be approved by a local authority.

The Regulation provides that the system will come into place on 1 October but that the enforcement provisions will be delayed until 18 October, when those provisions come into effect.

The regulations amended by this regulation require Scottish Ministers to review the requirements at least once every 21 days and the regulations require Scottish Ministers to revoke any requirement as soon as it is no longer necessary.

The Regulations have been published at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2021/349/contents/made .

Police Scotland have advised that this has been an exceptionally busy period for the service and particularly for the Contact, Command and Control Division, with an unprecedented call levels to both the 101 non-emergency number and 999 call lines. The COVID pandemic has and continues to place unprecedented pressures on our emergency services. Across Scotland all organisations have had to manage increased leaves of covid-related absence while maintaining service levels.

While delivery of the police 101 service is a matter for Police Scotland, I have sought assurances around its operation and the Chief Constable has outlined a number of improvements, including updated options for callers and system changes to better prioritise calls have been outlined as part of these discussions. Callers to the 101 service are advised if their call is related to an emergency to dial 999. The latest figures show that 999 calls are answered on average within 7 seconds.

It will be a matter for professional judgement for practitioners as to whether the behaviour carried out by the child has caused or is likely to cause “significant harm or abuse” requiring the intervention of a Bairns’ Hoose. It is recognised that children exhibiting or carrying out harmful behaviour are often themselves victims of significant harm and abuse. It is with this in mind that a Bairns’ Hoose is considered the most holistic form of intervention and support for the child to ascertain the circumstances of the harm, whilst at the same time offering therapeutic support to a child who may themselves have been harmed.

There is no legal definition of significant harm or distinction between harm and significant harm. The extent to which harm is significant will relate to the severity or anticipated severity of impact upon a child’s health and development. ‘Harm’ in this context refers to the ill treatment or the impairment of the health or development of the child, including, for example, impairment suffered as a result of seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another. ‘Development’ can mean physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development. ‘Health’ can mean physical or mental health.

Forming a view on the significance of harm and whether or not a child is suitable for a Bairns’ Hoose will be undertaken by an Inter-agency Referral Discussion (IRD). An IRD is a formal process of information sharing, assessment, analysis and decision making following a reported concern about abuse. Placing this decision making forum ahead of any child attending a Bairns’ Hoose is necessary to ensure multi agency professional judgement and decision making informs all decisions relating to investigating harm and subsequent interventions, including whether accessing a Bairns’ Hoose is in the best interests of the child.

Scottish Government only holds information for chargepoint units that have been supported by funding from Scottish Government and added to the Chargepoint Scotland network or where funding has been provided from schemes managed by Energy Saving Trust on our behalf.

2018-2019 - 1506 units

2019-2020 – 2333 units

2020-2021 – 4411 units

2021-2022 – 3753 units

These figures include domestic home charging units and charging units installed by Local Authorities, businesses and other organisations.

There may be addition units installed that Scottish Government would have no information on as the host/owner may not have appointed the Chargepoint Scotland Network as there back office provider or received funding from Scottish Government.

The number members, and the makeup, of the Working Group, which is to be chaired by me, will depend on the issues to be discussed. I believe that in order to get the best out of the group we should be flexible in its membership. Ministers will be invited to attend meetings from time to time if an agenda item is relevant to their portfolio, so membership will be amended to reflect the Group’s discussions and future changes in priorities.

I am happy to commit to publishing participant details once the Group has met.

The frequency of Working Group meetings will be decided by the group itself when it meets, as it will depend on the issues to be considered.

Throughout the pandemic we have supported bus operators to keep Scotland moving, and have made up to £210 million in additional financial support available since June 2020. Operators receiving this funding enter into public service contracts and are required to meet certain conditions including running a specified level of service mileage set at 95% of pre-COVID levels unless otherwise agreed with Transport Scotland. Some operators are running less bus mileage due to constraining factors such as bus driver shortages. Given reduced patronage and changing travel patterns, operators are also required to adapt services to meet demand as it now arises. When doing so, operators are required to consult and cooperate with local transport authorities, have regard to public transport connectivity, and keep services under review. The model public service contract, setting out the full terms and conditions, can be found on the Transport Scotland website: https://www.transport.gov.scot/public-transport/buses/covid-19-support-grant/

I pre-recorded a keynote speech for the Scottish Maritime Cluster’s reception at London International Shipping Week. Transport Scotland officials attended the event at Dover House to highlight the Scottish Government’s continued support for an active relationship with the Scottish Maritime Cluster and key stakeholders from the wider maritime sector.

This would be a matter for North Ayrshire Council to consider. However we continue to work closely with North Ayrshire Council to secure an appropriate outcome for Ardrossan.

Funded early learning and childcare (ELC) is delivered across the public, private, third and childminding sectors. Since August 2021, all local authority areas have put in place an expanded offer of up to 1140 hours of funded ELC for all eligible 2, 3 and 4 year olds.

Funded ELC is delivered in a ‘provider neutral’ way, which means that families can access high quality funded ELC with the provider of their choice – in the public, private, third sector or a childminder – if that provider meets the criteria set out in our National Standard, has a space available, and is in contract with their local authority to deliver the funded hours.

Sustainable and thriving public, private, third and childminding sectors are essential if we are to realise the full benefits of the ELC expansion. The landmark multi-year funding agreement reached by Scottish Government and COSLA in April 2018 to fully fund the expansion to 1140 hours includes funding for the payment of sustainable rates that reflect the cost of delivery and enable payment of the real Living Wage to childcare workers delivering the funded entitlement. In addition, the Scottish Government announced on 4 December 2020 that qualifying day nurseries will continue to benefit from 100% relief on non-domestic rates until at least June 2023.

The Scottish Government has also taken a range of actions to support providers in the private, third, and childminding sectors during the pandemic, including making available more than £22 million of dedicated support.

On 31 August the Scottish Government published the Financial Sustainability Health Check of the Childcare Sector in Scotland . The Health Check collected evidence on the sustainability of the childcare sector, in particular in light of the impacts of COVID-19. It set out a range of actions to improve sector sustainability, including:

• Developing a programme of targeted business, financial management, marketing and human resources support for all types of childcare services.
• Developing a five year workforce strategy to support recruitment and retention in the sector and introducing a Childcare Taster Programme as part of the National Transitions Training Fund in 2021-22.
• Strengthening the process for local authorities to set sustainable rates for providers in the private, third and childminding sectors to deliver funded ELC; and
• Reviewing the administrative requirements on providers, particularly for private, third and childminding sector services.

Each of these actions will help us to support the sector to recover from Covid and get onto a sustainable footing so that they can continue playing a vital role in delivering our ambitious vision for expanding high quality early learning and childcare.