Chamber and committees

The bowel, breast and cervical screening programmes were paused in March last year, and restarted last summer with the initial focus on higher-risk screening participants and those whose appointments were affected by the pause.

The bowel screening programme is currently sending home test kits at the same rate as before the pandemic, and no one is waiting for an invitation.

The breast screening programme is recovering, although infection control measures, including physical distancing and personal protective equipment, mean there are considerable capacity challenges. At this time, we do not have data on the number of people affected by the pause; however, we do know that slippage varies across health boards. The National Screening Oversight, the Scottish Screening Committee and the Breast Screening Programme Board continue to work with health boards to increase the number of breast screening appointments available.

Covid-19 also continues to present challenges in the cervical screening programme. However, prompts and reminders are being issued at pre-Covid rates. Estimates suggest that 5,786 invitations have not yet issued to people affected by the pause, but it should be stressed that this will be for a range of reasons, including participants being excluded from the programme after it restarted, or taking the opportunity to be screened at their GP ahead of their scheduled prompt to make an appointment.

The Breast Screening Programme invites women between the ages of 50 and 70 for routine breast screening every three years. This is in line with the recommendation provided by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC).

When the programme resumed on 3 August 2020 following a pause due to the impacts of COVID-19, the difficult decision was taken to maintain a pause on the option for those over the age of 70 to self-refer into the programme. This decision was taken on the basis that the risks and benefits of screening women over the age of 70 are not yet clear. Available capacity is therefore being used to prioritise women eligible for screening and for whom the benefits are already clearly established.

The option for women aged 71 and over to self-refer for a breast screening appointment will resume once capacity in all screening centres returns to pre-Covid or close to pre-Covid levels. This is based on the recommendation of the Scottish Screening Committee, the National Screening Oversight and the Breast Screening Programme Board, all three of whom are keeping the situation under regular review. They are also working closely with Health Boards to increase appointments and meet this criteria as soon as possible.

We continue to emphasise that everyone should remain symptom aware and report any symptoms to their GP immediately for these to be investigated.

The contact tracing system has not changed its approach regarding the time frame used to identify close contacts.

Those testing positive who have attended a complex or high-risk setting during their infectious period, or who have travelled in the last 14 days, are contact traced and then referred to their local Health Board, who will make a risk-based decision on whether ‘backwards’ contact tracing is appropriate to enable Test and Protect to identify where the index case might have contracted the virus. This ‘pre-infectious period’ covers the 5 days prior to the infectious period.

Separately, the timeframe of 48 hours before symptom onset or a positive test, plus the 10 days after, relates to the infectious period of a positive person. This is based on clinical advice and has been the position since Test and Protect was launched in May 2020. Close contacts identified during this timeframe are offered public health advice by Test and Protect to prevent potential onward spread of the virus.

Live music performers should follow the performing arts guidance, available here . This was developed with a wide range of performing arts practitioners and looked ahead to outline details for the eventual resumption of live public performances. This guidance was last updated on 19 July. This update confirmed the move from 2 metre physical distancing to 1 metre in all indoor settings including in performing arts venues.

Separate guidance is available for live music performances which take place in hospitality settings. This reflects the different considerations that need to make in hospitality settings. The guidance for live entertainment in hospitality was updated on 16 July. The main purpose of the update was to indicate that live entertainment would be possible in general hospitality from 19 July.

With regards to live performances in events and stadia settings, the First Minister’s statement on 13 July confirmed maximum attendances as 2,000 in seated outdoor settings and 1,000 in standing outdoor settings, and indoors to 400. Organisers can apply to local authorities for higher attendance capacities.

To assist event organisers the Scottish Government has developed guidance for the sector, last update on 20 July: Coronavirus (COVID-19): events sector guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The next review of restrictions will be in the week before 9 August when we hope to be able to move beyond Level 0 with baseline mitigations in place. We have consulted with the live performance sector widely on these mitigations to ensure we understand the impact they will have on businesses and their likely effectiveness.

This Scottish Government is committed to concluding the Local Governance Review within this parliament.

Data on turnaround times is management information and is not currently published.

It is vital that test results are communicated in a timely manner to allow the appropriate public health action to be taken. PCR testing in Scotland is split between NHS Scotland testing, which focuses on health and social care testing, and the UK-wide National Testing Programme operated on a 4 nations basis, which primarily focuses on public-facing, symptomatic testing. We receive a population-based share of the capacity of the UK National Testing Programme Laboratory Network. We continue to work very closely with DHSC to improve and maintain strong testing turnaround times which may be affected by any testing fluctuations across the UK-wide network. Additional laboratory capacity is being brought online to respond to recent the rising demand for PCR tests.

Ministers are not notified of every patient death by suspected hospital acquired infection. However, Ministers are routinely notified of incidents of hospital infection outbreaks (involving two or more patients) with management information regarding the organism of infection, number of patients involved in the outbreak, investigations and any suspected deaths associated with the outbreak.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01104 on
‎ 13 July 2021 which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/ormain.aspx

The Scottish Government are in contact with Ferguson Marine and CMAL on a regular basis regarding the delivery timetable and completion dates for MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802.

Tim Hair, Turnaround Director of Ferguson Marine, updated the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee on the delivery timetable and budget for vessels MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802 in March 2021 as requested by the committee in their report on ferry procurement. The latest quarterly update on progress, was submitted to the newly formed Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on 24 June 2021.

The Building Standards Futures Board was established in 2019 to provide guidance and direction on the development and implementation of recommendations made by the Compliance and Enforcement and Fire Safety Review Panels.

The Futures Board covers a number of work streams, one of which (Compliance Plan Approach) aims to reduce the risk of non-compliance with the building regulations for all building types including new-build residential developments.

Scottish Government has recently strengthened guidance on the roles and responsibilities of any person undertaking new building work. The Building Standards Procedural Handbook, published on 1 October 2019, emphasises the importance of regular and effective communication and partnership working to improve compliance with building regulations. It also recommends the use of more formal customer agreements and pre-warrant discussions between the applicant and verifier to discuss all the key aspects of design, and the importance of carrying out safety checks on critical design elements during construction.

We intend to consult on further proposals to strengthen the building standards system and reduce the risk of non-compliance in late summer/autumn 2021.

The Young Person’s Guarantee – Implementation Progress Report was published on 28 July and outlines the progress made against each of the initial recommendations within Youth Guarantee - No-one Left Behind: initial report, published on 2 September 2020. The progress report also provides an outline of the next steps against the commitments made in the supporting Activity Plan and is accompanied by the Key Performance Indicators, which are part of the broader Measurement and Evaluation Framework underpinning the Young Person’s Guarantee. The Framework will support our understanding of the impact of the Young Person’s Guarantee across a range of economic, education and equalities outcomes, enabling the targeting of future resource and to ensure that no young person is left behind.

As Minister for Higher Education, Further Education, Youth Employment and Training, I will be leading this work, alongside Sandy Begbie, partners and stakeholders to continue to build on progress to tackle youth unemployment and to improve the life chances of young people. This includes the delivery of relevant manifesto commitments contained within First Steps , which are to:

• Appoint a Minister specifically tasked with supporting youth employment;
• Invest £45 million through local partnerships to provide training and employer recruitment incentives;
• Fund colleges to deliver around 5,000 more short, industry-focussed courses to help young people train for jobs in key industries;
• Roll-out new school coordinators across the country to support young people access education, work, or training; and,
• Establish a new graduate internship scheme and increase places on volunteering and third sector programmes.