Chamber and committees

To date, the Scottish Government has provided more than £2 billion to NHS Boards and Integration Authorities, with NHS Western Isles receiving £7.7 million, to address pressures arising from Covid-19.

We will continue to assess the impact of Covid-19, and its financial implications for our health service, in order to ensure that frontline services receive the support that they need throughout the pandemic.

Prior to introducing plans for Covid-19 vaccine passports at certain events, the Scottish Government consulted the Scottish Football Association on the potential operational issues which would need to be considered in delivering a workable and proportionate vaccine certification scheme.

Since the Parliamentary vote, the Scottish Government has been consulting directly with impacted football clubs, and will continue to do so, to further discuss these operational issues with a view to arriving at workable solutions to allow implementation from 1 October.

The definition of race underpinning the Education Scotland resource Promoting and Developing Race Equality and Anti-Racist Education: An Overview is the definition present in the Equality Act 2010. This definition encompasses white ethnic groups, including white Irish. The experience of Irish people is also referenced in the Changing the Race Equality Paradigm in Education Scotland’s Understanding race and racism wakelet for practitioners. An Education Scotland website to support the publication of their resource, to go live by the end of September, will be regularly updated to include resources for practitioners relating to different minority ethnic groups who experience discrimination.

The Scottish Government is continuing to support Health Boards to develop and implement their plans to transfer routine vaccination delivery from GPs under the Vaccination Transformation Programme. Health Boards are making progress at varying stages, with some Boards having already completed the transfer of vaccination services. The Scottish Government and Health Boards have agreed that the programme will be completely rolled out by the deadline of April 2022.

The Scottish Government is grateful to everyone who has volunteered for COVID-19 vaccine trials in Scotland. The clinical trials participants have made an important contribution in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

The Scottish Government are committed to ensuring that these participants are not disadvantaged. Work is ongoing to ensure that vaccine status is correctly presented on the coronavirus vaccine database.

An interim letter was sent to study investigators to send on to participants, including those in the Valneva study, on 15 July advising how they can provide vaccination status. An updated letter is currently being prepared and will be sent out in the coming weeks.

The digital application to record the COVID-19 vaccine will be available from 30 September. Clinical trial participants who have received a licenced product and are un-blinded will be able to access the application. Other clinical trial participants will not have access to the application at this time. However, other measures are in place to provide proof of vaccination.

This includes a letter of support and subsequently participants will receive a hard copy Record of Vaccination which contains security features and 1-D barcode. This Record of Vaccination can be used across the UK. In due course, this will be replaced by a QR Record of Vaccination with a QR code.

Participants should receive a record of vaccination status and do not have to do anything. If they have not received it or have lost it, they should contact their Principal Investigator.

General advice is on the NHS Inform pages at https://www.nhsinform.scot/covid-19-vaccine/after-your-vaccine/get-a-record-of-your-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-status and https://www.nhsinform.scot/clinicaltrialparticipants .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02419 on 21 September 2021. 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 Scottish Government does not hold national data for infectious diseases screening, antenatal haemoglobinopathies screening, or foetal anomaly ultrasound examinations within the pregnancy screening programme. These can be requested directly from individual NHS boards.

The following table shows the number of trisomy screens taken between January 2019 and June 2021.

It is important to note that the data provided below is management information and has not been subject to the necessary quality checks carried out for an official publication.

The following table shows the number of people screened for diabetic retinopathy in each month between January 2019 and July 2021. The Diabetic Eye Screening (DES) programme was paused between 30 March 2020 and 6 July 2020. When screening resumed, those at high risk of developing diabetic retinopathy were prioritised and invited first.

It is important to note that the following data is management information and has not been subject to the necessary quality checks carried out for an official publication.

The NHS Scotland COVID Status app is being developed for release to the public by the end of September with vaccination information initially. We are developing our app to meet the EU requirements so we expect this to be compatible with the IATA Travel Pass. We are engaging with international stakeholders and UK Government to ensure the app is compatible with the other countries requirements of entry.

PDF downloads of vaccination status and 2D barcodes (known as QR codes) were made available for international travel from 3 September to facilitate international travel.

I would refer the Member to the fact as previously answered in S6W–02319 on 21 September 2021, prison staff are under no obligation to tell their employer of their Vaccination status, as it is not mandatory to be vaccinated. Although staff are paid away from work to attend a vaccination appointment and are offered paid leave if symptoms deliver, as part of employee support arrangements.

We are guided on the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme by the Covid Vaccine Deployment Plan which was last updated in July 2021.

We are actively monitoring and evaluating the vaccination status for prisoners and young offenders. NHS bodies and public health agencies, are working collectively with The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to ensure we are constantly striving to make progress, on these matters, to ensure best practice is maintained. Each prison establishment has a Local Coronavirus Response Group to assist with planning locally.

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