Chamber and committees

Our Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan requires a rolling programme of electrification to meet its target date of 2035. We continue to make good progress, including the current electrification work on the Barrhead and East Kilbride routes. Early development work for further routes is currently underway as part of our project pipeline approach and we will make further announcements on these at an appropriate stage of development.

The Annual Report on the COPFS Victims' Right to Review Scheme for 2020-21 has been published today on the COPFS website. It is available to view at the following link:

Victims Right to Review Annual Report 2020-21.pdf (copfs.gov.uk)

The terms of reference for the Scottish COVID-19 Public Inquiry are designed in such a way that they do not constrain the chair in seeking views and evidence from any group or individual affected by the matters the inquiry is asked to investigate.

Scottish inquiries set up under the Inquiries Act 2005 cannot investigate reserved matters. However we recognise that learning lessons from the pandemic will involve analysis of devolved and reserved issues across a spectrum of topics. To that end, we are engaged with the UK Government to understand the approach to the UK-wide COVID-19 inquiry. We will use our position as a statutory consultee on the terms of reference for the UK inquiry to make clear the importance of examining the impact of policies during the pandemic on those seeking asylum and living under immigration control in Scotland.

The list of questions was compiled by a national Health and Wellbeing Questionnaire Content Group was derived from existing health and wellbeing surveys which had already been tested and ethically approved.

A list of topics covered by the Census is available from the Scottish Government website at:

https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/factsheet/2020/02/health-and-wellbeing-census/documents/health-and-wellbeing-census-frequently-asked-questions/health-and-wellbeing-census-frequently-asked-questions/govscot%3Adocument/HWB%2BCensus%2B2021-22%2B-%2BQA%2Bdocument%2B-%2BAugust%2B2021.docx .

Resilience structures in Scotland are designed to be adaptable and responsive to a wide range of risks.

Ministers regularly receive briefing on specific risks or emergencies throughout the year and the Scottish Government’s resilience arrangements constantly monitor for emerging issues and threats.

In the autumn of 2021, recognising the heightened risk of concurrent events – including COVID, winter weather, and supply chain issues – additional reporting and monitoring arrangements were put in place to ensure Ministers retain a close oversight of the complex and overlapping risk picture. Since 30 September, this has included daily reporting and weekly meetings of SGORR, with assessments on the key concurrent risks facing Government and planning activity being taken.

The Scottish Government Reducing Risks in Schools guidance contains a range of mitigations, such as use of face coverings, distancing requirements in schools and on school transport, and guidance for visitors and in-school events. This guidance is currently under active review, with input this week from the COVID-19 Education Recovery Group and the Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children's Issues . A new version will be published this week. The guidance will remain under regular review and, where the scientific advice supports it, mitigations will be enhanced or removed as appropriate.

he Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office has funded nine research projects designed to improve our understanding of the longer term effects of the COVID-19 infection, or long COVID. Three projects focus on the prevalence and symptoms of long COVID. All started in early 2021 and will run for two years.

LTE2015.pdf (scot.nhs.uk) ‘Developing and validating a risk prediction model for long COVID-19’. Undertaken by the University of Edinburgh, in collaboration with Public Health Scotland, this research builds on the EAVE II study, originally funded by the Medical Research Council ( An Introduction to EAVE II | The University of Edinburgh ). EAVE II has used a pseudonymised patient dataset to track the COVID-19 pandemic as it unfolded across Scotland. This dataset will now be used to develop a model which will identify people at greatest risk of developing long COVID. In the course of developing that model, the research will generate data about the number of people in Scotland diagnosed with long COVID and their use of health services. This project will cover the population as a whole, including children.

lte2006.pdf (scot.nhs.uk) ‘Defining and understanding the longer-term effects of COVID-19: a mixed methods study exploring the frequency, nature, and impact of ‘long COVID’ in the Scottish population’. Undertaken by the university of Glasgow, this study will identify how many people continue to be unwell, their symptoms, and how it affects their lives. Scottish adults who had a positive COVID-19 test, and a negative test comparison group, will be sent an SMS message inviting them to take part in the study. If they agree, they will answer questions about their health before and after COVID-19, and any effect on their lives, with the questions repeated at regular intervals. This project will cover people aged 16+.

LTE2008.pdf (scot.nhs.uk) ‘COVID-19: Tracking Persistent Symptoms in Scotland (TraPSS)’ – undertaken by the University of the West of Scotland. This project aims toimprove our understanding of long COVID in the Scottish population, and particularly in people whose original symptoms were relatively mild. The current evidence describing the types of symptoms other studies have reported will be reviewed, and people will be surveyed at different stages of recovery to find out what kinds of persistent symptoms they have. The project will survey adults aged 18+.

Currently the best source of estimated long COVID prevalence data for Scotland is the monthly Office for National Statistics (ONS) reporting on ‘Estimates of the prevalence of self-reported long COVID and associated activity limitation, using UK Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey data’.The most recent report is here.

Prevalence of ongoing symptoms following coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) This showed that, over the four-week period ending 31 October 2021, an estimated 99,000 people (95% confidence interval: 89,000 to 109,000) in the private residential population in Scotland (1.87%; 95% CI: 1.68% to 2.07%) reported experiencing long COVID of any duration. Detailed estimates by age group and symptoms are available for the UK, but this detail is not available for Scotland.

The new statutory National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme for Young People currently covers bus travel only, as does the existing statutory National Concessionary Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People. The schemes do not extend to other modes of travel.

The Scottish Government does not set a target timescale for assessing applications for grant assistance to deliver affordable housing above the applicable affordable housing investment benchmark level.

Using information from our Housing and Regeneration Programme system (HARP), we have compiled the following table showing the average calendar days from the initial tender application submission date to the actual tender approval date for those projects submitted at above benchmark level over the period Quarter 3 2017-18 to Quarter 2 2021-22. It should be noted, however, that while we encourage early engagement on likely project costs prior to tender applications being submitted, there can be instances where applications have missing information or require further, more detailed work by the grant applicant before they can be fully assessed.

NHS Scotland will consider fertility preservation and gamete storage for patients who have been assessed and referred by the Gender Identity Service as suitable for gender reassignment.