Chamber and committees

Vaccination is the best way to keep you, your friends, family, and community safe and we encourage everyone to consider getting the vaccine. In the vast majority of cases a successful route to safe vaccination can be found.

If vaccination is not straightforward, support is available to help people achieve the benefits of protection from the Covid-19 vaccines. Local vaccination centre can help answer questions about the vaccine and can advise what arrangements may be put in place to enable safe vaccination. In the rare cases where that support does not lead to vaccination, the offer of an exemption will be a part of the process.

A person who is identified as clinically unable to safely receive the vaccine will receive a secure paper exemption certificate in the post.

These certificates are fully equivalent to the certificates provided for all other people who have been fully vaccinated and can be used for access to domestic venues and will also permit smoother inbound entry to the UK. The Scottish Government have published ‘ Vaccine certification scheme – information for business and event organisers ’ and a ‘ toolkit ’ which provides guidance and example certificates, so venues are fully aware that they should be accepting the certificate issued to medically exempt individuals for entry to their venue or event.

The £15 million of funding announced on 15 October 2021 for a Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults is a new fund. The Fund is part of the £120 million Recovery and Renewal Fund announced in February to ensure the delivery of the commitments set out in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan in response to mental health needs arising from the pandemic. This funding is separate from the commitment to double funding for community mental wellbeing services for children and young people.

The £15 million Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund aims to support adult community-based initiatives across Scotland which promote good mental health and wellbeing and early intervention for those in distress and tackle the impact of social isolation, loneliness and the mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic. Grass roots community groups and organisations will be able to benefit from the funds to deliver activities and programmes to people to re-connect and revitalise communities building on examples of good practice which have emerged throughout the pandemic.

This year we have provided local authorities with an additional £15 Million to fund over 200 new and enhanced mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children and young people. The Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party shared policy programme commits to doubling the budget for community based mental wellbeing services for children and young people to £30 million per annum. Ministers are currently considering options to take this forward and will be informed by the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board.

The £15 million of funding announced on 15 October 2021 for a Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults is a new fund. The Fund is part of the £120 million Recovery and Renewal Fund announced in February to ensure the delivery of the commitments set out in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan in response to mental health needs arising from the pandemic.

This funding is separate from the £15 million currently allocated to local authorities for the provision of mental health and wellbeing services for 5-24 year olds.

The £15 million Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund aims to support adult community-based initiatives across Scotland which promote good mental health and wellbeing and early intervention for those in distress and tackle the impact of social isolation, loneliness and the mental health inequalities made worse by the pandemic. Grass roots community groups and organisations will be able to benefit from the funds to deliver activities and programmes to people to re-connect and revitalise communities building on examples of good practice which have emerged throughout the pandemic.

In addition we have provided local authorities with an additional £15 million this year to fund over 200 new and enhanced mental health and wellbeing supports and services for children and young people.

The vaccine offer is universal in Scotland. For asylum-seekers who have received COVID-19 vaccines in Scotland, they can request their record of vaccination be sent to them by calling the Freephone COVID-19 Status Helpline on 0808 196 8565.

These paper certificates are fully equivalent to the certificates provided via the app, and can be used for access to domestic venues and will also permit smoother inbound entry to the UK. The Scottish Government have published ‘ Vaccine certification scheme – information for business and event organisers ’; ‘ Vaccine certification scheme – information for customers ’; and a ‘ toolkit ’ which provides guidance and example certificates, so venues are fully aware that they should be accepting the certificate issued to medically exempt individuals for entry to their venue or event.

Security features of the COVID Status Certificate App includes an automated user identification and verification process to allow access to sensitive personal medical information. If a user does not have the required photo ID they cannot use the app.

A representative may support someone with the process of accessing proof of COVID-19 vaccination status. However, the person requiring a certificate will ultimately need to confirm their identification either via the App or by calling the Covid Status Helpline on 0808 196 8565.

To support accessibility, we have created Easy Read, Audio and British Sign Language versions of the guidance explaining what information the Certificates contain and how to use them. These can be found on NHS Inform. Translations of the guidance into community languages have now been completed and are available.

Aspiration is not recommended in Scotland and the rest of the UK for the administration of intramuscular COVID-19 vaccines. The clinical recommendation that trained COVID-19 vaccinators work to in Scotland and the UK is to administer the vaccine to the deltoid muscle and not drawing back before injection.

As outlined in the Green Book, Chapter 4, the Chief Nursing Officer recommends the deltoid muscle for COVID-19 vaccine administration and, as there are no large blood vessels in this area, it is not recommend to draw back.

The Green Book, Chapter 4 contains further information on this and is published here: Immunisation procedures: the green book, chapter 4 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .

In December 2019 we published a Neurological Care and Support – a National Framework for Action . Over five years we will invest £4.5 million to implement the Framework’s commitments, including the development of sustainable workforce models.

The Scottish Shape of Training Transition Group makes recommendations to Ministers annually on training numbers across all medical specialties. The group undertakes an annual assessment of the medical trainee establishment and the factors influencing recruitment fill rates. This process aligns with medical workforce modelling and is intended to achieve a planned and sustainable medical workforce. In each year since 2016,100% of advertised Neurology posts have been filled, indicating that new trainee doctors already consider a career in neurology to be an attractive one.

Work is being taken forward on education and training opportunities for Clinical Nurse Specialists in Neurology (and MS specifically) by a group including Scottish Government, NHS Education Scotland, MS Clinical Nurse Specialists representatives and the NHS Centre for Sustainability Delivery. It will support Health Boards in recruiting and succession planning regarding these roles. The Scottish Government provides £2.4 million to enhance clinical nurse specialist provision and care.

Analysis published by Public Health England (PHE) showed high effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccinations against hospitalisation after 2 doses. The Pfizer vaccine is 96% effective against hospitalisation after 2 doses, with the AstraZeneca vaccine being 92% effective against hospitalisation after 2 doses. These are comparable with vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation from the Alpha variant.

A study published by PHE on 22 May demonstrated high effectiveness levels of 2 doses of both Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines against the Delta variant. 2 doses offer protection levels of 88% and 60% for Pfizer and AstraZeneca respectively after 2 weeks.

A single dose of either vaccine offers protection of 33% against Delta variant after 3 weeks, compared to 50% against the Alpha variant.

Booster doses can be offered any time at least 6 months after the second dose and help to reduce the risk of hospitalisation due to coronavirus over the autumn/winter period. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice on boosters indicates that booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines provide a substantial increase in vaccine-induced immune responses.

Further information on vaccine efficacy and effectiveness is available online at:

Overview - COVID-19 vaccine information and resources - COVID-19 vaccinations - COVID-19 - Our areas of work - Public Health Scotland

Greenbook COVID-19 chapter 14a (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Scottish Government representatives last met with oncologists in Tayside linked with the HIS report in July 2020, where all independent reviews of the service were discussed, as well the ongoing delivery of the breast cancer services in Tayside. During the work of the Independent Advisory Group (Tayside Breast Cancer) which reported in August 2019, there was also discussion with the same oncologists as part of the group’s evidence gathering.

Police Scotland have advised there are currently over 250 body worn cameras in use within North East Division. In addition, Police Scotland also equipped all armed police officers across Scotland who were deployed at COP26. A consultation on a wider roll-out of body worn cameras to all front line operational officers and staff closed in September and work is ongoing to consider a national introduction.

For 2021-22, the Scottish Government increased the policing budget by £75.5m to over £1.3bn and provided one off funding of £0.5m in 2021-22 to the SPA, to support the use of body-worn cameras. The allocation of resources is a matter for the SPA and the Chief Constable.

Funding for the policing budget for 2022-23 will be set out at the Scottish budget on 9 December.