Chamber and committees

The recommendations we received from the Prevention Review Group are comprehensive and are likely to require significant updates to existing legislation as well as the development of new duties for the public sector. We are currently considering the most appropriate vehicles for implementing these changes which we will confirm in due course.

No decision on timings has yet been taken in relation to a new housing bill within this Parliament.

 Provisional monthly data on landings (liveweight tonnes) by UK and foreign vessels into Scottish ports, January-May 2020 and January to April 2021

The Scottish Government utilises a vaccination management tool at the point of vaccination, the data forms used have built in validation to ensure the data entered are accurate. A new vaccination record is transferred to the National Clinical Data Store (NCDS) after 60 minutes. The layers of recording are updated from NCDS to the reporting dashboards, these are refreshed every two hours to ensure accurate recording.

The Scottish Government has carefully considered the findings of the review by Laura Dunlop QC, James Hamilton’s Ministerial Code inquiry and the Scottish Parliament Harassment Committee’s report and is publishing its composite response today.

A significant difference with the underpinning data model makes interoperability between the Check in Scotland app and the NHS Covid19 app. challenging. However, we are exploring what enhancements can improve the overall user experience for citizens and visitors travelling between Scotland and the rest of the UK, and for contact tracing teams dealing with the visiting public.

The NHS England and Wales Covid app. cannot be used in Scotland, in any venues nor can the Test & Protect Check in Scotland app be used in England and Wales. This is due to a difference in legislation relating to the collection of contact details and the technical platform and data model of both products being used.

The data capture process that underpins both services, is completely different. The NHS Covid19 app, holds data locally on an individual’s device, contact tracing can push notifications to the device used to scan in/out and request contact information, no visitor contact details are collected at point of check-in. In Scotland, in line with regulations the Check In Scotland service (app and web service) collect contact details of visitors on check-in and hold for 21 days making contact tracing more effective in terms of timely access to contact data in the event of an outbreak.

All venues and settings in England and Wales must by law display Official NHS Covid19 posters and visitors must use the NHS Covid19 app to scan these posters. This is integrated into contact tracing systems in NHS England and Wales. This is not mandated in Scotland.

The Check In Scotland service can only be used in Scottish based venues (Scottish postcode and within a Scottish Health Board area) that have registered to participate. In Scotland, Check In Scotland is completely voluntarily voluntary for Scottish businesses to adopt, participating venues must display Official NHS Scotland posters and visitors must use the Check In Scotland app, camera function app or QR scanning app on mobile device to provide contact details. This is integrated directly into NHS Test & Protect contact tracing systems in Scotland.

Any UK or International visitors to Scotland that do not wish to download the Test & Protect Check In Scotland app. can use the camera function or QR scanning app on their mobile phone and use the Check In Scotland web service to provide contact details or provide these manually using a paper form that must be offered as an alternative by venues.

The Check In Scotland delivery team has recently been in communication with the UK Dept. of Health and Social Care, NHS Covid-19 app product team to explore what options are available and to enhance the user experience with a follow-up discussion planned week commencing the 21 June 2021.

We commissioned this work in response to the recommendations the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group made for ending homelessness. We very much welcome the Prevention Review Group recommendations and we are grateful for the commitment Crisis and other partners have shown in delivering their report, in particular the vital role people with lived experience of homelessness had in shaping the recommendations.

We accepted the recommendations in principle earlier this year and will now consult with our partners across public services, people with experience of homelessness and the wider public as we fully consider the detail of the suite of recommendations, to ensure that their introduction leads to stronger housing rights for people in Scotland. Shifting the balance of services and response towards prevention is more important than ever as we work to recover from the public health crisis.

Scotland is not part of the UK Government’s Events Research Programme and our events therefore do not fall within its remit or procedures. We have, however, engaged with the UK Government throughout the Programme and we await the final report of Phase 1 and will consider the evidence contained in it, including the success of the procedures tested, to help inform our route ahead.

Meantime, we have adopted our own approach to supporting flagship events, putting in place a ‘Gateway process’ to ensure that selected events of international importance can take place over summer and autumn with limited numbers of attendees, outwith the Levels or any equivalent framework, subject to epidemiological conditions. Euro 2020 is the first of these flagship events, with the process enabling up to 12,000 spectators to attend games at Hampden as well as a Fan Zone accommodating up to 3000 per session.

Scottish Government, along with the UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), met with Benchmark in 2019 and 2020 to describe the regulatory requirements for any proposal which may come forward to use or release imidacloprid based treatments in the marine environment. No applications have subsequently been made for imidacloprid use or release.

Our review of maternity and neonatal services, The Best Start: A Five-Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland, recommended that all women receive continuity of maternity and obstetric care. The roll out of continuity of carer has started in all Boards, but further roll out was paused in many areas in light of COVID. The Best Start Programme Board has recently reconvened and is looking at remobilising continuity of carer and how that might be prioritised.

A decision on a future round of the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme will be taken following the current round which is due to close in June of this year. In line with the Scottish Government’s “Stability and Simplicity” approach set out in its June 2018 consultation, simplifications and improvements will be made, and potential new schemes for longer term policy piloted, between 2021-2024.

Sea Eagle Management Scheme payments will remain with NatureScot for the time being, but may be included in other approaches to future agri-environment support currently being piloted by NatureScot in partnership with the Scottish Government.