Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has fully considered all of the suggestions made by stakeholders alongside all current data, scientific evidence and clinical advice available to us. Based on this assessment, subject to the relevant guidance being in place, our recommendation is that cruise restart when all of Scotland reaches Level 1.

While we would have been keen to provide a date, we need to work with the data available and any date would have been subject to review. This decision has been informed by the combination of risks that exist with both cruises and within the wider travel context, such as: the current trajectory of Covid infections and the unknowns around the new Delta variant, the close-proximity form of leisure that cruises offer that has high risk of uncontained rapid transmission, and, the opportunities to spread Covid through multiple stops in different levels around Scotland. These are only some of the risks, and although some of them could be mitigated through good protocols, it is the compound effect of all the risks involved which has led to this decision.

We are committed to reviewing restrictions every 3 weeks as part of the phased national easing through the Levels. The next review point is scheduled ahead of the planned easing of restrictions from 28 June. Our aim is to enable a restart to cruise as quickly and safely as possible and we are keen to continue to work with the sector on any required guidance ahead of this date.

The Council of Economic Advisers has met virtually on a number of occasions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Members calls with officials took place on 8 June 2020, 1 September 2020 and 11 December 2020. A full meeting was held on 29 October 2020 with the attendance of the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance. A further full meeting of the Council was held on 4 March 2021, with the attendance of the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture. Minutes of these meetings will be published on the Scottish Government website.

Arrangements are being put in place to establish the new Council for Economic Transformation, which will shape and drive our 10 year National Strategy for Economic Transformation. We have already publicly committed to do this within the our first 100 days and we will update with regard to progress, including how it interacts with other advisory groups such as the Council for Economic Advisers, shortly.

The Scottish Government aim is that is that the public should be able to access COVID- 19 vaccinations they require, at the time and in the format that they need it in. We are actively investigating more interactive appointing systems, while recognising that this will not work for everyone and will be need to be accompanied by other ways of securing appointments.

As a Government we always looking to improve service delivery, and building on the success of the unpaid carers and 18 to 29 years old self-registration service, lessons learned from the implementation of the National Vaccination Scheduling Systems, is that there is an opportunity to move to a more person- centred appointments services with benefits for individuals and communities, alike.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is aware that Ivermectin, administered orally, is being studied for safety and efficacy in numerous clinical trials worldwide. This includes an exploratory study being conducted within the UK: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04632706 . Potential new therapeutic approaches to COVID-19 are being tested through the UK-wide platform trials, including RECOVERY, PRINCIPLE and REMAP CAP. These trials are active in Scotland and the Scottish Government is closely monitoring the outcomes of these to ensure medicines with the greatest impact in treating COVID-19 are available for patients in Scotland.

The Care Inspectorate is the regulatory body for care services in Scotland, which supports improvement. The Care Inspectorate carry out regular comprehensive inspections of all care homes in Scotland, and are accountable to Scottish Ministers. By law all care providers in Scotland must be registered with the Care Inspectorate. The Care Inspectorate looks at the quality of care in care services, including care homes to ensure it meets high standards. Where improvement is needed, it supports services to make positive changes.

In addition, as part of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s strategy for pharmaceutical care in Scotland ‘Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care’ the Scottish Government committed to improving the pharmaceutical care of residents in care homes. A Scottish Pharmacy Clinical Leadership Fellow has been appointed and is focussing on key improvement areas such as: developing a national pharmacy care home specialist interest group, reducing medicines waste, undertaking a national audit to determine the pharmacy resource to care homes, developing a pharmacy care home training resource with NES, reviewing how care home residents access medicines and investigating the benefits of using information technology in care homes (for example using electronic medicine administration records (eMAR) and medicines, care and review (MCR).

Medicine administration is primarily recorded on medicine administration record (MAR) charts. The dose/dosage is recorded along with the times for administration. This will either be specific times or it may be words such as breakfast, noon etc. A small number of care homes use an electronic MAR (eMAR) system, where the timing of the medicines is recorded electronically. This can confirm that the resident’s medicines were administered, the time of administration and confirmation of the stock balance.

No, in summer 2021 our current vaccination status letters will be replaced by fully digital Covid Status Certificates to be used for outbound international travel. There are no plans at this stage to also use these certificates to introduce Test and Release for inbound international travellers from amber list countries. We are working across the 4 nations to consider the role of Covid Status Certificates for inbound travel .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6T-00019 on 26 May 2021. The answer is available on the Parliament's website at: Official Report - Parliamentary Business : Scottish Parliament .

As of 28 May, £3,028,000 has been paid through Exclusive Use and Large Self Catering Grants to 1,434 businesses. Please see the most recent business support management information: Coronavirus (COVID-19): business support management information - 11 June 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . While this figure does not currently allow breakdown of the exclusive use and large self-catering grants, the most recent figures from 30 April, when £2.89 million had been paid though Exclusive Use and Large Self Catering Grants showed that the majority of this sum had been allocated to large self-catering properties £2.69 million, while the remainder went to exclusive use properties £0.2 million). Please see - Coronavirus (COVID-19) Strategic Framework: Business Support Funding Statistics (Tranche 6) and other local authority support schemes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We understand that household meeting restrictions to mitigate transmission risks continue to pose challenges for many businesses across Scotland. The Scottish Government sought to help businesses build greater resilience by making available Restart Grants. On 22 March recipients of support under the Strategic Framework Business Fund received a final 4 week payment, followed by a combined final payment of a further 2 weeks closure support and a one off restart grant. Hospitality and leisure businesses in receipt of the Fund were eligible for grants up to £19,500 based on their rateable value. The restart grant was also awarded to small accommodation providers paying the council tax fund, already registered for support payments under SPA-CTF.

In addition, the Scottish Government will provide 100% rates relief for retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation businesses for entirety of this financial year.

We understand that a proportion of self-catering businesses, which are larger (7+) and rely on multiple households sharing continue to face challenges in trading due to household restrictions. We worked closely with the sector in order to produce tailored grant support for large self-catering businesses and exclusive use properties as well as targeted support for businesses who pay council tax via the small accommodation providers council tax fund. We have engaged regularly with the sector throughout the pandemic to understand operating conditions and to develop support to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions. We have regular dialogue with the STA, the ASSC and STERG and will continue to review areas that may need further support on an ongoing basis as we progress through the levels framework, in particular to those sectors which are subject to greater constraint.