Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Meeting date: Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Official Report 1073KB pdf

Parliamentary Bureau Motions

The next item of business is approval of motions S6M-00298 to S6M-00307, on approval of Scottish statutory instruments. I ask George Adam, on behalf of the Scottish Government, to speak to and move those motions.

I hope that everyone is sitting comfortably. Then I’ll begin.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No 8) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/179) make further amendments to the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 to ensure that, if an unaccompanied child travels to Scotland, the child’s passenger locator form, if it has not already been submitted, will be provided by the person with responsibility for the child in Scotland as soon as reasonably practicable following the child’s arrival in Scotland; to require that the person with responsibility in Scotland for a child who was unaccompanied on the journey to Scotland must update the child’s passenger information if it becomes inaccurate during the isolation period; to add an offence of contravening the requirement to update the child’s information; to extend the requirement for persons who have not undertaken a day 2 test or a day 8 test to self-isolate to other persons sharing the premises, where the person who has failed to take tests is a child; so that a child arriving in Scotland from outside the common travel area or from elsewhere within the common travel area where the child has within the preceding 10 days departed from or transited through a non-exempt country or territory is required to isolate in specified premises and not in managed accommodation if unaccompanied by an adult or if the accompanying adult ceases to accompany them prior to travel to the specified premises, and all persons within the specified premises where the child isolates are required to isolate; and so that persons returning to boarding schools in Scotland from non-exempt countries can isolate at that boarding school premises. The regulations came into force on 27 March 2021.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No 19) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/180) amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 to revoke the requirement to stay at home in a level 4 area from Friday 2 April 2021; to state that a person who lives in a level 4 area must not leave or remain away from that area; to provide an exception for a gathering outdoors in a level 4 area that is for the purpose of organised exercise for persons under 18 years of age, an exception that previously applied only to persons under 12 years of age; to expand the list of retailers that are allowed to open in level 4 areas, providing that hairdressing and barber services may be provided where those services are provided exclusively by appointment, and extend the circumstances in which retail services may be provided by way of a click-and-collect service; to widen the definition of “relevant sporting body” and “senior representative” and make a number of consequential amendments in order to provide that an additional group of elite athletes are able to train and compete; to adjust the face-covering requirements to make clear that face coverings are required in polling stations or premises where votes are opened and counted, unless the person concerned has a reasonable excuse; and to remove the requirement for visitor information to be collected if a hospitality venue is being used as a polling station. The regulations came into force on 2 April.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel etc) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/181) make further amendments to the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 to make clearer the scope of the testing requirements in the principal regulations 5C to 5K; to clarify the application of the requirement to self-isolate in specified premises where individuals are not required to enter managed isolation due to their holding a sectoral exemption; to add Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan and the Philippines to the list of acute-risk countries and territories in schedule A2; and to revoke the prohibition on the arrival of aircraft travelling directly from the United Arab Emirates within the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel, Prohibition on Travel from the United Arab Emirates) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021. The regulations came into force on 9 April.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No 20) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/186) amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 to adjust the limit on outdoor gatherings, both in public places and private gardens; to relax the limit from a maximum of four people from two households to a maximum of six people from six households, and to state that those under 12 continue to be excluded from those limits; and to provide that a person who lives in a level 3 or 4 area may leave that area and enter another level 3 or 4 area of Scotland in order to undertake outdoor recreation or informal exercise. The regulations came into force on 16 April 2021.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No 9) Regulations 2021 make further amendments to the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 so that a person travelling to Scotland for the purpose of transporting material containing human cells or blood for use in the provision of healthcare by a healthcare provider will be exempt from the requirements to possess a managed self-isolation package and to stay in managed accommodation when arriving in Scotland from outside the common travel area if they have in the previous 10 days departed from, or transited through, an acute-risk country or territory; India is added to the list of acute-risk countries and territories in schedule A2; a person must provide the name of the country which issued their passport or travel document, not the name of the issuing authority; and

“Curling—World Mixed Doubles Championship”

is added to part 1 of schedule 3A. The regulations came into force on 22 April.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No 21) Regulations 2021 amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 to implement the new local protection levels table that was published on 13 April 2021, which moves all parts of Scotland that are currently in level 4 down to level 3. The regulations came into force on 26 April.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No 22) Regulations 2021 amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 to adjust the restrictions on casinos, allowing them to open in level 2 and applying a curfew in levels 1 and 2. They also make some further adjustments in order to remove redundant references and to align rules for teen socialising in level 2 with those for adults. The regulations came into force on 5 May.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No 10) Regulations 2021 make further amendments to the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 by adding the Maldives, Nepal and Turkey to the list of acute-risk countries and territories in schedule A2. The regulations came into force on 12 May.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel etc) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2021 provide further amendments to the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations 2020. They extend regulations 5D to 5J to people arriving in Scotland from exempt countries and territories, requiring that they take a day 2 test only, and add seasonal agricultural workers to the list of persons to whom regulations 5D to 5J apply; they require that all persons who enter Scotland from a country or territory that is not either an exempt or an acute-risk country or territory, and who have not in the preceding 10 days departed from or transited through an acute-risk country or territory, to stay in specified premises; they require that travellers who enter Scotland under a United Kingdom refugee resettlement scheme, unaccompanied children or children who are attending boarding school stay in specified premises if they have entered Scotland from a country or territory that is an acute-risk country or territory; they apply the requirements to possess a managed self-isolation package and to stay in managed accommodation only to travellers who arrive in Scotland from acute-risk countries or territories or who have travelled through an acute-risk country or territory in the previous 10 days; they add Australia, Brunei, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Israel and Jerusalem, New Zealand, Portugal and Singapore to the list of exempt countries and territories, and add the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands to the list of exempt United Kingdom overseas territories, in schedule A1; and they update the passenger notices in schedule 2 so that those reflect the latest requirements on travellers in the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Public Health Information for Passengers Travelling to Scotland) Regulations 2020.

We are near the end now, Presiding Officer.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No 23) Regulations 2021 amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 to adjust the levels allocation across Scotland as a result of the most recent data; to make a minor adjustment to the restrictions on hotels and other accommodation to remove references that are no longer required; to adjust the existing provisions on power of entry to ensure that they reflect the new position that allows socialising in private dwellings in greater numbers and with more households than was previously possible; to adjust the requirements placed on those responsible for businesses, services and places of worship so that they do not have to ensure that physical distancing is maintained between those under the age of 12 and any other individual; to permit snooker and pool halls and bowling alleys to reopen in level 2 and allow increased in-home socialising in level 2 areas; to future proof the travel restrictions in place for levels 3 and 4 by reintroducing a five-mile limit for outdoor exercise and recreation; and to adjust the restrictions relating to capacity limits on stadia and live events and for public processions in some levels. The regulations came into force on 17 May.

I appreciate the work of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee, and I look forward to it taking up its role again.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 9) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/191) be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel etc.) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/181) be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 20) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/186) be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 19) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/180) be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 8) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/179) be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 23) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/209) be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel etc.) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/208) be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 10) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/204) be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 22) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/202) be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 21) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/193) be approved.

The question on the motions will be put at decision time.