Chamber and committees

Current restrictions allow a maximum number of 50 people to attend a place of worship within local authorities having protection levels 0 – 3 and no more than 20 people in level 4. These capacity numbers are inclusive of all children under the age of 12.

The inclusion of children under 12 in the caps detailed above is currently under review, and any decision to revise this position will be informed by public health and clinical advice. However we are mindful that the general direction of travel at this time is to focus on suppression of the virus and will take a cautious and safe approach.

The collection of a puppy or kitten from a breeder is subject to the advice and rules on travel at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-travel-and-transport/ . The guidance states that travel for essential animal welfare reasons is permitted.

Collection of a puppy or kitten is therefore permitted if it is essential for the animal’s welfare that they be moved from the breeder’s premises.

As an employer, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the workplace is one where all colleagues are valued and treated with respect and dignity. Our policies and procedures allow managers to deal with concerns about bullying at an early stage and on an informal basis, where appropriate. There is no requirement to report informal action to HR and therefore no information is held centrally about cases that have been dealt with informally.

Information about formal cases which have been recorded and investigated is as follows:

The Scottish Government is currently not proposing to change arrangements for extended households, due to the ongoing prevalence of the Covid-19 virus. Currently, you can form an extended household, with one other household, if one of the adults lives alone, lives alone with children under 18 years old, or you are a couple who don't live together. In addition, all families, including those with children under one, who are in Covid-19 protection level 1, 2 or 3 are still able to access informal childcare if necessary, for example to allow parents to work, or attend medical appointments. Families should only use informal childcare in level 4 if it is essential. Further guidance on this is on the Parent Club website.

We recognise that this remains a very challenging time for many families including those with very young children. Support continues to be available from a wide range or sources, including those listed in the new national Family Support Directory available on Parent Club that provides access to further sources of information and direct support on a broad range of issues such as support on childcare, mental health and wellbeing and family relationships. In recognising the particular needs of babies and young children, the guidance Coronavirus (COVID-19): organised activities for children was updated on 24 November and sets out the maximum number of adults who can attend indoor parent/baby or toddler groups (under 5s) and associated organised activities at any one time, to provide more flexibility in this age group.

The health visiting service remains a particularly key source of support for families with young children; it remains available to support all families with preschool children by providing information, advice and help to access other services and supports. In keeping with the latest route map advice and in line with the Universal Health Visiting Pathway, where a home visit is not suitable, contacts over the phone or using video through services like Near Me or Attend Anywhere might be offered. The health visitor can be contacted directly by parents with any concerns about child’s development or wider wellbeing.

I refer the member to the answer the First Minister provided at First Minister’s Questions on 3 December 2020. The transcript is available on the Parliament's website, and can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=12988&i=117414

Twenty three ultra-low temperature (ULT) freezers capable of the storage of medicines have been purchased, with at least one freezer in every territorial health board. Some boards will have more than one ULT freezer, for example three ULT freezers are being located in NHS Highland to account for the board’s geography and the current understood limitations on transporting the vaccine.

The total cost of the ULT freezers that have been purchased is £125,000. The freezers are not portable. The vaccines are packed in multi-dose vials which minimises the amount of storage space required. There is estimated to be sufficient capacity in the NHS Scotland estate to hold around 1 million doses of vaccine at any point in time. The capacity of the individual ULT freezers ranges from 101 litres to 729 litres. Due to their size and requirements these ULT freezers are not portable.

There is significant existing -8°C to +2°C refrigeration storage capacity within the NHS estate - both dedicated cold-stores in most hospital locations and stand-alone refrigeration in secondary and primary care locations. Fridges can be moved, for example to temporary walk-in and drive-through locations, as required. To support the seasonal flu programme and in preparation for the Covid-19 vaccine, 192 additional fridges, at a total cost of £210,000, have been sourced since August 2020.

If stability data supports the movement of the Pfizer vaccine to alternative locations at -8°C to +2°C, this will be managed using vaccine porters. These are specialist cool boxes that are validated to maintain temperature within a fixed range for a defined period of time. These are reusable and are used annually to support the seasonal flu campaign. Additional stock of vaccine porters and associated cool packs have been purchased to increase capacity to support the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine. The total cost of recent purchases of vaccine porters is approximately £186,000.

Information on diagnosis of sepsis is held centrally for patients admitted to hospital.

The following tables present the number of hospital stays with a diagnosis of sepsis at any point during the stay. This is listed by NHS Board of Treatment for the year 2019, and by month for year 2020 up to June. Note that due to changes to coding in October 2017 these figures are not directly comparable with those from previous years.

Table 1: Number of hospital stays 2 with a diagnosis of sepsis 3 ; NHS Scotland;

2019

The snags identified at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in 2019 have been resolved. However, snagging resolution is a feature of all works and as completion of current works are progressing there are new snagging items or changes that are monitored and resolved through normal processes.

Scottish Government recently published updated Maternity and Neonatal Hospital visiting guidance that is in line with the move to COVID-19 local protection levels as detailed in Coronavirus (COVID-19):Scotland's Strategic Framework .

This guidance is intended to support maternity units in developing local guidance for visiting in maternity settings. A birth partner supporting a women during hospital visits, including induction, labour and birth is categorised as an essential visitor and is permitted at all of the five COVID restriction levels.

Some additional measures may be implemented by Boards, for example restrictions in waiting areas or time restrictions on postnatal visits, but only where required to support physical distancing.

Alarms with user replaceable batteries will not meet the standard. Alarms fitted with tamper proof long-life lithium batteries will meet the standard – as long as they are interlinked alarms, installed in the room most frequently used for daytime living purposes, all circulation spaces and kitchens - and can be installed by property owners without the need of contractors.