Chamber and committees

Our focus for the current Programme for Government stroke commitments is to continue our work to deliver a national thrombectomy service for stroke and define a progressive stroke pathway. We are making progress against both of these commitments, with a report on progressive stroke services due by the end of December 2021, and a Scotland wide thrombectomy service operational by 2023.

The progressive stroke pathway report, will set the intention for improving care for people with stroke and following completion of the report, we will consider the appropriate next steps to planning its implementation.

Around 10-15% of patients presenting with acute stroke in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GG&C) Health Board area are candidates for reperfusion with thrombolysis. The other 85-90% of admissions require specialist local care. Within NHS GGC, acute stroke thrombolysis is already available on a 24/7 basis. This is currently based at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) with a thrombolysis on-call rota covering the entire NHS GG&C area.

Patients presenting to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) out of hours and at weekends with acute stroke, are assessed immediately on arrival and have appropriate imaging performed. If it is thought that the individual patient would potentially benefit from thrombolysis, then they will be transferred to QEUH. Patients presenting at GRI during weekday hours, who are thought to potentially benefit from thrombolysis, would have thrombolysis performed at GRI.

Patients presenting to other NHS GG&C sites with acute stroke, and who are thought to potentially benefit from thrombolysis, are either assessed, have appropriate imaging performed, and transferred to QEUH where appropriate, or are taken directly to QEUH by the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), where stroke thrombolysis can take place.

Reperfusion in acute stroke circumstances is time-critical, as the benefit of thrombolysis diminishes with any delay to treatment. Therefore, work is ongoing within the NHS GG&C Stroke Improvement Group to develop a consultant telemedicine thrombolysis model with local stroke specialist nurse support for patients presenting with acute stroke.

NHS GG&C can provide further information on the Acute Stroke Service.

Detailed workforce planning, in partnership with NHS Scotland health boards is underway to enable delivery of the next stage of COVID-19 vaccinations, alongside the seasonal influenza vaccination programme. On 05 July 2021, we provided health boards with the latest available planning assumptions and advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. This included workforce deployment requirements, broken down by health board, alongside planning information to enable health boards to continue to work towards building a sustainable vaccinations workforce. We will share further workforce planning information with MSPs shortly on the plans for the delivery of Covid-19 and seasonal influenza vaccinations across NHS Scotland this coming autumn.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the UK as this a statutory function of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The MHRA produces a weekly summary of Yellow Card reporting and includes other safety investigations carried out by the MHRA under the COVID-19 Vaccine Surveillance Strategy. On 1 July this report was updated to include new data up to 23 June 2021. The MHRA does not currently break down these data by treatment required at secondary or primary clinical care settings.

The number of suspected ADR reports received in the UK for COVID-19 vaccines up to and including 23 June were as follows:

Table 1

The Scottish Government, through its agency Scottish Forestry, issued new cultivation guidance on 27 July based on research evidence regarding carbon released as a result of different cultivation techniques.

The guidance can found at: https://forestry.gov.scot/publications/1032-cultivation-for-upland-productive-woodland-creation-sites-applicant-s-guidance/viewdocument/1032 .

COP26 presents a unique platform for communities across Scotland to showcase the innovative climate action being undertaken at a local level and to drive forward further collective action towards our net zero target. Our programme for COP26 will be underpinned around our two themes of Just Transition and People. We are committed to using our links through our communities work, civil society partners and local authorities to ensure that voices across Scotland are represented at COP.

We are working with partners to develop and deliver a community engagement programme in the run up to, and beyond, COP26 that will empower communities to take action in a way that responds to local circumstances and priorities. We will support them to host events relevant to their local areas that extend the climate conversation far and wide. We have also funded the Glasgow Science Centre ‘Our World, Our Impact’ climate change engagement programme as part of Scotland’s pre-COP26 activity. Communities targeted in Glasgow include Maryhill, Yoker, Govan and Glasgow Disability Alliance.

Climate Week 2021 will take place between 13 to 19 September and, coming 6 weeks before COP, will engage individuals, communities, businesses and organisations to build public understanding of how everyone across Scotland can play their part in tackling the global climate emergency.

We are also working with partners to design and deliver a youth engagement programme. This includes the COP26 Scottish Youth Climate Programme, delivered by Young Scot, YouthLink Scotland and Keep Scotland Beautiful, that will deliver youth engagement activities ahead of, during, and after COP26, with a focus on engaging young people in decision making in response to the global climate emergency. Education Scotland are also working with Local Authorities and third sector partners to develop and deliver a programme of learning and activity around the themes of COP26.

It is inevitable that an event of the size and complexity of COP26 will have an impact on the communities of the host City, we are working closely with Glasgow City Council to mitigate against impact and where possible create opportunities for communities to engage. For example, we are working with partners to develop and deliver a community engagement programme in the run up, and beyond, COP26 that will empower communities to take action in a way that responds to local circumstances and priorities, with a view to prompting a positive outcome for all involved.

A joint COP26 delivery framework has been agreed between the Government of the United Kingdom, The Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and Scottish agencies. This outlines the plans, organisation, structure, systems and methodology that will be used to manage delivery of COP26 including appropriate mitigation of impact on business as usual.

COP26 has a unique logistical plan to ensure a safe and secure event. A number of potential impacts that COP26 may have on the transport networks, that serve local communities and facilities, have been evaluated. These evaluations consider impacts within Glasgow, Edinburgh and across the strategic transport networks that serve wider parts of the Country.

The recent HMICS review into Police Scotland’s planning for the event offers a high degree of assurance around the service’s ability to balance business as usual policing with delivering a safe and secure COP26.

We want COP26 to be a platform for engagement that all of Scotland can be involved in and one that delivers a lasting legacy, maximising opportunities before, during and after the conference, and delivers economic benefits. We are committed to ensuring COP26 delivers a lasting legacy, with a particular emphasis on ensuring a just transition, and to encourage the behaviour change needed to reach our ambitious net zero target.

Emissions from casking, distillation, fermentation, other maturation and spent grain drying are not disaggregated by spirit type, due to the very low levels involved. Collectively for all spirit manufacture in Scotland, these processes contributed approximately 3% of NMVOC emissions in 2018, the most recent year for which figures are available.

Overall NMVOC emissions in Scotland have declined by approximately 65% since 1990.

Approximately 45% of NMVOC emissions in Scotland were due to emissions from Scotch whisky maturation in 2018.

This information is also publicly available in the report 'Air Quality Pollutant Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2018' and the associated tables, which can be found at: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat09/2010220959_DA_Air_Pollutant_Inventories_1990-2018_v1.2.pdf .

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

From the moment it was announced that COP26 would be coming to Glasgow, the Scottish Government have been fully committed to playing our role in ensuring a safe and secure event. The Government of the United Kingdom hold the presidency of COP26 and are therefore responsible for working alongside the United Nations to organise the main summit and its attached "Green Zone". A joint COP26 delivery framework has been agreed between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Scottish Government, which includes Glasgow City Council and Scottish Agencies. This outlines the plans, organisation, structure, systems and methodology that will be used to manage delivery of COP26 including appropriate mitigation of impact on business as usual. As the Scottish Government have devolved powers around Safety and Resilience, our colleagues and organisations such Police Scotland, and Transport Scotland, who are responsible for the COP26 transport plan, have been engaged through the COP26 planning process. With a separate Legal landscape in Scotland, we are responsible for ensuring the correct legislative mechanisms are put in place that will allow the event to happen.

The Scottish Government is proactively leading a Scottish response to COP26, ensuring that our communities, businesses and organisations have the opportunities to engage and benefit from COP26 coming to Glasgow. Part of our offering will be to host a Scotland Zone, showcasing the talents, skills and innovative approach that Scotland is taking to addressing the climate emergency.