Chamber and committees

All patient conveying vehicles including paramedic response units carry defibrillators and staff are trained to use them. Community First responder vehicles also carry defibrillators, and the Scottish Ambulance Service has access to a system which is used to direct members of public to the closest registered defibrillator.

The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS National Education for Scotland (NES) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in developing a joint programme to encourage more students, and not just school leavers, to consider careers in pharmacy, including ensuring the output reaches deprived and remote and rural communities.

In addition, both Schools of Pharmacy work towards the widening access targets set by the Commission on Widening Access for universities to drive forward the delivery of equal access in Scotland.

There are also wider initiatives such as The Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP). The partnership develops access programmes for adults returning to education, and targets adults who reside in the most disadvantaged areas of Scotland and particularly those who have no, few or out of date qualifications. This can help support people with few suitable qualifications to progress to degree level Pharmacy studies.

I refer to member to the answer to question S6W-05124 on 10 January 2022. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

We have reviewed the border health measures closely over the last 28 days and have assessed that there continues to be a requirement for the regulations to remain in place to reduce the risk of imported transmission and safeguard public health in Scotland. The regulations continue to be an important and proportionate part of the Scottish Government response to managing the pandemic. As we have done throughout the pandemic, we will continue discussions with UK Government and the other devolved administrations and continue to seek to take a four-nations approach to future changes to regulations and the travel regime.

Data on nationality is not collected as part of the COVID vaccination programme.

We commenced the collection of ethnicity data as part of the vaccination programme in November 2021. This is to help tackle racialised health inequalities. Once this data becomes available it will help us to better design and tailor services to improve people’s health outcomes. This data is collected following a recommendation from the Expert Reference Group on COVID and Ethnicity (ERG).

The ethnicity question is a mandatory field, and so everyone should complete this field, though there is an option for people to select the option ‘prefer not to say/don’t know’. The ethnicity question used is taken from Census 2022 Question 23.

Full information on what personal information we process , including ethnicity, and how we use your data as part of the COVID-19 vaccination programme can be found on NHS Inform under Data, Privacy and Ethics.

Public Health Scotland already publishes information about equality of vaccination uptake. The most recent data can be found at COVID-19 Statistical Report - 1 December 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland . The report contains information about the data sources used.

Data on nationality is not collected as part of the COVID vaccination programme.

We commenced the collection of ethnicity data as part of the vaccination programme in November 2021. This is to help tackle racialised health inequalities. Once this data becomes available it will help us to better design and tailor services to improve people’s health outcomes. This data is collected following a recommendation from the Expert Reference Group on COVID and Ethnicity (ERG).

The ethnicity question is a mandatory field, and so everyone should complete this field, though there is an option for people to select the option ‘prefer not to say/don’t know’. The ethnicity question used is taken from Census 2022 Question 23.

Full information on what personal information we process , including ethnicity, and how we use your data as part of the COVID-19 vaccination programme can be found on NHS Inform under Data, Privacy and Ethics.

Public Health Scotland already publishes information about equality of vaccination uptake. The most recent data can be found at COVID-19 Statistical Report - 1 December 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland . The report contains information about the data sources used.

Data on nationality is not collected as part of the COVID vaccination programme.

We commenced the collection of ethnicity data as part of the vaccination programme in November 2021. This is to help tackle racialised health inequalities. Once this data becomes available it will help us to better design and tailor services to improve people’s health outcomes. This data is collected following a recommendation from the Expert Reference Group on COVID and Ethnicity (ERG).

The ethnicity question is a mandatory field, and so everyone should complete this field, though there is an option for people to select the option ‘prefer not to say/don’t know’. The ethnicity question used is taken from Census 2022 Question 23.

Full information on what personal information we process , including ethnicity, and how we use your data as part of the COVID-19 vaccination programme can be found on NHS Inform under Data, Privacy and Ethics.

Public Health Scotland already publishes information about equality of vaccination uptake. The most recent data can be found at COVID-19 Statistical Report - 1 December 2021 - COVID-19 statistical report - Publications - Public Health Scotland . The report contains information about the data sources used.

Scottish Government and some agencies publish all public consultations on the consultation hub. Respondents can decide whether they would like their response to be published on the consultation hub after the closing date. Thereafter, published responses will be visible to the public.

The Scottish Government can confirm the numbers of local authorities who responded to the consultations listed below.

a) the Heat in Buildings Strategy - 20 local authorities

b) Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 - 8 local authorities

c) Climate Change - Net Zero Nation: draft public engagement strategy - 9 local authorities

d) Establishing a Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet - 1 local authority

e) Investing in and paying for your water services from 2021 - 10 local authorities*

f) the Local Energy Policy Statement - 6 local authorities

g) Scottish Low Emission Zones: Consultation on Regulations and Guidance - 9 local authorities

* A later consultation 'Investing in and paying for you water services from 2021: final consultation' was responded to by an additional 2 local authorities.

The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), as the Independent Professional and Regulatory Body for teachers in Scotland, has a published Fitness to Teach Threshold Policy which sets out what GTCS will investigate under its fitness to teach procedures. It is available on the GTCS website and members of the public are encouraged to read it prior to submitting a referral to GTCS regarding a registered teacher.

The Scottish Government is aware of these issues and continues to have regular dialogue with GTCS on these matters.

We know that childcare providers are concerned about the impact of the new Omicron variant on their businesses. The Scottish Government is working as a matter of urgency to assess the implications of the most recent public health interventions on the sector.

The Scottish Government is limited as to what additional financial support can be provided as our budget is fully committed at this late stage of the financial year. That is why we have urged the UK Government to make further funding available to support our public health interventions and the impacts of restrictions.

Since the start of the pandemic the Scottish Government has made more than £22 million of dedicated support available to day care of children services through the Temporary Restrictions Fund and the Transitional Support Fund. Round 3 of the Temporary Restrictions Fund was targeted at school age childcare services recognising the specific impacts for those services. We have also provided up to £3.2 million to childminding services, in particular through the Childminding Business Sustainability Fund.

Our Financial Sustainability Health Check, published on 31 August, sets out the further actions that we will take to build on the substantial targeted financial support made available to the sector since March 2020.

This includes commitments to review the administrative requirements on providers, to develop a five-year workforce strategy for the childcare sector, and to deliver a programme of targeted business, financial management, marketing, and human resources support. We will also work with COSLA and local authority childcare teams in order to map the various existing approaches to the contract management of let agreements, understanding how important that is to financial sustainability.

The Scottish Government has committed to build a system of school age childcare by the end of this Parliament, free to those families on the lowest incomes. We will continue to work closely with school age childcare services to do all that we can to offer support, within the budgetary constraints that we face.