The Scottish Government currently only allows travellers returning from green and amber list countries to use NHS tests, arranged through the CTM booking portal, as they are the highest quality with established data flows into NHS boards and samples are sequenced to ensure early detection of variants of concern.

Travellers arriving in other parts of the UK can access the NHS tests, however those arriving in England and Northern Ireland are also able to access private test providers who charge a range of prices.

The Scottish Government is exploring ways to allow private testing for travellers coming to Scotland provided we are confident in the flow of data into contact tracing services and that all positive test results are analysed to identify any variants of concern.

During the charter of the MV Arrow, Seatruck Ferries Ltd, the owner of the vessel, will be responsible for crew rostering as the crew are employed by them and not CalMac Ferries Ltd.

The most recent data published by the Scottish Government show that the forestry estate in Scotland currently removes over 6MtCO ₂ annually. These removals are net of any CO ₂ emissions from forestry operations and forest soils.

Scottish Forestry has commissioned further research to provide the latest quantitative evidence on these impacts for different types of woodland. This research will be released later in 2021. Preliminary results show that emissions from forest operations are very low compared to removals as trees grow.

Net costs, that is costs less revenue receipts, falling due to ScotRail are being met by the Scottish Ministers under the terms of the Emergency Measurements Agreement. We do not hold details of the attribution of costs to individual locations or routes.

From 2 August, travellers who arrive from amber list countries (who have not travelled through a red list country in the previous 10 days) who are residents of and have been fully vaccinated as part of programmes in the UK, US and the EU as well as a number of other European countries, will be exempted from self-isolation.

Those who have been exempted must show an accepted record of vaccination at the point of entering Scotland that they have received a full course of the vaccine and 14 days have passed since the final dose. This also applies to under-18 residents of those countries and travellers taking part in formally approved Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials.

The exemption from amber list countries for fully vaccinated individuals only applies to self-isolation and day 8 tests, and those applicable must still follow the other rules, including taking tests prior to their departure and booking and undertaking a day 2 test if you are over the age of 11.

The Scottish Government continues dialogue with the UK Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive with the aim that future changes to policy on fully vaccinated travellers is announced on a four nations basis.

Work is ongoing to ensure the vaccine status of those who volunteered for clinical trials in Scotland is correctly presented on the vaccine database. A letter confirming their involvement in the trials is being issued to those who participated. Any participant who has not yet received a letter should contact their respective research team. The letter can be used for domestic purposes as proof of trial status. However, it’s important to note that we have no plans at present to make vaccine certification a requirement of access to services in Scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01820 on
‎ 16 August 2021. 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

The Scottish Government’s Grassroots Music Venues Stabilisation Fund (GMVSF) provided grassroots live music venues with emergency funds to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and prevent closure. In total, £6.2 million of support was awarded to 85 venues throughout Scotland through two rounds of the GMVSF.

The recipients of the first round of GMVSF funding, awarded in September 2020, can be found here, broken down by (a) venue and (b) amount received: https://www.creativescotland.com/what-we-do/latest-news/archive/2020/09/funds-reach-grassroots-music-venues

The recipients of the second round of GMVSF funding, awarded in February 2021, can be found here, broken down by (a) venue and (b) amount received:

https://www.creativescotland.com/what-we-do/latest-news/archive/2021/02/funds-reach-grassroots-music-venues

As a priority action within our Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan and as a 100 Day Manifesto Commitment, the Green Jobs Workforce Academy will be launched in August 2021. This reflects the Scottish Government’s commitment to ensuring Scotland’s workforce has the skills to support the transition to net zero.

Through the new online resource, individuals will be able to access information and careers advice on green jobs and the skills required to enter into or progress in them, and identify courses and funding available to support their upskilling or retraining.

In 2019-20 and 2020-21, the National Transition Training Fund has already been supporting workers whose employment has been affected by the pandemic upskill and retrain, including for jobs in sectors that will be critical to a just transition.

The Scottish Government follows the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) Guidance in developing guidance as the vaccination programme makes progress towards increasing levels of COVID-19 immunity in the population. Current JCVI advice remains that the single greatest risk of mortality and severe disease from COVID-19 is increasing age and COVID-19 risk increases exponentially with age.

Following the recent JCVI advice, young people aged 12 to 15 with severe neuro-disabilities, Down’s Syndrome, immunosuppression and multiple or severe learning disabilities, as well as people who are household contacts of individuals who are immunosuppressed, will be eligible for vaccination soon. The JCVI is not currently advising routine vaccination of children outside of these groups, based on the current evidence.

All young people 16 to 17 years of age will now be offered the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination in Scotland. In line with the latest advice from the JCVI, they will be offered a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. People who are 16 or 17 in mainland Scotland will be invited to register their interest through the online portal at NHS Inform, and will then be sent an appointment via SMS or email. Eligible young people in Shetland, Orkney and Western Isles will be contacted by their health board and invited to attend clinics.

Drop-in clinics are available for 16 to 17-years-olds. Anyone who doesn’t register an interest or attend a drop-in clinic, will be sent an appointment invitation through the post. It is expected that everyone in this age group will have been offered a vaccination appointment by the end of September.

The advice to protect against the risks of contracting COVID-19 or developing any associated ‘Long COVID’ signs and symptoms, remain the same for those who are vaccinated as those unable to receive vaccination for medical reasons. There is further detailed advice available, which is continuously updated in line with protection levels advice, for those who have been shielding for health reasons published here: Coronavirus (COVID-19): shielding advice and support - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Like all medicines, no vaccine is completely effective, but we do know the vaccination of a high proportion of the population will assist in reducing symptomatic disease and transmission. As the vaccination programme progresses, the Scottish Government advises everyone to follow the protection level rules set for each Local Authority area, as well as to follow general public health guidance issued on non-pharmaceutical measures which help to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

In addition to the individual level of protection against severe disease or hospitalisation afforded by vaccination, a further benefit of the vaccination programme is to assist in developing widespread community immunity and thereby reduce the force of transmission and viral reproduction rate, controlling the prevalence of COVID-19.

Research by Public Health England (PHE), which monitors vaccine efficacy within the UK, shows that those who became infected 3 weeks after receiving one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccine were between 38% and 49% less likely to pass the virus on to their household contacts than those who were unvaccinated. Protection was seen from around 14 days after vaccination, with similar levels of protection regardless of age of cases or contacts. Data is published here: One dose of COVID-19 vaccine can cut household transmission by up to half - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . Further research into the COVID-19 vaccines’ impacts on transmission is underway.

The inoculation of a large proportion of the population will help to provide a degree of ‘passive protection’ in the community for those who cannot receive vaccination for medical reasons and those who may develop a weaker immune response to vaccination due to old age, immunosuppression or illness.