Chamber and committees

Your Priorities Platform

Letter to the Deputy First Minister on the Your Priorities platform - 8 February 2022

Dear John,

As you are aware, the Committee used the Your Priorities digital engagement platform to enable members of the public to put forward questions for the Committee to raise with Ministers. The site was open between 14 October and 6 December and generated 60 questions.

The questions were arranged into themes and included in Committee papers ahead of your appearance at committee meetings on the Ministerial statements and subordinate legislation. The Committee raised 25 questions with you during these meetings and we have provided your responses on the platform so that these can be viewed by members of the public.

Due to time constraints, it was not possible to ask, and receive answers for, all questions submitted by the public. The Committee has therefore agreed to write to you seeking a response to the outstanding questions. I am aware that some of these questions sit out with your portfolio and will require input from across the Scottish Government, so the Committee appreciates your efforts in coordinating this response.

Outlined below are the remaining questions which the Committee would be grateful for a response to—

Schools and Colleges

• Has transmission in Scottish schools been underestimated? Will the Scottish Government be increasing the level of in-school mitigations to prevent schools further amplifying the spread of Covid-19, including increasing ventilation and using HEPA air filters?
• How are the Scottish Government spending funds to ensure all schools can improve air circulation to stop the spread of the virus? Improvements don’t appear to be happening quickly enough.
• What lessons have been learned in relation to Covid-19 and buildings in Scotland and does the Scottish Government believe we are doing enough to address the problem of infected air indoors?
• A number of people have been in touch with the committee about mask wearing in schools and colleges, some are concerned about what may be viewed as an inconsistent approach to mask wearing in education settings, with pupils in a college in Western Isles concerned that in some classes only the teacher wears a mask. Others are questioning why pupils are being told to wear a mask, while some in the adult population are not adhering to rules and guidance on face coverings?
• Can the government clarify their policy on mask wearing in education settings?

Impact on Health and Social Care

• When will my daughter will be able to get her assessed 5 days a week support at her Resource Centre? (Adult Disability Day Resource Centres were still working at level 3, when the whole of Scotland was at level 0 in October 2021, while ASN schools are open, festivals etc.)
• When will acute mental health wards review restrictions? (Meetings with relatives have ceased which has meant key people are removed from discussions, information and planning for discharge; patients are not encouraged to cook or wash their own clothes, these skills and confidence are then impacted upon discharge; the requirements to isolate are beyond measures in other settings and this is causing distress and loneliness.)

Sight loss and accessibility of Covid-19 measures

• How is the Scottish Government ensuring the vaccination certificate/passport is accessible for those with sight loss?
• What assessment has been made on the impact of public health measures, such as social distancing and lockdown restrictions, on those with sight loss?

Booster and Flu Jag rollout: Impact on people with long term health conditions

• Why did the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland choose to vaccinate the over 50s with the winter flu jab in 2021 before the under 50s who have a serious underlaying health complaint
• What is the rationale for a healthy over 50-year-old receiving their flu vaccination before a 22-year-old who suffers with severe asthma and an autoimmune condition? Normally, the latter would have been vaccinated early in to October, nearly November and still no appointment.

Vaccination Uptake

• What can Ministers do to encourage health boards to actively partner with their local voluntary and third sector to help ensure the vaccine programme is fully inclusive of and accessible to marginalised populations including patients who are frequently ‘missing in health’, including homeless people, people whose first language isn’t English, people living in poverty and people with serious mental health issues?
• A number of people have asked why the vaccination programme is not mandatory/compulsory?
• Why is it so difficult to obtain a medical exemption to vaccination due to concerns about allergies or family history of clotting?
• Is fertility impacted by having the Covid jab(s)?

Decreasing Restriction Levels and achieving herd immunity

• A member of the public has asked about removing the need for restrictions and vaccine passports and instead achieve herd immunity? Why is the government not pursuing that strategy instead?

The Committee would appreciate if you could coordinate a response to these questions by the 11 March 2022, if possible.

Yours sincerely,

Siobhian Brown MSP

Convener

COVID-19 Recovery Committee