Chamber and committees

As no other member has any questions, that concludes our consideration of this agenda item. I thank the Deputy First Minister and his officials for their evidence.

The committee will in due course publish a report to the Parliament setting out our decisions on the statutory instruments considered.

That concludes our consideration of this agenda item and our time with the Deputy First Minister. Thank you for your attendance.

I suspend the meeting briefly to allow the witnesses to leave the meeting.

We move on to take evidence on the latest ministerial statement on Covid-19, on the two-monthly report on the Coronavirus Acts and on subordinate legislation.

I welcome Elizabeth Blair, team leader for Covid co-ordination, governance and decision making in the Scottish Government, who will join the Deputy First Minister for this agenda item.

The committee will consider the following regulations that were laid over the summer recess.

Good morning, and welcome to the second meeting in 2021 of the COVID-19 Recovery Committee. This morning, we will take evidence on Scotland’s strategic framework from John Swinney, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery; and, from the Scottish Government, Dominic Munro, director for Covid-19 exit strategy; and Professor Jason Leitch, national clinical director. I welcome our witnesses, who are joining us remotely.

Deputy First Minister, I invite you to make a brief opening statement.

I am conscious of time. Brian Whittle is next.

Thank you, Deputy First Minister. Will the committee be able to consider secondary legislation on vaccine passports, or will that be considered by means of a motion taken in the chamber? If subordinate legislation is forthcoming, what is the timescale for that and will it be subject to the affirmative procedure, rather than the emergency made affirmative procedure?

If I may, I will bring in Professor Jason Leitch to address the concerns of some members about evidence-based decision making when it comes to the restrictions.

The final agenda item is consideration of the evidence that we heard earlier on three negative instruments: the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 (Early Expiry of Provisions) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/214); the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 (Early Expiry of Provisions) (No 2) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/236); and the Coronavirus (Extension and Expiry) (Scotland) Act 2021 (Evidence) (Saving Provision) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/280).

As these are negative instruments, the Parliament has 40 days to consider a motion to annul them. We have taken evidence on the instruments from the Deputy First Minister and motions to annul the instruments have not been lodged.

If no member has any comment, is the committee content that this concludes our scrutiny of the negative instruments?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you. That concludes our business. Our next meeting will be on 9 September, when we will take evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport on international travel regulations.