Chamber and committees

I want to ask about the longer-term prospects for international travel and the travel industry. We recognise that tackling Covid is very much a moving feast and that we have to be fairly reactive in our approach, but obviously the travel industry is struggling and is hugely impacted. Unfortunately, that moving feast and the reactive way in which we have to approach Covid do not work well for businesses, which need an indication of a route map to allow a degree of essential business planning. I think that everyone would recognise that vague definitions of objectives and indicators are frustrating business planning, so I want to ask some basic questions. What is the definition of a risk-based reopening of international travel?

Businesses are very good at adapting—we have seen that ability to adapt over the past 18 months—and they are desperate to know how they can adapt to meet the safety standards that you have alluded to. I ask this follow-up question on behalf of the industry: what does safe international travel look like?

I want to ask a quick follow-up question before I move on. An issue that is highlighted in something that came into my inbox this morning is how we define a nightclub. Again, this is why consultation is so important. We could have something designated as a nightclub with 250 people in it on one side of a street while, on the other, a pub with 250 people in it could be blasting out loud music. One of those places will require vaccine passports and the other will not. How do we ensure that consultation is carried out in a way that makes everyone feel that they have been treated fairly?

I want to raise a couple of issues, one of which is about vaccine passports. We all recognise that tackling the pandemic is a moving feast and that ideas change as we go along. It is not a criticism at all to say that, not all that long ago, vaccine passports were ruled out but, as evidence has come forward, the Government has decided that they should be ruled in.

Against that backdrop, I know from speaking with the music industry, nightclubs and the sports industry that they feel that they have not been consulted as decisions have been made, although the understanding is that it will be businesses’ responsibility to practically implement the policy. I have a couple of questions on that. First, how do you envisage the measure being policed? Secondly, how does the Scottish Government consult with the industries that are involved prior to making such decisions? As my colleague Jim Fairlie suggested in relation to younger people, surely it is much better to have the industries’ input into the decision-making process rather than impose measures on them. How is the consultation process done?

Another topic that was raised with me just this morning is the implications for specific sectors of people having to isolate as they await the results of Covid tests. Nurseries, for example, have had to close; there has been a knock-on effect on the business world and our economic recovery; and significant numbers of teachers have been missing in schools. How do we bring schools back to full learning capacity if there is such a shortage of teachers?

The same applies to our NHS, where I know there have been significant shortages in a lot of disciplines through people being absent as they wait for Covid test results. How can we tackle and recover from the backlog in our NHS if there are such shortages? Obviously it is incredibly difficult to square that circle, but how is the Scottish Government looking at this issue as we hopefully recover from the virus?

I, too, have no interests that are relevant to the committee.

I nominate Murdo Fraser.

Murdo Fraser was chosen as deputy convener.

I broadly concur with what Murdo Fraser said. On top of that, I am interested in how we ensure as part of our recovery that our population gets access to services for physical and mental health. How do we kick-start the world of sport and physical activity again? How do we ensure that everybody gets access to facilities for mental health? I warn everybody that I am interested in that direction of travel as part of what we do.