Chamber and committees

First, it is important to note that there has been no change in the Scottish Government policy on the remuneration arrangements for independent contractors or those working within a primary care settings participation in the COVID Vaccination programme.

The guidance for community pharmacy contractors was published on 26 November 2020 along with guidance for the other primary care contractor groups. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/pca/PCA2020(P)26.pdf.

The guidance sets out the details to allow Health Boards to enter into arrangements with contractors to participate in the vaccination programme with those listed on the appropriate contractors / performers list.

In the case of community pharmacy, it is those entities listed on the Boards Pharmaceutical List to provide pharmaceutical services on behalf of the Health Board, in accordance with the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 and the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

Existing regulations do not currently provide for the provision of performers listing for the pharmacy profession and as such the remuneration arrangements for participation in the vaccination programme put in place for community pharmacy contractors does not apply to individual employees or self-employed locum pharmacists.

However, it would appear that some Health Boards applied the nationally agreed rate for community pharmacy contractors inappropriately to those self-employed locum pharmacists.

It is important to note that individual employees or locum pharmacists have not been removed from participating in the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Their skills are needed in this public health emergency and we would encourage those who are able to contact their local Health Board expressing their interest of joining the programme.

Each Health Board have arrangements in place for healthcare professionals, including pharmacists to support the roll out of the programme as vaccinators, while work is taken forward to build a sustainable vaccination workforce.

The specific arrangements may vary from Board to Board but in principle the individual would be recruited to the NHS Board Bank at the Agenda for Change Band 3 or 5 depending on the vaccinator role undertaken. However, some health boards may be offering sessional payment to individual locum pharmacists.

The numbers who may attend marriage ceremonies, civil partnership registrations, funerals and wedding receptions and post-funeral gatherings in public places both indoors and outdoors are set out in guidance. These numbers only apply when the venue has sufficient capacity to hold them, with physical distancing. The position on permitted numbers at these events is as follows:

Level 0 - No more than 200 people should attend

Level 1 - No more than 100 people should attend

Level 2 - No more than 50 people should attend

Level 3 - No more than 50 people should attend

Level 4 - No more than 20 people should attend

Receptions and post-funeral gatherings are not permitted at protection level 4.

We have published guidance on marriages, civil partnerships and receptions and funerals and post-funeral gatherings. I would be happy to write to the member with further information about any points of clarification required.

This information is not held centrally. However, you may wish to contact Scottish Local Authorities individually for information they may hold. The Scottish local government page of the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) has contact information for these: https://www.cosla.gov.uk/councils.

Since 2015, the Save a Life for Scotland Partnership has equipped more than 640,000 people in Scotland with CPR skills. Over the same time period the rate of people surviving an out of hospital cardiac arrest has increased from one in 20 to one in 10.

In March this year, the partnership published an updated Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest strategy, which sets out a number of actions across the chain of survival, including actions to improve bystander CPR and defibrillation rates. There is a clear commitment to working closely with Local Authorities to ensure that all school aged children have the opportunity to learn CPR. The strategy can be found at:

Out of hospital cardiac arrest: strategy 2021 to 2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Further to previous question - 'To ask the Scottish Government what the total catch is that has been landed by domestic and foreign vessels in Scottish ports in each month between (a) January and May 2020 and (b) January and May 2021.'

Data broken down to Domestic and Foreign vessels.

Provisional monthly data on landings (liveweight tonnes) by UK and Non-UK vessels into Scottish ports, January-May 2020 and January to April 2021

Additional funding of £1.08 billion has been confirmed through the Scottish Budget for health and care for 2021-22 to support the response to the pandemic.

From this, the Scottish Government is providing an initial £380 million to NHS Boards in 2021-22 to meet ongoing costs associated with Covid-19. This includes funding for PPE, Test and Protect and delivery of Covid-19 vaccinations.

The Scottish Government will continue to ensure that our health and care services have the funding that they require to respond to this pandemic, and will make available further additional support following our detailed Quarter One financial review.

Details of funding allocations to NHS Boards are set out in the following table:

The SPCB provides the staff cost provision to enable Members to employ up to the equivalent of 4 full time staff. Individual Members have flexibility to decide how to use their staffing budget, including setting staff salaries within the agreed pay ranges and overall capped provision limit set by the SPCB. It is for Members as the employer to decide how they employ their staff so long as it is within the rules of the Scheme and the job families and salary ranges set out by the SPCB. Members also set their own hours of work.

The Scottish Government has no plans similar to those set out by NHS Digital for England.

The national data opt-out policy applies to NHS England, and not NHS Scotland data. In England, there is legislation by which personal identifiable data, which would otherwise be subject to the Duty of Confidentiality, can be used for research purposes by default.

The Scottish Government recognises the value of data used for trustworthy research in the public interest to improve the health and lives of our population. In Scotland, personal identifiable health data subject to the Duty of Confidentiality is not used for research by default. Any use of personal data for research purposes is subject to rigorous independent scrutiny on a case-by-case basis, and accompanying evidence that the data is used fairly, lawfully and securely. As such, when processing relies on permission from the individual, Scotland operates under an opt-in model.

However, if individuals currently living in Scotland have previously resided in England, and used NHS England services during that period, they will have the opportunity to opt-out by the September 1 st 2021 deadline.

The number of wind farm applications determined in the last 24 months due to a local authority's non-determination, broken down by local authority area, are set out in the following table:

The Scottish Government has recently announced a suite of measures to continue to support NHS dentistry, including a vital funding package of up to £5M for improved ventilation in dental premises, and an extension of free PPE for the dental sector, which from July will increase by up to 50%. This builds on the continued phased remobilisation of NHS dental services, ensuring that as many patients can be seen within the current set of infection, protection and control measures required for the safe operation of dental treatment.

NHS dental services are largely provided by independent dental contractors. Information on appointments is held by each individual dental practice.

The number of wind farm applications approved through the appeal process in the last 24 months, by local authority area, are set out in the following table: