Chamber and committees

On 22 June, the First Minister announced changes which will help benefit weddings. In particular, suppliers employed by the couple marrying or registering their civil partnership no longer count towards the numerical caps and live entertainment is now allowed at receptions.

The Scottish Government has also updated the Strategic Framework: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scotland's Strategic Framework update - June 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . This update sets out that, subject to a review of the epidemic, on 19 July we hope that all of Scotland will be able to move to level 0, with physical distancing requirements outdoors removed and reduced indoors to 1 metre. On 9 August, conditional on over 40s being fully vaccinated and a review of the epidemic, we would hope to remove the levels restrictions and all physical distancing requirements.

We continue to regularly review the restrictions and guidance in place.

Our Suicide Prevention Action Plan ‘Every Life Matters’ was launched in August 2018 with £3 million funding available to support implementation over the last Parliamentary term. For 2021-22, £1.4 million is available to support suicide prevention. We have committed to doubling suicide prevention spending by the end of this Parliamentary term.

At the start of 2021, the Scottish Government held several discussions with the UK Government and the other Devolved Administrations regarding a joint approach to encourage participation in Horizon Europe by UK organisations. As part of these, UK Government officials were made aware of the plans of the Scottish Government to dedicate funding to support European research collaboration before the launch of the Saltire Research Awards. Scottish and UK Ministers communicate on strategic research policy issues regularly.

The regulation of the provision and funding of bus services in Scotland is largely devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Transport Scotland liaises on a regular basis with the Department for Transport, and a Four Nations Green Bus Group has recently been convened to meet on a quarterly basis to discuss policy and share best practice.

The Scottish Government has initiated a range of discussions with the UK Department for International Trade about Scotland’s role in the development of future UK trade arrangements, as set out in our paper of that name published in August 2018. We have also used these meetings to outline Scotland’s economic and other interests in future trade agreements. We have provided the UK Government with detailed analysis of our interests to inform trade negotiations with Australia, New Zealand and other countries. However, the Scottish Government does not receive full information about, and is excluded from the process of developing, the UK negotiating mandate across all areas of potential trade agreements. The recent exclusion from the process of developing the UK Government’s market access offers to Australia, despite the potentially devastating impact of this on the Scottish rural economy, highlights the deficiencies in the current engagement process. The Scottish Government should be involved in all stages of the negotiation process across all areas of trade agreements.

Since the start of the pandemic the Scottish Government has made considerable investment in tackling misinformation through a number of channels. Our approach based on behavioural insight is not to directly challenge misinformation as this provides further exposure to the incorrect information. Instead, priority is placed on establishing reputable sources of information for the public to access and trust such as NHSinform.scot. Activity has included:

1. First Minister Briefings

2. Pro-active and reactive media relations

3. The Scottish Government issues proactive social media content that informs and engages the public on facts to do with COVID-19 and the actions required of them to stop the spread of the virus.

4. Public information campaigns linked to the pandemic to promote compliance with guidelines, steps that can be taken to reduce exposure to the virus and what to do if an individual or a close contact develops symptoms. For example, our recent Vaccination campaign, Roll Up Your Sleeves, was independently evaluated with a sample of 1,480 adults eligible for the vaccine. The campaign had 95% prompted recognition, with 78% of those recognising it agreeing that the advertising made them more aware of the importance of being vaccinated

5. During 2020-2021, funding to support the newspaper industry was delivered via a £3m press partnership which provided the Scottish Government advertising across national, regional and local titles.

6. Collaborating with the UK Government on campaigns being delivered across the four nations.

7. National door drops on coronavirus, Test & Protect and the vaccination programme

8. Working with Health Boards and Local Authorities

9. Working with key stakeholders such as Young Scot and BEMIS to co-create content for their audiences that communicates key information. For example, the recently published Vaccine Explainer video was developed following stakeholder feedback on barriers to vaccination, has been translated into multiple languages and distributed via stakeholders.

10. Using NHSInform.scot and gov.scot as the two-lead digital sources of information relating to Covid-19 in Scotland

11. Publishing daily information on virus levels and progress of vaccination via Public Health Scotland website to enable any member of the public to easily access information relating to current position of the pandemic.

Examples of guidance available to help tackle misinformation:

• NHS Inform COVID-19 Information [15 languages/formats]: Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland | NHS inform
• Test & Protect Self-Isolation Fact Sheet [26 languages/formats]: Coronavirus (COVID-19): self-isolation factsheet - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• COVID-19 Vaccine Information on NHS Inform [Available by Language]: Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine translations | The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine (nhsinform.scot)

To ensure the information detailed in all marketing campaigns is accurate, guidance is provided by our key clinical experts; Chief Medical Officer; Deputy Chief Medical Officer; National Clinical Director for Scotland. On occasion these experts have featured in our communications to further validate the clinical accuracy of our messaging to the public.

The Scottish Government is continuing to invest in communications activity to provide the public with clear and simple guidance on the actions they need to undertake in response to the pandemic.

In October 2019 PWC provided support and detailed analysis on a full range of options for Ferguson Marine. Scottish Ministers considered the evidence and on that basis the Scottish Government stepped in to take ownership, to ensure a viable future for the yard, it's workforce and completion of the much needed vessels. The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the yard to explore all possible options to ensure a viable future for the business.

We are committed to learning lessons on every aspect of the response to Covid-19 and are currently exploring the interplay between the UK inquiry and any Scottish inquiry. We will update Parliament on plans as soon as possible.

Information on cancelled planned operations are published by Public Health Scotland on a monthly basis. These details can be found at Cancelled planned operations 1 June 2021 - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org)

This information shows the number of cancelled scheduled operations by NHS Board and the reasons for these cancellations.

Information on the number of NHS patients waiting for treatment is published quarterly by Public Health Scotland and can be found at NHS waiting times - stage of treatment 25 May 2021 - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org)

This data shows the number of patients on waiting lists and how many have been waiting over 12 weeks. This is shown by NHS Board and can be filtered to show numbers by specialities.