Chamber and committees

Our aspiration is for uptake to be as high as possible across all groups, this includes health and social care workers.

Vaccination uptake for Frontline Health & Social Care workers is currently at 40% for Covid-19 vaccines. The uptake for Flu vaccines for all healthcare workers is currently at 49%.

We have been working closely with Health Boards to increase uptake in this group. Specific interventions include drop in clinics for workers, outreach vaccination teams visiting workplaces, tailored local and national communications to encourage uptake. We are also conducting surveys to gather insight on why some people are choosing not to get vaccinated this winter.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-11902 on 24 November 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

While statistics on vaccination rates among those who are housebound are not published, we continue to see very high uptake across all eligible cohorts in the winter vaccination programme.

Housebound patients are identified through their local GP and have been vaccinated in their homes, with some health boards utilising the Scottish Ambulance Service to support this. For those who weren’t identified via their GP, their appointment letter contained information on how to request a home visit.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-10225 on 30 August 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

This information is not held centrally; it is a matter for the individual territorial and national Health Boards that make up NHS Scotland.

The Covid Recovery Strategy focuses on reducing poverty and inequality and making progress towards three priority outcomes: to enhance the wellbeing of children and young people; to increase the financial security of low income households; and to create good, green jobs and fair work. These outcomes have been agreed with local government and the Scottish Government remains committed to achieving these outcomes together with partners across Scotland.

The financial situation facing the Scottish Government is, by far, the most challenging since devolution; the impacts of the pandemic coupled with Russia’s continued illegal invasion of Ukraine have created a disruptive set of financial and economic challenges that every government must address. The fiscal constraints of devolution mean that the Scottish Government cannot borrow to meet increased costs associated with the current financial situation. This means we have had to make hard choices to prioritise spending which supports those who need it most and find savings. In the context of the ongoing cost crisis, we are prioritising funding to help families, back business and protect the delivery of public services; the recent Programme for Government and Emergency Budget Review provide more detail about the Scottish Government’s approach.

The Emergency Budget Review, published in November 2022, identified savings in excess of £1.1 billion from the 2022-23 budget and confirmed a range of additional support in response to the cost of living crisis, guided by the principles of the Covid Recovery Strategy. This includes: expanding the Scottish Child Payment to eligible 6-15 year olds and increasing its value to £25 per child per week; doubling the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million in 2022-23; and providing local authorities with additional Discretionary Housing Payment funding to mitigate the UK Government’s benefit cap as fully as possible.

The Scottish Government is committed to making progress towards the shared Covid Recovery Strategy outcomes and will continue to prioritise spending which is targeted to support those in most need across Scotland.

Funding provided to NHS Boards for Childsmile programme delivery is set out in the following table.

In addition to direct programme allocations, funding is provided to NHS Boards through the annual Outcomes Framework allocation to deliver a range of core services, including for Childsmile. The total value of this allocation for each of the five years is also set out below:

COVID-19 and Flu vaccine uptake data is available from the Public Health Scotland dashboard . As of 23 November 2022 there has been a total of 1,625,091 Adult (18+) flu vaccinations and 1,653,929 COVID-19 vaccinations administered under the 2022 Winter Vaccination Programme. The data on the dashboard is updated every Wednesday and includes the latest headline figures by week and JCVI priority group.

Territorial NHS Boards’ 2022-23 funding from the long COVID Support Fund has been split into two tranches. The first tranche (70%) was provided to NHS Boards in June. The second tranche (30%) will be made later in the financial year following progress reporting.

This is a well-established practice for the allocation of health board funding to account for any slippage in programme delivery, and is used across a range of policy areas.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-12273 on 5 December 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .