Chamber and committees

We understand the concerns of businesses that are not eligible for the Strategic Framework Business Fund or other COVID-19 specific schemes. That is why we created and have increased the funding for the Local Authority Discretionary Fund to £120 million. It’s aim is to empower local authorities to direct funding to businesses that haven’t received other forms of direct financial support from the Scottish Government.

Ministers across the Scottish Government have had a number of meetings with the trade unions relevant to their portfolios to consider and inform policies to tackle Covid 19, and its impact on workers and the wider economy and society. In addition to these, I chair a regular roundtable engagement with STUC and affiliate unions on a weekly basis to help manage the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on workers and in workplaces. The Minister for Older People and Equalities also attends this meeting and has chaired on occasions where I have been unable to attend.

There have been 60 roundtable engagements to date, since 18 March. Initially these engagements were twice weekly with the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture chairing the first 20 meetings and the current weekly arrangement being in place since summer.

The First Minister also continues to meet biannually with the STUC and affiliate trade unions, most recently on 18 January, which included discussion on the impacts of the pandemic.

Separate to these direct ministerial engagements, trade unions have been invited to support the development of sector specific guidance wherever possible. Their input has been obtained either through engagement in working groups or, where that is not feasible, through direct contact with the unions. Contributions from unions have been considered in the shaping of a range of sectoral guidance including in the following areas:

• Horticulture, fruit and vegetables
• Working from home
• Museums, Galleries and Heritage attraction
• Contact Centres
• Stadium guidance for professional football and rugby
• Community Learning & Development Workplace
• Soft play centre
• Financial sector
• Research and laboratories
• Manufacturing
• Home moves
• Performing Arts and Venues
• Events
• Construction
• Food and Drink
• Public Libraries
• Retail sector
• Small and Micro Business
• Transport
• Tourism and Hospitality
• Forestry Sector Safe Working
• Creative Industries

There have also been various other meetings between Ministers and unions related to specific policy areas and COVID-19.

As confirmed in Scottish Budget 2021-22, the ceiling of the nil rate band for residential Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) will return to £145,000 for transactions with an effective date from 1 April 2021.

The effective date of a transaction is the point at which the liability to LBTT arises. In general terms, for residential LBTT this is the date that the purchase price for a home is paid by the buyer in exchange for the seller delivering the keys and disposition. As such, where missives are signed prior to 1 April 2021 but the effective date of a transaction occurs on or after 1 April 2021, the £145,000 nil rate band will apply.

An LBTT return must be submitted to Revenue Scotland and payment of any LBTT due made before the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland can proceed with registration of title .

Since the announcement of the introduction of remote learning on 4 January, the National Qualifications 2021 Group, which draws its membership from the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, Colleges Scotland, Education Scotland, the Educational Institute of Scotland, School Leaders Scotland, the Scottish Council of Independent Schools, Scottish Qualifications Authority, the Scottish Government, National Parent Forum of Scotland, and the Scottish Youth Parliament, has been considering the impact this will have on the delivery of National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses under the alternative certification model.

The priority for schools and colleges at this time should be to maximise learning and teaching, and consolidate learning, with final assessments of learner attainment to inform the provisional results taking place later in the 2020-21 session.

The Group has clarified that there is no expectation that schools or colleges hold prelims. It is for schools and colleges to decide on the best assessment approaches, and timings, for gathering learner evidence. This approach provides local flexibility to plan assessments against local circumstances in these unique times.

I am aware that some schools and colleges will already have held prelims, and these may contribute towards evidence and teachers’ and lecturers’ determination of the provisional results for National Qualifications courses. However, while results from prelims which have been held or which are planned can contribute to learner evidence, schools and colleges will be drawing on a wider range of evidence in arriving at the provisional results for individual learners this year. These results will be subject to local and national quality assurance. These provisional results are to be submitted to the Scottish Qualifications Authority by the later date of 18 June 2021.

The First Minister announced the Scottish Government's Winter Plan for Social Protection on 30 November 2020, comprising a £100 million package of measures to support people and communities over the winter period.

A breakdown of investment was outlined by the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government on 30 November 2020 in response to Parliamentary question S5W-33627. This breakdown was also provided within the Scottish Government news release made on same the day. These can be found using the links below;

Written question and answer: S5W-33627 | Scottish Parliament Beta Website

Winter support fund for families and children - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

This additional funding has now been made available to local authorities and key third sector partners to deliver the enhanced support outlined within the package. Third Sector and Community organisations can find out more and apply for funding at Community & Third Sector Recovery Programme – SCVO.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34394 on 3 February 2021. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

As part of the Covid Vaccine Programme, National Service Scotland were commissioned to produce a comprehensive Service Delivery Manual which guides the process of identifying suitable sites, this is underpinned by analysis carried out by Scottish Government Geographical Information Systems, National Records of Scotland Demographic Statistics and coordination with NHS and Local Authorities.

NHS Scotland territorial health boards are working closely with GPs to coordinate the appropriate delivery mechanisms to meet the Vaccination targets outlined in the Scottish Government's Covid -19 Vaccines Deployment Plan. Different sized GP practices and vaccination sites will process different numbers of vaccines per day depending on populations they service, their demographic grouping and geographical spread.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-34331 on‎ 29 January 2021 . All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission of COVID-19 occurs, which is a challenge for suppressing the virus as there is a risk of individuals mixing with others, whilst not presenting symptoms. The Scottish Government does not hold information on the transmission rates of COVID-19 by only asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic people. For this reason, the decision-making process around asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission, as well as any other COVID-19 related issue, will continue to be based on the available scientific and medical evidence from:

• the World Health Organisation;

• the UK Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies;

• the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group.

Please note that SAGE and the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group, as well as other UK advisory groups such as the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) and the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), discuss the emerging evidence of transmission of COVID-19 separately. Each of them also publishes separate papers, which may cover the asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission of the virus.

The paper ‘SARS-COV-2: Transmission Routes and Environments, 22 October 2020’ (available from SAGE meetings, October 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) reported that:

“The contribution of asymptomatic infection to transmission will depend on:
‎ • the relative degree of infectiousness (this is approximately 1/3 as infectious compared to those who have or go onto have symptoms [45]),
‎ • the proportion of infections that are asymptomatic (recent estimates suggests 20% (95% CI 17%–25%) of individuals remain asymptomatic throughout the infection [45])
‎ • the relative number of contacts (asymptomatic cases are unlikely to self-isolate so may have more contacts than symptomatic cases). It is plausible therefore that both asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic cases make a significant contribution to transmission. People with mild symptoms (paucisymptomatic), who feel otherwise well, still carry large amounts of virus in the upper respiratory tract, which might particularly contribute to transmission of SARS-CoV-2 [43].”

The Coronavirus (COVID-19): Scotland’s Strategic Framework was published on 23 October 2020, setting out how we will work to suppress the virus to the lowest possible level and keep it there, while we strive to return to a more normal life for as many people as possible and tackle the four harms we know the virus causes. We will keep our approach under review, informed by scientific evidence and continued engagement with business and communities.

Sources:
‎ 43. Cevik M, Tate M, Lloyd O, Maraolo AE, Schafers J, Ho A. SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV viral load dynamics, duration of viral shedding and infectiousness: a living systematic review and meta-analysis. medRxiv 2020: 2020.07.25.20162107.
‎ 45. Buitrago-Garcia D, Egli-Gany D, Counotte MJ, et al. Occurrence and transmission potential of asymptomatic and presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections: A living systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS Medicine 2020; 17(9): e1003346.