Chamber and committees

Work to better understand and support care-experienced young people with their housing costs through Discretionary Housing payments was paused as a result of the COVID-19 emergency. However, care experienced young people remain eligible for discretionary housing payments (DHPs) if they are in receipt of qualifying benefits.

We have provided Who Cares? Scotland with £106,754 to maintain the helpline established as a response to COVID 19 and deliver an advertising campaign to promote discretionary housing payments. The helpline provides care experienced young people with advice and helps eligible individuals make an application for a DHP.

Official statistics on applications for, and awards, of Job Start Payment were published on 9 November 2020 and can be accessed on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/job-start-payment-high-level-statistics-to-30-september-2020

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for the Pandemic, published on 23 October, sets out plans to develop the testing element of Test and Protect over the next three months which focusses on building capacity within NHS Scotland and deploying expansions in UK Government testing capacity and capability to its maximum effect in Scotland. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-scotlands-strategic-framework/ .

As set out in our Clinical and Scientific review of the Testing Strategy, the consensus clinical view of the prioritisation of capacity, over and above that required to meet symptomatic demand, clinical care requirements and existing commitments, is that the focus in any extension of routine regular asymptomatic testing should be on protecting those most vulnerable to severe harm. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-review-of-testing-strategy-october-2020/ .

As testing capacity builds over the next three months, and in line with clinical and public health priorities identified though the review of our testing strategy, this will include considering how best to extend routine testing to staff who provide care at home for those most vulnerable to harm.

We recognise that routine testing of people who do not have symptoms has an important role to play in protecting the vulnerable and preventing outbreaks in high risk settings. It must however be seen alongside a strong emphasis on symptomatic social care staff immediately self-isolating and arranging testing, use of appropriate PPE, physical distancing, environmental optimisation and decontamination and good social hygiene.

The Programme for Government was published on 1 September 2020 and within that we commit to using all the tools at our disposal working with business and the third sector in a national mission to help create new jobs, good jobs and green jobs .

This will include jobs created as a result of our £230m Economic Recovery Stimulus Package, £66m of which has been allocated to the green recovery, and our £100m Green Jobs Fund.

To support the Mission we recently published Scotland's Inward Investment Plan: Shaping Scotland's Economy which seeks to deliver 100,000 direct jobs over the next decade. We have launched a consultation on our draft Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland 2021-2022 to 2025-2026 which we anticipate supporting around 45,000 jobs. We are also investing £1.6 billion in transforming our homes and buildings over the next Parliament, expanding and accelerating our heat and energy efficiency programmes as part of a Green Recovery. We estimate this will support at least 3,000 jobs in the first year of the programmes, growing to at least 5,000 in the final year (2025-26).

Over the next five years, Scottish Enterprise, with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and South of Scotland Enterprise, will invest £50 million from the Green Jobs Fund to help businesses which provide sustainable and/or low carbon products and services to develop, grow and create jobs. More widely, the work of the enterprise networks continues to support new jobs.

For example, Scottish Enterprise is working with North East Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (NECCUS) to develop a strong CCUS cluster resulting in new jobs for the oil and gas supply chain. It is developing a strong pipeline of FDI projects aligned to creating ‘green’ jobs in areas such as decarbonisation of transport and energy transition. It is also developing proposals to create a potentially significant number of jobs in production, and potentially export, of blue and green hydrogen.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise is supporting job creation in the key sectors, including tourism and hospitality, energy and creative industries upon which the regional economy depends. It is also pursuing new opportunities in the growing space sector, life sciences, energy and the marine economy where the Highlands and Islands has natural, place-based advantages. It is continuing to invest in enabling infrastructure that creates jobs, including digital, land and property.

South of Scotland Enterprise is working with energy provider, People’s Energy, to create an initial 100 new jobs over the next few months in Selkirk, with plans for further recruitment. It is continuing to support business recovery alongside support for business start-up and growth and attracting investment in the South of Scotland.

The First Minister announced on 29 October that the levels across Scotland from 2 November would be based initially on a local authority unit of geography. There is however discretion to apply levels in future to whichever geography is most likely to be effective in suppressing the virus.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-32775 on 9 November 2020. 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 .

We would encourage the landlord Highlands & Islands Enterprise to discuss this proactively with BiFab Board of Directors and management, who are the current leaseholders of the yard.

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for the Pandemic, published on 23 October, sets out plans to develop the testing element of Test and Protect over the next three months which focusses on building capacity within NHS Scotland and deploying expansions in UK Government testing capacity and capability to its maximum effect in Scotland. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-scotlands-strategic-framework/ .

As set out in our Clinical and Scientific review of the Testing Strategy, the consensus clinical view of the prioritisation of capacity, over and above that required to meet symptomatic demand, clinical care requirements and existing commitments, is that the focus in any extension of routine regular asymptomatic testing should be on protecting those most vulnerable to severe harm. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-review-of-testing-strategy-october-2020/ .

As testing capacity builds over the next three months, and in line with clinical and public health priorities identified though the review of our testing strategy, this will include considering how best to introduce testing for visitors to those who live in care homes where this can add an additional layer of risk mitigation to enable safe visiting to continue. Further details on the Framework can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-scotlands-strategic-framework/ .

We recognise that routine testing of people who do not have symptoms has an important role to play in protecting the vulnerable and preventing outbreaks in high risk settings. It must however be seen alongside a strong emphasis on symptomatic individuals immediately self-isolating and arranging testing, use of appropriate PPE, physical distancing, environmental optimisation and decontamination and good social hygiene.

Decisions on levels are made by Scottish Ministers taking account of all the relevant facts and circumstances available. This includes the use of five indicators used to inform decisions on what COVID-19 level applies to each local authority, details on which are available on the Scottish Government’s website in our modelling paper (published 28 October)  https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/advice-and-guidance/2020/10/coronavirus-covid-19-allocation-of-levels-to-local-authorities/documents/modelling-paper/modelling-paper/govscot%3Adocument/Modelling%2B-%2BPaper%2B-%2BLocal%2Bauthority%2Blevels%2B28%2Boct.pdf and specific slide pack file://scotland.gov.uk/dc1/fs5_home/u201241/Covid+indicators+-+Slidepack+29+Oct+1051%20(3).pdf

The indicators used are the number of cases per 100,000 people, including for particular age groups, using both the latest actual data and a two week forecast; the test positivity rate; and the number of people likely to need acute hospital care or intensive care in future weeks. Each indicator has a signal – a number from 0 to 4 that matches with the corresponding levels. Details on the thresholds that act as a signalling mechanism are provided within these papers, but it should be noted that these remain a work in progress, nor are decisions on levels automatically triggered by them.

Wider considerations will also apply, through the Four Harms assessment, in recognition that action taken to suppress the virus can itself cause harm to wider health the social and economic wellbeing of Scotland. This includes the prevalence of infection elsewhere, including neighbouring areas; demographics; economic profile of an area, including levels of deprivation; trends in the data; and the effectiveness of public health measures.

Further consideration is being given, by the National Incident Management Team and others, to public health advice on the application of levels and to the development of potential additional indicators for future use.

The Scottish Government fully appreciates the impact the pandemic has had on the hospitality sector and we continue to support business survival as much as we can. We have been continually seeking to find a balance between action to suppress the virus and the protection of people’s jobs and livelihoods.

We have already acted quickly to offer support to businesses and this now exceeds £2.3 billion.

We recognise that difficulties are ongoing, especially in light of the new restrictions which have recently been introduced as we move to a 5 tier system to take a regional, tailored approach to viral containment. We have therefore undertaken to create a support package for hospitality businesses who will be affected as part of these restrictions.

The COVID-19 Restrictions Fund will provide one-off grants of up to £4,310 to businesses required to close by regulations. For businesses that may remain open but are directly impacted by the restrictions, they will receive a hardship grant of up to £2,155. Additionally, grants of £1,650 will be provided to firms that are required to close to help meet the 20% employer’s contribution that they required to pay under the current UK Government furlough scheme.

Our new five-level Strategic Approach to managing Covid sets out our planned levels of support for business in the event of any future restrictions. This is emergency support to aid business survival during this time.

As we have done throughout this unprecedented crisis, we have listened closely to businesses and, as wet pubs, which are unable to offer a main meal service, would be unviable with drinks sales alone, we decided, in consultation with the industry, to close them by law, to enable them to access the most appropriate level of support.

We are also committed to the long term recovery of the sector and any strategic decisions will be made in the context of the recommendations of the Scottish Tourism Recovery Taskforce which was submitted to the Scottish Government for consideration on 23 October.