Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government considered the recommendations and data from the Grampian IMT, local clinical advice, and our own Scottish Government clinical advice. It was clear from this that the area of greatest concern was Aberdeen City, and as such the most proportionate action was to focus measures in that area. There was concern regarding any spread to Aberdeenshire and this was carefully monitored by the Grampian IMT, who did not advise that any additional measures were required and our own clinical advice supported this.

The Scottish Government has discussed this with Grampian Health Board who advised that given the total small number of COVID-19 inpatients in Grampian, this should be considered as personal identifiable information and therefore cannot be released.

The Scottish Government has discussed this with Grampian Health Board who advised that, as per current national guidance, it is expected that the IMT will determine the most appropriate format for incident reporting, after the incident is declared over and the incident investigation and management completed. IMT reports are sent for approval and endorsement to the relevant NHS Board meeting or a NHS Board Committee e.g. Clinical Governance Committee. The NHS Board will then decide who to share the report with.

Our decision was based on the advice of the Grampian Incident Management Team (IMT), local clinical advice as well as our own Scottish Government clinical advice. We took into account all the evidence and data available as well as detailed discussions with local government colleagues.

We worked with the city’s Business Resilience Group and local partners to understand the impacts of local restrictions and how we might support affected businesses.

That is why we confirmed last month that a new £1m grant support scheme – delivered by Aberdeen City Council – is available for businesses impacted by restrictions. This will provide grants of between £1,000 and £1,500 to those businesses most affected. Given the wider implications of restrictions on sectors not required to close by the regulations - such as certain shops or businesses in the supply chain – the fund will include £100k of discretionary support for those businesses too.

The number of people who registered for supermarket priority delivery slots and the number of people who were matched to at least one supermarket for each time period is shown in the following table. These figures are cumulative.

The Scottish Government remains committed to providing the public with as much clarity as it can about the phased reintroduction of activities as part of the COVID 19 recovery plan. Significant work has been undertaken to better understand the nature and behaviour of dental aerosols once produced and how their risk of spreading respiratory viruses might be mitigated. The Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) is working with a high degree of urgency to analyse evidence from a wide range of international sources and in doing so provide recommendations that will enable the four UK chief dental officers to offer advice to Ministers on the next phases of remobilisation for dentistry. This will include advice on safely reintroducing a wider range of aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) for patients.

To date, it has been possible to return a wide range of non-aerosol procedures, including oral cancer checks. From 17 August a limited range of AGPs have been permitted where they are necessary for the provision of urgent dental care. In this way we are phasing our approach to increasing dental services focussing on those patients with urgent dental problems.

Whilst it is not yet possible to give indicative dates for the next phase of relaxation we assure the public that this will be implemented as soon as the scientific evidence is available to support any change.

Since the H1N1 pandemic in 2009-10, the Scottish Government has led or participated in the following disease related exercises:

African Swine Fever (ASF) (2020) - This exercise tested UK responsiveness to a disease outbreak within the current COVID-19 constraints. Lessons identified will be applied to the forthcoming UK tabletop exercise (Exercise Holly) which is also focused on ASF and is due to be delivered in November 2020. A detailed lessons identified report will be published post exercise.

Avian influenza (Exercise Hazel in 2019 and Exercise Juniper in 2018) - Lessons identified and real time outbreaks are followed up through the UK’s Outbreak Readiness Board. Lessons learned reports from these exercises are not published due to commercial sensitivities. The Notifiable Avian Diseases Control Strategy sets out disease control measures that the Scottish Government would take if avian influenza was suspected or confirmed within the UK. This document is regularly updated and is published on the Scottish Government website - https://www.gov.scot/publications/avian-influenza-bird-flu/

Exercise Iris (2018) - Assessed Scotland’s readiness to respond to a suspected outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV). The report was published on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/exercise-iris-report/

Exercise Blackthorn (2018) - Tested the 4 Nations contingency plan for an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The report is published on the Scottish Government website - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foot-and-mouth-disease-exercise-blackthorn-evaluation-2018 

Exercise Cygnus (2016) – The Scottish Government supported this Public Health England (PHE) exercise which was focused on assessing the effectiveness of overall UK command and control response structures. PHE have not published this report.

There are no specific restrictions in place preventing the removal of contraceptive implants, however sexual health services were necessarily limited to urgent and essential care only due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the removal of contraceptive implants requires a face to face consultation, this has not been routinely offered. As we move through the phases out of lockdown, however, services are in the process of resuming. Anyone wishing to access these services is advised to contact their local GP practice or sexual health service.

In order to support the recovery and renewal of sexual health services, the Scottish Government, following discussions with the Scottish Health Protection Network, has committed to developing an Interim Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses Framework. This Interim Framework will take stock of the impacts of COVID-19 on sexual health, and will seek to address the additional challenges faced by services and realise opportunities to transform sexual health services into the future.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the value of nightclubs to Scotland’s night time economy, and acknowledges that their exclusion from the phase three route map update announcement will have been disappointing for the sector. However given the increased risk both of importing the virus and of transmission following our easing of restrictions during July, our focus is on ensuring continued suppression of the virus.

Ministers appreciate the continuing difficulties that this will mean for nightclub owners and operators and we continue to explore what support we can give to businesses to both survive and to aid recovery. We have provided a package to support in excess of £2.3bn to businesses to support them through this pandemic and have been clear that we do not want any business to stay closed longer than is necessary and that we will move to reopen Scotland’s nightclubs as soon as it is safe to do so.

The Scottish Government will continue to press the UK Government for additional funding, such as the continuation of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which will be crucial for the sector’s long term recovery.