Chamber and committees

Exercise Iris was delivered in March 2018 to test the response to an outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), which is a High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID), in one or more NHS Board areas in Scotland. It was not designed to test a pandemic response. Within this context, the exercise report recommended that Boards ensure the resource impact of extensive contact tracing has been considered. Prior to the establishment of Test and Protect in 2020-21, NHS Boards made decisions locally on arrangements for contact tracing and the allocation of any necessary resource. Consequently, the Scottish Government does not hold a central record of these assessments.

A High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) sub group of the Scottish Health Protection Network was set up in September 2018 to specifically look at preparedness for managing HCIDs. As part of the Group’s work to date, the Respiratory Protective Equipment Survey, which has been carried out since 2015, was expanded to capture data on training in the use of HCID enhanced PPE in Scotland; including the number and type of staff trained, and the methods and frequency of training. The work of the sub group has paused due to current circumstances surrounding Covid-19 but will be resumed when practicable, to ensure readiness to deal with the impact of HCIDs.

A unified PPE Ensemble for managing cases of HCIDs has been agreed and training resources for donning and doffing have been established, alongside posters on the recommended use of PPE. A letter issued to Health Boards in July 2019, which included a reminder of their obligations to ensure that sufficient numbers of staff are FFP3 fit tested and trained in the use of enhanced PPE.

Additionally, Health Protection Scotland have published infection prevention and control guidance for an outbreak of MERS-CoV and Avian Flu, including the appropriate levels of PPE.

As part of The Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014, Integrated Joint Boards (IJBs) were created to assume responsibility for the strategic planning and commissioning of health and social care services. All IJBs were fully operational by April 2016 and, since that time, have worked closely with NHS Boards and other key delivery organisations to plan, prepare, test and respond to a range of health and social care related incidents. This includes IJBs being part of the overall command, control and coordination structure(s) for significant incidents which may arise in that health board area.

Earlier this year I committed to Parliament to reviewing IJBs’ statutory requirements with a view to adding them as Category 1 responders under Schedule 2 of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. The Scottish Government undertook a consultation on this proposal which ended on 22 November, and I have now confirmed IJBs will be added as Category 1 responders under Schedule 2 of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

This information is not collated centrally. Each outbreak requires to be managed on an individual basis because of the particular needs of each home and the answer to S5W-34142 on 14 January 2021 sets out what support and guidance is available to care homes.

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
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Guidance from Health Protection Scotland supports those working in Social, Community and Residential Care settings. It sets out measures to prevent spread of COVID-19 and how to provide care for individuals as safely as possible, including staff cohorting. The guidance is available at : www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/web-resources-container/covid-19-information-and-guidance-for-social-community-and-residential-care-settings/

Most recently, our letter to providers about the move to level 4 restrictions on 22 December, recommends that larger homes subdivide into smaller units (ideally as small as is possible to support independent off duties) and that staff should bubble, even when off duty.

Local Health Protection and Care Home Clinical and Care Professional Oversight teams, led by the local Director of Public Health, and the Care Inspectorate, are some of the key partners who provide support to care homes, particularly when there is an outbreak. Risk assessments are also carried out by care homes to take account to their home’s individual requirements and needs.

The High Consequence Infectious Disease sub group of the Scottish Health Protection Network, which was set up in September 2018 to specifically look at preparedness for managing HCIDs, has identified work to develop clinical pathways for the safe management of HCIDs in Scotland as a priority. This work will include consideration of community sampling for HCIDs. The work of the group has been paused due to current circumstances surrounding Covid-19 but will be resumed when practicable, to ensure readiness to deal with the impact of HCIDs.

A study by the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory is underway to investigate death rates from COVID-19 for the population with learning disabilities in Scotland compared with a 5% sample of the general population. This study will provide robust evidence on the rate of deaths from COVID-19 in the learning disabilities population compared with the general population.

Data from Scotland’s Census 2011 was linked to death registrations and other health data by Public Health Scotland and recently made available to researchers in the Observatory via the National Safe Haven.

The first stage of analysis has been completed and submitted to eDRIS for statistical disclosure. Data will be compiled into a final report which will be available to Scottish Government as a preprint before the end of January 2021, subject to release of data from the NHS Safe Haven.

Members of the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council (SOWEC) received an embargoed copy of the Scottish Government’s Offshore Wind Policy Statement on 27 October 2020, the day prior to publication. The Offshore Wind Policy Statement and Marine Scotland’s new Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind were both discussed with members of SOWEC at its most recent meeting on 3 December 2020.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-33545 on 07 December 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 .

The Scottish Government published its final Offshore Wind Policy Statement on 28 October 2020. Trade Unions responded to the public consultation on the draft document, which ran from December 2019 to March 2020, and their views were therefore considered in the drafting of the final document. No meetings were requesting by trade unions to further discuss the Offshore Wind Policy Statement prior to its publication.