Chamber and committees

People who are at increased risk of severe illness, which includes people over 70, have been advised to strictly follow physical distancing measures. Where individuals are over 70 and have a health condition that puts them at the highest risk of severe illness, our advice remains that they should be shielding.

The Chief Medical Officer has written to those who are being advised to shield with guidance on what to do to keep themselves safe.

The Scottish Government has also undertaken a number of important health campaigns targeting the whole population on specific instructions to protect themselves including Handwashing, Household Isolation and Physical Distancing.

Three specific TV campaigns have to date focused on an older audience – the most recent has provided clarity of advice around going out – as some people may have been self-isolating when they do not need to. Previous campaign messages advised older people how to stay mentally and physically well under the stay at home restrictions and this campaign signposted Age Scotland for advice and support. The current helpline campaign also targets messaging to this group. This approach has also been complemented with the national door drop leaflet which included signposting for information and support including to the national helpline and Age Scotland. We have also encouraged people to look out for older people or other neighbours who may be more at risk, though our community and volunteering campaign.

Our current NHS is Open campaign also encourages those requiring urgent medical attention, or with concerns that are not related to Coronavirus, to continue to seek help via their GP or hospital.

Going forward, Scottish Government marketing activity will continue to raise awareness of the risks and to motivate and support people to comply with guidance, seeking advice from key stakeholders such as Age Scotland to ensure the clarity of our messaging.

The lockdown restrictions in Scotland remain in place to ensure we are protecting people from Covid-19. As restrictions potentially ease and/or change in the future, we acknowledge that advice may not be the same across all groups. We will continue to communicate with older people and those more at risk groups specifically to ensure that our messaging remains clear and unambiguous, to help people follow the correct measures.

We have been absolutely clear that all business workplaces should adopt a precautionary approach by closing to protect the lives of their workers and their families.

Specific guidance for the construction sector, published on 6 April and refreshed on 1 May, clearly states that all non-essential construction work should cease temporarily.

We are very aware that the longer lockdown continues the greater the impact on industry and over the past few weeks we have been continuing to work hard to address the concerns of the sector. I am continuing to chair a series of meetings of the Construction Leadership Forum and a weekly Restart Group. Through the Restart Group we are working closely with industry to develop plans to get back to work safely when the medical evidence suggests it is appropriate to do so, and to ensure we are well-prepared for the eventual re-opening of sites under safe operating procedures.

We are grateful for the continuing support of businesses in the construction sector.

Scottish Government guidance for the construction sector is clear and construction work, unless for or in support of essential projects, should not be continuing.

It is for businesses to determine for themselves if they are supplying a business which is undertaking essential work within the terms of this guidance. However, even where a business judges itself to be able to continue works, it is imperative that they apply social distancing requirements and keep open only those premises, or parts of premises, that are truly critical or essential to the national and international COVID-19 effort.

The Scottish Government understands the importance of protecting our funeral sector from the risk of infectious transmission of COVID-19 via contact with the deceased. We have been working very closely with stakeholders from across the funeral industry to ensure they have access to the most up to date information relevant to them, including guidance from Health Protection Scotland, and information from The Royal College of Pathologists which outlines the PPE required for care of the deceased during the COVID-19 pandemic based upon the official advice.

In addition to this, we will shortly be publishing guidance for funeral directors and burial and cremation authorities, which includes the use of appropriate PPE, to further help these organisations manage their services during the current pandemic.

Scottish Government officials are in daily contact with all Health Boards on the planning and actions required to respond to the COVID-19 emergency.

As part of their mobilisation and business continuity plans, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are working to maximise capacity and deliver contingencies across all their acute hospital sites, including Inverclyde Royal Hospital. Two senior members of the region's management team have been assigned to oversee the site for the duration of the emergency and both are now based in the hospital full time. They are responsible for overseeing all activity carried out on the site, and to identify and implement appropriate contingencies, where required. They are also tasked with quickly highlighting and escalating any significant issues or risks as these arise; to ensure that, wherever possible, they are addressed at the earliest opportunity.

The Scottish Government has had direct engagement with CruiseScotland to discuss the implications of COVID-19 on what is a key part of Scotland's tourism economy. While the main cruise season for Scotland does not pick up until May, we are aware that a number of cruise lines have already chosen to postpone operations in light of the outbreak, and that this will have an impact on ports, visitor attractions and businesses that are reliant on this traffic. We will continue to engage with CruiseScotland, as well as the wider tourism industry, as we work closely with VisitScotland and other public agencies, in both assessing the impacts that this has on the sector and introducing measures to mitigate these, where possible.

In the event of a COVID-19 case being associated with a vessel intending to dock or having docked in a port, well-established protocols exist to allow the relevant NHS and local authority, who are responsible for port health incidents, to effectively prevent any spread and manage the process. The ports sector has been working closely with the various relevant authorities to prepare for and guard against the spread of COVID-19.

In addition, Health Protection Scotland has recently issued a Notice to Mariners asking for enhanced information to be given to ports in Scotland to ensure that Masters are regularly assessing the health states of their vessels while in the UK waters and reporting any suspect cases at the next port of call.

SG has a Scottish Affairs Office in Washington DC promoting Scotland’s interests in the United States, working alongside SDI’s network of offices in Boston, Chicago, Houston, and San Jose. To provide leadership in support of our aim of building upon our trade and investment performance in the USA I undertook a successful visit to Boston, Washington DC, San Jose/ San Francisco between
‎ 21-25 October 2019.

The USA has one of the most competitive and technologically advanced economies in the world. It features within the Export Growth Plan as Scotland’s largest international export destination. Scottish exports of goods and services (excluding oil and gas) to USA were estimated to be worth £5.5 billion (17.1% of all international exports) in 2017, an increase of £555 million (11.1%) from £4,990 million in 2016. [Export Statistics Scotland, 2017]

The largest export sector was Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing which accounted to £1,255m (23%) of all exports to the USA in 2017. Food and Drink (£1,180m); Financial and Business Services (£920m); Technology, Digital and Media (£760m); Energy (£420m) are also important exports.

The US is also the largest source of FDI into Scotland. There are 655 American enterprises in Scotland at 2,575 local business sites, employing 114,220 [March 2019 – latest figures available].

Key Message :

• Scotland is an outward-facing European nation, has a strong relationship with the USA, and is committed to continuing to develop our economic, political and cultural connections.

Visit purpose : to strengthen T&I links through a range of business engagements:

• Meetings with key trade officials and representative organisations.
• Engagements with potential and existing investors as well as GlobalScots.
• Meetings with key stakeholders to explore how Scottish exporters can enter the US market.
• Engagements aimed at raising Scotland’s profile (linking Scotland is Now themes).
• A clear sector focus across the programme on Energy/Renewables, Life Sciences, Innovation and Tech; aligning with current Investment and Export Growth Plan opportunities.

Key outcomes:

• Explored collaboration between Scotland and Massachusetts in low carbon heating and hydrogen transportation – areas in which Scotland can share expertise.
• Lead Scottish company delegation in market for an offshore wind energy-focused Trade Mission and, with prospect US supply chain companies and project developers around partnering opportunities.
• Reiterated importance of direct transatlantic routes to Scotland, the new Boston-Edinburgh service in particular via meeting with Delta Airlines.
• Explored Scotland’s and Tesla’s mutual interests in, and mission to accelerate transition towards, sustainable energy.
• Promoted Scotland’s industry-recognised innovation networks to target business audience; including our world leading university research, the Data Lab, the Space Leadership Council and TalentScotland.
• Knowledge share and best practise exchange with exemplar USA start-up and incubator models ranging from data through to biotech and food. Strong policy insight for our own approach to start-ups in Scotland.
• Explored opportunities for Scotland in Data Analytics, AI and Machine Learning, with key influencers.
• Washington DC: meetings with the Distilled Spirits Council, the Ways and Means Committee, the United States Trade Representative and the US Chamber of Commerce. Trade officials in DC valued engagement from Scotland around US-UK trading arrangements and are open to further dialogue. Presented an opportunity to share knowledge of Scotland’s devolved powers and the relationship to those reserved to the UKG, (this framing enabled target audience to identify similarities to the US federal system).

As you will be aware, following a meeting of the Board on 25 February, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has taken the decision to temporarily suspend some of the Out of Hours centres in order to consolidate the service, taking actions outlined below. Following this the temporary suspension will be lifted in a phased way. This decision was taken following the appointment of a Turnaround Director as part of the level 4 escalation process.

As part of the turnaround process Glasgow’s out of hours review team are taking forward a suite of actions to develop a safe, reliable and sustainable Out of Hours service that meet the needs of the population of Glasgow. The work underway is building on actions that were in train, for example, since summer 2019 NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has recruited 10 salaried GPs and 16 Advanced Nurse Practitioners to work in the service and that activity will continue. In addition they are looking at improving pay rates for GPs in the service. They are also regularly engaging with the staff in the service and working to address some of the concerns they have been raising.

Glasgow’s out of hours review team are also working closely with NHS 24 to test and implement an appointment system for the service to bring residents of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde into line with the rest of the Scottish population. This will aid the management of workload for GPs and the multidisciplinary team in the out of hours service and minimise unnecessary waits for patients and reduce pressures on the workforce.

Sir Lewis Ritchie and officials continue to engage with Glasgow's out of hours review team as they focus on turning around the service.