Chamber and committees

All childcare settings including regulated school age childcare have been able to open from 15 July, subject to public health guidance. We would expect that providers who follow a school term-time model may choose not to open until 11 August, when schools resume.

The National Partnership for Culture, chaired by Joanna Baker CBE, had its inaugural meeting on 24 June 2020. It had its second meeting on 23 July, at which it confirmed its terms of reference, which have now been published on the Scottish Government website.

The Chair contributed to the preparation of the Advisory Group for Economic Recovery report and recommendations on culture in June 2020.

The Partnership has contributed thinking on priorities for use of the £97m of consequentials from the UK Government for the recovery and renewal of the culture sector, and has convened a working group to further consider specific responses to the challenges facing the sector as a result of the pandemic. The Partnership will update the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture on this work in August and expects to publish its first annual report on its work in January 2021.

The Scottish Government will set out its timetable for commencing all sections of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020, including Section 10F, in due course.

Health Protection Scotland provide weekly data to ECDC on the number confirmed cases and COVID-19 confirmed deaths.

The Scottish Government continues to support Scotland’s businesses by passing on every penny we receive from the UK Government for this purpose, and more, directly to businesses. Our approach to supporting businesses is tailored to Scotland’s economic needs and we have developed a package of measures that reflects that Scotland’s economy and consequentially we are providing support which is unavailable elsewhere in the UK.

On the 30 April, the Scottish Government announced the Creative, Tourism & Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund. This scheme is being managed by the Enterprise Agencies with support from Creative Scotland and VisitScotland and the criteria for the scheme are published on the findbusinesssupport.gov.scot website.

The Scottish Government will be publishing information on this scheme in the coming weeks which will provide the number of applications and a breakdown of successful applications by sector.

The Creative Scotland Bridging Bursaries for the Arts and Creative Sector were designed for individuals rather than organisations. The Bursaries ran from 30 March to 2 April and from 20 to 25 April. They were aimed at supporting freelance artists and freelance creative practitioners working in the not-for-profit sector in Scotland who were experiencing immediate financial difficulty due to the loss of income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This fund offered a one-off bursary to provide a financial bridge for those people in Scotland most deeply impacted and disadvantaged by the cancellation of work as a result of the emergency situation.

Of all Bridging Bursary applications from individuals, 548 applicants came from the music industry and 458 of those were approved. They received £871,427 in awards from a total of £2.9m across all art forms. This represents 29% of all Bridging Bursary awards. Music was the largest category of awards by art form.

Further information is available at the following link: https://www.creativescotland.com/funding/archive/bridging-bursary .

The Scottish Government last met representatives of the music sector to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on 22 July.

During the COVID-19 pandemic the Scottish Government has been in continued contact with the music sector and will continue to do so as we work towards recovery.

We are determined to do all we can to help the culture sector recover so that it continues to make a vibrant and rich contribution to Scotland, recognising that it is likely to be amongst the last to return to sustainable operations.

In addition to the measures we put in place as an immediate response to support the sector, I announced on 3 July a £10 million fund to support Scotland’s performing arts venues to be administered by Creative Scotland. On 5 July, the UK Government announced a £1.57 billion support package, with £97 million for Scotland which the First Minister has confirmed will be used for the arts, culture and heritage. On 10 July the Scottish Government also announced a £2.2 million fund for grassroots music venues. Following ongoing discussions with the Music Venues Trust, full details of the support package will be released.

We continue discussions with our National Performing Companies – including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Opera and Scottish Chamber Orchestra – and we are honouring our funding commitments to them, regardless of activity being cancelled or rescheduled.

The Scottish Government also remains committed to supporting youth music, such as through our Youth Music Initiative (YMI) and our support for Sistema Scotland.

We are working with the performing arts sector and relevant trade unions to develop guidance for safe working, which will be published shortly.

The Scottish Government has established the Victims Taskforce to improve support, advice and information for victims of crime and their families as they interact with the Scottish criminal justice system. The Victims Taskforce includes a work stream which is chaired by Rape Crisis Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid to consider issues specific to victims of gender based violence.

To develop our understanding on privacy for sexual offences complainers, the Victims Taskforce work plan includes holding a round table discussion on the safeguarding of privacy rights for sexual offence victims and perceived barriers to them coming forward to report crimes against them. We are working with Rape Crisis Scotland to hold this at the end of the summer.

In addition to the work being progressed through the taskforce, we welcome the Lord Justice Clerk's review to further improve how sexual offences cases are conducted through the courts. This will build on the actions already being taken to improve the support available for victims and witnesses in our justice system and we will consider any recommendations arising from the review relevant to the Scottish Government alongside the work of our Victims Taskforce.

Despite a reduction in dental services during the COVID-19 outbreak ensuring that people have access to cancer services remains a priority. Dental practices have continued to triage patients during this period and, following the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) guidelines, continue to refer patients with symptoms of oral cancer for urgent assessment.

Dental practices also reopened to see patients with an urgent dental care need from 22 June as we move forward with the NHS Remobilisation Plan. The period in which dental practices were closed with telephone triage was approximately three months. We have also announced that from 13 July dental practices may see patients for routine care. This is an indicative date and is dependent on Scotland moving to phase 3 of the Scottish Government’s Route Map. On average a person attends the dentist once per year. So the effect on oral health across the Scottish population we anticipate can be managed through the NHS Remobilisation Plan.

More information on the SDCEP guidance can be found at:

https://www.sdcep.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/EDCPracticeGuide2pp.pdf

The remobilisation of NHS dental practices is an extremely complex process in which the health and safety of all dental patients and staff is the main consideration. From 22 June, all dental practices will be able to open and treat patients in need of urgent dental care. This will mean up to an additional 10,000 appointment slots available per day across Scotland. We have also announced that from 13 July dental practices may see patients for routine care. This is an indicative date and is dependent on Scotland moving to phase 3 of the Scottish Government’s Route Map.

Most routine and emergency dental care relies on the use of dental equipment that generates a fine spray of air and water, or aerosol. These aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) carry an additional risk of COVID-19 transmission. The Chief Dental Officer has a continued focus the development of measures to allow the safe reintroduction AGPs, and work has been commissioned from the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) to expedite this. Where the treatment of the patient requires an AGP it will still be provided in one of the urgent dental care centres in Scotland.

The arrangements set out above are designed to maximise activity and foreshorten the backlog within routine dentistry. Later phasing will gradually introduce a greater level of routine care, including a limited reintroduction of AGPs for high street dental practices under strict infection control measures. Any move forward in the delivery of dental services will be based on ensuring that we balance the oral health needs of patients against the wider situation with COVID-19, and the essential requirement that we reduce the risk of community transmission and protect both patients and dental teams.