Chamber and committees

Every death from COVID-19 is a tragedy and the Scottish Government offers our condolences to every family that has been impacted, not least those of our frontline health and care staff.

We are working to fully understand the impact of COVID-19, taking into account individual risk factors which would make someone more vulnerable to COVID-19 such as age, ethnicity, underlying co-morbidities, where they live and the prevalence of the virus in their local area.

It is for decision-makers to identify relevant material planning considerations on a case-by-case basis, and what weight to attach to each material consideration in determining the application.

We are developing proposals for radical change to our national planning policies and spatial strategy to support a transition to net zero by 2045 and economic recovery. Climate change mitigation and adaptation will be embedded across our strategy, proposals and policies in National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4).

In the meantime, we will update stakeholders by publishing an NPF4 Position Statement this autumn. This will highlight potential policy changes and reflect on what planning can do to help societal and economic recovery as well as addressing the climate emergency.

a) Whilst we do not currently have any plans to impose restrictions on visitors from England, or anywhere else in the UK we will continue to consider any measures that might be necessary to protect against the risk of imported cases. One of our biggest risks over the next few weeks, as we have driven levels of the virus to very low levels in Scotland, is the risk of importation into the country.

b) The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 were introduced to the Scottish Parliament on Monday 8 June. These regulations were introduced as part of a four nation public health approach, which included regular discussions with the UK Government, Northern Ireland Executive and Welsh Government.

Under these rules all residents and visitors (bar a small list of exemptions) will need to provide journey and contact details when travelling to Scotland and have to self-isolate at their accommodation for the first 14 days. The regulations are being reviewed on a three weekly basis and the first review point was 29 June.

The Scottish Government have reviewed these measures closely and have assessed that there remains a requirement for them remain in place to reduce the risk of transmission and safeguard health. Following our assessment, some changes have been made to the exemptions list within the regulations, including the introduction of country specific exemptions. You can find out more about these measures and the exemptions list here .

As at 22nd June 2020, there were 960 children aged under 5 and 2,974 aged between 5 and 15 identified as at a high clinical risk of COVID-19 and advised to shield.

Public Health Scotland published a demographic breakdown of the shielding list as at 1 June 2020 within the COVID-19 Statistical report published on 10th June 2020 https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/covid-19/covid-19-statistical-report/10-june-2020/.

As at 29 June, 4,051 patients had been discharged from hospital who tested positive for COVID-19 since 5 March 2020. This information is published on the Scottish Government website and updated at 2pm daily:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-data-for-scotland/.

We are beginning to understand more about the likely long term mental and physical effects of ‘lockdown’ across Scotland. We are currently progressing a Rehabilitation Framework aligned to Re-mobilise, Recover, Re-design: the framework for NHS Scotland. The Framework will look at 3 distinct groups as part of the development of the overarching principles to be produced in relation to rehabilitation. One of these groups will be those patients who have had coronavirus – potential weight loss, muscle wastage, reduced pulmonary function, fatigue, psychological distress and others which may be yet to emerge. In addition we know there can be long-term effects on people who have been in intensive care units. Research will therefore be vital to better understand and manage the health and social care consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic beyond the acute phase, to help mitigate the impact of subsequent phases of the pandemic and its aftermath.

The Scottish Government is providing funding of £193,818 to a research project led by Dr David Connell from the University of Dundee entitled identifying the burden of post-COVID19 lung disease in the UK.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29039 on 2 July 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29039 on 2 July 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 .

HESA staff and student data shows that there were 15,765 Research Staff at Scottish Providers in 2018/19 but these data do not allow break down to cancer or other medical subjects. The Scottish Government is not currently aware of any impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of university research staff in post, although some medical research staff have been temporarily redeployed to NHS Scotland to support COVID-19 testing services.

Information on Ministerial engagements is routinely published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at the following web addresses:

January 2016-May 2016

https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20170401123936
/http://www.gov.scot/About/People/14944/Events-Engagements/MinisterialEngagements

May 2016-December 2019

https://www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/

For 2020, there has been a delay in the proactive release of Ministerial engagement information due to work prioritisation on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whilst I have not directly met with the Scottish Directors of Public Health Group or the Faculty of Public Health this year, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Senior Medical Officers and other senior Scottish Government officials regularly meet with these groups and a range of topics are discussed. In November last year I met with the Faculty before then giving the address at the annual Faculty of Public Health Scottish conference, as I had also done the previous year.

During the COVID-19 pandemic the level of Scottish Government engagement with the Scottish Directors of Public Health Group has significantly increased with the CMO or DCMO attending fortnightly meetings and senior government officials engaging in daily briefings with them.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29921 on 9 July 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