Chamber and committees

The implementation of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 has been affected by the Covid 19 Pandemic. This has impacted particularly on the development of guidance and regulations and the related consultation processes. RTP section 122 came into force in March 2020. Officials will recommence work on other aspects of the Act as soon as it is appropriate and practicable, and Parliament will be kept updated accordingly.

The £10 million allocated to the Bus Priority Rapid Development Fund was repurposed from the 2020-21 budget for longer-term bus priority infrastructure projects, which were paused, due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Employment legislation, including statutory sick pay (SSP), is a reserved matter and we have made no formal assessment of the reported situation at Trump Turnberry.

The Scottish Government encourages all employers to apply Fair Work practices and a flexible approach to dealing with the impacts of COVID-19. Employers should look to pay their workers throughout this crisis to protect them from financial hardship, making use of Government support available.

The Cabinet Secretary for Economy wrote to the Chancellor on 26 May raising a number of concerns relating to the Job Retention Scheme and reiterating Scottish Ministers’ ask that the UK Government make Statutory Sick Pay more responsive; including extending SSP to all workers irrespective of earnings levels during the current situation, and to increase the rate to at least the living wage.

We recognise this is an extremely difficult time for businesses but ultimately, it is for employers to maintain jobs and pay their workers throughout this crisis. We have provided over £2.34 billion in business support to help businesses through this. We would expect the Trump Turnberry resort to have applied for all relevant sources of help and support, as other businesses have done.

We recognise that despite this package of support, businesses continue to find the situation extremely challenging and, while we encourage businesses to retain their staff as much as possible, businesses are no doubt having to make difficult decisions to ensure their viability.

We are committed to supporting the tourism and hospitality sector bounce back from this crisis.

At this stage we have little local data. The tourism and hospitality sector has been shaken across Scotland and it is unfortunate to hear the Turnberry resort is considering these proposals.

We recognise however that this is a business decision and at this time, many businesses are having to make difficult decisions like this. We also recognise that it does not make it any easier for the employees affected however.

Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) is the Scottish Government’s initiative dedicated to helping individuals and employers with the advice and support they need when faced with redundancy. PACE advice and support will be available to all affected employees should this decision be implemented.

Further to the answer to S5W-29020 on 21 May 2020 and S5W-29558 on 9 June 2020 the updated report will be finalised when a full assessment of the impact of lockdown has been made. If the transition out of lockdown continues as planned it is anticipated the report will be provided by the end of July.

As an open and transparent government we will keep Parliament updated and proactively release the report thereafter.

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 has produced a suite of guidance documents which are reviewed in line with the regular three-weekly review of the lockdown requirements and will be read alongside the legal restrictions and prohibitions contained in the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020. The guidance will be updated in line with the reviews, to take account of changing circumstances and to be as helpful as possible. Consideration is currently being given to what specific advice could best assist people who are providing guide support.

The suite of Scottish Government Covid-19 guidance can be found here - https://www.gov.scot/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance/#health,careandsocialwork

Police Scotland are publishing weekly updates on the use of coronavirus legislation, including Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued and other intervention activity. Between Friday 27 March and Wednesday 3 June, a total of 3,213 FPNs were issued and 238 arrests were made. Individuals may have been issued with multiple FPNs or arrested more than once during this period.” Police Scotland have stated that these powers will be used as a last resort and only where people are defying very clear and sensible advice, which is designed to protect them from harm [1] . This information is drawn from Police Scotland’s ‘Coronavirus Interventions’ application, which relies on manual input from police officers. Due to this manual input, these figures are indicative only, and should not be considered Official Police Statistics.

More information on enforcement activity by Police Scotland in relation to the coronavirus legislation can be found at the following link:

https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/covid-19-policescotlandresponse/enforcement-and-response-data

In due course and as standard practice, the Official Statistics produced by the Scottish Government on Recorded Crime [2] and Criminal Proceedings [3] will ultimately provide users with information on both the number of crimes recorded in relation to the new powers, and the number of FPNs issued. Further updates on developments with our Official Statistics can be received by signing up to the SCOTSTAT network [4] .

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of businesses that have been prosecuted under coronavirus legislation, you may wish to contact Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal service for further information.

[1] https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/covid-19-policescotlandresponse/new-police-powers?version=1

[2] https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2018-19/

[3] https://www.gov.scot/publications/criminal-proceedings-scotland-2018-19/

[4] https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/scotstat

Scottish Government has used the term at risk rather than vulnerable to reflect that a lot of people who do not consider themselves vulnerable may, due to a range of circumstances, which may or may not be medical, find themselves at greater risk from Covid-19 than the wider population.

This could mean they are at greater risk of contracting the disease or at risk because they are unable to afford and/or access food, essential supplies or services essential to their wellbeing, and do not have support networks in place to help them meet this need.

At risk groups are broadly aligned under two categories – Shielded and Non-Shielded at Risk. Definitions of these groups are outlined below.

Shielded

The Shielded Group are those who we are clinically at highest risk from COVID-19 and are being asked to stringently self-isolate until the end of July. There are currently in the region of 160,000 people in this group. These people include:

• Solid organ transplant recipients
• People with specific cancers:

-people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer

-people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment

- people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer

- people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors

- people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs

• People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.
• People with rare diseases, including all forms of Interstitial Lung Disease/Sarcoidosis, and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).
• People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.
• Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.

The Non-Shielded at Risk (NSAR)

The Non-Shielded at Risk are, a group of people at an increased risk in terms of the impact of Covid 19 than the general population, who may be unable to afford and/or access food and/or essential supplies and/or access services essential to their wellbeing and do not have support networks in place which can meet this need.

This will include those:

• Likely to experience short term impacts, such as those who are:

- Symptomatic and self-isolating

- Asymptomatic and self-isolating due to a household member being ill.

• Undertaking enhanced distancing such as older people, people with underlying health conditions which means they receive an annual flu-jab (aside from those shielding) and pregnant women
• Disabled people, including blind people, and those who used to rely on online shopping for food and other essentials but can no longer obtain delivery slots, or who relied on formal or informal social care to provide food regularly.
• Experiencing a sudden and extreme loss in earnings or income which means they can no longer afford food and essentials.

Struggling to afford food and essentials before COVID and for whom the situation will not have improved. There are around 2.88 million people considered to be at an increased risk as a result of Coronavirus in Scotland. This is likely to include many blind and partially-sighted people.

I refer back to my answer of 2 June: at all times it has been permitted for people to go out to help anyone at risk who needs support, this includes providing guide support.

Scottish Government has used at risk , rather than vulnerable to reflect that a lot of people do not consider themselves vulnerable but may, due to a range of circumstances, which may or may not be medical, find themselves at greater risk than the wider population. This may include those who require a guide from another household as is set out in my response to question S5W-29704 on 17 June 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