Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government guarantee provides for timely payment of fixed amounts of income due quarterly under a power purchase agreement between the smelter and Simec Lochaber Hydropower Limited. The Lochaber guarantee does not require the Scottish Government to buy electricity.

At present, individuals who are well controlled on asthma inhalers are not eligible in priority group 6 for coronavirus vaccination (phase 1 of the vaccine rollout). However, a number of individuals with well controlled asthma may fall into the priority groups defined in phase 1 for other reasons, such as age, as phase 1 follows an age-based programme to capture those with clinical risk factors as the risk of death is very strongly linked with age. We expect to give first doses to all individuals in phase 1 by mid-April.

Younger individuals with well controlled asthma will be offered the vaccine during phase 2 of the vaccine rollout plan, again following an age-based approach starting with the oldest adults first and proceeding in the following order: all those aged 40 to 49 years; all those aged 30 to 39 years; all those aged 18 to 29 years. An age-based delivery model will facilitate rapid vaccine deployment.

This is in line with advice from the Joint Committee on Immunisation and Vaccination (JCVI).

We recognise the need to better understand the frequency, nature, and impact of Long COVID in the Scottish population and we have not ruled out the creation of a single healthcare database.

We are working to develop data, which will allow for future analysis of Long COVID in the community population in Scotland. This includes discussions with General Practice around clinical coding for Long COVID, and working closely with the Office for National Statistics to explore the data generated from the COVID-19 Infection Survey.

We have also funded nine extensive Scottish-led research projects on Long COVID through £2.5 million, which will greatly improve the clinically relevant knowledge base on the long-term effects of COVID-19.

We know from people living with Long COVID that the path to recovery can be unpredictable, with symptoms affecting different people in different ways that can have an impact on how they want to live their lives.

There are already a range of NHS services in place that are able to support people suffering with Long COVID.

This includes GPs and the wider Primary Care team as a key first point of contact, and community based rehabilitation services to support people’s recovery through a wide range of interventions from occupational therapy, physiotherapy to speech and language therapy.

A smaller proportion of people with severe effects may need more specialist investigation and advice that is being provided in acute hospital settings.

The Scottish Government has partnered with Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland investing over £460,000 to develop its Long COVID Support Service. This has enabled Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland’s Nurses and Community Support Teams to provide information and advice to people living with Long COVID, thereby helping with their recovery.

As we understand more about Long COVID, we will continue to develop and enhancing services to provide the multidisciplinary and person-centred support that people require.

We continue to engage in international developments in relation to COVID-19, including guidance on the issue of vaccine certification, for those who have received both doses of the vaccine. These discussions are led by the World Health Organisation and include consideration of technical details, ethical and equality issues, and privacy standards. The outcome of those discussions will guide our work in this area.

Work at 4 nations level has started to scope and develop a technical solution to allow secure, authenticated access to Covid vaccination status. This is to ensure technology is not the limiting factor should the work underway indicate it would be appropriate to introduce certification at the right time.

We will continue to keep vaccine certification and guidance under review as further evidence around vaccines and immunity emerges. We regularly review our international travel regulations and will continue to do so in light of developments on vaccine certification.

The Covid-19 Infection Survey is a UK wide survey which uses PCR testing to estimate the number and proportion of people in each of the four nations of the UK that would have tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the community, regardless of whether they report symptoms. This survey is run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the University of Oxford on behalf of the Scottish Government.

ONS launched a new Covid-19 Infection Survey question on long COVID, which at each monthly visit will ask respondents who previously tested positive for COVID-19 whether they are still experiencing symptoms, and the extent to which these symptoms are impacting on their day-to-day activities. The question also includes an expanded list of 21 symptoms, including some pertaining to mental health.

This new question will enable ONS to derive a direct estimate of the prevalence of self-reported long COVID for each of the four nations, according to duration and severity, as a follow up to the previously published data for England. The provisional publication date for this analysis is 1 April.

Prior to the development of the new Higher, a national survey was undertaken to identify the purpose and content that teachers and other stakeholders believed were necessary in such a course. The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) worked with practising teachers and lecturers, academics and industry specialists to develop the new Higher, to ensure it is fit for purpose and develops the mathematical and statistical skills needed for life, employment and further study.

In recognition of the need to support teachers implementing the new course, the Scottish Government is funding Scholar to provide online resources to support the Applications of Mathematics courses at National 5 and Higher from 2021-22. The SQA is developing resources, including additional question papers and exemplar coursework, and is working with Education Scotland and the University of Strathclyde to support the roll out of the qualification.

The University of Strathclyde secured funding from the Scottish Funding Council to develop and provide online courses to upskill teachers in statistics and mathematical modelling to enable them to be well prepared to deliver the new Higher. A significant number of teachers have successfully completed these online courses. In addition, information has been made available to teachers through events such as the Scottish Mathematical Council’s annual conference. The most recent online conference, held on 6 March, had almost 1000 participants, with 130 attending the SQA session on the new Higher course.

The Scottish Government's draft new air quality strategy includes a proposal to restrict the sulphur content of all smokeless fuels to 2%. A consultation on the draft strategy closed on 22 January 2021. The strategy will now be finalised, taking into account consultation responses, and published later in the year.

The Scottish Government is funding Scholar to provide online resources to support the Applications of Mathematics courses at National 5 and Higher level from 2021-22. The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is developing resources, including additional question papers and exemplar coursework, and are working with Education Scotland and the University of Strathclyde to support teachers with the roll out of the qualification.

The University of Strathclyde secured funding from the Scottish Funding Council to develop and provide online courses to upskill teachers in statistics and mathematical modelling to enable them to be well prepared to deliver the new Higher. A significant number of teachers have successfully completed these online courses. In addition, information has been made available to teachers through events such as the Scottish Mathematical Council’s Annual Conference. The most recent online conference, held on 6 March, had almost 1000 participants, with 130 attending the SQA session on the new Higher course.

The new Higher Applications of Mathematics course is designed to get more young people studying mathematics and developing the skills they need for modern citizenry, such as statistical literacy, financial literacy and being able to use technology to solve problems and inform decision making.

The course has been in development for more than two years and the specification and specimen assessment materials were made available at the start of the current session for first teaching in 2021-22. An additional specimen paper and sample coursework will be made available in June 2021.

There is considerable interest in, and appetite for the new Higher, and there is no intention to delay the introduction of the course.