Chamber and committees

Self-catering businesses were eligible for either £10,000 and £25,000 grants for businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure. This extended to 75% for subsequent properties. We provided an additional £1.5 m for self-catering businesses who didn’t meet the 140 day eligibility criteria. We recognise that the single-household rule presents difficulties for large property owners, however with limited financial resources, our priority must be to assist those who have not received support. We’re considering further support in line with recommendations from the Tourism Taskforce and continue to request from the UK Government the transfer of financial powers to enable us to respond fully to business needs.

The Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for the Pandemic, published on 23 October, sets out plans to develop the testing element of Test and Protect over the next three months which focusses on building capacity within NHS Scotland and deploying expansions in UK Government testing capacity and capability to its maximum effect in Scotland. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/covid-19-scotlands-strategic-framework/

As detailed in our Clinical and Scientific review of the Testing Strategy, the consensus clinical view of the prioritisation of capacity, over and above that required to meet symptomatic demand, clinical care requirements and existing commitments, is that the focus in any extension of routine regular asymptomatic testing should be on protecting those most vulnerable to severe harm. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-review-of-testing-strategy-october-2020/

With parliament's agreement I hope to set out our plans for expansion of routine asymptomatic testing before the end of November.

Visiting is vital to the wellbeing of residents in residential care and their loved ones and should continue to be supported as safely as possible. This is why we encourage care homes to apply our national guidance at a local level with oversight from Directors of Public Health, taking account of local risk factors.

Every care home should develop its own risk assessment and visiting protocol which should be agreed in liaison with the local Health Protection Team and/or Care Home Clinical and Care Professional Oversight Team. Where outdoor visits take place will be dependent upon the unique environment of the care home and consideration should be given to ensuring that this is as safe and comfortable as possible. The guidance confirms that outdoor structures require sufficient ventilation and air flow and ensure there is adequate space within them for people to physically distance at all times, including when it rains.

With regard to planning restrictions, the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning wrote to planning authorities on 2 nd July encouraging them to take a relaxed and pragmatic approach to the enforcement of breaches of planning control during the pandemic – in particular with regard to the temporary use of outdoor spaces to enable businesses to continue to operate, whilst supporting social distancing.

Planning regulations already permit a wide range of temporary developments and changes of use for up to 28 days per calendar year without the need to apply for planning permission and our letter to local authorities stated that, while physical distancing requirements remain, it is likely that many temporary uses will be needed for longer periods. The letter states that, in line with the wider approach to relaxing planning control at this time, and for the avoidance of doubt, we do not expect the limits of the 28 day rule to be enforced against reasonable temporary outdoor uses, which may include temporary structures, should a longer period be appropriate and helpful to businesses.

We have allocated a total of £150 million this year for social care as part of our additional COVID funding to help the social care sector deal with the financial implications of the pandemic. Our Winter Plan recognises that to ensure winter preparedness this year, that additional resources will be required and the Plan is being supported by further funding of up to £112 million. We are working with COSLA, and wider partners, immediately on effective allocation of this funding through mechanisms that promote additionality of services and value for money.

I have had a minimum of twice-weekly discussions with the Chief Dental Officer throughout the pandemic. The CDO provides regular advice and updates on all aspects of the remobilisation of NHS dentistry, including on the decision to enable dentists to provide the full range of NHS care and treatment to all patients.

Work has been carried out at pace to improve our understanding and risk management of COVID-19 transmission in dental settings, which has allowed for further progression with NHS dental remobilisation. Dentists have been able to provide the full range of NHS care and treatment to patients from 1 November, however, this is not business as usual.

Because of physical distancing and infection prevention and control arrangements the number of patients that can be seen safely remains below normal levels. As practices will have a limited number of appointments each day, dentists will have to continue to use their clinical judgement to prioritise those people with urgent dental problems and those most in need of treatment and it will take time for dental teams to work through all the patients who wish to be seen.

Decisions regarding the discharge destination of patients ready for discharge is not a matter for the NHS. These decisions are made by social work professionals under the terms of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, as part of a multi-disciplinary assessment of the individual's needs, wherever possible involving the patient, family and carers in the decision making process.

Under the terms of the Coronavirus Act 2020, where it is not practicable to carry out an assessment, or to do so would cause unnecessary delay in providing care services to anyone before discharge then the local authority cannot apply any charges until that assessment takes place. These charges can be backdated if the assessment deems the placement is permanent, and all parties are in agreement.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) performs the registration and statistical functions of the Registrar General for Scotland and the archival functions of the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, including maintaining the archives as one of Scotland’s five National Collections. The purpose of NRS is to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland's people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations.

Registers of Scotland (ROS) keeps public registers of land, property, and other legal documents in Scotland as part of the official functions of the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. ROS have been provided with a copy of Mr Mundell’s PQ, and are separately managing a response for their organisation.

NRS has three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for their customer enquiries. Online orders are dispatched within 15 days, ScotlandsPeople customer enquiries are responded to within 3 days and Historical/Legal search service enquiries are responded to within 20 days.

There is currently no enquiry backlog and expected response times are being met.

Public access to NRS buildings is not available at this time due to COVID-19 restrictions, therefore face to face enquiries from customers are not taking place.

Delivery of the police 101 service is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. Police Scotland have advised that this is an exceptionally busy time for the service and particularly for the Contact, Command and Control Division, with an unprecedented call levels to both the 101 non-emergency number and 999 call lines.

On occasion, 101 callers may have had to wait longer for their calls to be answered, but this is no different to any non-urgent public service in the current circumstances. While in the 101 call queue, members of the public are also reminded that they can call 999 if the situation is an emergency.

I am very grateful to Police Scotland's staff for keeping 101 functioning and efficient during these unprecedented times.

When applications are submitted to the Energy Consents Unit there is a requirement to advertise the application under Regulation 8 of the Electricity (Applications for Consent) Regulations 1990 and Regulation 20 of The Electricity Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017. Developers are required to advertise their project in local newspaper and this has not been revised during COVID-19 pandemic.