Chamber and committees

Since the publication of the COPD Best Practice Guide in 2017, which was backed with a £200k investment, there has been a reduction in hospital admissions including COPD and overall time spent in hospital.

The Scottish Government has been supporting Health Boards to undertake a rapid expansion of Community Services for COPD patients over the last 12 months. Digital support services specific to COPD have been rolled out at pace, providing remote monitoring for COPD patients with clinical support in the event of deterioration. Other ways to support patients in the community, such as virtual pulmonary rehabilitation and provision of rescue packs have also been introduced over the last 12 months.

The Respiratory Care Action Plan which was published in December 2019 sets out actions to support the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of COPD as a key priority. The lessons learned from the last 12 months in terms of reducing hospital admissions and exacerbations will help inform the Respiratory Care Action Plan which is currently under review.

In terms of funding, in 2020-21 we provided additional investment of £6.7 million to support improvements in unscheduled care; a key priority area of focus was to improve pathways of care for high volume and complex pathways such as respiratory with an aim to deliver care as close to home as possible by working across the whole system.

The Respiratory Care Action Plan for Scotland is not intended to be a replacement of current clinical guidance.

The purpose of this Plan is to set out our vision for driving improvement in the diagnosis, care, treatment and support of people living with respiratory conditions in Scotland.

We are working with the UK Government to put in place support for people who are unable, because of financial hardship, to afford the fees associated with managed isolation. The current UK position is that a payment plan can be taken out at the booking stage for those on qualifying benefits, with fees to be repaid over a period of months. The Scottish Government is seeking to waive fees for those on qualifying benefits, those facing hardship who are not on qualifying benefits but are unable to pay, and those on family reunion visas, arriving to join a person with refugee status already in Scotland. Changes need to be made to the UK operation in order for fee waiver to be possible.

Separately, the Coronavirus Discretionary Fund recently provided to Scottish universities and colleges can be used to support international students and students returning to Scotland at the end of exchange programmes, such as Erasmus, who can demonstrate the charge would cause them financial hardship.

There are two routes to exemptions on compassionate grounds regarding the cost for provision of managed isolation. The first route is set out in the following regulations: The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Managed Accommodation and Testing) (Scotland) Regulations 2021. This enables Scottish Ministers to use their discretion on a case by case basis to make exceptional arrangements for individuals on compassionate grounds. Where Ministers use their discretion in this way, the existing managed isolation requirements and associated fees can be replaced with alternative arrangements. The second route is via the booking portal through which passengers entering Scotland can book their managed isolation package – this booking portal is the responsibility of the UK Government. We are actively working with the UK Government so that their portal can be adjusted to enable passengers to seek exemption from fees where they are experiencing financial hardship, while still being able to book their managed isolation package. As part of this, we are seeking to exempt those travelling on 'family reunion' visas.

The Scottish Government has listened to business is providing support on a sector-by-sector basis so that it is appropriately targeted. This includes up to £15m for mobile close contact services as well as £30 million to local authorities to provide additional support for businesses where they consider that necessary or justified. In addition we have has set aside up to £15 million for a second iteration of the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund that we introduced in April 2020 in order to mitigate the financial challenges for those who are unable to access the UK Government’s Self Employed Income Support Scheme.

We continue to do all we can to support business. The £30 million discretionary fund has been provided to enable local authorities to provide additional support for businesses where they consider that necessary or justified. We have also created a new package of business support worth over £185 million to provide much needed support to several sectors. This includes, but is not limited to, support for licensed taxi and private hire drivers, mobile close contact services, tour operators and breweries, all of which are not covered by the Strategic Framework Business Fund.

In March, in response to coronavirus, the Scottish Government announced a £350 million emergency package for communities. Before opening the current £40 million Community and Third Sector Recovery Programme (CTSRP), the Scottish Government had already awarded over £22 million in grants to 1,349 organisations through the Third Sector Resilience Fund (TSRF).

More information on current support is available at Community & Third Sector Recovery Programme – SCVO

We have provided significant support to the hospitality sector since the start of the pandemic, including 100% rates relief and grants for both closed and impacted businesses at various intervals across the different periods of disruption. Our overall business support package exceeds £2.3 billion.

We are doing all we can with the powers at our disposal and continue to look at ways to further help the sector within available resources. We have announced a further £185 million to help impacted businesses through the winter and are developing details of this with industry, including the hospitality sector.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-33917 on 21 December 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

On the 2 October 2019, I confirmed that the Scottish Government would introduce legislation in this parliamentary session to entitle all children whose school start is deferred to access funded early learning and childcare in their deferred year.

The legislation required, an affirmative Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, was laid on 7 December 2020. The SSI is called The Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2020, and will come into force on 1 August 2023.

Our overriding objective is to ensure that we roll out 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare to all eligible children as soon as possible, and therefore we have set a realistic timetable for full implementation of extended eligibility for children who defer.

To progress the implementation of this policy ahead of August 2023, the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) have agreed a Joint Implementation Plan under which five local authorities will pilot early implementation of this obligation in 2021-22. The Scottish Government has committed £3 million to support this early implementation.

The Joint Implementation Plan has been published at https://www.gov.scot/publications/funded-early-learning-and-childcare-places-joint-implementation-plan/ .I informed Parliament of this approach in the answer to question S5W-34053 on 16 December 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