Chamber and committees

We fully recognise the importance the Farm Advisory Service (FAS) provides for farmers, land managers and crofters to help them ensure their businesses are ready to meet the challenges of the future. That is why we are currently in the process of finalising a new FAS contract effective from April 2022 that will provide continuity of the service that will connect the sector to expert consultants with the goal of keeping the industry up to date with current issues with nearly all the available support and advice entirely free to the consumer.  

And we will be working with the relevant industry and organisations as we look to develop future agriculture policy to help shape the future longer term evolution of the service to ensure it keeps pace with key challenges to support farmers, land managers and crofters to deliver high quality food production, climate mitigation and adaptation, and nature restoration.

All local authorities, including East Renfrewshire Council, have been involved in discussions around delivery of this funding and it has been agreed funding for close contact businesses will be distributed by our delivery partner NEC.

We have published initial guidance which includes eligibility for the Close Contact Fund. This information is available on the Scottish Government website: Coronavirus (COVID-19): funding for businesses affected by Omicron control measures - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and the Find Business Support website:

Close Contact Services Fund (findbusinesssupport.gov.scot) . Businesses will be able to apply for the close contact fund from Monday 14 th February.

The Scottish Government does not recommend a GP-patient ratio. It is for Health Boards and GP practices to determine appropriate staffing levels.

There are more GPs per 100,000 population in Scotland than the rest of the UK, with 95 for every 100,000 people (Sep-21), compared with 78 in England (Sep-21), 76 in Wales (Sep-21) and 74 in Northern Ireland (Mar-21).

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines on stroke have been withdrawn due to being over 10 years old. SIGN therefore recommend that healthcare professionals look to other up-to-date evidence-based guidelines to inform practice. A good source is the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) evidence search that includes trusted sources from a wide range of organisations: https://www.evidence.nhs.uk/

A four nations approach will be taken to update the Royal College of Physicians Guidelines for Stroke (2016). SIGN is involved in the development process so that the revised guideline will be a collaborative national guideline which will be applicable for use in Scotland.

The updated guideline is expected to be published in February 2023.

The approach to face coverings for choirs is grounded in evidence and draws on the expert advice which reflects the unique features of the activity and the environments. This is because the virus spreads when an infected person talks, sings or even breathes heavily, and droplets and aerosols from their mouth or nose are launched into the air. At this stage of the pandemic many of the more intrusive restrictions have been lifted, but the virus and the harms that it causes have not gone away. We still continue to see hospital admissions and deaths as a result of COVID and the impacts of long COVID can be significant. That is why it remains important to maximise the use of the remaining measures such as face coverings.

Performers can of course temporarily remove their face covering in some limited indoor situations if other steps are taken. For example, when they are performing or rehearsing they can remove their face covering if they are separated from others by a distance of at least one metre or by a screen or partition.

The Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy, published in October 2021, committed to establishing a Green Heat Finance Taskforce. This taskforce was created in December 2021 and will operate until September 2023.

Taskforce members are participating on a voluntary basis with secretariat support provided by the Scottish Government. No annual budget has been assigned to the Taskforce. Further information can be found on the Scottish Government webpage for the Green Heat Finance Taskforce.

It is for Health Boards and GP practices to determine appropriate staffing levels in line with local population needs. GP - patient ratios will vary across practices depending on geography, population density and staff availability.

Patient and GP population data can be accessed via

General Practice | GP Workforce & Practice populations | Health Topics | ISD Scotland .

National Records of Scotland (NRS) publishes figures on probable deaths by suicide annually. Figures for each year from 2017 to 2020 are provided on the NRS website, and this includes a breakdown by local authority areas at Table 5. The data is found here: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/probable-suicides/2020/suicides-20-all-tabs.xlsx

NRS plans to publish figures of probable deaths by suicides for 2021 in summer 2022.

NRS does not publish annual crude rates of probable suicides at a population level. Instead, it uses age-standardised rates which provide reliable comparisons across local authority areas by taking account of different demographic profiles. NRS publishes this data on a 5 yearly basis, rather than on an annual basis, to ensure the data does not disclose individual cases. Detailed information is available in figure 6 of the spreadsheet provided in the above link.

Flu vaccinations were paused in December 2021 to allow the NHS to address the immediate challenge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Local health boards are now offering flu vaccinations to those who are eligible, with uptake of flu vaccines among over 65s at 90.1%, which is already higher than the previous year.

Those who are aged 70 years or over will be contacted by their health board about their appointment by letter or telephone call. Those aged 65 to 69 years will be contacted by their health board by letter about their appointment.

Our focus remains on protecting people based on clinical need, medical advice, and evidence. On that basis, other healthy people aged 50 to 64 years generally will no longer receive the flu vaccine this season. Anyone unsure whether they are eligible should check with their local health board, and can find more information about flu vaccination on NHS Inform The flu vaccine (nhsinform.scot) .

Anyone who is eligible and would like to receive a flu vaccine can do so by checking How to get your flu vaccine | The flu vaccine (nhsinform.scot) . If the appointment received is not suitable, individuals can rearrange their appointment at Rearrange your flu vaccine appointment | The flu vaccine (nhsinform.scot) .

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde advise that those eligible can get vaccinated at participating NHS community pharmacies.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-05961 on 8 February 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .