Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6T-00019 on‎ 26 May 2021. The answer is available on the Parliament website at: Official Report - Parliamentary Business : Scottish Parliament

It is vital for the current Covid-19 vaccination programme to reach everyone and that no one is left behind, both for individual health and our collective community wellbeing.

In order to achieve this, we have embedded inclusion as a key aspect of our national COVID-19 vaccination programme, working alongside Health Boards and other partners to respond to evidence of low uptake in certain communities.

To help support this work we set up a National Inclusive Steering Group with representatives from Health Boards, faith groups, third and community sector. The group advises on issues and identifies solutions and actions for all partners. Organisations represented on the group include BEMIS, the African Council, Scottish Refugee Council and the Ethnic Minority Resilience Network.

We have provided over £100,000 to a range of organisations working with minority ethnic communities to help inform and promote the programme. Activities undertaken include the facilitation of focus groups, provision of translations, hosting awareness-raising events and the development of tailored resources for certain communities.

In April 2021 the national programme team produced inclusive planning and delivery criteria to help address barriers for specific groups within health board populations. This is based on the Health Inequality Impact Assessment, research by Voluntary Health Scotland and health board plans. Scottish Government officials meet regularly with Health Boards to discuss inclusion, local challenges and actions that are being undertaken to reach communities with low uptake of the vaccine.

Work has also been undertaken to respond to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in certain areas by accelerating the vaccination rollout and through assertive outreach in communities with large ethnic minority populations. For example, in the south of Glasgow, an additional Vaccination Centre was set up rapidly at the Glasgow Central Mosque on 18 May 2021. Mobile clinics continue to be deployed into communities offering drop-in opportunities at venues such as the Glasgow Gurdwara. Discussions are also underway with community leaders of African descent to ensure we are reaching these groups with appropriately tailored communications and delivery.

The national Roll Up Your Sleeves campaign phase 2 launched on 20 April 2021 and the TV advert cast and creative reflects Scotland’s diverse society. Our national communications plan includes the production of translated assets in a range of community languages. The QR code on vaccination appointment letters and COVID-19 vaccination leaflets support people to access the information in a format or language of their choice.

Scotland’s COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan 2021 provides further details about our approach to the national COVID-19 programme to date and includes examples of partnership work, local outreach and communications undertaken.

Whilst Scottish Ministers set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, responsibility for service delivery rests locally with Health Boards and GP practices. Practices are contracted to provide general medical services by their local health board and not the Scottish Government. As such, Scottish Ministers are unable to intervene in the service and appointment arrangements of individual practices, but they do expect satisfactory systems to be in place for the benefit of all patients.

East Lothian HSCP have been working closely with the practice and have given support to increase the number of GP appointments available to patients of the practice. The HSCP are also delivering a range of self-referral services that offer patients same-day access to specialist clinical, mental health and MSK physiotherapist support.

The practice have recruited a number of members of staff including call handlers, a Specialist Paramedic, a Clinical Manager/Nurse Practitioner and a further Nurse Practitioner. An additional GP has joined the practice, with another due to join in the summer.

The Scottish Government commissioned an independent review of the non-domestic rates system in 2017 chaired by Ken Barclay, which provided recommendations aimed at improvements to better support business growth, long term investment and reflect changing market places. We accepted the majority of these recommendations and have already implemented a number of key reforms such as three-yearly revaluations from 2023 with a one-year tone date, the introduction of the unique Business Growth Accelerator and Fresh start relief, and the introduction of the UK’s first Day Nursery relief.

It is important that the Barclay reforms are fully implemented and evaluated before a further review is undertaken.

The Scottish Government remains committed to a competitive and sustainable rates regime, and has delivered the lowest poundage in the UK for the third year in a row by taking the unprecedented step of reducing the poundage mid-revaluation in 2021-22. We also introduced the Intermediate Property Rate for properties with a rateable value between £51,001 and £95,000, ensuring that 95% of properties pay a lower rate than anywhere else in the UK, alongside the most generous package of reliefs.

Transport Scotland continues to work collaboratively with ScotRail to increase the number of cycle spaces on board passenger services on Scotland’s Railway.

Details of when the planned increase in cycle capacity on ScotRail trains will take place, broken down by route and train class is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 62443).

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00061 on‎ 26 May 2021. 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

The Scottish Government supports the development of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) as a common whole-system decarbonisation infrastructure with the flexibility to adapt over time to play a central role across the decarbonisation strategies of key sectors such as heat, industry and power. A proven technology, there are more than 50 CCUS facilities worldwide, with an estimated combined capture capacity of 96 million tonnes of CO2 per annum.

The Committee on Climate Change describes CCUS as a “necessity, not an option” to achieve net-zero emissions; indeed, the swift development of CCUS as a cornerstone of our energy transition is vital to achieving Scotland’s net zero emissions reduction targets.

Scotland is the most cost-effective place to begin CCUS in the UK, with existing oil and gas infrastructure available to repurpose for CO2 transport and storage. The development of CCUS could offer a range of transition opportunities for Scottish oil and gas firms and domestic supply chain companies.

We are already supporting efforts to deploy CCUS in Scotland, including through our Emerging Energy Technologies Fund, which will provide £80m over the next five years to support the development of CCUS and negative-emissions technologies. We have also provided funding and policy support to the Acorn CCS project in Aberdeenshire, considered the most advanced CCS project in the UK.

We continue to keep all measures under close review. Live background music is currently permitted at wedding receptions operating at 1 metre physical distancing from level 2, but full live band entertainment is only permitted in settings operating under performing arts or events guidance at 2 metre physical distancing from level 2 at this time. Dancing is not permitted at this time, except for the first dance by the marrying couple and the parents of the marrying couple where they reside in the same household. Physical distancing requirements are a key factor in determining when these activities can fully return to wedding receptions and as the First Minister confirmed in the statement to Parliament on 11 May, a review of this is currently underway and will report back shortly.

The Scottish Government expects all local authorities to comply with the school food and drink Regulations which are based on up to date scientific evidence and dietary advice about what energy and nutrients children and young people need in order to grow and develop healthily. The Regulations provide detailed specifications that must be met as food and drink is offered in schools and the accompanying guidance ‘Healthy Eating in Schools’ provides practical advice about how to meet the Regulations. The Regulations and guidance include specifications for and advice on meat provision in schools.

As long as the Regulations are being met, it is for local authorities to decide what meals to include on menus and as such the Scottish Government do not routinely monitor school menus. We have not been contacted by parents from Dumfries and Galloway about this matter. If parents do raise concerns about school menus we advise them to provide feedback to their local authority who can take this into account as they develop future menus.

Throughout the pandemic NHS patients, including new mothers, have been able to receive care and treatment, including aerosol generating procedures (AGPs), through one of 75 urgent dental care centres in Scotland. We have taken a precautionary approach to the remobilisation of NHS dental services but work has been carried out at pace to improve our understanding and risk management of COVID-19 transmission in dental settings, and since 1 November 2020 dentists have been able to provide the full range of NHS care and treatment to patients.