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The Scottish Government works with partners to encourage all forms of sport and physical activity to be made available to all people across Scotland.

We provided £1.72 million of funding to enhance work led by Scottish Swimming and local authorities to provide swimming lessons for primary school children across Scotland between 2011 and 2015. An evaluation of the programme was subsequently carried out.

sportscotland works in partnership with all local authorities to invest in and support the Active Schools Network. Active Schools aims to provide more and higher quality opportunities to take part in sport and physical activity before school, during lunchtime and after school, and to develop effective pathways between schools and sports clubs in the local community. In academic year 2018/19 there were 50,954 swimming visits in 18-19 across 21 local authorities.

We are continuing to work with partners, including Scottish Swimming to consider how the provision of community swimming could be expanded.

ACER UK Limited was one of three companies to submit a tender for the contract for phase two delivery of the national standardised assessments in Scotland – incorporating both the Scottish National Standardised Assessments and their Gaelic equivalent, the Measaidhean Coitcheann Niseanta airson Foghlam tron Ghidhlig.

ACER’s tender did not progress to the Price Analysis stage of the evaluation as it did not achieve the minimum requirements for the Quality Analysis stage. Cost comparisons with the successful tender cannot therefore be drawn.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring there is resilience and capacity in the health and social care system to aid us in our mobilisation, support staff to recover from previous COVID-19 waves, and to manage the need to remain vigilant against any future wave.

The most recently published data indicates a total of 258,269 patients were seen at new outpatient appointments during the first quarter of 2021. This is down 20.4% from the same period in 2020, prior to implementation of social distancing restrictions. At 31 March 2021, 48.1% of those waiting for a new outpatient appointment had been waiting 12 weeks or FEWER. This IS down from 74.4% in the same period in 2020. At 31 March 2021,184,224 new outpatients had experienced ongoing waits greater than 12 weeks, up 177.8% from the same period in 2020 (66,325).

It is difficult to quantify the impact that the two-metre social distancing restrictions have had on capacity and throughput in outpatient settings, not least because of the differences in Wave one where elective services halted and Wave two where services began to remobilise. In addition to this there is considerable variance in the layout, structure and fabric of NHS facilities across Scotland.

Whilst the two metre distancing restrictions will have played a part in capacity and throughput, other factors will also have influenced them. These include bed closure, staff absences (including those who have been deployed elsewhere to assist with the pandemic or were shielding) and throughput lost to other IPC controls, which include removal of beds to reduce potential risk of COVID-19 transmission.

There has been a change in the way services have been delivered in outpatient settings, for example – staggered waiting times to avoid overcrowding within these areas/ reduce footfall, one-way access/egress and the use of Near Me where possible to avoid face to face consultations.

As the contract for delivery of phase one of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments is due to expire in July 2022, the Scottish Government was legally required to compete the ongoing service.

Returning to the market to compete public contracts enables us to maximise value for money and secure the benefits of technical (and in this case education, assessment, psychometric and accessibility) developments over the period since the last contract was awarded. In conducting a regulated procurement exercise the Scottish Government is required under procurement legislation to treat all potential suppliers equally and without discrimination. Tenders are evaluated on the basis of the information contained therein, and no other factors.

The contract for phase two delivery of National Standardised Assessments for Scotland effectively combines two existing contracts, for phase one delivery of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments and their Gaelic equivalent, the Measaidhean Coitcheann Niseanta airson Foghlam tron Ghidhlig respectively. As such, there is no one current provider and a transition of services would have been required whatever the outcome of the procurement evaluation. The risks and opportunities associated with that transition have been carefully assessed and will be closely monitored and managed through the governance structures established for the National Improvement Framework Programme. Outgoing service providers are contractually obliged to support the smooth transition of services to a new service provider.

The Evaluation Guide and Award Criteria published as part of the Invitation to Tender determined the Quality: Price ratio for the evaluation process as 75:25. The emphasis placed on quality reflects the importance the Scottish Government attaches to delivering a high quality assessment resource to schools, and recognises the requirement for a range of technical, educational and psychometric expertise to deliver the complex and multi-faceted Services associated with the Contract.

The Award criteria for the Quality Analysis element of the evaluation identified a series of questions across a range of areas, including Assessments and Reporting; Technical; Service Management; Security; and Transition, Implementation and Business as Usual. Some of these questions were identified as mandatory, requiring a minimum score of 2 in order for the tender to progress to the Price Analysis. The rationale for this approach is that if suppliers are unable to fulfil particular aspects of the service, the service would not be viable, irrespective of cost. Mandatory items are clearly identified within the published Evaluation and Award Criteria.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 Statutory Guidance (amended 2021) states that regulated contracts must be awarded to the most economically advantageous tender. The Guidance clarifies that this means contracts cannot be awarded on the basis of lowest price or lowest cost alone.

The vaccination programme uptake in Scotland is highly successful overall with around 90% of the adult population (18+) having received their first dose - far beyond our planning assumption of 80% - and so far 73% have received their second dose.

To ensure good uptake amongst younger age groups the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland are undertaking a wide range of initiatives.

Drop in clinics are widely available for people who want a first vaccination or are 8 weeks or more from their second vaccination – regardless if they have an appointment in the system. Drop-in mobile centres are attending a range of sites such as football grounds, parks, workplaces and shopping centres.

Young people within the eligible Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) age cohorts will still also receive a scheduled invitation which they may attend if the time and date suits. A dedicated self-registration portal allows SMS notification to take account of the greater turnover of registered addresses amongst young people.

We continue to engage with young people in a variety of ways, including through social media outlets, to make sure they have access to the correct information on vaccines. To this end the Scottish Government has developed a comprehensive set of public information campaigns across TV, radio, print and online to disseminate quality information on vaccines and positive encouragement to take up vaccination invitations.

We are presently strengthening communications targeting the 18-29 age group, such as the Roll Up Your Sleeves campaign, to ensure we vaccinate as many people in this cohort as possible.

All NHS Boards have dedicated inclusion plans within the vaccination programme, outlining how they will actively offer vaccination to people who may face barriers in taking up the vaccine. Some examples of outreach include offering vaccinations in places of worship, in other community settings, providing concessionary bus travel to appointments and working with community leaders to promote uptake.

We are continuing to discuss a range of measures with universities and colleges to help ensure students get vaccinated as soon as possible before arriving on campus. We remain in regular dialogue with Universities Scotland and Colleges Scotland and have agreed with Health Boards and Higher and Further Education Institutions to appoint Single Points of Contacts in universities and colleges. Additionally, we are engaging with the Health Boards to support vaccine delivery for both international and home based students where there is local need, including the possibility of on-campus pop-up clinics.

Medical students who are studying medicine full-time as a first degree are entitled to the standard undergraduate student support package for their full period of study. This means their tuition fees are paid by the Scottish Government through Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) – plus they can apply to SAAS for loans and bursaries to help with living costs dependent on their individual circumstances.

The only bursary specifically for Medical Students is a £4,000 per annum optional ‘return of service’ bursary offered to those who secure a place on ScotGEM – which is a graduate-entry undergraduate medical programme. If the bursary is accepted in all 4 years of study, amounting to £16,000 overall, the student would be expected to remain and work within NHS Scotland for 4 years following graduation.

Meetings of the Oil and Gas and Energy Transition Strategic Leadership Group have taken place on 10 December 2020, 18 February 2021 and 19 August 2021. All minutes, once approved by the Group are publicly available on the Scottish Government website Oil and Gas and Energy Transition Strategic Leadership Group - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

The Oil and Gas and Energy Transition Strategic Leadership Group met on 19 August 2021. The meeting was chaired by myself and also attended by Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work. The date of the next meeting has yet to be confirmed.