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All residents should be able to enjoy meaningful time with loved ones (where local conditions support this) particularly given the beneficial impact which visits have on mental and emotional wellbeing.

Existing guidance, published in February, encourages care homes to resume good quality, meaningful contact between residents and loved ones in a flexible and person centred way, and with advice from local oversight arrangements as necessary.

Beyond the minimum starting point of two visitors per week and upper limits to group sizes as in the COVID-19 regulations, the guidance does not limit numbers, and instead encourages care homes to increase and embed support to meaningful contact in a person centred way. In June 2021, a review of progress with Open with Care reiterated that care homes should continue to increase the frequency and duration of visits, with local oversight monitoring and support. The vast majority of adult care homes are supporting indoor visiting with increased numbers supporting daily visits and multiple visitors.

On 15 July 2021, Scottish Government wrote to the care home sector encouraging care homes to increase opportunities for good quality and meaningful contact, in line with existing guidance, and setting out recommended relaxations in care homes from Level 0 on 19 July 2021. These include the removal of the ‘Designated Visitor’ status to support further flexibility in reconnecting, as daily and group visits become the norm. Looking ahead we hope to see care homes continue to strengthen all residents to have more meaningful lives and to have greater connection with communities. Advice will follow in coming weeks.

We will continue to monitor the situation and to work with the sector to support continued improvements to making good quality, meaningful contact the norm.

(a) The Joint Housing Resilience Chairs Group was convened by the previous Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning at his request and were held over the period at the height of the pandemic. The need for specific meetings with the resilience group reduced as the recovery progressed. The group last met on 17 March and has not reconvened.

(b) No meetings of the Local Government Resilience Group have taken place since 6 May 2021 as this meeting was chaired and organised by COSLA. It has now been moved to meeting by exception.

(c) The Private Rented Sector Resilience Group met on the 17 May, 7 June and 23 June. The next scheduled meeting of the group is 26 July.

(d) The Social Housing Resilience Group met on the 25 May and 22 June. The next scheduled meeting of the group is 27 July.

(e) Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans Sub-group met on the 18 May and the next meeting of the group is on the 17 August.

Further to question S6W-00824, the constrained passenger and vehicle carrying capacity with 1 metre mitigations in place for the vessels listed, are detailed in the following table.

Regulations relating to the construction of road vehicles and tyres remain matters reserved to the UK Government.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor applied research into issues relating to zero emission vehicles, we have not yet conducted specific analysis in the potential increase in microplastic waste from electric vehicles.

The Scottish Government is aware there are still significant knowledge gaps to fill before it is possible to have a robust understanding of the risks posed by microplastics to the Scottish environment and we will play our part in filling these knowledge gaps.

The British and Irish Lions rugby match was a flagship event approved by the Scottish Government through an events gateway process. Flagship events are internationally significant events which maintain Scotland’s longer-term profile as a host of major events, with an eye to recovery from the pandemic, and with appropriate Covid-19 mitigations in place.

Decisions about the sale of alcohol was a matter for the Local Authority and was discussed at the City of Edinburgh Council Event Planning & Operations Group Meetings which had Police Scotland in attendance.

We are grateful that the majority of supporters followed the mitigation measures put in place around physical distancing which included extensive messaging around Covid protocols in advance of the match and on the day itself. This included signage (and hand hygiene) at all bars, public address announcements and an additional 150 stewards employed to manage this, however, we are aware that a small number of fans did not always comply. For those reasons, Scottish Rugby took the decision to close the bars earlier than scheduled to avoid a half-time surge. The safety of spectators and employees is, and will always remain, paramount.

The Scottish Government and event organisers will use the knowledge learnt from this to support the wider restart of events across Scotland.

Access to the scheme in 2021 will initially be through pilot projects as set out in our ‘First Steps’ document.

The construction of the A92/A96 Haudagain Improvement project is progressing well and is anticipated to be complete in winter 2021 as confirmed in the Infrastructure Investment Plan update published in December 2020.

This date is subject to any unforeseen circumstances such as the effects of exceptional weather.

We are currently considering options for pilots. These pilots will test out how to successfully rollout a programme of free bikes to school age children who cannot afford them, including what the eligibility criteria should be for children to access the scheme.

Free NHS dental treatment for expectant mothers or those who have borne a child within the previous 12 month period is part of The National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978. The 12 month period is fixed by primary legislation and would require a primary legislation amendment (i.e. a Bill) to change this. Therefore it is not possible to change the exemption entitlement for free treatment at present. However, the Scottish Government has committed to the removal of all charges for NHS dental treatment within the lifetime of this parliament.

Further to question S6W-00829, the Scottish Government has not taken any advice from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) or other regulatory authorities on the safety of the MV Pentalina to operate on routes on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) network.