Question reference: S5W-35641
- Date lodged: 1 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the closure of non-essential click and collect retail, what its position is on whether businesses that sell a mixture of essential and non-essential items and are permitted to remain open during the COVID-19 lockdown should continue to sell non-essential items.
Answer
The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 set out the types of business which can currently remain open. They do not regulate the items which they can retail. It is up to the individual business to decide which items they make available, as long as they operate within Scottish Government regulations and guidelines. We expect everyone to adhere to the spirit as well as the letter of the guidance and so retailers should think carefully about what items they make available and do so in the most responsible way possible. The current stay at home regulations prohibits people from leaving or remaining outside their home except for an essential purpose including only for essential shopping.