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The UK Government has secured a further 4.25m patient courses of antiviral treatments to reduce the impact of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant across the UK. This includes 2.5 million patient courses of Paxlovid (PF-07321332+ritonavir (co-packaged)) from Pfizer and 1.75 million patient courses of molnupiravir from Merck Sharp and Dohme.

This is in addition to the 730,000 patient courses of these COVID-19 antivirals already secured - 480,000 courses of molnupiravir and 250,000 courses of PF-07321332+ritonavir (co-packaged), as announced on 20 October 2021. These treatments are a further measure to protect against COVID-19, in addition to vaccinations, which remain our best defence against this virus.

The UK Government takes initial receipt of stock, with proportionate supplies distributed to the four UK nations. In Scotland, NHS National Procurement allocates supplies to Health Boards depending on local need. There is sufficient supply to meet this current deployment, in line with need.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) releases a quarterly publication presenting statistics on the number of patients waiting for one of the eight key diagnostic tests, which are covered by the national six-week standard. Further information on these tests and the latest available statistics up to the 30 th September 2021 can be found here:

Diagnostic waiting times - Waits for key diagnostic tests 30 November 2021 - NHS waiting times - diagnostics - Publications - Public Health Scotland

In addition, PHS collects data on patients waiting for six other tests not covered by the national six-week standard, including Echocardiography. However, these data are not routinely quality assured and completeness may vary by Board. Verified data for patients waiting for an Echocardiogram is therefore not available centrally.

The Inquiry must, and will, be given the resources necessary to discharge its task. It will be fully funded by the Scottish Government. Costs are to be determined by how the Inquiry is run by the independent Chair. For that reason, as with other inquiries, we have not set a fixed budget for the Inquiry.

The Inquiries Act 2005 requires the Chair to avoid any unnecessary cost, whether to public funds or to witnesses or others.

Our approach to managing the Covid-19 pandemic has been underpinned by our Framework for Decision Making since its publication in April 2020. The Framework set out the key principles that guide our decision-making in responding to and managing the four key harms of Covid-19. These four harms are distinct but inter-related and comprise the direct health impacts of Covid-19; non-Covid-19 health harms; societal impacts; and economic impacts.

Covid-19 is first and foremost a public health crisis, and the use of legislative powers has been necessary to in order to limit transmission of the virus and save lives. We know that Covid-19 is not about to suddenly disappear, which is why we are currently undertaking work to consider the necessary adaptations to handle any future phases of the pandemic as proportionately and sustainably as possible.

We are working on a revised Strategic Framework, which will set out how we can adapt to managing the virus in the medium to long-term as it becomes endemic. This includes an update to our strategic intent by moving towards developing the necessary flexibility and resilience in our health and social care systems, wider public services, economy and society to deal with potential new variants of Covid-19 or other public health threats.

The updated Framework will set out how we can live as freely as possible while controlling the harms that the virus can cause, using lessons learned during the epidemic to benefit Scotland going forward. We are consulting with businesses, organisations and others across society as part of this process, and we will bring the update to Parliament in the coming weeks.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6F-00531 on 2 December 2021 which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/ormain.aspx .

The proposal for a Carers Outcome will be fully considered as part of the upcoming Review of the National Outcomes. Scottish Ministers are required under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act (2015) to review the National Outcomes within five years of their previous publication. On 21 September 2021, I confirmed to the Finance and Public Administration Committee that external engagement for the next Review will commence in 2022, with the aim of laying the statutory report in Parliament during the third Parliamentary term in 2023.

In Scotland there are key categorised responder organisations, defined in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA), such as the blue light services, health boards, local authorities, and SEPA that are responsible for ensuring the effective management of emergencies. They are required by the CCA to be part of one of three Regional Resilience Partnerships (RRPs) who are supported by staff provided by Scottish Government.

Resilience Division leads on civil contingencies and resilience planning within Scottish Government, though all policy areas are responsible for risks that sit within their portfolio, such as Health for public health outbreaks, and Animal Health and Welfare for animal health outbreaks. Resilience Division supports internal and external partners to prepare, respond and recover from emergencies such as severe weather, major incidents and public health outbreaks.

Health and Social Care staff are offered PCR weekly testing and over the winter period have been asked to undertake daily Lateral Flow Device (LFD) tests due to the risk posed by Omicron. Public Health Scotland (PHS) produce a weekly COVID-19 Statistical Report, which provides the number of LFD tests reported by Health and Social Care Workers in Scotland and PCR testing data by health board is published on the accompanying dashboard.

Health care PCR testing is primarily conducted through NHS Scotland and the three Regional Hub Laboratories provided a significant boost to our NHS Scotland lab capacity. Care home testing was transferred out of the UK Government testing programme and into the Regional Hubs to ensure swift processing and communication of results.

As demand for COVID testing reaches new levels, we continue to adapt the Test & Protect system in order to protect the vulnerable and support the resilience of essential workforces.

From Wednesday 29 December prioritised booking slots have been made available at test sites for all essential workers, including health and care workers and this covers agency staff. Prioritised booking slots can be accessed by clicking to confirm you are an essential worker when booking a test online.

This is in addition to the local arrangements that Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) and NHS health boards have in place for PCR testing for employees including agency staff.

The report Towards a Scotland that cares , which proposes the new National Outcome on Care for the National Performance Framework, will be fully considered as part of the Review of the National Performance Framework that will commence this year. As the National Outcomes are cross-cutting, this will ensure that the report’s findings can be considered holistically across the full range of outcomes that impact on care. This addresses the report’s recommendation that the Scottish Government further consults on the proposals, as blueprints, outlined in the report during the upcoming public engagement on the NPF.

The Scottish Government has provided funding to the University of Edinburgh to explore the feasibility of targeted lung health checks in those from areas of deprivation. We continue to support this work which is progressing and remain in regular contact with researchers. Results and learning from this work will be appropriately considered, once available.