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Clinical advice and available scientific evidence suggests that it is too early to draw conclusions on what the long-term physical and mental health impacts of the Coronavirus outbreak will be. However, the Scottish Government is undertaking research and acting on the available evidence to provide support for those whose mental health may have suffered as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak or the necessary restrictions. This includes risks to health and wellbeing from problematic use of alcohol or other drugs.

In anticipation of potential negative impact on the mental health of the Scottish population, the Scottish Government has launched its Clear Your Head campaign and invested heavily in services to provide advice and support. Since the outbreak, over £6million has gone to initiatives such as expanding the NHS24’s Mental Health Hub to a 24/7 service and enhancing its Breathing Space helpline and web support services; rolling out the Distress Brief Intervention nation-wide; and extending digital therapies through computerised and internet-enabled Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. The Scottish Government has also provided an additional £20 million for alcohol and drug services in 2020-21 to support people experiencing harm from alcohol and other drugs and has provided additional funding for alcohol and drugs webchat helplines.

We are using existing clauses within the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services contracts to support CalMac in the current circumstances.

These emergency measures have been taken to provide support to CalMac to allow them to cover costs whilst having lower revenues as a result of Covid-19 travel restrictions.

At the time of writing, up to £24.7m of emergency support has been approved for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services as part of the Accountable Officer (AO) Submissions process.

We maintain regular contact with CalMac on the financial impacts on them and to ensure we provide appropriate support. The exact figures for financial support will not be known until we know what levels of demand are likely to use the services as we emerge from lockdown and how well capacity can cope with demand. The financial outturn will also be impacted upon by any constraints on capacity arising out of the need to maintain physical distancing on passenger vessels to protect the health of passengers and crew. Therefore, it is likely that further reconciliations will take place at appropriate points in the contract.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29348 on 4 June 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The letter issued by the Chief Medical Officer, advising people to shield, provided advice on what people could do to keep mentally active, to look after their mental well-being while they are shielding.

It also signposted people to additional advice and support from the NHS Inform advice, and the Breathing Space websites.

On 28 March the Scottish Government announced a further £3.8 million to begin to increase the capacity of NHS 24’s telephone and online services to cope with further demand from callers experiencing mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government’s Our ‘Clear Your Head’ campaign https://clearyourhead.scot/ highlights the practical things people can do to help them feel better whilst continuing to stay at home, acknowledging these are worrying and uncertain times for many. Along with a range of tips on how to stay positive, the campaign website signposts sources of help and advice including NHS Inform, and helplines including NHS24, Breathing Space, SAMH and the Samaritans.

COVID-19 is the biggest challenge we have faced in our lifetime and the measures we are taking to deal with it reflect its magnitude.

This is first and foremost a public health crisis and that is our primary focus. However, the health responses required and the global impact of this has meant that this is now an economic crisis also.

The economic impact of the pandemic and measures to reduce its spread should be temporary but significant. Scottish Government analysis shows that there could be a 33% fall in GDP during the current period of physical distancing.

Regional exposure to the impacts from COVID-19 will vary due to the varied composition of industrial, workforce and wider population structures and we will continue to examine regional impacts to ensure that the specific needs of Scotland’s regions are supported.

We are liaising closely with local authorities on the impact of COVID-19, and the wider action required to enable recovery in their local communities and wider regions.

Enforcement of the Health Protection (Coronavirus)(Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (“the Coronavirus Regulations”) is the responsibility of local authorities and Police Scotland. We are working closely with them and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to ensure a joined up approach to the enforcement and monitoring of workplace public health measures.

To support this we are working with local authorities to identify ways to increase the capacity of environmental health services and exploring other options to support worker and consumer confidence. These include working with the STUC, who plan to allocate part of the ongoing Scottish Government funding for Scottish Union Learning to support projects which will facilitate relevant training for existing trade union health and safety reps, and will extend capacity in that specialism.

We will work with the regulators to ensure that there is effective advice and guidance in place to support employers meet their obligations and create safer workplaces for all, and released a joint statement on 26 May to this effect; https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-work-places-statement/

The data used for the exercise was a scenario involving a strain of influenza which affected under 25’s and the modelling was provided by Health Protection Scotland colleagues.

The methodology took the form of two table top exercises – one featuring the Health & Social Care response to an influenza pandemic and the other focusing on the additional deaths resulting from the pandemic. These were conducted over several locations across Scotland enabling over 600 people to participate and discuss the issues. The exercise report was published via SPICe following an earlier request.

The Principal Accountable Officer for the Scottish Administration (the Permanent Secretary) and Accountable Officers designated by them for parts of the Scottish Administration are under a statutory duty to obtain written authority from the relevant Minister where they consider that any action they are required to take would be inconsistent with their responsibilities. These responsibilities include ensuring financial propriety and regularity and ensuring that relevant resources are used economically, efficiently and effectively (i.e. value for money).   There has only been one occasion when a written authority has been requested by an Accountable Officer of the Scottish Government since the beginning of 2007. Since devolution there have only been five occasions overall where Accountable Officers for parts of the Scottish Administration have sought such written authority. All were sought in relation to value for money, two were in regards to the same issue. The table below details each instance since 1 July 1999 and the reason for each instruction being made.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28973 on 19 May 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

This is also the position for deaths in care homes.

The Scottish Government has provided additional financial support to rail franchise operators to cover the loss of revenue as a result of the reduction in demand due to Covid-19 restrictions in the form of Emergency Measures Agreements. These are essentially variations to the existing franchise agreements whereby the level of support is increased in relation to the revenue shortfall. This is offset by a reduction in the costs of running lower levels of services. These arrangements were put in place from March until September this year.