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The National Qualifications 2021 Group was established in October 2020 with members from across the education system. The group is comprised of representatives of teachers, lecturers, learners and parents, working alongside Local Authorities, Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Scottish Government. The organisations on the National Qualifications Group agreed the model for this year, which has been co-produced by them, and is the fairest possible approach for our young people in the challenging circumstances resulting from the pandemic.

SQA carried out a public consultation on proposed modification to the assessment of National Courses. They received over 20,000 responses and as a result introduced reductions to the assessment of all National Courses to take account of learning disruption, whilst still maintaining the credibility of the qualifications for learners and end users. Within that context, SQA has provided subject-specific guidance documents for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses. These documents support teachers and lecturers in gathering key assessment evidence as the basis for provisional results. The documents also give guidance on the modifications that were made to courses, after public consultation, to streamline requirements to support teachers and learners and mitigate the impact of disruption.

The unavoidable second period of remote learning due to the pandemic has unfortunately meant that assessments are taking place over a shorter period than was first anticipated.

To help address this, the framework allows for a significant degree of local flexibility in which assessment tools are used in ways and at times which suit local circumstances and the specific needs of learners.

The deadline for submission of provisional grades has been extended to 25 June 2021 to allow for teaching and learning to be completed and to provide a longer opportunity for the gathering of assessment evidence.

The National Qualifications 2021 Group has been very clear that certification must be based on demonstrated attainment.

There is no externally assessed and marked examination diet this year. However, it is necessary for learners to be assessed to provide evidence to demonstrate their level of attainment and to allow teachers and lecturers to use their professional judgement to determine each learner’s provisional results.

The timing and nature of the assessments has been decided by local authorities, individual schools and colleges, providing flexibility to assess individual learners at different times and in different ways. This allows teachers and lecturers to take account of the variable disruption to learning that their pupils have experienced as a result of the pandemic.

As of 17 May 2021, the sum of £410,171.22 has been paid from the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund. The total value of successful applications is £472,404.72, with the remaining funds in the process of being paid. This is part of a range of measures to support tenants.

As of 17 May 2021, there have been 145 tenants that have received a loan from the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund and there are a further 27 successful applications that are in the process of being paid. This is part of a range of measures to support tenants.

The Scottish Government has not yet received details from the UK Government of the costs of security associated with the Managed Isolation programme, and therefore does not yet know what this represents as a percentage of the overall cost of quarantine. However, the Scottish Government is aware that costs incurred are not charged to the UK Government on a per person basis in relation to the number of guests using Managed Isolation, as numbers of security personnel required can vary from location to location depending on factors such as number of flights to be met, journey times on transport services, and numbers of floors in occupation in quarantine hotels.

The Scottish Government has announced it will publish its annual 'Homelessness in Scotland: Update to 30th September 2020' statistical publication on 23 March 2021. This publication covers data for the period 1 April to 30 September 2020, alongside data from January to March 2018.

In addition the Scottish Government will publish annual homelessness statistics covering data up to 31 March 2021 later this year. The publication date for this release is yet to be finalised.

Publications are published on the Scottish Government Homelessness Statistics Webpage: Homelessness statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Vaccinations are taking place differently across Scotland to reflect the needs of local communities. NHS Scotland Heath Boards are responsible for the local delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine. As such, Health Boards are responsible for making decisions regarding local delivery in line with the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) guidance. This includes how to deliver vaccines to those with underlying health conditions.

Information is provided to healthcare practitioners via the Green Book, which holds the latest information on vaccines and vaccination. The Green Book states for cohort 6, the JCVI priority list is not exhaustive and there may be people, with a particular underlying health condition, who would benefit from earlier vaccination based on the clinical judgement of a clinician looking after the person on a case by case risk assessment.

Due to the flexibility of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s eligibility criteria for Cohort 6, it isn’t possible to provide a population size for Cohort 6.

As of March 2021, 162,881 people who are Clinically Extremely Vulnerable have received their first dose.

Those aged 64 years or under and considered to be at risk in the 2020-21 Seasonal Flu Vaccination Programme, were 757,926. The Scottish Government encourages all those who are eligible for both the Covid-19 and the seasonal flu vaccines to accept their invitation when offered an appointment.

Vaccinations are taking place differently across Scotland to reflect the needs of local communities. NHS Scotland Heath Boards are responsible for the local delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine. As such, Health Boards are responsible for making decisions regarding local delivery in line with the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation guidance. This includes how to deliver vaccines to those who are housebound.

Patient information which would indicate whether a person is housebound is not held within the Scottish Government. We are therefore unable to advise what proportion of housebound people have received their COVID-19 vaccine.

As of 11 March 2021:

• 19,252 care home residents have received 2 doses of the vaccine (64% of residents in older adult care homes and 60% of all care home residents).

• 262,621 people aged 80 or over have received their first dose (97%).

• 194,675 people aged 75-79 (99%) have received their first dose.

• 278,452 people aged 70-74 (99.9%) have received their first dose.

• 289,008 people aged 65-69 (97%) have received their first dose.

• 151,828 people aged 60-64 (44%) have received their first dose.

• 145,496 people aged 55-59 (37%) have received their first dose.

• 121,830 people aged 50-54 (30%) have received their first dose.

• 162,881 people who are Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (91% of the shielding list) have received their first dose.