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It is vital that those who are doing their part to limit the spread of COVID-19 are not financially disadvantaged by doing so. The Scottish Government worked with local authorities to introduce the Self-Isolation Support Grant at great pace, and we committed at its introduction to review the Grant in order to ensure it worked for people who face hardship as a result of self-isolation.

Following early feedback from councils and stakeholders, we will extend the Grant to be available to parents of a child who is required to self-isolate from school or nursery, and the parent fulfils the other eligibility criteria – that they are a worker, on a low income, and they face a loss of income as they are unable to work from home. This will support parents who are facing financial hardship because they need to take time off work to care for that child.

We will also extend the Grant to people who are eligible for Universal Credit, but have not claimed it. This will allow people to receive the Grant as quickly as possible.

The changes have been agreed with CoSLA and we will work with councils on delivering these changes to the scheme. The changes are expected to start from ‎ 7 December.

Protecting and supporting people during these unparalleled times is the absolute focus of this government. We know that the winter period will be challenging for many, with continued COVID restrictions, colder weather and the threat of a no-deal exit from the EU.

We are committed to doing everything we can to support people throughout the winter and that is why we are investing an additional £100 million in a Winter Plan for Social Protection to help people and communities. The Plan includes:

• £22 million to support families on low incomes. This includes a £100 per child payment for those in receipt of Free School Meals in December, delivered through local authorities. Alongside £5 million of funding available to children’s charities and £1 million to enable suitable clothing to be provided for children accessing Early Learning and Childcare who need it.
• £23.5 million to support services for vulnerable children and young people to address areas where the children and families social work resource is experiencing significant challenge in meeting demand.
• £15 million to enhance capacity within the third sector and communities and enable us to support more community and third sector organisations.
• £15 million of flexible funding for local authorities moving into level 4 to support the needs of people in their communities who do not have support networks and are struggling with the new restrictions or guidance. This may be access to food or medicine or other emerging needs that result from an area entering level 4.
• £7 million to further help with fuel costs to be delivered through existing partnerships to enhance the support available.
• £2 million further investment in strategic national food activity to strengthen existing supports and ensure that individuals facing food insecurity can access the food they need.
• £5.14 million further investment to support people affected by homelessness.
• £5.91 million additional investment to promote equality and tackle social isolation and loneliness. This includes support for national helplines and £4.2 million additional funding for our Connecting Scotland Programme, specifically targeted to getting older people online to tackling loneliness.
• £0.25 million on a post-Christmas marketing campaign on benefit uptake and income maximisation.
• £4.2 million Reserve Fund to meet potential pressures. This will be deployed as needed to strengthen elements of the Winter Plan, should they prove insufficient, or to meet new emergent need.

The consultation is published today and will be available on the Scottish Government’s Consultation Hub at https://consult.gov.scot/energy-and-climate-change-directorate/a-consultation-on-the-regulation-of-electricians It builds on the work of the Electricians Working Group which I chair and which has been exploring the issue of whether electricians should be regulated. The closing date is 12 February 2021.

Flooding remains of the highest priority to the Scottish Government. This year’s Programme for Government committed us to invest an extra £150 million for flood risk management in addition to the £42 million provided each year to local authorities. We will continue to work with SEPA, local authorities and other relevant bodies to deliver the actions set out in the F lood Risk Management Strategies and Plans. Just this week we funded two new flood warning schemes, launched by SEPA in Eilean Siar and Aberfoyle, which will allow these communities to better prepare for future flooding.

I set out to Parliament on 7 October that due to unavoidable circumstances all National 5 exams in 2021 would be cancelled, and that a delayed Higher and Advanced Higher exam diet commencing on 13 May would go ahead.

The SQA has been developing the detail of the exams timetable for 2021 and has assessed that there is a significant risk that a large number of candidates would face sitting two Higher exams in a single day, and which could occur on a number of days across the currently planned slightly compressed diet.

We must be mindful of the burden that the approach to awarding in 2021 places on learners. On balance, I believe that bringing the start of the exam diet forward by a few days to 10 May will reduce the incidences of excessive candidate burden occurring, with minimal impact on reduced learning time. The SQA will be very shortly publishing the detailed exams timetable for 2021.

The Health and Safety Executive has undertaken a programme of independent compliance checks regarding implementation of the COVID-19 school reopening guidance.

The initial stage of this programme involved telephone compliance checks of a representative sample of 500 schools in 16 local authorities. Over 80% of schools involved were judged likely to be in compliance with the guidance at this initial stage. The HSE undertook follow-up site visits to 100 schools where levels of compliance were less certain.

My officials met with the HSE on 23 September to understand the key findings of the HSE inspections. HSE officials reported their view that the school reopening guidance was generally of very good quality, viewed very positively by schools and was flexible enough to be implemented appropriately in different school settings and adapted to local circumstances.

Feedback from HSE officials was that, overall, the schools they visited were doing "a great job" in implementing the guidance and they were “very impressed with what has been done in very challenging circumstances”. They noted positive work in areas such as adapting social distancing approaches to specific school circumstances, and ensuring good standards of hygiene. Based on the inspections undertaken, HSE found no need for formal interventions requiring improvements. Advice and examples of good practice had been provided where there were any concerns.

As part of our suicide prevention response to the pandemic we are working with our National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG) to ensure we have effective support for those in suicidal crisis. This involves close partnership with COSLA and third sector bodies which provide support and we have accepted all the recommendations in the NSPLG’s recent Covid statement.

We know from those with lived experience the importance of ready support for those at risk of suicide. That is why our additional investment over the pandemic period, for example, in making the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and rolling out Distress Brief Intervention, was so vital.