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Our Alcohol Framework set out a commitment to engaging in a national social marketing campaign to increase public awareness of the UK Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines.

We delivered the ‘Count 14’ marketing campaign over two phases, for three weeks in March 2019 and for six weeks through January and February 2020. Count 14 aims to increase awareness of the weekly 14 unit low-risk guidelines and to break down what 14 units means in terms of specific alcoholic drinks.

The campaign included TV, radio, print and digital advertising as well a roadshow in local supermarkets and a range of partnerships. We will publish the results of the campaign in early course.

We are considering how best to build upon our Count 14 campaign in order to further increase awareness and knowledge of safe drinking limits.

The Scottish Government has provided support to vulnerable people in various ways during the Covid-19 lockdown period, and recognises it is just as important now that we continue to make sure support is available and accessible to those that need it.

We have commissioned Public Health Scotland to provide analysis of alcohol sales data for the first six months of 2020 which will provide quantitative consumption data covering the lockdown period. This will help to inform us about the impact of Covid-19 on alcohol and also the potential impact on alcohol treatment services going forward.

During the pandemic, the Scottish Government has worked with a number of organisations addressing alcohol and drug harms. We have provided additional funding of £166,000 to fund activities such as the purchase of equipment to keep people in recovery connected, and increased the hours of our national helpline and webchat facilities. The Scottish Recovery Consortium has issued guidance to enable recovery groups to meet face-to-face where on-line meetings are not possible. I and the Interim Chief Medical Officer, Dr Gregor Smith, wrote to health boards and Integration Authorities on 16 April to ensure the need for continuation of care is prioritised for those with alcohol problems. Additional funding has been made available through NHS Mobilisation Plans to ensure support services remain open and accessible where possible.

Early on in the pandemic, we announced an expansion of the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) pilot programme, supported by an additional investment of over £1m. In our recent Programme for Government we committed to extend the DBI programme across Scotland, for a transitional period to 2024, at which point we expect it to be fully embedded by boards. We have provided an additional £2.1 million to expand the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub, and £0.5m to expand the capacity of the Breathing Space helpline and web support service for people experiencing low mood, depression or anxiety. In April, we also launched our Clear Your Head campaign, which provides practical advice on how to stay active, keep connected with friends and family, and create healthy routines to help us get through these times.

Factors such as background sound that may lead to raised voices or cause people to lean-in close to others to be heard are a risk factor in the transmission of coronavirus. This is recognised by a wide body of publicly available scientific evidence in relation to the role of aerosols in the transmission of viruses. The current position of no background sound, including low level music and audio from television, is a measured and cautious approach to reduce risk. It is being kept under review and government has engaged with industry experts to consider how guidance can be developed to allow low level background sound to be managed safely when transmission rates are back to a manageable level.

Getting it right for every child is our starting position for all policies. Due to the current restrictions on households meeting up indoors or outdoors, the organised activities for children guidance has been put in place as recognition of the needs of younger children. This guidance will be reviewed to ensure that as many activities as possible can be undertaken safely at this time.

A requirement has been placed upon staff to wear face coverings in workplace canteens (when not seated, eating or drinking) and indoor workplace communal areas from 16 October 19 October respectively. Communal areas in workplaces are places where people mingle or gather, for example, passageways, stairs, lifts, staff rooms, training rooms, changing rooms, and entrances.

Employers are not required to provide face coverings to their employees for these purposes.

It is the responsibility of individuals to provide their own face coverings for wearing in communal areas in workplaces and in work canteens. This is consistent with the requirement to wear face coverings in other public places indoors, including restaurants, bars and cafes, especially where 2 metre distancing is difficult to maintain.

A number of exemptions apply, and these are well documented in the guidance. They include where there are already measures in place to keep persons separated. Some people may feel more comfortable showing a card or badge that says they do not have to wear a face covering. A Scottish Government exemption card is being developed and will be accessible to the public by the end of October.

Urgent treatment, including for cancer has continued through the pandemic. Our priority remains to ensure that vital services are delivered to patients based on their clinical priority and clinical risk.

We have invested £10 million to support cancer services during and beyond the pandemic. This will support increased access to cancer diagnostics and staffing. We have also utilised private sector capacity and extended working days and weekend working to tackle waiting times.

On 4 June, we published the Framework for Recovery of Cancer Surgery to assist NHS Scotland prioritise those most in need of cancer treatment. We have committed to developing a Cancer Clinical Trials Subgroup as part of our recovery of cancer services. We are currently establishing the group and anticipate it will convene shortly.

The COVID-19 Restart Operational Group established by the Chief Scientist office is also looking at cancer clinical trials as part of its work on the resumption of non-COVID research activity.

We are in the process of developing a new Cancer Recovery plan. The plan will ensure patients have access to the best possible treatment and care and will be published shortly.

It is the case that we had to pause some public health campaigns, including cancer, planned for 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NHS is Open campaign launched on 24 April and urged those with urgent cancer symptoms to still present. Planning is now underway for further public-facing activity, including cancer, but timings are critical to avoid public confusion during winter or detract from urgent health advice relating to the pandemic.

Communities, including those affected by the COVID-19 restrictions in Lanarkshire and Forth Valley health board areas, continue to be supported by investment through the Scottish Government’s Communities funding package. Details of funding allocated by local authority area can be found using the Scottish Government’s Communities Fund Mapping Tool .

The tool highlights that since the start of the pandemic over £20 million has been allocated to support communities in the Lanarkshire Health Board area and that over £9 million has been allocated to support communities in Forth Valley. These areas also benefit from wider investments, including those set out in recent correspondence to the Communities Committee . On 20 October 2020 the Social Security Secretary announced a further £30 million of funding to tackle financial insecurity across the winter period and continue the provision of Free School Meals during school holidays, allocations for this funding will be made available once formally agreed with COSLA Leaders.

To support businesses affected by the temporary restrictions the Economy Secretary announced the COVID-19 Restrictions Fund on 13 October, making an initial £40 million available. Ministers announced an increase to the value of grants through the scheme on 21 October with increased funding available to support businesses affected by the extension of restrictions.

These measures are part of the wider £2.3 billion package of support for business, including an estimated £972 million worth of COVID reliefs to reduce business costs during the pandemic, over £1 billion worth of business support fund grants and almost £160 million of additional grant support for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) and newly self-employed people.

Statistics on grants awarded by Local Authorities through the Small Business Grant Scheme and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant scheme are published on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-fund-grant-statistics/ .

Statistics on the grants for the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund, Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF) and Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund (CTHEHF), and Bed and Breakfasts Hardship Fund (B&BHF) are published at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-hardship-and-resilience-funds-statistics

Statistics on relief awards by Local Authority will be available in the Non-domestic rates relief statistics publication scheduled for release on 30 November 2020.

Grant awards through the COVID-19 Restrictions Fund will be reported in due course.

The Scottish Government is working with Health Boards to redesign urgent care pathways by reviewing and building upon some of the important work carried out during the pandemic to ensure people receive the right care, at the right place, at the right time, every time. This work will help minimise delays in A&E departments and ensure safe and efficient access to healthcare.

Additionally we are working with Health and Social Care Partnerships to deliver more care in the community, and where possible at home, avoiding the need to go to hospital unnecessarily. As part of the work to redesign urgent care we will continue to support health boards to deliver improved processes that will reduce the number of patients requiring admission to hospital and to ensure where admission is necessary that patients are discharged as soon as it is clinically appropriate to do so, avoiding unnecessary delays in hospital and reducing occupancy.

We plan to establish at least 22 Local Test Sites. Sites in St Andrews, Glasgow city centre, west Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, West Dunbartonshire, Stirling, Dundee, west Edinburgh, Inverness and Inverclyde are operational. We have worked closely with universities, health boards and local authorities to deliver these local test sites.

We have committed to delivering a further 11 sites by winter, and are working with our partners to identify further site locations. Decisions on where to plan sites will take into account the overall national test site landscape and local area needs, including:

• high population density,
• low car ownership,
• higher deprivation,
• whether those in rural areas can access tests,
• distance from regional testing centres and mobile testing units,
• whether areas are not covered by home test kit delivery and pick up, and,
• higher positive test rates.