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The Scottish Government will set out its approach to winter preparedness for 2025/26 in due course. This will include the publication of the planning document National Planning Priorities and Principles for Surge and Winter Preparedness in Health and Social Care.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

There has never been a provision in law for supervised working while organisations were waiting to obtain a Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme record. Until 1 April 2025, the PVG scheme was not a legal requirement therefore organisations could choose to have people in regulated work without seeing PVG scheme membership.

In forecasting volumes resultant from the legal requirement to be in the PVG scheme if carrying out a regulated role, Disclosure Scotland expected 50,000 additional applications against normal levels and diverted 10 full-time equivalent staff from other areas of the business to help manage delivering disclosure processing and support services. Planning included that, from 1 April onwards, application volumes and resources were monitored daily through checkpoint meetings to enable timely decision-making.

Within normal resource, Disclosure Scotland has historically exceeded its Service Level Agreement (SLA) of 90% of applications processed within 14 days. In 2023-24, 95.3% of applications were completed within 14 days and in 2024-25, 97.7% within 14 days.

Disclosure Scotland is currently performing within its SLA to process 90% of applications within 14 days.

I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:

Employees already in regulated roles on 1 April 2025 and whose employer had received a Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme record did not need to obtain a new Level 2 with PVG disclosure. Only people who were in regulated roles whose employer had never registered their interest in the PVG scheme member or who were taking up a regulated role with a new employer needed to apply.

In recognition of the need for organisations to adapt to the new legislation and allow those in roles that were not eligible for PVG scheme membership prior to 1 April to join the Scheme, Disclosure Scotland provided a “grace period” of three months from 1 April for applications to be submitted before offence provisions came into force.

To manage volumes, Disclosure Scotland worked with organisations to encourage them to get those people who were eligible to join prior to April 2025 into the scheme before it became mandatory. Organisations were encouraged to contact Disclosure Scotland to discuss regulated roles and provide anticipated volumes that would be received between 1 April and 30 June 2025. While Disclosure Scotland had no power to compel organisations to do so at that time due to the non-mandatory nature of the scheme, many stakeholders did work with Disclosure Scotland to ensure those already eligible were in the scheme before 1 April and project their applicant volumes for the grace period.

There has never been a provision in law for supervised working while organisations were waiting to obtain a Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme record. Until 1 April 2025, the PVG scheme was not a legal requirement therefore organisations could choose to have people in regulated work without seeing PVG scheme membership.

The Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 introduced a legal requirement for organisations to receive a Level 2 with PVG scheme information before a person can carry out a regulated role for them. This was in response to the 2017 Health and Sport Committee report into Child Protection in Sport which noted serious concerns that “the application of the current PVG scheme results in variations in practice as to whether coaches can work/volunteer in a limited capacity without a PVG check having been completed”.

The changes under the Disclosure Act closed this gap which undermined public confidence in the PVG scheme and safeguarding of children and protected adults.

Scotland’s spring and winter vaccination programmes for flu and COVID-19 are implemented as part of the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP) - a collaborative effort involving the Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, and Health Boards.

In recognition of Scotland’s changing demographics and the ageing population, territorial Health Boards assess and plan their workforce needs to effectively implement their respective programs each season.

For each programme, SVIP conducts precise assessments of the eligible population - based on criteria established by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation - recognising that these numbers may vary annually, and planning is accordingly adjusted to ensure effective implementation.

Between winter 2023-24 and winter 2024-25 uptake across all adult groups for both flu and COVID-19 decreased, with flu uptake dropping back in line with pre-pandemic levels.

Each year, the Scottish Vaccination and Immunisation Programme (SVIP) reviews the performance of the previous winter programme to improve delivery and implement new initiatives with the aim of improving uptake. In addition, SVIP holds regular winter task and finish groups throughout the winter programme, led by PHS and attended by immunisation teams from the 14 territorial Health Boards, as well as the national Boards and Scottish Government policy teams. This helps the programme to respond in real time to any unexpected drops in uptake, including sharing best practice.

There are a wide range of steps being taken to encourage uptake through how people are invited for vaccination. People eligible due to age and/or health condition will receive a direct communication by letter, email or text with details about their appointment or information on how to book one. In winter 2023-24, all those with a digital preference who self-booked via the online booking portal or national vaccination helpline received a digital reminder 24 to 48 hours before their appointment. This winter, we have expanded those reminders to 100% of those with a booking who have a digital preference, which now includes all those who have been automatically scheduled by the national programme. For those who are sent an appointment via SMS or email, a new process launched in spring 2025, whereby if an email address is undeliverable, or the mobile number is no longer in use, a letter is sent to inform the individual and encourage them to log in or ring the helpline to update their details and book an appointment.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) has developed a new communications campaign (For some, flu hits harder) focused on raising awareness and encouraging uptake of the flu vaccine. Communications and marketing activity is running nationally across radio, social media, out of home, paid display and pay per click advertising from 15 September to 7 December. This activity is highly targeted at lower uptake groups including those aged 18-64 years of age with an eligible health condition, pregnant women and health and social care workers, as well as in areas with lower SIMD and with ethnic minority communities.

New resources including posters and social media toolkits have been shared with over 1,300 key stakeholders. The social media toolkit includes resources for both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines and includes a range of videos, statics, case studies, website, newsletter and intranet copy.

Updated information is available on NHS Inform and significant activity is being undertaken by PHS to reach particular people. PHS currently share health information resources such as leaflets, posters and social media toolkits with a wide range of partners who represent Scotland’s diverse population. As standard, core resources are produced in five primary languages (English, Arabic, Chinese Traditional (Cantonese), Chinese Simplified (Mandarin) and Polish) and four other formats: Audio, British Sign Language, Easy Read and Large Print, with additional formats and languages available on request.

PHS have also been working closely with a range of third sector partners to help design and disseminate programme materials for particular stakeholder groups. This includes members of the Alliance, the British Islamic Medical Association, Age Scotland and Asthma and Lung UK.

The Scottish Government has no plans to consider making flu vaccination mandatory for any eligible groups, including public-facing NHS staff.

There is evidence that mandatory vaccination damages confidence in vaccination and provokes a negative reaction in those for whom it is mandated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, the UK Government briefly made COVID-19 vaccination a mandatory condition of employment for frontline health and social care workers and staff in care homes, but quickly rescinded it due to significant opposition from the staff group. Although never mandated by Scottish Government, some private Scottish health and social care employers did require COVID-19 vaccination, and some health and social staff conflated their employers’ position, and that of the UK Government, with that of the Scottish Government. Some workers still have residual objections in regards to this, which impacts their views on workplace vaccination. Our policy is therefore to provide evidence-based, scientific rationale that encourages the workforce forward for vaccination on a voluntary basis.

Taking up the offer of the flu vaccine is the best way for people to protect themselves and those around them from getting ill; however it must be an individual's choice to get vaccinated. The Scottish Government ensures that accurate and trusted information is available to the public to help them to make an informed decision.

We continue to encourage all eligible individuals, including NHS staff, to take up the offer of the flu vaccine.

All those aged 75 years and over are eligible for both flu and COVID-19 vaccination, and will be offered both vaccines at the same appointment. Invitations for these cohorts will have been sent out by the start of November.

Additionally, in October, the Scottish Vaccination & Immunisation Programme runs a flu and COVID-19 mid-programme data refresh. This is designed to pick up those who may have become newly eligible due to developing a new clinical condition, or for those who have moved into Scotland, since the initial data was run in the late summer. These new invites are sent throughout November.

Health Boards do not receive their entire stock in one delivery. Instead, they draw down stock based on demand in order to minimise wastage and optimise on-site capacity.

COVID-19 vaccines have been available for Boards to order since 8 September, for the COVID-19 programme start date of 29 September. Adult flu vaccine stock has been available for Boards to order since 26 August and child flu vaccine stock has been available for Boards to order since 1 September.

COVID-19 stock will be available until the conclusion of that programme on 31 January 2026 and all necessary flu vaccines will be available until the conclusion of that campaign on 29 March 2026.

There are no issues with the supply of any of the winter flu and COVID-19 vaccines and we have procured adequate supply for the duration of the programmes.