Seòmar agus comataidhean

Any decision on ending the policy of managed isolation will be contingent on the epidemiological data and wider evidence about the rollout and success of our vaccination programme. Such a decision will be considered, in due course, in the context of a refreshed strategic approach to suppressing the virus.

There will be limited exemptions from the requirement to enter managed isolation. We understand how difficult this is, but to manage the risk of importing new variants and to give vaccine deployment the best chance of bringing us closer to normality these limits on international travel are necessary.

The clinical advice is clear that a comprehensive system of managed quarantine is essential to minimise the impact of new COVID-19 variants. This means that we must restrict how many exemptions are in place otherwise the policy will not be effective.

We wrote to Health Boards asking that they secure sufficient capacity to deliver 400,000 doses per week in February.

This will require a daily workforce of around 1,700 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) vaccinators and around 1,300 support staff.

We have taken steps to supplement our seasonal flu vaccination workforce with healthcare workers from the fields of general practice, dentistry, optometry and pharmacy.

Close to 12,200 vaccinators are registered on our national Vaccination Management Tool.

We are in ongoing dialogue with Boards and will continue to review workforce requirements in partnership with them as the programme progresses.

All Health Boards have included their housebound patients within their delivery models for each priority group. We have had confirmation that those aged 80 and over living in the community who are housebound have received their vaccination, with only small gaps for reasons such as illness or non-consent.

On 16 February 2021, I announced that the Scottish Budget 2021-22 would extend the COVID-19 relief for properties in the retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation sectors, and newspaper publishing, for all of 2021-22 provided the Scottish Government receives the funding already assumed from the UK Budget on 3 March, and that requisite funds are available to maintain existing support into 2021-22.

The Statement of Reasons setting out why the Scottish Government thinks Parts 1 of the two Scottish Coronavirus Acts should be extended was laid in Parliament on Wednesday 24 February. It has also been published on the Scottish Government website - Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 and the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020 - proposed extension: statement of reasons - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

This includes extending the non-eviction provisions until 30 September 2021. The Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts (Amendment of Expiry Dates) Regulations 2021 were also laid in draft at the same time to provide for the extension of the Acts to this date. We have no confirmed dates yet for when the Scottish Parliament will consider these regulations.

Student Doctors and nurses who are required to undertake placements will be prioritised for the COVID-19 vaccine, if they are in a frontline, patient facing roll.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of marriage and civil partnership to couples and to society more widely. We appreciate the difficulties caused by the restrictions in place and that these may mean a couple has to make difficult decisions about their wedding ceremony or civil partnership registration. Our priority remains public health.

The First Minister announced on 2 February that the current lockdown, including the requirement to stay at home except for essential purposes, needs to remain in place until at least the end of February. Our expectation is therefore that the current rules on marriages and civil partnerships will not change until at least March.

Where possible, we outline anticipated future changes and set out indicative dates for them. Regrettably, the Scottish Government is not able to say now what the position will be in August.

There are a number of uncertainties which affect our ability to offer increased confidence to couples and the wedding sector for the future, including whether we will have suppressed the prevalence of the virus sufficiently, whether there will be sufficient vaccination coverage, whether new variants are also controlled, and evidence that vaccines are preventing or limiting transmission.

In December 2020, the First Minister announced a review of the Strategic Framework and that she will report the outcome of that review to Parliament. This process will ensure that the Framework continues to be fit for purpose and maps out our approach for the period ahead in the light of the rapidly evolving situation and the latest available evidence.

We continue to keep all the restrictions under close review and we are committed to not keeping restrictions in place any longer than is absolutely necessary.

Retired teachers can re-register with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), which will allow them to be employed by local authorities to help with education recovery.

The Scottish Government has worked with the GTCS to gauge interest from recently retired and lapsed teachers and ensure that they can re-register easily if they wish to assist during the Covid pandemic. The General Teaching Council for Scotland contacted around 3,000 recently retired and lapsed teachers in June 2020 to establish their availability and willingness to return to the workforce and increase the potential pool of additional teachers. We understand that, to date, interest has been limited with fewer than 100 applications and notes of interest received by the GTCS.

The Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland and a variety of organisations to assess the harms caused by problem gambling and to bolster the support available in Scotland.

Assistance for those experiencing problems cause by gambling is available through a network of Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships who have expertise in tackling all forms of addiction. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of this approach is being analysed to assess the scale of reported rise in problem gambling and further measures will be put in place accordingly.

I can confirm that an interim update report will be shared with key stakeholders in March, and that a qualitative evaluation will be shared at a later date.

So far five Health Boards have expressed an interest in extending the shared care initiative throughout the calendar year and my officials are working with clinical and managerial teams in these Health Boards to progress delivery of this initiative.