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The Scottish Government is providing funding of £30 million to support GP practices in Inverclyde and the rest of Scotland to continue providing a high level of care to patients through this winter and into the next financial year.

The funding will help with the provision of existing GP services, including:

• supporting more face-to-face appointments
• extra GP sessions, practice nurse time and non-core hours covering all appointments
• more administrative time and practice manager time
• organised cover for reflection, learning and innovation
• external GP locum sessions

The Scottish Government has also allocated £155 million this year to health boards to expand teams within GP practices including increased:

• pharmacy support for repeat prescriptions and medication reviews
• nursing support for routine tests and wound treatment
• access to physiotherapy services

£2.5 million has been allocated to Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership from this fund. These measures will ensure patients can see the right healthcare expert at the right time while giving GPs more time with patients most in need of their skills and allowing doctors to focus on complex diagnosis, such as suspected cancer cases.

The Scottish Biometrics Commissioner was created through legislation introduced by the Scottish Government to the Scottish Parliament in 2019. The first Commissioner, Dr Brian Plastow, was appointed by Parliament and took up post in April 2021. The Commissioner’s main function is to support and promote the adoption of lawful, effective and ethical practices in relation to the collection, retention, use and destruction of biometric data for criminal justice and police purposes.

The scope of the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Act 2020 allows for the Commissioner’s oversight role to be extended to cover other bodies that have criminal justice or policing functions. Therefore, additional legislation would be required in order to broaden the Commissioner’s remit to include the use of facial recognition technology used in schools, shops, supermarkets and other public places. Consultation with the bodies affected and proper reflection would be required before any such legislation could be considered.

The Scottish Government has noted the 2021 open letter by Amnesty International and its concerns around the use of mass surveillance biometric technology in public spaces.

The Scottish Government recognises that assurances are required in order to secure public trust and support for any future use of the technology. We also note that legal and regulatory provisions must be sufficient to ensure accountability and transparency.

These matters are not solely for the Scottish Government, and we stand ready to work with Police Scotland, local authorities, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office and others with regard to the use of mass surveillance biometric technology, to ensure an approach which is lawful, effective, proportionate and ethical.

The decision to use any technology with facial recognition capability is an operational matter for Police Scotland, whilst having regard to the relevant laws. The Scottish Government understands from Police Scotland that they have no plans to use live facial recognition technology at this time.

In line with Scottish Government's commitment to the legal, ethical and proportionate use of technologies in policing, an Independent Advisory Group on Emerging Technologies, whose membership includes policing, human rights and data protection stakeholders, is currently developing recommendations and is due to report to Ministers later this year.

Adults and children with a learning disability who were coded in their GP systems as such, have now been invited for vaccination as at-risk groups. Criteria from the Green Book (GB) was used to develop queries to run across GP IT systems to identify and extract data on those identified as being eligible based on GB criteria. In addition, the Scottish Government has worked across carers and disability policy areas to cascade information via the third sector to organisations who support people with a learning disability – to further highlight this offer.

It is vital for vaccination programmes to reach everyone and that no one is left behind, both for individual health and our collective community wellbeing. We have increased our efforts to ensure the vaccination programme reaches everyone and is fully inclusive with a range of outreach activities and partnerships to engage with under-served groups.

On 25 February 2021, a letter from the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer offered the expertise of local learning disability nurses in providing reasonable adjustments for the COVID-19 Immunisation programme: Coronavirus (COVID-19): immunisation programme for people with learning disabilities - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We have ensured our COVID-19 vaccination communications are suitable for everyone in Scotland, with the production of translated information and assets in multiple languages, a range of formats on NHS Inform and the development of a vaccine explainer video, informed by insights from organisations representing various under-served communities. Easy read versions of our leaflets are available from Public Health Scotland: COVID-19 vaccine information in Easy Read (healthscotland.com) . These include accessible social stories explaining the process from arriving at the clinic to leaving. Some of the larger vaccination centres also have access to a quiet area for individuals, including extended appointment times for example at The Event Complex Aberdeen. A number of health boards also have “vaccine clinic walk-through” videos to support people who are anxious about the experience.

We embed inclusion in our approach and ensure that people who may experience barriers, or feel less confident, are able to come forward for vaccination. This includes the provision of quieter spaces, smaller clinics and appropriate staff training to support the needs of people with Learning Disabilities and other conditions. Particular adjustments, such as quiet rooms, can be organised in advance of or at the appointment by contacting the local Health Board.

I refer the member to the answer to the earlier question S6W-06595 on 1 March 2022. In addition, procedures are in place for when the nature of an individual’s condition means they cannot travel, so that a home appointment can be organised. On the first instance, people should contact the number on their appointment letter. Further information on how to request support with interpretation, or get help with travelling to appointments offered by local health boards can be found here: NHS Inform site - https://www.nhsinform.scot/transport-and-interpreter

Local health boards have a list of people currently registered as housebound with their GPs, and are in the process of contacting them all to receive their flu and COVID-19 booster in line with eligibility.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Following the publication of the strategic framework in relation to how Scotland moves forward whilst the threat of Covid 19 remains present, I am today publishing the National Strategy for Economic Transformation which sets out the actions, within the Scottish Parliament’s current powers, that the Scottish Government and partners will take to boost economic prosperity.

The next ten years have been branded the “decisive decade” where we face a choice to either lead or to lag behind other successful economies while we recover from COVID-19, deliver a just transition to net zero and tackle structural inequalities in our society.

This presents us with a unique opportunity to set out how we can build on Scotland’s strengths, recognise the challenges that face us, and maximise the opportunities of the next decade as far as possible within current constitutional arrangements to achieve our vision of a low-carbon, wellbeing economy that creates good well-paying jobs.

The strategy is framed around five policy programmes identified by close analysis of the available evidence https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781802016703 . They have been shaped by an expert Advisory Council, as well as through extensive stakeholder engagement and consultation.

The Strategy sets out a comprehensive set of actions for each of these policy programmes and I look forward to engaging with Members in a parliamentary debate as we collectively take forward our ambition to ensure these are realised for the benefit of all the people and places across Scotland.

The Scottish Government will not provide further details. The organisations that report cyber incidents under the Notifiable Scottish Public Sector Cyber Incidents procedure reasonably expect these details to be treated as confidential. Disclosure of these to a wider audience would undermine this confidentiality and adversely affect the openness with which organisations currently report incidents and participate in the reporting process. If this confidentiality were not maintained, Scottish public bodies could refrain from sharing incident details under this procedure. As a result, they may not receive the early support they need when facing a cyber incident. This would likely cause a substantial harm to the effective conduct of public affairs and the delivery of our public services.

The Heat in Buildings Strategy confirms our intention to introduce, subject to consultation, minimum energy efficiency regulations, equivalent to EPC C where that is technically feasible and cost effective from 2025.

These regulations will apply to private-rented homes by 2028. We plan to consult during 2022 on how these regulations will work in practice, considering whether any obligations may apply at the end of a tenancy, how long landlords may have to comply with any requirements, and the effects on tenants.

The requirement to meet the proposed energy efficiency standard will be predicated on it being technically feasible and cost effective as we recognise that some properties may be more constrained in terms of technology options available, or limited by location, impact on the fabric of historic buildings, property type or, space.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Ahead of the introduction of any legislation on minimum energy performance standards, the Scottish Government will undertake a suite of impact assessments on its proposals, which will have been informed by consultation to be undertaken over the next year. These impact assessments will enable any mitigating actions to be considered.