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The Public Health Scotland COVID-19 Shielding Programme impact and experience survey which was published in March 2022 reported that 81% of respondents still make decisions that are mainly influenced by fear of COVID-19 infection, and 36% still try to minimise all physical contact with other households. While this data relates to a survey completed between 25 October 2021 and
‎ 7 November 2021, we know there are still people who continue to limit activities and contacts with other households.

All NHS Scotland Boards are providing assessment and support for people with long COVID. This is being delivered across the full range of services delivered by our NHS and includes local primary care teams, community based rehabilitation services and referrals for further investigation delivered in secondary care settings where clinically appropriate.

It is for each NHS Board to develop and deliver the best models of care for assessment, diagnostic tests, and support for the treatment or management of symptoms, tailored to the needs of their local population. This will involve strengthening the co-ordination of existing services, or establishing dedicated services where appropriate.

To support this, we are investing an initial £3 million from our long COVID Support Fund over this financial year to provide NHS Boards and partners with additional resource to respond to the needs of people with long COVID in their areas. While none of the services being delivered by NHS Scotland Boards are termed ‘long COVID clinics’, initiatives being supported by the funding include key elements of care that is also offered by post COVID assessment clinics elsewhere in the UK; such as the introduction of care co-ordinator roles to provide a single point of contact for people with long COVID and their families and the introduction of a multi-disciplinary assessment service to provide a person-centred assessment of people’s needs.

In recognition of the particular challenges the North East has faced as result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the downturn in oil and gas, we have allocated £14.3m to the North East Economic Recovery and Skills Fund, which offers over 3,000 training opportunities in addition to supporting hundreds of local businesses at a critical time for the local economy. We have worked closely with local partners to develop proposals aligned to the City Region economic priorities of diversification and net zero transition, including local authorities, Skills Development Scotland, Opportunity North East, Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Funding Council and local universities.

This programme aligns with existing nationwide upskilling and reskilling programmes of support for colleges and universities as we work towards a just transition, including the Young Person’s Guarantee, the National Transition Training Fund, the Flexible Workforce Development Fund and the Green Jobs Workforce Academy.

In 2022-23, we are also progressing key actions from the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) focused on inspiring and empowering young people; supporting upskilling to meet emerging green jobs requirements; aligning work-based learning, Further and Higher Education provision to meet the needs of the net zero transition; facilitating behaviour change and helping employers capitalise on opportunities, and driving change in the skills system. The CESAP is being driven forward by an Implementation Steering Group comprised of central and local government and its agencies, education and skills providers, industry and independent experts.

The Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde receives referrals from Health Boards across Scotland and a number of patients are seen on a weekly basis.

Public Health Scotland confirm that between July 2020 (when the Service was established) and December of that year, seven removal procedures were undertaken, whilst 24 procedures were carried out in 2021. In order to protect patient confidentiality a precise figure cannot yet be provided for 2022, as fewer than five procedures have been performed so far this year. For similar reasons, precise numbers of full and partial removals cannot be quoted here, though the majority of surgeries undertaken have been full removals.

The Covid 19 pandemic has undoubtedly had a significant impact on both waiting times and the numbers of procedures carried out, as indeed is the case in many speciality areas across the NHS as a whole. However, the Scottish Government expects the Health Board to improve this situation, and will work with it in the coming months to that end.

All occurrences of mesh complications are treated individually depending on the circumstances of the patient in question, and decisions on the most appropriate treatment are a private matter between the patient and her clinicians. Many patients will undergo full removal of their mesh implant whilst, in other cases, partial removal may be more appropriate and therefore be the preferred option. There may also be circumstances where other, more conservative treatments are considered. What is fundamental in all cases, however, is that patients are aware of and understand the benefits of the treatments open to them, the risks, the alternative treatments, and the potential consequences of doing nothing. Therefore, in each individual case, and in consistence with GMC guidance on consent, it is expected all appropriate and available treatments are discussed with the patient in question, allowing them to make a fully informed decision on their care.

The Scottish Government previously provided a response advising where the £12 million to support the wellbeing of people working in health, social care and social work was allocated and what was spent. https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers/question?ref=S6W-08799

A breakdown of the funding provided by the Scottish Government for each service is as follows;

In the financial year 2021/22, £12 million was allocated to support the wellbeing of people working in health and social care of which £11.5 million was spent. We allocated £1,145,895 to the Workforce Specialist Service to deliver psychological and psychiatric support to regulated practitioners who provide care to others. £921,029 was allocated on formal psychological interventions that formed the Workforce Development Programme and £366,650 was allocated to the NES Coaching for Wellbeing service. To ensure staff have access to support when they need it, £138,666 was allocated to the National Wellbeing Helpline and £175,142 on the National Wellbeing Hub.

The Workforce Wellbeing fund was set up to support staff who work in adult social work and social care. This fund has been managed outwith the Scottish Government by Inspiring Scotland and the total allocated on this wellbeing initiative was £1,100,000. In addition, £12,332 was allocated to Programme Support and £93,525 in further wellbeing services which include CRUSE Grief and Loss Counselling, Elite Training, Awesome Postcards and a workforce respect marketing campaign. A total of £7,561,432 was directly allocated to Boards and HSCPs. This money was to be spent on, but not limited to, spiritual care, psychological first aid, catering and rest facilities to further support the wellbeing of the workforce.

We continue to work with boards and stakeholders to evaluate the impact of funding and how it meets the needs of the workforce.

Scotland’s energy sector is at the forefront of our transformation to becoming a net zero nation. It is a major employer and source of economic output, and our oil and gas infrastructure and highly skilled workforce have long been at the forefront of energy innovation - which is why it is well-placed to embrace the transformation that lies ahead.

We are already investing in the oil and gas sector’s net zero transformation. Our expanded £75 million Energy Transition Fund which is supporting the energy sector to grow and diversify, whilst helping to attract further private investment; and our £500 million Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray will support the North East and Moray to become one of Scotland’s centres of excellence for the transition to a net zero economy . The opportunities of offshore wind are also considerable. Applicants to the recent ScotWind leasing round were required to submit a Supply Chain Development Statement, outlining the supply chain activity they commit to undertaking within Scotland, the UK and overseas. The full Supply Chain Development Statement Outlooks for all successful applicants were published by Crown Estate Scotland in April 2022, and the initial projections show an average spend of £1.5bn in Scotland across each of the 17 ScotWind projects. This week Crown Estate Scotland’s ScotWind clearing process offered seabed agreements to a further three projects off the east coast of Shetland bringing the total number of ScotWind projects to 20 totaling 27.8GW.

Our £75 million Energy Transition Fund is focused on acceleration the energy sector’s transition to net zero-emissions whilst helping to attract further private investment, £26 million of which has been allocated to develop the Energy Transition Zone (ETZ) in Aberdeen. ETZ is expected to directly support 2,500 green jobs by 2030, alongside a further 10,000 transition-related jobs. Our £500 million Just Transition Fund - which we have called on the UK Government multiple times to match - will also support the north east and Moray become one of Scotland's centres of excellence for the transition to a net economy, with our investment supporting transformation across the region.

The Scottish Government is providing support to encourage investment in renewables in the north east through a number of funds and programmes. These include, but are not limited to:

The £75m Energy Transition Fund is investing in projects that aim to accelerate and support the move to renewable energy, protecting existing jobs and create new jobs in the North East, and across Scotland by opening up opportunities through energy transition and harnessing private sector funding. It is currently in delivery with an intended end date of 2025.

The £125m City Region Deal investment runs until 2026 and includes £90m for the Net Zero Technology Centre. The City Region Deal is delivering a number of projects aimed at utilising the resources of the North East to lead the world on the shift to a net zero future in areas such as:

• offshore renewable (wind) energy generation,
• energy storage,
• electricity interconnection,
• hydrogen production and fuel cell deployment,
• gas and hydrogen distribution, and
• carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

The £500 million Just Transition Fund for North East and Moray will deliver over the next 10 years. The fund opened for applications on 31 May 2022. Bids to the first year’s allocation of £20 million are currently being assessed. The Just Transition Fund complements other Scottish Government commitments to the sector in the North East and was announced in recognition of the particular need to diversify the regional economy away from carbon-intensive industries and to capitalise on the opportunities, including jobs and prosperity, that the transition to net zero will bring.

The draft Hydrogen Action Plan committed £100 million hydrogen funding for 2022-2026 through the Emerging Energy Technologies Fund (EETF). This is a Scotland-wide fund to support Hydrogen, CCUS and the development of negative emissions technologies. In June 2022, we launched the first tranche of the EETF via the £10 million Hydrogen Innovation Scheme. The remaining £90 million hydrogen investment programme is expected to launch in Autumn 2022 and will focus on supporting rapid renewable hydrogen production from Scotland’s abundant renewable energy resources.

Our Emerging Energy Technologies Fund allocates £80m over the next five years to support the development of CCUS and negative-emissions technologies. We have offered this funding to help the Scottish Cluster carbon capture project accelerate its effort to help Scotland’s just transition to net zero.

Our case transfer processes have been developed in line with our case transfer principles, which were developed with input from our experience panels, others with lived experience and wider stakeholders. We have worked and continue to work with existing benefit recipients, other key stakeholders including the Disability and Carer Benefits Expert Advisory Group, and the Department for Work and Pensions to develop and test our case transfer processes, including to ensure they deliver against these principles.

We have delivered roadshows over spring and summer focusing specifically on the detail of the case transfer process for people in Scotland who will see their awards move to Adult Disability Payment. We have included case transfer messaging in all our Adult Disability Payment communications such as media releases, opinion pieces, social media posts on Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland channels and paid for marketing campaigns that have run in the pilot areas including radio, social media, digital and print. We are also providing a stakeholder toolkit which will include specific fact sheets, video content and FAQs. We are also producing a specific leaflet to explain the differences between Disability Living Allowance and Adult Disability Payment and signposting individuals on where to seek independent advice, consistent with the recommendation of the Scottish Commission on Social Security.

We will continue to communicate, engage, and work closely with stakeholders as we near the national launch of case transfer for Adult Disability Payment to ensure those currently in receipt of adult disability benefits in Scotland, and those that support them, have a solid understanding of how their awards will transfer to Social Security Scotland.

Case transfer guidance, which provides people with further information on the case transfer process to Adult Disability Payment is available at: https://www.mygov.scot/browse/benefits/benefit-transfer .

Whilst prevalence of COVID remains high this is not translating into severe illness and deaths in the same way as earlier in the pandemic due largely to vaccination. So we would encourage everyone who is eligible to take up their boosters as soon as these are offered to ‘top up’ their immune response. The autumn booster vaccination will be offered to people aged over 50 and those at highest risk aged 5 and over – this will include people with a chronic neurological disease.

This is a matter for the NHS Boards. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Scottish Government recognises that accurate data on the number of people diagnosed with long COVID is needed to forecast and plan for the need for healthcare services arising from long COVID. Public Health Scotland will lead on surveillance of long COVID. It is currently anticipated that this surveillance will be undertaken via the EAVE II study, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh ( About EAVE II | The University of Edinburgh ). Funded by the Medical Research Council, the EAVE II study has used a pseudonymised patient dataset to track the COVID-19 pandemic across Scotland. In a separate project funded by the Chief Scientist Office, the EAVE II dataset will be used to create a tool to identify people at greatest risk of developing long COVID. The findings will in due course provide information about the number of people diagnosed with long COVID, including a breakdown by NHS Board.