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The Scottish Government recognises the negative impact that long COVID can have on the health and wellbeing of those affected. We are already taking action to ensure that people are supported in the most appropriate way possible, and are committed to do more.

We have published our approach paper which sets out 16 commitments to improve care and support for people with long COVID in Scotland.

Our approach outlines the work we are doing, with partners, to strengthen the key elements of care for people with long COVID - accessed through; supported self-management, assessment provided within primary and community care, rehabilitation support and; secondary care investigation and support where required.

Our commitments are backed by a £10 million ‘Long COVID Support Fund’, which will provide additional resource to strengthen services for people with long COVID across Scotland, by bolstering the capacity of existing NHS services, enabling improved care co-ordination and supporting staff education and training needs.

We are continuing to support clinicians to access evidence based information and advice on long COVID, to inform assessments, investigations and referrals for patients.

We are also funding nine Scottish-led research projects with a total funding commitment of £2.5m to improve understanding of the long-term effects of COVID-19 on physical and mental health, and help with developing effective clinical interventions to support recovery and rehabilitation.

Since the announcement on 17 March 2021 that ScotRail services will be provided through the Scottish Government’s Operator of Last Resort arrangements on expiry of the current franchise agreement, no costs have been charged for legal work in connection with those arrangements undertaken by solicitors of the Scottish Government Legal Directorate.

In terms of external solicitor costs, works to the value of £157,763 have been charged for to date. At this rate, Transport Scotland would estimate legal expenditure to be under £500,000 by the commencement of ScotRail Trains Ltd services on 1 April. It should be noted that this is a substantially lower amount than might have been expected in support of a rail franchise procurement competition.

No leasing, uniform provision and rolling stock maintenance agreements are expected to remain in place with Abellio once the current franchise ends. A number of existing contracts between Abellio ScotRail Ltd and its suppliers will transfer from Abellio ScotRail Ltd to the new operator, ScotRail Trains Limited, on 1 April 2022.

An agreement has been entered into with Abellio Transport Holdings for the retention of the Abellio Shared Services Centre based in Glasgow. This will retain jobs in Glasgow handling all customer service calls and correspondence, payroll services and payment processing facilities.

Our review process has been informed by the latest evidence from public opinion as well as the clinical and scientific literature, and from international experience. We published an updated evidence paper on the COVID-19 status certification scheme on Friday 19 November 2021.

Understanding the effects of the scheme, and how it is being implemented, requires data about the use of the technology, vaccinations, and the impact on society and the economy. However, it is challenging to isolate the effects of any one element of the Covid response.

Vaccine uptake has slightly increased since the scheme was announced, although it is not possible to directly attribute rises to the introduction of certification. The proportion of those aged 12+ with a first dose rose from 86.0% to 90.5% and a second dose rose from 77.6% to 82.2%.

The majority of Lateral Flow Tests are distributed through the UK 4 nations National Testing Programme and a detailed breakdown is not available. Information on the number of Lateral Flow Tests used and reported in Scotland is published weekly by Public Health Scotland.

Sport scotland has followed Scottish Government guidance on rent charges for tenants.

sport scotland have been clear that the COVID support fund was there to support any Scottish governing bodies (SGBs) that were in financial difficulty, this includes both tenants and non-tenants. In addition to the COVID support fund, sport scotland released its full annual investment to all SGBs and allowed them to use this flexibly.

sport scotland meet regularly with tenants to discuss both short-term access to offices, in the context of the latest Government guidance, and establish medium to longer-term requirements for office space. These meetings have been well attended and well received by tenants. Going forward, sport scotland is also offering a 10% discount to tenants on next year's rent. This is in recognition of the uncertainty surrounding how often office space will be used.

Significant financial and non-financial investment has been made in capercaillie conservation by Scottish Government, its partners and agencies, NGOs, landowners, communities and individuals. While the status of the capercaillie population in Scotland remains vulnerable, without the investment that has been made it is likely that we would have lost capercaillie from Scotland.

Support has included funding from NatureScot towards research and conservation of capercaillie in Scotland since 2011 as well as funding via the Forestry Grant Scheme specifically to support capercaillie populations.

Other Scottish Government funding in support of habitat management is likely to have benefited capercaillie but where not specifically provided for this species no breakdown is available.

Booster information was made available in the international travel section of the NHS Scotland Covid Status App on 9 December, and on paper/pdf certificates from 13 December.

From January 2019 to June 2021, 150 samples were collected from these areas. Of these samples, 141 underwent potable testing, and only one sample, collected from 4B in November 2019 breached the high-risk threshold for organism counts at 37°.

NHS GG&C have made a number of changes to practices and procedures following water sampling assessments. The taps and showers used in 4A and 4B are now fitted with 0.2 micron water filters, routine sampling and testing is carried out from non-filtered water services, and more widespread sample testing is carried out.

A total of 22,635 dental staff are registered on the Vaccine Management Tool (VMT). This includes both dentists and dental nurses.

These staff would register voluntarily, as independent contractors, on the relevant staff bank of their health board, and book shifts via that system, which does not constitute secondment.