Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03232 on‎ 4 October 2021 which is 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 .

Inbound international travel restrictions were eased across the four nations on 4 October. These changes mean that people who have received two doses of different vaccines are regarded as having completed a full course of the vaccine and therefore are treated as ‘fully vaccinated’ for travel purposes. This applies to people who have been vaccinated by accepted vaccines in countries that are already eligible under the vaccinated traveller policy.

Travellers from non-red list countries who have been fully vaccinated in a country that meets recognised standards of certifications will no longer be required to provide evidence of a negative test result before they can travel to Scotland, and will not be required to self-isolate or take a day 8 test. They must still currently take a day 2 PCR test, though we have announced that we intend to align with the UK post-arrival testing regime later in October, with further details to be announced in due course.

Those who are not considered eligible fully vaccinated travellers must continue to take a pre-departure test, self-isolate for 10 days upon arrival and take day 2 and 8 tests. All arrivals from red list countries must continue to book and stay for 10 days in a managed isolation hotel.

Travel restrictions are in place to prevent cases of COVID-19 being imported to Scotland. Travel restrictions will be in place as long as they are required and Scottish Government will continue to liaise with affected groups and stakeholders over any restrictions and exemptions that may apply.

Further guidance for international arrivals can be read at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-international-travel-quarantine/pages/red-amber-and-green-list-countries/

The guidance on reducing risks in schools was updated on 30 September. The amendments reflected changes to advice from the Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues around school visitors, specifically with regard to enabling greater flexibility around parental visits, parent councils and parent-teacher associations, community-based interventions, and spectators at outdoor sports events. It should be noted that visitors to schools should be agreed in advance, and any such arrangements should be appropriately risk-assessed.

The guidance is available at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-reducing-the-risks-in-schools/

The Mental Health in Schools Working Group have sought to establish a comprehensive approach to supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing through schools. The publication of the whole-school approach framework provides guidance on setting mental health and wellbeing at the heart of the ethos and culture of schools.

This approach is also reflected within the new professional learning resource, which has been specifically developed for use by school staff, as part of a strategic approach to enhancing understanding of supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing in schools. The new professional learning resource is available online and can be used by any member of school staff.

We will publish the conclusions and recommendations of the City Centre Recovery Task Force this autumn.

We recognise that long waits are unacceptable and we remain committed to meet the standard that 90% of patients start treatment within 18 weeks of referral.

We have asked all Boards to set out their plans and trajectories for meeting the waiting times standards and clearing backlogs by the end of March 2023. To support this, we have already allocated £9.25m from the Mental Health Recovery and Renewal Fund, for the first year of clearing waiting list backlogs in CAMHS and Psychological Therapies. This is part of a wider investment supported by a £120m Recovery and Renewal fund to transform services, with a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention.

Scottish Government and Dumfries and Galloway Council officials engage regularly on how to progress this commitment and a further meeting is planned in October, which will also involve South of Scotland Enterprise.

The Scottish Government supports the development of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) as an industrial scale decarbonisation system which has the potential to make a big impact on achieving Scotland’s emissions targets. The advice from the Climate Change Committee describes CCUS as a “necessity, not an option” to achieve net zero emissions.

The Scottish Government is supportive of the Acorn project at St Fergus, Aberdeenshire, considered the UK’s most advanced CCS project; we have worked closely with the Acorn project team from inception and provided policy support and funding through its feasibility and development phases. We believe that the Acorn CCS project is uniquely placed to be the least-cost and most deliverable opportunity to deploy a full chain CCS project in the UK, providing opportunities to repurpose existing legacy oil and gas pipeline infrastructure, and close access to vast offshore CO2 storage sites.

Acorn is leading the Scottish bid into UK Government’s cluster sequencing process to allow CCS to be deployed by the mid-2020s, and we are supportive of this bid. It is critical that the UK Government’s cluster sequencing process recognises Acorn CCS as one of the first two projects to commercialise in the 2020s.

The August 2021 agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party recognises that CCUS technologies will play a part in a just transition , and that ( t)he Scottish Government remains supportive of these technologies as part of the energy transition and in particular it remains committed to supporting the delivery of the Acorn project.

The options selection work will be concluded by Transport Scotland, Network Rail and ScotRail by summer 2022. In accordance with the Rail Enhancements Capital Investment Strategy each of the options will be appraised to identify which offer the most benefits and also represent value for money.

Network Rail recently confirmed that positive progress is being made on the project with ground investigation works starting in October 2021.

Transport Scotland expect Network Rail to produce the final programme for delivering the project during autumn 2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03041 on 1 October 2021. 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