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Amending Regulations were made to the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 today.

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020.

The regulations will reduce the required physical distances to be maintained between persons for the purposes of the Scottish Open golf event at Renaissance Club, North Berwick scheduled to start on 8 July and end 11 July 2021 (or 12 July in the event play cannot be completed on the 11 July).

The regulations will also make a small amendment to provisions relating to stadia and live events: a local authority will now only be required to notify the Scottish Ministers of an application for an exemption on capacity in Levels 0, 1 or 2 when directed to do so by the Scottish Ministers.

The regulations will also remove the area of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council from the areas to which common travel area restrictions apply.

The Regulations have been published at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ssi/2021/262

Regulations amending the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 will be made today and will take effect on 8 July 2021.

The regulations will reduce the required physical distances to be maintained between persons for the purposes of the Scottish Open golf event at Renaissance Club, North Berwick scheduled to start on 8 July and end 11 July 2021 (or 12 July in the event play cannot be completed on the 11 July).

The regulations will also make a small amendment to provisions relating to stadia and live events: a local authority will now only be required to notify the Scottish Ministers of an application for an exemption on capacity in Levels 0, 1 or 2 when directed to do so by the Scottish Ministers.

The regulations will also remove the area of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council from the areas to which common travel area restrictions apply.

The vision of our National Transport Strategy is that we will have a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system, helping deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland for communities, businesses and visitors. The Strategy embeds the Sustainable Travel Hierarchy into decision making, by prioritising walking, wheeling, cycling and public and shared transport options in preference to single occupancy private car use.

It also confirms that future transport investment decisions will be made in line with the Sustainable Investment Hierarchy, ensuring that transport options that focus on the need to travel sustainably and reduce inequalities are prioritised.

I can confirm that Sustrans notified Transport Scotland of its decision to pause applications to the Places for Everyone (PfE) fund for all new projects, due to the fund currently being oversubscribed. Funds continue to be available for the delivery of existing PfE projects. Sustrans will review this position again in September 2021.

This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I will ask its Interim Chief Executive to write to you in this regard.

The Scottish Government has been working with a range of sectors and specialist organisations to develop guidance on enhancing ventilation within enclosed spaces.

This guidance includes a range of practical solutions to enhance air flow and can be achieved by straightforward solutions, such as the opening of windows or vents. This seeks to provide cost effective solutions to overcome poorer ventilation, and support employers to consider options to reduce the risk of transmitting airborne viruses for staff and customers.

As we progress through the pandemic, we will of course keep under consideration whether this guidance needs to be supported by discreet funding for such projects.

In 2020/21 the key focus of the National Transition Training Fund (NTTF) was supporting those individuals and sectors affected by the economic impact of Covid-19. As part of this, a number of projects offered support for skills needs linked to the transition to net zero. This included wind turbine safety training, green construction provided through the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre, and heat in buildings training such as the installation of heat pumps. Delivery of the Year One projects continues in colleges and universities until the end of the academic year and we will report on the training provided and its outcomes when the full year’s data is available.

In Year Two, NTTF has a broadened remit to address the economic impact of both Covid-19 and Brexit and also to support emerging skills needs to support the transition to net zero.

Of the initial 25 projects in Year Two announced by the First Minister on June 16 2021, a number will support transition, with details set out in the following table:-

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00728 on 5 July 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

The Scottish Government carries out daily analysis of the occupancy levels in hotels and based on a projected increase in demand from our international students, work is underway to bring on additional capacity to meet this demand.

The Scottish Government has also been exploring with universities how student accommodation could be used in place of hotels for the purpose of managed isolation. In April 2021, Ministers agreed a statement of policy intent to permit student accommodation to be used for managed isolation for international students and students returning to Scotland following an educational exchange from a red-list country if universities can provide the necessary assurances the accommodation meets equivalent public health protection assurances as hotels used for managed isolation.

As a result the Scottish Government began discussions with universities on a proposed ‘pilot’ scheme to assess how the use of student accommodation for managed isolation would work in practice. Two universities have expressed an interest in the taking part in the pilot and guidance is currently being drafted. Officials have been engaging with Trade Unions and the National Union of Students on the proposed pilot.

We worked closely with the Scottish FA, Glasgow City Council, Police Scotland and other partners on preparations for UEFA EURO 2020, including the four matches at Hampden Park and the Glasgow Green Fan Zone.

The Scottish Government understand the concerns that some expressed in relation to the lack of catering available at Hampden, especially in light of the extended period of time spectators are required to be in the stadium.

Unfortunately, concessions stands were not in operation for the EURO 2020 matches at Hampden as a result of the venue overlay required in response to Covid 19 operational planning considerations. This is to ensure that physical distancing was possible in concourses when people are moving to and from their seats on entry and exit and when going to the toilet.

However, free drinking water was provided and spectators were allowed to bring a small amount of food (e.g sandwiches, snack bars, chocolate bars, crisps, fruit) into the stadium.

UEFA asked that the food was packaged in clear bags that were provided to spectators at the start of the entry procedures to the stadium. Each spectator was allowed to take one bag into the stadium and spectators were not able to bring bottles, cans or any form of drinks containers into the stadium. The merchandising stalls were all positioned out with the stadium, within the secure perimeter and had no impact on the mitigations in place within the stadium.

The application of necessary mitigations, and the actual experience at the event was monitored on an ongoing basis.

Marine Scotland has spent £115,176 since 2016 on monitoring and supporting science of seabed marine plastics, floating surface microplastics and also beach litter citizen science data collected by the Marine Conservation Society volunteers. These costs do not include the vessel costs associated with monitoring marine plastics at sea as this monitoring is carried out using existing surveys.

Marine Scotland has also spent £213,437 since 2018 on monitoring and maintenance of the marine litter sink case study area of Arrochar to better understand the problem and inform future policies.

In addition, Marine Scotland also funded the Scrapbook project, a partnership between Moray Firth Partnership, Civil Air Support and the Marine Conservation Society, spending £123,000 in 2018/19. This aerial photography project identified marine litter sink hot spots around our coastline, providing a baseline for future monitoring and enabling effective, focused clean-up operations. Marine Scotland has taken the outputs of this project and added this data to the National Marine Plan Interactive (NMPi), which is free to access.