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The Scottish Government does not process business appointment applications from former Ministers. These are considered by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) which publishes details of its advice in relation to appointments it is aware have been taken up, or announced, on its website: Advisory Committee on Business Appointments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) .

To date we have spent £478,975.94 on the Protect Scotland - Proximity Tracing App and the Federated Server. The costs are broken down in the following table:

The board has met on nine occasions between March 2020 - May 2021. The next meeting of the board will take place on the 5 th of August 2021 followed by two further meetings before the end of the year.

The Scottish Government publishes summaries of the latest key economic statistics and analysis on the Scottish Economy in its Monthly Economic Brief, available at:

https://www.gov.scot/collections/monthly-economic-briefs/

The Scottish Government’s last outlook for the economy was published in the December 2020 edition, before the furlough scheme was extended to September. However, the latest analysis from the Bank of England is for unemployment to peak at 5.5% in 2021 as the furlough scheme ends, broadly in range with the latest forecasts from other independent forecasters.

The next set of forecasts for the Scottish economy will be published by the Scottish Fiscal Commission on Thursday 26 August.

The Scottish Government’s position is that cruises may dock at Scottish ports when all of Scotland is in level 1. If the evidence supports the planned lifting of restrictions at the next review point, domestic cruising will be allowed from 19 July. Further information on this can be found in the Guidance: Coronavirus (COVID-19): travel and transport - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

We are working closely with Local Authorities, the Health and Safety Executive and Police Scotland to ensure we are taking a joined up approach to enforcement of regulations and wider workplace health measures. We have committed to £2.9m in funding to support Covid related work carried out by Local Authority Environmental Health and Trading Standards Officers to year end 2021-22. We continue to engage with the Local Authorities to understand how this funding is being used to ensure they have the capacity to support businesses including hospitality to comply with the regulations and guidance. Local authorities are responsible for prioritising enforcement work within their area, and they are doing so using a risk based and 4 Es approach (Engage, Explain, Encourage and Enforce).

The Scottish Government is satisfied that the industry protocols developed by the UK Chamber of Shipping represent current best practice. These have been fully considered by the Scottish Government and approved for use as part of our Guidance for domestic cruise operators which can be found here: Coronavirus (COVID-19): travel and transport - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Cruise must however be considered in the wider health context and due to the upward trajectory in Covid cases, concerns around the more transmissible Delta variant and the potential to transfer Covid (that has a relatively long asymptomatic incubation period) to multiple touchpoints across different locations, even with the use of near-person testing regimens, the Scottish Government has recommended that cruise start when all of Scotland reaches level 1. Once cruising can commence, these protocols will stand the industry in good stead, allowing for a quick and safe resumption of activity.

The Scottish Government holds monthly performance meetings with all NHS Boards, including NHS Grampian. Their last meeting was earlier this month.

Officials also hold weekly cancer performance meetings to monitor the Board’s progress with regards to cancer services.

Recovering the NHS is our immediate focus, and this is why we have committed to publishing an NHS Recovery Plan within the first 100 days.

As part of this, we are investing over £330 million in a network of National Treatment Centres, one of which will be located in NHS Grampian. This will provide additional capacity for elective care.

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.

These Regulations remove the travel restrictions which are currently in place in relation to travel between Scotland and Manchester, Bolton and Salford. These restrictions are being removed due to changes in the epidemiological position for those areas. These changes will take effect on 30 June 2021.

The Regulations have been published at www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ssi/2021/255 .

We will be removing the travel restrictions which are currently in place in relation to travel between Scotland and Manchester, Bolton and Salford. These restrictions are being removed due to changes in the epidemiological position for those areas. Regulations amending the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 will be made today and will take effect on 30 June 2021. Restrictions between Scotland and Blackburn with Darwen will remain in place.