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Due to the presence of new and emerging COVID-19 variants of concern, vaccine efficacy is continuously monitored and assessed. Public Health England (PHE) monitors the efficacy of COVID 19 vaccinations currently approved for use in the UK.

On 14 June PHE published its most recent analysis on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against hospital admission with the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant, first identified in India. The analysis suggests the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 96% effective against hospitalisation after 2 doses and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is 92% effective against hospitalisation after 2 doses.
‎ Note: These data remain subject to peer review.

Table 1: Estimated vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation

The information requested is not centrally held by Scottish Government regarding clinician led case reviews. Information on case reviews is held by the appropriate health board for local learning and quality improvement purposes.

From April 2010 until September 2020, there have been 808 revisional mesh procedures to either remove or oversew transvaginal mesh, inserted for stress urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse or another unknown reason.

It is clearly disappointing that the annual emissions target for 2019 has not been met, however the statistics in the report published by the UK Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy date back to 2019, and do not reflect the recent step change in Scottish Government action.

In 2019 we increased the ambition of our targets- to reducing emissions by 75% by 2030, and to reaching net-zero in 2045, and our Climate Change Plan was updated in accordance with these targets in December. The updated plan includes over 100 new policies and provides a clear and credible pathway to meeting our emissions reductions targets over the period to 2032. It is also supported by a record £1.9 billion of capital funding in 2021/22 to tackle climate change, and create good, green jobs. Our attention is now firmly focused on the delivery and implementation of the ambitious plan.

We are also working to ensure that we achieve even deeper future reductions in order to meet the catch up requirement for the extra 2.7 megatonnes of emissions from the missed 2019 target. This will require additional policies, and we will publish a catch-up report within six months of the 2019 statistics being published at the very latest.

During the recent debate on the Climate Emergency [9 June], we supported the principle of the next full Climate Change Plan being brought forward as soon as possible during this Parliamentary session. This reflects our commitment to ever increasing action in response to the climate emergency.

Finally, the recent statistics do show some good progress. Scotland’s emissions are down by 51.5% since the 1990 baseline, which is over half way to net zero. Furthermore, emissions have fallen year by year, down 2.3% from 2018 to 2019.

To help free up capacity during the initial coronavirus outbreak, Health Boards were asked to postpone non-urgent operations and procedures to allow vital NHS staff and resources to be redeployed to support the response to the pandemic. All Health Boards were written to in March 2020 and asked to take a structured approach to scaling down all non-urgent elective procedures, making clear that urgent, maternity and vital cancer services should remain.

From May 2020, while NHS Boards needed to maintain capacity for the priorities of COVID-19 as well as continuing to provide urgent, emergency, maternity care and support the care home sector, they started to use spare capacity to safely and incrementally restore services which had been paused. In restarting paused services, each Health Board, whilst ensuring their approach was consistent with national guidance, made their own decision on which services could safely and effectively be resumed; as informed by local circumstances; and both local and national clinical priorities.

National screening programmes restarted over summer 2020 in a phased way with an initial focus on higher risk screening participants, with all adult screening programmes now running again, including those for breast, bowel and cervical cancer.

Remobilising and supporting the NHS remains one of the Scottish Government’s top priorities and the NHS Recovery Plan will be published shortly. This will set out how we will continue to support patients to receive the highest quality of care; safely and effectively expanding NHS capacity whilst ensuring operational resilience.

Published data on performance is available at Publications - Public Health Scotland

Public Health Scotland do not hold information to the level of detail required in order to confirm numbers of hernia and rectopexy procedures that involve the use of surgical mesh.

The Scottish Government has liaised with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Board, and the analytical data captured by the management information tool records that staff are a health or social care worker, not their work location or clinical status. The Member will be aware that employees of the health board can access a dedicated email address, if they have not received a second dose of the COVID-19 Vaccine.

At a national level, 373,715 health and social care workers have received their first dose and 357,486 are fully vaccinated. This includes the 94% of specified frontline health workers, who have had their first dose and 89% that have received their second too. The COVID-19 Daily Dashboard | Tableau Public provides the latest figures.

The easiest way to mitigate microplastic presence in waste water from laundries is to ensure appropriate lint filters are fitted to washers before the water is discharged into the drain. Most NHS Laundries are using appropriate lint filters already, the remaining are due to be replaced.

In addition, NHS Highland is currently testing water coming into and out of their on-site laundry and will assess the levels of microplastic. Results from the project are expected in late summer 2021 and will be used to identify any necessary remedial work required.

Housing Options Scotland receives funding from the Scottish Government to provide housing advice and advocacy services to older and disabled people in Scotland. This includes support for the Military Matters project aimed specifically to help veterans and which also attracts funding from other sources.

Scottish Government funding is set in a framework of annual budgets. The Scottish budget is an annual Act of the Scottish Parliament. Annual budgets are set under the terms of the Fiscal Framework agreed between the UK and Scottish Governments to implement the Scotland Act 2016 powers. The size of the Scottish Budget is determined by a number of elements, including the block grant allocation from the UK Budget, which is also set in single year budgets.

Due to this framework being set in single year budgets, SG funding is allocated to Housing Options Scotland on a yearly basis. SG has provided funding to Housing Options Scotland over many years and we are fully supportive of ensuring this unique and important service continues.

Ministers will consider the Scottish Veteran’s Commissioner report, Housing: Making a Home in Civilian Society as a whole and formally respond in due course.

Scottish Enterprise green jobs funding is being delivered through rounds that open and close periodically for fixed amounts of time and from which the best projects will be chosen for support. Details , including eligibility criteria, are published on Scottish Enterprise’s website, at https://www.scottish-enterprise.com/support-for-businesses/funding-and-grants/business-grants/green-jobs .