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I am pleased to report that ahead of this new benefit’s official launch on 15 February, 85,000 applications had already been received, many of which claim entitlement for multiple children. The Scottish Government has been proactive in promoting this benefit, prior to launch we wrote to everyone on the Universal Credit and HMRC tax credit databases who may be eligible, inviting them to apply for Scottish Child Payment.

Maximising the take-up of benefits and tackling child poverty are both moral imperatives and fundamental priorities for the Scottish Government. To drive take-up of Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grants and Best Start Foods, we will launch a multi-media campaign next month, targeting parents through TV and digital advertising.

This campaign builds on the work already undertaken to raise awareness of the Scottish Child Payment, including the promotion of the benefit on commercial radio in November and December, a toolkit of marketing materials distributed through a number of key channels and 18 online Scottish Child Payment Stakeholder Roadshows held in late 2020 attended by over 1,600 individuals representing the third sector and local authorities.

The Scottish Child Payment will also be a central feature of our second Benefit Take-Up Strategy, which we will publish in the autumn.

Health Boards have set out in their vaccination delivery plans the services that they will provide to meet the needs of their local communities. COVID-19 vaccinations may not take place at all GP practices, however, NHS Scotland will confirm local arrangements. NHS Scotland will invite those on the priority list by phone or letter for an appointment. The Coronavirus Vaccination Helpline on 0800 0308013 is now open to answer any questions, or provide further information about the coronavirus vaccine and its delivery. Website can be accessed at NHS Inform .

The Scottish Government is provided with the supply forecasts from the NHS NSS on a weekly basis which are refined each week, which can make forward operational planning challenging. These reports forecast up to 4 weeks in advance. The UK vaccines taskforce provides a longer range forecast but this is subject to change.

The Scottish Government has been very clear from day one that the pace of our national vaccine programme is dependent on vaccine supply and delivery timescales and we continue to work closely across the 4 nations to ensure this is as smooth as possible.

We recognise the importance of providing vaccinators with the training and support they require to undertake their role effectively.

Our approach builds on the Green Book on immunisation against infectious disease and aligns with the approach taken by Public Health England.

For individuals who are experienced active vaccinators, training need only cover the specific characteristics of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Where an individual is returning to vaccinations after being inactive for a period of time, their training requirements will be informed by a short self-assessment.

Individuals with no experience as vaccinators will be required to undertake core vaccination training and will require clinical supervision when administering vaccine until confident and competent.

We are working to ensure everyone is fully informed regarding COVID-19 vaccinations. A national door drop arrived with households on the week starting January 4th, as well as our digital and social media campaigns, which went live on this date.

Our outdoors advertising campaign Started from 11th of January and a TV and radio campaign began on January the 21st.

The Scottish COVID-19 Vaccination Helpline (0800 030 8013) is now open, to make sure those who are called forward for the vaccine can get the information they need.

The Scottish Government has been very clear from day one that the pace of our national vaccine programme is dependent on vaccine supply and delivery timescales and we continue to work closely across the 4 nations to ensure this is as smooth as possible.

The vaccination roll-out in Scotland is on-track. Along with the rest of the UK, we have already vaccinated a higher percentage of our population than most other countries worldwide – and we expect to, at the very least, keep pace with the other UK nations in the coming weeks and months.

In addition, each health board is working hard to get the vaccine into people’s arms as quickly as possible, and while factors such as geography and population will mean that there will be some variations in delivery, we are confident that health boards are on track to meet the national targets we’ve set down.

Our plans will remain flexible and we are taking a number of steps to support further acceleration of delivery including testing round-the-clock vaccination and bringing new mass vaccination centres online.

Those who are entitled to a vaccine will be contacted by their Health Board letting them know where they will receive the vaccine and how to book their appointment.

You can also find useful information about the Covid-19 deployment plan and the vaccine supply in our recent publication, “COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan 2021” available at: COVID-19+vaccine+deployment+plan+14+January+2021.pdf (www.gov.scot) .

The Scottish Government follows the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) Guidance in the planning of vaccine delivery. This evidence based guidance advises that the single greatest risk of mortality from COVID-19 is increasing age, and that the risk increases exponentially with age. Additionally the committee considers frontline health and social care workers who provide direct care to vulnerable people a high priority for vaccination.

The JCVI priority lists represents 99% of the preventable mortality in the United Kingdom from COVID-19 and throughout the delivery of the vaccination programme we will be guided by the clinical expertise of the JCVI, the MHRA, and our own senior clinical advisers.

At this stage in the vaccination programme every vaccine given to one of these groups would be one less vaccine to an at-risk individual.

Decisions to prioritise one population group over another are not taken lightly, nor are they straightforward. That is why our prioritisation decisions are guided by the independent expert advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

We are adhering to the priority list devised by the JCVI which has been designed to target those at greatest risk from this virus and is estimated to address over 90 per cent of preventable mortality from the virus in Scotland. This is the priority rollout all nations of the UK are working towards and it is really important that we adhere to these lists in order to avoid more lives being lost.

There has been a significant cut of 66.5% to the total Scottish Government Financial Transactions budget in 2021-22 arising from the UK Government’s Spending Review in late November. This amounts to a reduction of £412 million. The Scottish Government has mitigated this as far as possible by agreeing with the UK Government that £41.5 million Financial Transactions, that came as late consequentials in 2020-21, could be spent in 2021-22, and drawing down £200 million from the Scottish Reserve. However, the funding cut from UK Government led to difficult choices about use of the allocation in 2021-22, and resulted in a reduction in the First Home Fund budget and the need to close the main Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme.

The Open Market Shared Equity scheme will continue in 2021-22. Open Market Shared Equity is targeted at buyers on low to moderate incomes and social tenants are a priority group for access.

There has been a significant cut of 66.5% to the total Scottish Government Financial Transactions budget in 2021-22 arising from the UK Government’s Spending Review in late November. This amounts to a reduction of £412 million. The Scottish Government has mitigated this as far as possible by agreeing with the UK Government that £41.5 million Financial Transactions, that came as late consequentials in 2020-21, could be spent in 2021-22, and drawing down £200 million from the Scottish Reserve. However, the funding cut from UK Government led to difficult choices about use of the allocation in 2021-22, and resulted in a reduction in the First Home Fund budget.

We estimate that the First Home Fund will help over 2,500 households into home ownership in 2021-22, based on a budget of £60m. We expect it to support over 8,000 households into homeownership in 2020-21.

The First Home Fund will reopen on 1 April 2020 with a budget of £60 million. If more Financial Transactions become available as a result of the UK Budget, the Scottish Government will consider how to best deploy these, given all of the pressures and priorities across Government.