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The COVID-19 data and trend charts for Scotland are published daily and provide a range of information, including the number of care homes notifying cases of COVID-19 and the number of suspected cases of COVID-19 in care homes. These data are available from 11 April 2020 and are updated daily. There are also data on the number of people that have been tested for COVID-19 in Scotland, these are available from 2 March 2020 and provide a cumulative number. There is no breakdown of how many of these tests were for care home staff or residents.

Data are broken down by NHS board for:

• the cumulative number of cases that have tested positive for COVID-19;
• the number of patients in intensive care with confirmed or suspected COVID-19; and
• the number of patients in hospital with confirmed or suspected COVID-19.

The link to the daily data update is:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/trends-in-number-of-people-in-hospital-with-confirmed-or-suspected-covid-19/

There have been no discussions between the Scottish Government and these organisations on the provision of exams for GP trainees, which are primarily issues for the statutory medical education bodies, the GMC and the Royal College to resolve.

On the recommendation from NHS Education for Scotland, the Scottish Government has however approved interim arrangements to enable those impacted to remain in their training posts in Scotland until solutions are agreed, including providing the estimated costs of £1.1m. There are ongoing discussions between these organisations, including participation from the BMA Junior Doctor Committee, to ensure all trainee GPs in their final year of training can complete their exams as soon as practically possible.

The group was first convened on 26 March 2020 and has met every Monday and Thursday since then. Further information about the group, including notes of the discussions which have taken place, is available here: https://www.gov.scot/groups/scottish-government-covid-19-advisory-group/ .

The Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group has discussed this issue and is following the research being carried out on a UK-wide basis by SAGE. Further to this, discussions are ongoing with Public Health Scotland on understanding variance in rates of infection and death from Covid-19 by a range of factors, including ethnic minority status. The four CMOs across the UK are also working with Public Health England to explore the impact of COVID-19 on people from minority ethnic backgrounds.

From the outset of the Covid-19 outbreak, the Scottish Government has maintained frequent contact with the General Medical Council, as well as the Nursing and Midwifery Council, Health and Care Professions Council and General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), to discuss and agree the phased roll-out of their Covid-19 temporary registers in exercise of their emergency powers.

In respect of the GMC, whose Registrar already had powers to temporarily register anyone deemed to be a "fit, proper and suitably experienced" person, the Covid-19 temporary register was established on 27 March 2020 for doctors who gave up registration or licence to practise in the previous 3 years. It was expanded on 2 April 2020 to include those who gave up registration in the previous 3-6 years and those who are registered but do not currently have a licence to practise. On 7 April 2020 it was further expanded to include final year medical students by accelerating the annual provisional registration process.

All cohorts have automatically been granted temporary registration on an opt-out basis. All doctors are registered on the Covid-19 register on the basis that there are no open fitness-to-practise investigations, sanctions or conditions on their practice.

Mental health legislation in Scotland provides for rigorous safeguards in respect of individuals’ human rights. Compulsory treatment is only allowed under very strict circumstances and certain criteria must be met before an order or certificate can be granted. In addition, treatment under mental health legislation is governed by a range of safeguards, for example medication which is to be given for more than two months, must be agreed to by a Designated Medical Practitioner — an experienced psychiatrist appointed by the Mental Welfare Commission. The Mental Health (Care and Treatment)(Scotland) Act 2003 also requires that orders and certificates should be kept under review and revoked or varied as appropriate, to support the principles of least restriction and maximum benefit. In addition, the independent Mental Health Tribunal grants and reviews orders for compulsory treatment.

The Scottish Government is commitment to creating a modern, inclusive Scotland which protects, respects and realises internationally recognised human rights.

As you are aware the independent review of the Mental Health Act which is chaired by John Scott QC is underway. The review aims to improve the rights and protections of people with a mental disorder and remove barriers to those caring for their health and welfare. It is due to publish an interim report by the end of May 2020.

Daily statistics published by the Scottish Government have always included the number of Covid-19 deaths (where COVID-19 has been confirmed from a lab positive test result) in all settings of death, including in hospitals, care homes, homes or other settings. This was in contrast to the original daily reporting of deaths in England which applied to hospital settings only.

Scottish Government statistics are published on the Scottish Government website each day at 2pm.

In addition to the daily statistics, the National Records of Scotland (NRS) also publishes a weekly report on the number of deaths where there was a confirmed or suspected case of Covid-19. These include a breakdown of deaths by setting.

18 May 2020 (Holding Reply Issued 13 May 2020)

I recognise how important the death in service benefit is to NHS staff and that is why it has been agreed with the principal health service unions, including the BMA, RCN and Unison, that all staff affected by COVID-19 as a result of providing frontline services will have access to the death in service benefits available under the terms of the NHS pension scheme, should the worst happen, including provision of a lump sum and survivor’s benefits. This applies to permanent and fixed-term staff. I can advise that NHS Bank and NHS Locum staff are also included. The death in service benefit ensures parity between colleagues and will provide reassurance for staff in these unprecedented times.

I have subsequently sent a letter on 24 April 2020, advising the Health and Sport Committee that my officials are working at pace with NHS Employers and our trade union partners to finalise the scheme's terms and conditions; we aim to publish a Statement of Scheme Particulars by 1 May 2020, at which time I will share the details with the committee.

As the member knows our waiting times improvement plan included the delivery of six elective diagnostic and treatment centres. The first of these will open at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital.

The member will appreciate that in scaling up and repositioning the NHS to cope with the challenge of COVID-19 this work has been slowed down. However as we develop our plans to "restart" the NHS, these centres will be an important part of our consideration. This restart work is underway, clinically led and with the engagement of the Royal Colleges, Board and Unions and mindful of other inter-dependencies such as construction work and transport.

We hope to make the intention and plans for the initial phase public in the near future.

It is not possible to provide information on the exact reasons why individuals have been asked to shield within each specific shielding group as this is not recorded in the list of people who have been asked to shield.

The following table provides information on the number of individuals who have been asked to shield categorised by shielding group. Individuals who fall within more than one shielding group are counted under each group but only once in the overall total.

Number of individuals on the Shielding list by shielding group (as at 11 May 2020)