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Anyone who reports a positive LFD test through the UK Government website is directed to complete a contact tracing form at a website hosted by Test and Protect. To complete this form, the individual must input their surname, date of birth, and input a unique code given to them when contacted by Test and Protect after testing positive. Without these three unique identifying factors, an individual cannot access the contact tracing form, ensuring the form is correctly matched to the specific individual.

If any information on their Covid-19 Status is wrong, individuals should phone the Covid-19 Status Helpline on 0808 196 8565.

A 2017 review of the use of sodium valproate in pregnancy by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) found that babies exposed to sodium valproate are at higher risk of malformations or developmental problems. Following this review, the EMA agreed new measures to avoid the use of sodium valproate in women and girls of child bearing potential. This included the adoption of a Pregnancy Prevention Programme.

On 7 January 2022, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) published the results of the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) review of the safety of anti-epileptics in pregnancy. The CHM recommended that the MHRA should review whether the available data raises any new safety concerns or changes current understanding about the safety of other epilepsy medicines during pregnancy. The Scottish Government is continuing to work closely with the MHRA on issues around medicines safety, including those relating to sodium valproate.

Furthermore, the Scottish Government is funding the roll-out of a pilot Scottish Epilepsy Register in three NHS Health Boards (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Tayside and NHS Lanarkshire). This will help identify patients taking sodium valproate, as well as any other anti-epileptic medicines, some of which may also have the potential to cause harm. Alongside the data we already collect on prescribing, this has the potential to form the basis of a Scotland-wide epilepsy registry and, with further adaptation, could collect outcome data. This can help support better shared decision making to reduce the risk of harm and improve delivery of and access to care and support.

The amount self-funders pay for their care home costs is a contractual matter between the individual and their care home provider. This agreement is protected by consumer protection laws.

Guidance on Social Care is on the Scottish Government website: Social care support - Social care - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Further guidance on free personal and nursing care can be found here - Care Support and Rights.dot (scot.nhs.uk)

We are aware that there will be situations where those looking to travel will have tested positive for COVID-19 using an LFD test since 11 January 2022, when confirmatory PCR testing was no longer required. Further information is available from NHS Inform .

Travellers can use the text message and/or email from private PCR test results more than 10 days before travel as proof of recovery if an NHS PCR was not taken.

There are also some countries where a private supervised LFD test is acceptable and can be used instead of a PCR.

Different nations have different requirements for entry. That is why we encourage everyone to continue to check the entry requirements of the countries they intend to visit.

Recovery certificates contained within the NHS Scotland Covid Status App adhere to the standard set by the European Commission, through the EU Digital Covid Certificate scheme which Scotland is a member of. This recognised standard does not allow for unsupervised self-reported LFD tests to be used to create a recovery certificate.

As the Roads Authority, local authorities are responsible for the drainage of local roads and public highways under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 - including maintenance of road gullies. The Scottish Government does not hold information on how many local authorities prioritise high risk areas in their drain clearance schedules. Local Authorities are responsible for and best placed to respond to, need in their area.

The 2022-23 Local Government Finance Settlement of almost £12.7 billion represents a cash increase of almost £1.1 billion or 9.2 per cent which is the equivalent of a real terms increase of 6.3 per cent.

However, the Scottish Government’s policy towards local authorities’ spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities.

Local authorities are independent corporate bodies with their own powers and responsibilities. It is up to each local authority how it manages its day-to-day business and decision making processes.

The Scottish Government does not take into account the length of roads for which a local authority is responsible when allocating funding to local authorities for flood risk management.

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 provides the framework for effective management of flood risk.

As part of our civil contingencies risk assessment work, the Scottish Government’s Resilience Division works closely with resilience partners, including the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Met Office, to assess climate change risk. This work includes the development of the Scottish Risk Assessment (SRA), which is designed to supplement UK Government’s National Security Risk Assessment. Together these documents assist Scottish responders and policy makers in understanding the most significant civil contingencies emergencies which Scotland may face over the next two to five years. The current SRA includes six new risk assessments themed around major impacts from climate change, as well as a dedicated climate change overview chapter.

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 places 7 duties on local authorities including duties to assess the risk of an emergency occurring, and to plan for such emergencies, and maintain those plans accordingly. Further guidance and best practice for categorised responders, including local authorities, on planning and preparing for emergencies is set out in our Preparing Scotland guidance.

The Scottish Government monitors the size of the challenge ahead by consideration of climate projections, flood mapping, modelling and analysis carried out by a number of key, expert partners such as the Met Office, SEPA and Scottish Water.

We recognise that our urban areas in particular face mounting challenges with surface water drainage and related flooding. This is why we must ensure that communities and places are water resilient and set-up for the climate challenges ahead. This will require a concerted effort across all sectors to ensure that new development is appropriately sited and designed and that existing buildings can transition to managing rainwater through blue green infrastructure instead of sewers reducing the pressure on our drainage systems.