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Dental check-ups for all NHS patients in Scotland were made free from 1 April 2006. Throughout the pandemic dental teams have been advised to prioritise NHS patients, including new mothers, on the basis of their dental care needs.

Driver and vehicle licensing and testing is reserved to the UK government. The UK government have advised that despite the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent disruption to practical driving tests, the validity period of theory test pass certificates will not be extended. They have advised that their reasoning is that road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills need to be up to date (tested within the previous two years) when restarting driving lessons and driving tests. This is not an area that the Scottish Government has responsibility for. We are, however, in regular dialogue with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) who administer and deliver driving tests on behalf of the UK government to explore ways in which the number of practical driving tests being delivered in Scotland can be expedited. Our understanding is that the DVSA are recruiting additional driving test examiners to increase the number of practical tests that they can deliver including at weekends.

The UK government`s Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is responsible for the delivery of driving tests in Scotland, however the Scottish government works closely with the DVSA to ensure that waiting times to access a driving test are minimised as much as possible to the benefit of people in all parts of Scotland, including our rural communities. Working in collaboration with the DVSA we secured delegated authority earlier this year for some transport operators and the emergency services to undertake driving tests for their own staff, thereby reducing the numbers of people awaiting tests at DVSA test centres. In advance of driving tests resuming when Scotland moved to Protection Level 3 on 26 April 2021, we engaged with the DVSA on their remobilisation plans and the development of communications materials to ensure that candidates were “test ready” when they presented for a test. We continue to meet regularly with the DVSA to discuss ways in which we can expedite access to driving tests and are currently engaging with them on their plans to immediately increase the number of driving theory tests being offered when the rules on physical distancing within public indoor settings change.

From 21 June 2021, the Scottish Government brought forward the second COVID-19 vaccination dose to eight weeks.

This week sees the launch of the online self-registration portal, see Registering for a coronavirus vaccine | The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine (nhsinform.scot) . Anyone aged 18 and over who has not received a first coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination appointment or has missed their first dose for any reason is being invited to self-register for an appointment.

The programme is under continuous review to optimise the vaccination delivery roll-out in partnership with the nation’s health boards, ensuring its more people-centred. Other recent innovations include the launching of Vaccine appointment checker | The coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine (nhsinform.scot) and drop-in centres.

Anyone aged 18 and over who has not received a first coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination appointment or has missed their first dose for any reason is being invited to self-register for an appointment.

A significant difference with the underpinning data model makes interoperability between the Check in Scotland app and the NHS Covid19 app. challenging. However, we are exploring what enhancements can improve the overall user experience for citizens and visitors travelling between Scotland and the rest of the UK, and for contact tracing teams dealing with the visiting public.

The NHS England and Wales Covid app. cannot be used in Scotland, in any venues nor can the Test & Protect Check in Scotland app be used in England and Wales. This is due to a difference in legislation relating to the collection of contact details and the technical platform and data model of both products being used.

The data capture process that underpins both services, is completely different. The NHS Covid19 app, holds data locally on an individual’s device, contact tracing can push notifications to the device used to scan in/out and request contact information, no visitor contact details are collected at point of check-in. In Scotland, in line with regulations the Check In Scotland service (app and web service) collect contact details of visitors on check-in and hold for 21 days making contact tracing more effective in terms of timely access to contact data in the event of an outbreak.

All venues and settings in England and Wales must by law display Official NHS Covid19 posters and visitors must use the NHS Covid19 app to scan these posters. This is integrated into contact tracing systems in NHS England and Wales. This is not mandated in Scotland.

The Check In Scotland service can only be used in Scottish based venues (Scottish postcode and within a Scottish Health Board area) that have registered to participate. In Scotland, Check In Scotland is completely voluntarily voluntary for Scottish businesses to adopt, participating venues must display Official NHS Scotland posters and visitors must use the Check In Scotland app, camera function app or QR scanning app on mobile device to provide contact details. This is integrated directly into NHS Test & Protect contact tracing systems in Scotland.

Any UK or International visitors to Scotland that do not wish to download the Test & Protect Check In Scotland app. can use the camera function or QR scanning app on their mobile phone and use the Check In Scotland web service to provide contact details or provide these manually using a paper form that must be offered as an alternative by venues.

The Check In Scotland delivery team has recently been in communication with the UK Dept. of Health and Social Care, NHS Covid-19 app product team to explore what options are available and to enhance the user experience with a follow-up discussion planned week commencing the 21 June 2021.

Diagnostic codes for post-COVID-19 syndrome, or long COVID, were recently added into the primary care information systems used by GP practices. Guidance on coding has been issued to GP Practices, most recently in the Scottish Government ‘Implementation Support Note’ published on the SIGN website.

NHS Education for Scotland has an educational session, which covers long COVID, scheduled in August as part of its series of online webinars for primary care clinicians. All of their resources for health and care staff related to COVID-19 can be found on their dedicated Turas Learn Site ( https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/27993/coronavirus-covid-19 ). In addition to their own resources, they plan to signpost through Turas Learn to appropriate resources on long COVID developed by partner organisations as these emerge.

The University of Edinburgh’s EAVE II project has used pseudonymised GP and other patient data to track the COVID-19 pandemic as it unfolded across Scotland, and its analysis has helped inform Scottish Government policy.

That project now has funding from the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist Office to use this pseudonymised data to investigate long COVID. The project will generate analysis on the number of people assessed as having long COVID. This analysis will be shared with the Scottish Government and will be used to inform the planning of services for people with long COVID. The analysis will inform publications on long COVID in due course.

The Scottish Government provides a range of grants and loans to help deliver energy efficiency improvements and support investment by owner occupiers, private and social landlords. Last year we introduced a new loan scheme for private landlords to support achievement of minimum energy efficiency standards. We review the guidance for all of our schemes each year and currently have no plans to change the grants available to private landlords owning multiple properties.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which is the UK body responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe, and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), an independent clinical group of experts that provides all Governments in the UK with advice on vaccinations, both concur that the evidence shows that, overall, the benefits of vaccination, including vaccinating the under 30 year olds, outweigh the risks. In coming to this conclusion, both organisations looked in detail at all the evidence from the clinical trials undertaken by the pharmaceutical companies and the post-approval authorisation monitoring of the vaccines. The JCVI also reviewed and took into consideration the latest available evidence on the current UK COVID-19 infection rate, the scale and pace of the vaccine programme and modelling of the timing and size of any likely third pandemic wave. It is important that all those who are eligible and advised to be vaccinated take up the offer of a vaccine, and complete the course for maximum protection.

Compliance with the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020 is monitored by Education Scotland Health and Nutrition Inspectors who support local authority caterers to undertake a nutrient analysis of school lunch menus using appropriate software to assess compliance with the nutrient standards. They also support local authority teaching and catering staff to assess compliance with all other food and drink provision across the school day against the relevant specifications.

Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 each local authority is responsible for ensuring that they comply with the statutory duties set out in the Regulations. The Regulations are flexible enough to allow for local variations in menu design which helps to ensure that local needs and preferences can be taken into account. As such we would expect to see different menus between local authorities and between schools within a local authority area.