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The Scottish Government continue to consider the recommendations of the Scottish Law Commission’s on reform of the law of trusts. Among those recommendations was reform of statutory powers to remove trustees and which would include executors. Once consideration is complete the Scottish Government will write to the Scottish Law Commission advising them of next steps.

The Scottish Government continues to give full consideration to the SLC’s Report on Trust Law and the 8 discussion papers and 2 consultation papers that informed its detailed and extensive recommendations. The content of the next legislative programme will be for the next Government to determine. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee’s recommendation that the Presiding Officer’s determination on Scottish Law Commission’s Bills is revised would, if implemented, allow more legislative space for consideration of such Bills.

It is important to remember that where executors are appointed in a will they are chosen by the deceased to carry out their last wishes and the terms of the will. Removal of executors under statute can, in certain circumstances, be done by application to the Sheriff Court, failing which the Court of Session. In considering any proposals for reform the Scottish Government recognises the importance of balancing the ability of beneficiaries to remove a problematic executor and the right of a deceased person to have the individual they choose administer their will.

The Scottish Government’s response to its most recent consultation on succession law reform was published earlier this year. The Scottish Government committed to taking forward several issues on which there was a degree of consensus. Not all these matters may require primary legislation, but those which do will be legislated for at the next possible opportunity. It is a matter for the next Government to decide the legislative programme.

The Scottish Government has carried out no analysis of the prevalence of executors who are considered problematic. It is not clear where such information may be held or how it may be gathered. The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service may have figures for the number of applications heard in courts, but not all instances of problematic executors will reach this stage.

The Scottish Government response to the Report of the Independent Review of Mediation in the Civil Justice System in Scotland confirmed our intention to work with key stakeholders on a collaborative basis to understand fully the implications of the proposals before making decisions on reform.

We established a Dispute Resolution Group consisting of key organisations and agencies representing a wide range of interests including dispute resolution organisations, Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service and consumer bodies to develop and shape an evidence based package of reform aimed at mainstreaming the use of mediation in the civil justice system in Scotland.

The Group held two meetings in early 2020 but the work of the Group had to be paused in March 2020 due to the combined pressures of preparing for EU exit and responding to COVID-19. Meetings of the Dispute Resolution Delivery Group resumed at the end of September 2020 but the delay has inevitably had a detrimental impact on the programme of work by the Group. However, the Group will continue to support the development of a consultation paper for future publication.

Visiting is a fundamental part of the health and wellbeing of those who live in care homes and the Scottish Government recognises the impact that visiting restrictions has had on care home residents and their loved ones. We are continuing to work to support homes to make visiting available, whilst protecting those who are at most risk from this virus.

We have been regularly updating our guidance, which is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-adult-care-homes
-visiting-guidance/ and this was most recently updated on 4 December for care homes over the festive period. It reiterates that care homes should support indoor visiting and asks for homes to support such visits generously and sympathetically, whenever it is safe to do so.

In order to increase confidence around visiting and add another layer of protection we are extending asymptomatic testing for designated visitors as an added measure alongside PPE and Infection Prevention Control. We are distributing testing kits, and associated training, to all care homes across Scotland. For any care homes that are unable to make use of lateral flow tests before Christmas, PCR testing of visitors will be available when necessary to facilitate visiting over the Christmas and New Year period.

In consultation with Directors of Public Health, Public Health Scotland and the Chief Medical Officer, we are now recommending that the period of closure to new admissions and visitors following an outbreak is reduced from 28 days to 14 days, which will mean that care homes will be able to open to visitors sooner after an outbreak.

We are also providing additional funding to support care homes with the additional requirements of testing and safety reporting.

I have met families of Care Home Relatives Scotland on a number of occasions and I am committed to working with them and others to support further opportunities for visiting in care homes.

Information on how many NHS staff who have had to self-isolate due to COVID-19 were (a)symptomatic and (b)asymptomatic is not centrally held by ISD or NES.

Information available on Covid absence is published daily and can be found on the following link:

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

See ‘Trends in daily COVID-19 data’ – Table 6.

The Scottish Government understands that the fall in reduction in reported acute respiratory infections (ARI) is likely due to a combination of factors. This includes changes in the behaviour of the population because of the infection control measures we have put in place to stop the spread of Covid-19. These behaviours will include a reduction in social mixing, in domestic and international travel and more people in the high risk groups taking up the offer of the extension of the flu vaccine.

We have also seen changes in how people are using and accessing their GP practices as a result of Covid-19. People are having less face to face consultations or not wishing to attend their GP surgeries due to concerns over Covid-19, so there is less opportunity for symptoms that meet the definition of ARI to be captured and then reported via GPs.

There may have been some people who have been reported as ARI via their GP and will have been directed to speak to their pharmacist, phone NHS 24 or visit NHS inform or other websites due to potentially having Covid-19. This further reduces the number of ARI reported.

There is currently no evidence to suggest that those presenting symptoms of ARI are being misclassified as cases of Covid-19.

Authorised post-mortem examinations are undertaken for deaths in hospitals by NHS Boards, where the cause of death is unknown, to establish the medical cause of death.

They are also undertaken under the direction of the Procurator Fiscal for relevant cases as part of the investigation into death. This is a matter for the Lord Advocate.