Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government has been reviewing the restrictions and guidance in place regularly.

Following the most recent review, the First Minister announced on 13 July that all remaining parts of Scotland would move to protection level 0 of the updated Strategic Framework with effect from 19 July.

This decision means that under our published guidance up to 200 people can now attend a marriage ceremony or wedding reception subject to the capacity of the couple’s chosen venue with the appropriate physical distancing in place.

In addition, we have amended the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Local Levels) (Restrictions and Requirements) Regulations 2020 to reduce the required physical distance between households indoors to 1 metre in all public venues.

The First Minister’s statement summarises the evidence and data supporting these decisions. Information about strategy and evidence is published at Coronavirus in Scotland (see Scottish Government strategy and evidence). We have also published a report on the outcomes of the recent physical distancing review and information about the current state of the epidemic .

The total cost of the National Concessionary Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People and Young Persons is £223,097,800.

This cost is for financial year 2020-21, and includes free bus and ferry travel and the Covid-19 Support Grant payments for the Older and Disabled People scheme, and bus, rail and ferry travel for young people aged 16-18 and volunteers up to age 25.

The organisational structure for ScotRail Trains Limited is currently being reviewed however the vast majority of Abellio ScotRail staff will transfer over.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-01751 on 6 August 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

Regulations revoking the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 were made today.

These new Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Requirements) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 will take effect on Monday, 9 August 2021.

The regulations provide that relevant hospitality and entertainment premises are required to obtain and record visitor information for the purpose of preventing the spread of coronavirus or monitoring the spread of infection and the incidence of coronavirus disease.

The regulations also require persons responsible for places of worship, carrying on a business or providing a service to have regard to relevant guidance issued by the Scottish Ministers about measures to minimise risk of exposure to coronavirus.

The regulations provide that persons in specified indoor places must wear a face covering unless a specific exemption applies.

The regulations require persons who use a passenger transport service or passenger transport service premises to wear a face covering unless a specific exemption applies.

The regulations cap numbers at live events at 5000 people for events held outdoors and at 2000 people for events held indoors subject to local authority approval of higher attendance limits in accordance with the process set out in the regulations.

The regulations provide for the enforcement of the regulations.

The regulations require Scottish Ministers to review the requirements at least once every 21 days and the regulations require Scottish Ministers to revoke any requirement as soon as it is no longer necessary.

The Regulations have been published at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ssi/2021/277

This Government's recent manifesto stated that this review will consider reform of corroboration, and the three verdict system, including - in recognition of the strong case that can be made for abolition - a consultation on the removal of the not-proven verdict.

The Scottish Government has committed to engaging further with justice partners and opposition parties on corroboration to develop a shared understanding of the evolving legal position and the implications and potential unintended consequences of reform, while continuing discussions with those with direct experience of the system. These discussions will be arranged after parliament returns from recess.

The consultation on not proven will be taken forward early in the upcoming parliamentary term.

As set out in the response to PQ S6W-01778 on 5 August 2021, the consultation on not proven will be taken forward early in the upcoming parliamentary term.

At the jury research engagement events held mainly last year, with a substantial number of legal professionals as well as survivors and victims, concerns were raised about the not proven verdict, such as lack of understanding, juror confusion and perceived stigma.

However, these are complex issues and many participants felt that the third verdict should be retained, or highlighted the interconnectedness of the system, so it is right that we consider these issues carefully.

Once these views have been gathered and analysed, the Government will set out the next steps and timescales.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Scottish Government notes the recent calls for the International Criminal Court to recognise the destruction of nature, “ecocide”, as an international crime.

We are committed to maintaining high environmental standards and have put in place arrangements to establish Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) as the new governance body which has the ability to keep under review the implementation of international obligations relating to environmental protection legislation and advise the Government accordingly.

We recognise that local carer support services have been under additional pressure during the pandemic.

Local authorities and integration authorities are responsible for carer support under the Carers Act and commission third sector organisations to provide much of that support on their behalf. The 2021-22 budget contains an additional £28.5 million in the local government settlement for Carers Act implementation. Added to similar (baselined) increases in previous years since the Act came into force in April 2018, this brings the total additional investment for 2021-22 to £68 million per year.

The previous Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport wrote to local authorities in March 2021 to highlight the importance of using this additional funding to expand carer support: www.gov.scot/publications/carers-act-finance-2021-2022-letter .

The Scottish Government also funds the Time to Live scheme, administered by Shared Care Scotland, to enable local carer organisations to provide small grants for carers to spend on short breaks or something that gives them a break from caring. In response to the pandemic, we have put an additional £910,000 into the scheme in 2020-21 and a further £250,000 in 2021-22.

The success of our vaccination programme means we that from 19 July 2021 we started to change restrictions that apply to fully vaccinated travellers from Amber list. Initially this was applied to UK residents who have been vaccinated by the NHS, departure test before travel to the UK, and the day 2 PCR test once here, for detection and genomic sequencing.

From 2 August, fully-vaccinated passengers arriving from amber list countries in EU member states*, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, microstates of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City, and the USA do not have to quarantine or take a day 8 test upon arrival in Scotland.

They have to carry with them a form of certification to provide details of their vaccine status. For US arrivals, this proof is a CDC card showing you are fully vaccinated, along with proof of residence in the US. All arrivals from Europe must show a record of vaccination through the European Digital COVID Certificate.

Amber arrivals who have been fully vaccinated must take a pre-departure test before arrival into Scotland, alongside a PCR test on or before day 2 after arrival.