Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government does not collect data on suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the UK as this a statutory function of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The MHRA produces a weekly summary of Yellow Card reporting and includes other safety investigations carried out by the MHRA under the COVID-19 Vaccine Surveillance Strategy. On 1 July this report was updated to include new data up to 23 June 2021. The MHRA does not currently break down these data by treatment required at secondary or primary clinical care settings.

The number of suspected ADR reports received in the UK for COVID-19 vaccines up to and including 23 June were as follows:

Table 1

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

It is a matter for each individual Public Body to decide how to address Fair Work First in their procurement processes, with decisions being taken on a case-by-case basis. In doing so, all Bodies are expected to apply the Fair Work First criteria to all new regulated procurement processes from 1 April 2021, wherever relevant and proportionate to do so. This procurement process commenced prior to 1 April 2021.

Since the suspension of charges, the costs of parking and therefore total savings for all users are estimated to be in the region of £8.1m.

Beyond this, there is no means to robustly track the composition of those individuals who are using these car parks and therefore it is not possible to appropriate estimated savings to each of these groups.

Around 10-15% of patients presenting with acute stroke in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GG&C) Health Board area are candidates for reperfusion with thrombolysis. The other 85-90% of admissions require specialist local care. Within NHS GGC, acute stroke thrombolysis is already available on a 24/7 basis. This is currently based at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) with a thrombolysis on-call rota covering the entire NHS GG&C area.

Patients presenting to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) out of hours and at weekends with acute stroke, are assessed immediately on arrival and have appropriate imaging performed. If it is thought that the individual patient would potentially benefit from thrombolysis, then they will be transferred to QEUH. Patients presenting at GRI during weekday hours, who are thought to potentially benefit from thrombolysis, would have thrombolysis performed at GRI.

Patients presenting to other NHS GG&C sites with acute stroke, and who are thought to potentially benefit from thrombolysis, are either assessed, have appropriate imaging performed, and transferred to QEUH where appropriate, or are taken directly to QEUH by the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), where stroke thrombolysis can take place.

Reperfusion in acute stroke circumstances is time-critical, as the benefit of thrombolysis diminishes with any delay to treatment. Therefore, work is ongoing within the NHS GG&C Stroke Improvement Group to develop a consultant telemedicine thrombolysis model with local stroke specialist nurse support for patients presenting with acute stroke.

NHS GG&C can provide further information on the Acute Stroke Service.

Detailed workforce planning, in partnership with NHS Scotland health boards is underway to enable delivery of the next stage of COVID-19 vaccinations, alongside the seasonal influenza vaccination programme. On 05 July 2021, we provided health boards with the latest available planning assumptions and advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. This included workforce deployment requirements, broken down by health board, alongside planning information to enable health boards to continue to work towards building a sustainable vaccinations workforce. We will share further workforce planning information with MSPs shortly on the plans for the delivery of Covid-19 and seasonal influenza vaccinations across NHS Scotland this coming autumn.

The Scottish Government in terms of its marketing and communication planning, utilises a number of communication channels, to reach those that are hesitant under the generic campaign, Roll Up Our Sleeves, targeting 18-49 year olds.

It is currently not practical to establish a definitive implementation timetable for bringing the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 (the Act) into force. Covid-19 has considerably stretched resources within Health Boards and the wider health and social care sector, with the focus being on maintaining and delivering essential services and rolling out the vaccination programme.

Prior to the pandemic, we proposed a phased commencement of the Act, with a programme of preparatory work to lay the way for implementation. This work had not concluded pre-Covid when the Act became one of several areas of policy/legislation to be paused in order to prioritise the Government’s and Health Boards pandemic response.

Additionally, during the previous session there were substantial demands on parliamentary time arising from Covid-19 and EU Exit legislation and also critical legislation needing to be progressed prior to the dissolution of Parliament.

However, the Scottish Government continues to be resolutely committed to the Act and its aims and principles. Health and social care staff across Scotland have risen to the very significant challenges posed by Covid, showing incredible resolve and flexibility, and as the Health Service recovers and remobilises we will ensure this Act is implemented as soon as is practicable to effectively drive positive change for NHS staff and patients .

The next meeting of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands is scheduled to take place on Monday 25 October 2021.

Emissions from casking, distillation, fermentation, other maturation and spent grain drying are not disaggregated by spirit type, due to the very low levels involved. Collectively for all spirit manufacture in Scotland, these processes contributed approximately 3% of NMVOC emissions in 2018, the most recent year for which figures are available.

Overall NMVOC emissions in Scotland have declined by approximately 65% since 1990.

Approximately 45% of NMVOC emissions in Scotland were due to emissions from Scotch whisky maturation in 2018.

This information is also publicly available in the report 'Air Quality Pollutant Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990-2018' and the associated tables, which can be found at: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/reports/cat09/2010220959_DA_Air_Pollutant_Inventories_1990-2018_v1.2.pdf .