Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00871 on 5 July 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-00871 on 5 July 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.

Consumer protection remains reserved to the UK Government but through advice and advocacy, we are doing all we can with them to support consumers.

Consumer Scotland will have a general function of providing consumers advocacy and advice with a view to reduce harm to consumers in Scotland. The board was formally appointed on 1 July 2021.

Any specific complaint should be directed to the consumeradvice.scot consumer helpline funded by the Scottish Government.

Additional funding of £1.08 billion has been confirmed through the Scottish Budget for health and care for 2021-22 to support the response to the pandemic.

From this, the Scottish Government is providing an initial £380 million to NHS Boards in 2021-22 to meet ongoing costs associated with Covid-19. This includes funding for PPE, Test and Protect and delivery of Covid-19 vaccinations.

The Scottish Government will continue to ensure that our health and care services have the funding that they require to respond to this pandemic, and will make available further additional support following our detailed Quarter One financial review.

Details of funding allocations to NHS Boards are set out in the following table:

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) continue to work with health boards to support their planning and the safe delivery of immunisation services during the pandemic.

In Scotland, there is no 18 month target for second dose as the JCVI recommends a schedule of 0, 6-24 months for all HPV vaccines. Further information can be found in The Green Book Chapter for HPV. Additionally, the data for HPV immunisation programmes is collected by NHS Board reflecting that NHS Boards deliver the HPV immunisation programme to pupils.

The latest HPV immunisation statistics published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) for academic year 2019/20 show that uptake for the HPV vaccine remains high. Further information is available online on the PHS website: HPV Immunisation Statistics Scotland 22 December 2020 - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org)

Public Health Scotland collate data on the HPV vaccination programme for the previous school year every autumn. Data for school year 2020/21 will be collated in autumn 2021 and published in November 2021. Therefore, we cannot provide information on the most recent school year.

We currently have no plans to review or expand the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013. Application of the legislation is the responsibility of local authorities and my officials will continue to engage with them to ensure that the legislation is being applied in the manner intended by Parliament when the law was passed.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information as the rostering of vaccinator shifts is a matter for individual NHS Health Boards.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The deployment of Police Officers and Police Staff is a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.

Information regarding funding amounts provided to community pharmacy contractors to provide COVID-19 vaccinators is not held centrally. The employment and deployment of COVID-19 vaccinators, including pharmacists, is a matter for individual Health Boards. To support them in this regard, the Scottish Government has agreed a sessional rate of £231 for pharmacist contractors participating in the programme. Each session covered by the rate lasts 3.5 hours.

First, it is important to note that there has been no change in the Scottish Government policy on the remuneration arrangements for independent contractors or those working within a primary care settings participation in the COVID Vaccination programme.

The guidance for community pharmacy contractors was published on 26 November 2020 along with guidance for the other primary care contractor groups. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/pca/PCA2020(P)26.pdf.

The guidance sets out the details to allow Health Boards to enter into arrangements with contractors to participate in the vaccination programme with those listed on the appropriate contractors / performers list.

In the case of community pharmacy, it is those entities listed on the Boards Pharmaceutical List to provide pharmaceutical services on behalf of the Health Board, in accordance with the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 and the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

Existing regulations do not currently provide for the provision of performers listing for the pharmacy profession and as such the remuneration arrangements for participation in the vaccination programme put in place for community pharmacy contractors does not apply to individual employees or self-employed locum pharmacists.

However, it would appear that some Health Boards applied the nationally agreed rate for community pharmacy contractors inappropriately to those self-employed locum pharmacists.

It is important to note that individual employees or locum pharmacists have not been removed from participating in the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Their skills are needed in this public health emergency and we would encourage those who are able to contact their local Health Board expressing their interest of joining the programme.

Each Health Board have arrangements in place for healthcare professionals, including pharmacists to support the roll out of the programme as vaccinators, while work is taken forward to build a sustainable vaccination workforce.

The specific arrangements may vary from Board to Board but in principle the individual would be recruited to the NHS Board Bank at the Agenda for Change Band 3 or 5 depending on the vaccinator role undertaken. However, some health boards may be offering sessional payment to individual locum pharmacists.