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The Scottish Government is monitoring closely and regularly publishing data on surveillance and our Test and Protect system that will give an early warning of local and national increases in Covid-19 cases. In addition, modelling undertaken by Scottish Government can be used to forecast the different potential scenarios.

The biggest single factor in controlling the virus and avoiding a second wave is how well we all continue to observe public health advice. We continue to take account of modelling expert advice, lessons learned from our own experience and from international data to adapt our plans and advice from the Chief Medical Officer and SAGE. We are now better prepared than ever to respond to any possible second wave.

Some NHS Boards were closely involved in the planning of Exercise Silver Swan alongside the Scottish Government. Following the exercise, NHS Boards were provided with the exercise report to inform local planning. NHS Boards and other organisations discussed the exercise recommendations with the Scottish Government on 6 December 2016. Discussions on the exercise have also been held between the Scottish Government and the NHS Board officials dealing with resilience issues. Both NHS Boards and Scottish Government are represented at Regional Resilience Partnership meetings, where the exercise was discussed at regional level.

Any policies on media handling would be a matter for NHSScotland. Boards as individual organisations to consider locally.

We have not undertaken work to establish the costs associated with a national care service.

The Scottish Government publishes weekly data on the number of care home staff tested in each Board area:

It is not possible from the data to provide a breakdown of the number of staff who can access drive through facilities.

Health and social care workers in Scotland continue to be the top priority for testing and all health and social care workers who have symptoms can be tested through their local NHS board. Each health board will offer a variety of options for testing, these can include providing transport to test centres or access to mobile testing units. Regular testing every 7 days is also now being extended to all care home staff, regardless of symptoms.

Number of “excess” deaths which occurred by day between 20 April 2020 and 31 May 2020 compared with “what would normally have been expected” based on the previous 2 years.

In accordance with the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 the responsibility for the delivery of education rests with individual local authorities. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on outdoor learning, on the basis of local needs and priorities.

The majority of authorities’ education funding is provided via the General Revenue Grant. However, additional funding is provided via the £750 million Attainment Scotland Fund which includes Challenge Authorities funding, an additional schools programme and Pupil Equity Funding. This funding can be used flexibly to achieve equity in education. This can include spending on outdoor learning experiences.

In addition, in May 2020 the Scottish Government announced funding of £159,000 to expand Living Classroom’s Virtual Nature School programme across the country. This work will provide professional training and learning materials to early learning and childcare practitioners looking to take learning outdoors.

The Scottish Government has also provided funding to support the development of the ‘Going Out There’ and ‘Out To Play’ guidance documents. These documents provide educators with a comprehensive guide to all the practical and legal considerations needed to take learning outside and beyond the learning estate.

Following the closure of schools and to assist with planning for the blended learning approach, Education Scotland has also developed an outdoor learning ‘Wakelet’. This provides educators with access to resources, guidance and advice relating to outdoor learning.

Scottish Government officials met with a number of third sector organisations including Scouts Scotland; Girlguiding Scotland; The Boys’ Brigade; and the Outward Bound Trust on Friday 29 May 2020 . The meeting focused on challenges that third sector run outdoor education centres have encountered during lockdown. During that meeting third sector organisations put forward an idea of how to help upskill school staff in providing outdoor learning.

We are currently considering the challenges and opportunities raised during the meeting of the 29 May and we are committed to keeping Scouts Scotland; Girlguiding Scotland; The Boys’ Brigade; and the Outward Bound Trust informed of next steps.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-29289 on 17 June 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at

There is potential for outdoor settings to be utilised more often as schools reopen. The outdoors provides greater space for education to be delivered whilst physical distancing is in place.

In light of this, Scottish Government officials have held discussions with a number of organisations within the outdoor learning sector and this includes organisations that run outdoor residential centres. Those discussions have covered the potential for residential centres to be used to help schools deliver learning at a safe physical distance and for the experienced staff at centres to help teachers to effectively deliver learning in an outdoor environment. We continue to engage with the sector.