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The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 has established a system of carers’ rights designed to listen to carers; improve consistency of support; and help sustain caring relationships by protecting carers’ health and wellbeing. This includes each carer’s right to a personalised plan to identify what is important to them and set out any support they might need.

Ministers and COSLA have written to local authorities encouraging them to prioritise additional carer support in their local plans for responding to the pandemic. This is on top of the extra £11.6 million for carer support in the 2020-21 budget.

We are working alongside key organisations to ensure carers have the advice they need to help protect themselves and their loved ones during the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as advice on how to access support and changes to carers’ benefits carers. We have also established a £500,000 fund to help local carer services adapt to providing advice and emotional support remotely. This includes advice on accessing personal protective equipment (PPE). We have also made changes to our £3 million Short Breaks Fund so that carers can access breaks that are suitable at this time.

We support around 80,000 unpaid carers in Scotland with Carer’s Allowance and Carer’s Allowance Supplement. Through the Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill 2, we propose to make an extra payment of £230.10 to Carer’s Allowance recipients in Scotland this June, on top of Carer’s Allowance Supplement.

We understand that many carers are under additional emotional pressure at present. We have provided an additional £3.8 million to begin to increase the capacity of NHS 24’s telephone and online services, including making the NHS 24 Mental Health Hub available 24/7 and expanding the Breathing Space helpline and web support service.

A webpage has been published on the Scottish Government website which provides specific information for unpaid carers during the COVID-19 outbreak: .

We are considering how best to bring all services back on stream, but in doing so we must be very careful that we do not do anything that might compromise the fragile gains that we are making in containing Covid-19.

We recently published which sets out the challenges we face and how we will approach them. However, our priority at this time is to preserve life and reduce harm.

The current restrictions remain in place and we need to stick with them for now, in order to be able to relax things in future. Independent podiatrists who are still practicing should continue to adhere to national Covid-19 guidance and the guidance produced by their professional bodies.

It is not possible to provide information on the exact reasons why individuals have been asked to shield within each specific shielding group as this is not recorded in the list of people who have been asked to shield.

The following table provides information on the number of individuals who have been asked to shield categorised by shielding group. Individuals who fall within more than one shielding group are counted under each group but only once in the overall total.

Number of individuals on the Shielding list by shielding group (as at 11 May 2020)

It is not possible to provide information on the exact reasons why individuals have been asked to shield within each specific shielding group as this is not recorded in the list of people who have been asked to shield.

The following table provides information on the number of individuals who have been asked to shield categorised by shielding group. Individuals who fall within more than one shielding group are counted under each group but only once in the overall total.

Number of individuals on the Shielding list by shielding group (as at 11 May 2020)

It is not possible to provide information on the exact reasons why individuals have been asked to shield within each specific shielding group as this is not recorded in the list of people who have been asked to shield.

The following table provides information on the number of individuals who have been asked to shield categorised by shielding group. Individuals who fall within more than one shielding group are counted under each group but only once in the overall total.

Number of individuals on the Shielding list by shielding group (as at 11 May 2020)

It is not possible to provide information on the exact reasons why individuals have been asked to shield within each specific shielding group as this is not recorded in the list of people who have been asked to shield.

The following table provides information on the number of individuals who have been asked to shield categorised by shielding group. Individuals who fall within more than one shielding group are counted under each group but only once in the overall total.

Number of individuals on the Shielding list by shielding group (as at 11 May 2020)

It is important that frontline staff receive the protective equipment they require and NHS National Services Scotland, with the support of Scottish Government and other national agencies are working hard to ensure a continued supply of the right equipment across a range of sizes.

NHS NSS are also providing additional support to NHS Boards in relation to fit-testing capacity for FFP3 respirators. This is to ensure staff requiring these are fitted correctly before performing their crucial roles .

By 24 April, 100,961 grocery boxes had been requested by people shielding. The following table provides an illustration of this broken down by local authority area .

This information is not centrally held by ISD.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-28198 on 27 April 2020.

I am leading work to ensure a range of mental health and wellbeing support is in place for NHS and social care staff, complementing the work being taken forward by NHS Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships at a local level. The work I am leading will cover the whole health and social care workforce whatever the setting or contractual arrangements.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at .