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The Scottish Government believes that the reopening of schools had to be the priority, given their critical importance to the life and wellbeing of our children and young people. The reopening was contingent upon there being low community transmission of the virus. However, the virus has not gone away, and the scientific advice is that the more activities that are allowed to operate, the more contact and mixing will occur, and with that comes additional risk. The reopening of schools is a new development, and with each new development the Scottish Government will look at the impact, and monitor progress very closely. That is why the decision was taken to avoid the cumulative impact of restarting extracurricular activities, until such time as the impact of school reopening had been able to be assessed. This is in line with the published guidance on physical distancing in schools produced by the Covid-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues which states “ Where incremental changes can be made and the impacts of these monitored, that would be recommended .”

Scottish Government have supported health boards to redesign the way they offer services through the introduction of technology assisted appointments such as NHS Near Me. In some circumstances a face to face assessment will still be required. This is therefore a matter for individual health boards to consider the urgency of the assessment and whether it could be undertaken remotely, balancing against the risk of a face-to-face assessment.

For children, Scottish Governments advises that movement between schools should be kept to a minimum until further notice.

The guidance recognises the importance of holistic support for children and young people and the requirement to meet their needs, and advises that every effort should be made to meet these needs through lower risk methods such as digital or virtual means. It is therefore up to individuals schools to consider the urgency of the assessment and whether it could be undertaken remotely in assessing the risk of a face-to-face assessment.

The average total turnaround time (ie, time taken from taking of swab to reporting of result) in local health boards is just under 23 hours.

For testing carried out by the UK Government, the vast majority of test results are sent automatically within 48 hours, or 72 hours for home tests. We do not hold data on average turnaround times for tests carried out through the UK Government testing programme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-30555 on 30 July 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at .

An important strand of an effective pandemic response is data to inform decisions at national, local, and sectoral levels as part of a responsive system of community surveillance, and to support public awareness and choice. To deliver this well, we have brought together a partnership of data and analytical expertise from across Local Authorities, NHS Scotland, Scottish Universities, and Scottish Government. The starting point is establishing the data and intelligence needs of organisations. Our approach will adapt existing technologies, work in an open and transparent way that respects privacy whilst enabling data and actionable insights to be shared appropriately.

As such, information is now being shared with local health protection teams in two respects. First, data about people testing positive is shared from lab systems to Health Boards as soon as it becomes available. This allows people to plan appropriate responses. To add to this, daily information on early warning indicators is shared at an “intermediate zone geography” which typically covers just over 4,000 people. This is currently shared with Health Boards and other public bodies involved in health protection to enable them to combine this with other local intelligence to spot problems as early as possible.

In addition, it is important to make local area data available to the public. Death figures by Intermediate zones were published by NRS on 15th July . The Scottish Government is working with Public Health Scotland to provide a range of early warning indicators at this intermediate zones that would be updated at least weekly. This is likely to include calls to NHS24 for respiratory conditions, and confirmed Covid cases, and potentially some other measures. We are exploring the associated privacy issues and hoping to publish this over the coming weeks.

We are currently preparing guidance in consultation with sport scotland, Community Leisure Scotland, the Scottish Leisure Networking Group, Local Authorities, Leisure Trusts, Hospitality Sector, Trade Unions, Scottish Governing Bodies of sport and other partners in the sporting system.

This will ensure we understand the needs of facility operators in the sector and consider how facilities and processes may be adapted to allow physical distancing and improved hygiene measures.

Indoor sports facilities will open safely, with the confidence of users and providers, in the near future as soon as it is safe to do so but, as stated in the route map, no earlier than 31 July.

The First Minister has confirmed at the next review of restrictions will take place on the 30 July. Some restrictions and public health measures will remain in place throughout Phase 3 to help to keep us safe, protect others and save lives.

The Scottish Government has published for the retail sector which sets out our expectations on the steps which retail business will take before and after reopening. This includes an operational guide for retailers with actions to consider and states that retailers should consider operating a click and collect service.

The Scottish Government has taken action throughout the pandemic to ensure that people are protected and that appropriate steps are taken to suppress the spread of the virus. Enclosed spaces present challenges and we have published guidance that has taken account of Public Health Advice on the need for communal cleaning. The guidance is available on our website:

The guidance makes it clear that regular cleaning should continue to be provided during the pandemic in line with Public Health Advice. We expect everyone with responsibility for cleaning communal areas to carry this out and ensure that any staff carrying out cleaning are able to do so safely, with appropriate PPE.

It is important that everyone plays their part in continuing to suppress the spread of the virus. Where a tenant has concerns about conditions of their tenement close then they should approach their landlord in the first instance.

Subject to scientific advice on the continued decline in the prevalence of Covid 19, it is our intention that schools should return for all pupils full time at the start of the autumn term. This will greatly enhance the wellbeing of children and young people throughout Scotland. A number of measures are being developed to ensure this can happen safely. Any consideration of testing as part of those measures will take account of the impact of the process of testing itself on those who are being tested.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on this matter for all public buildings. Local Authorities are required to keep building warrant records in Part 2 of the building standards register. Requirements for cladding systems set through building regulations do not require non-combustible cladding on all public buildings. This provision is based upon the level of fire risk associated with a building type and occupancy profile. Employers and persons with control of most public buildings (owners, managing agents, etc) have fire safety responsibilities under Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and associated Regulations and may also hold records of cladding. The risk of fire spread on external walls is only one in a broad range of fire safety elements considered under building and fire safety regulations.

It is important to distinguish between aluminium composite material (ACM) panels that are combustible and ACM panels that have the appropriate resistance to fire. Some buildings will have partial ACM cladding deemed not to constitute a risk to life, following a comprehensive fire risk assessment.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 a data collection exercise on the presence of aluminium composite material (ACM) was undertaken on the following public buildings:

• Healthcare premises; One hospital confirmed partial cladding with combustible ACM panels that have since been replaced;
• Prisons; The Scottish Prison Service has confirmed that no Scottish prison has identified the use of ACM panels on any of its buildings.
• Schools; 30 school buildings under 18m in height were identified as having ACM panels. Local Authorities are responsible for fire safety in their school buildings. All 32 authorities advised that their school buildings were considered safe in terms of fire safety following a review of their fire risk assessments.

High pressure laminate (HPL) is a common type of cladding material also being considered. A data collection exercise on the presence of HPL across a range of building sectors is ongoing but is currently paused due to difficulties with gaining physical access to data as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.