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The Scottish Government has been working with partners to publish expert advice and good practice in supporting children and young peoples’ learning throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. My answer of 24 June outlined the ways in which this information has been made available.

Schools and local authorities are best placed to identify how to meet the individual needs of their pupils and have been working hard to develop plans to do so for the reopening of schools.

The First Minister has indicated that an update on the timescales for the resumption of driving lessons would be made on 30 July. Until the resumption of driving lessons has been confirmed, there will be no resumption of car driving tests in Scotland, except in the limited circumstances where they are available to critical workers.

On the 30 th of June 2020, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport announced during the daily media briefing that visiting restrictions were being relaxed in hospitals, in line with Scotland’s Covid-19 Route Map.

Additional guidance has published specifically for visiting in maternity and neonatal units. From 13 July, in addition to a birth partner (who has always been deemed as an essential visitor throughout the pandemic), women throughout their labour can have an additional birth partner provided they are not unwell or have any symptoms of Coronavirus. Birth partners and one other nominated person are also now allowed to visit the postnatal ward. In addition, the updated guidance allows for one person to able to accompany a pregnant woman to an antenatal clinic or scan appointment. In some areas there may be some local restrictions, for example in relation to available space in waiting areas and women are advised to speak with their midwives to see how these changes affect their local areas.

Starting from 3 August 2020, a week before schools in Scotland are due to return, it is expected that rail passenger services will return from approximately 60% to approximately 91% of pre COVID-19 levels, with peak services across Scotland running at almost 100%.

Further service changes will be kept under consideration as conditions require.

On 18 June, the Scottish Government announced a £2.6 million animal welfare fund for zoos and aquariums. This is in addition to the other forms of support available to visitor attractions and businesses in Scotland. We will continue to assess the need for further support for this sector.

An update to the guidance which provides up-to-date information for professional dog walkers, among other animal-related businesses, was published on 24 July 2020 and is available at .

The Scottish Government engages regularly with the banks through the Banking and Economy Forum and the Financial Services Industry Advisory Board (FiSAB).

While people are being encouraged to use contactless payments as a result of the health crisis, we recognise that this may not be possible for everyone. However, there are already a number of measures in place to help young and vulnerable members of the community access bank accounts. For example, accounts are available for under 19 year olds that can provide free every day banking with access to debit cards to pay for items in shops, on the internet or access money at cash machines.

Banks provide a range of options for young people and full details can be found on their websites.

Following the announcement by the First Minister on the 9 th of July, it was confirmed that driving lessons will not resume before 31 st of July. An update will be made at the earliest opportunity to ensure driving instructors will be able to return to work when possible.

Guidance is currently being developed, based on the best available public health advise and will be published in due course.

The regulation of the veterinary profession is reserved. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) is the regulator in the UK.

The Scottish Government has worked with the RCVS, in consultation with the British Veterinary Association (the professional representative body) to make sure the advice they have produced is compliant with Scottish Government (general) Business advice.

As we have started to relax lockdown requirements this has moved from only carrying out work which is an emergency or essential to the food chain to providing as full a range of services as possible, whilst working safely.

All veterinary services must be provided in a manner that supports social/physical distancing, and good hygiene and biosecurity. Practices have to consider the individual premises layout and specific disease/welfare pressures in their geographical area, while prioritising the health of their teams, clients and the wider public adhering to the latest government guidelines.

Guidance on the provision of B12 injections has been produced by the British Society for Haematology ( ). This advises that GPs should use their clinical judgement to consider if changes are appropriate during the pandemic and to discuss and agree a personalised plan with individual patients that are affected. This may be to decrease the frequency of injections to minimise visits to GP practices or hospitals. Alternatively, there are situations where it is possible for people to self-inject hydroxocobalamin if their GP or health professional agree this would be suitable.

On 31 May 2020 we published our framework for re-mobilising our health services, “Re-mobilise, Recover, Re-design.” Health Boards are using this Framework alongside other national and clinical advice to safely and gradually prioritise the reintroduction of some chronic disease management services including treatment room services such as for B12. This is happening now and will continue to expand in coming weeks and months, whilst continuing to protect emergency, urgent and maternity care, as well as retaining sufficient capacity for COVID-19.