 The next item of business is a statement by Nicola Sturgeon on a Covid-19 update. The First Minister will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions and I call on Nicola Sturgeon. First Minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I will give an update today on the latest Covid situation. As part of that, I will recap on decisions made at the end of last week in relation to international travel. I'll also announce some additional support to help businesses improve the ventilation of their premises. I'll give an update on the introduction of the Covid certification scheme following a discussion at Cabinet this morning. First, I'll cover today's statistics. 2,370 positive cases were reported yesterday, 10.6 per cent of the tests carried out. 1,027 people are currently in hospital with Covid for more than yesterday and 73 people are receiving intensive care, which is three fewer than yesterday. Sadly, a further 16 deaths have been reported over the past 24 hours and that takes the total number of deaths registered under the daily definition to 8,551. The number of deaths reported in recent days is a reminder of the grief the virus continues to cause families across the country and I send again my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one. On a more positive note, the vaccination programme continues to make very good progress over the weekend. The milestone of 8 million vaccinations in Scotland was reached. As of this morning, 4,185,574 people have received a first dose and 3,832,498 have now had both doses. In total, therefore, 84 per cent of the over-16 population is now fully vaccinated with two doses. That includes 96 per cent of the over-40s, 75 per cent of 30 to 39-year-olds and 63 per cent of 18 to 29-year-olds. In addition, 71 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds have had a first dose and, of course, it's important to remember that, at this stage, only a single dose is recommended for this age group. Those are exceptionally high uptake rates but, as we go into winter, we are obviously keen to push them even higher and I'll return to that point later. However, we are also now implementing the next stages of the programme. Vaccinations for 12 to 15-year-olds started last week at drop-in clinics. Appointment letters are being sent out from this week to everyone in that age group who hasn't already been vaccinated. I would again take this opportunity to encourage all 12 to 15-year-olds and, indeed, their parents and carers to read the online information about vaccinations so that informed decisions can be taken. Of course, if there are questions or concerns, please raise those with vaccinators when attending appointments. The programme of booster vaccinations is also under way now in line with JCVI advice. Care Home residents started getting booster jags last week, and from this week, those over 70 years of age and those on the highest risk list will start to get booster jags too. People in those groups will be notified of appointments by GPs or by letter. People on the highest risk list who are immunosuppressed or immunocompromised are being invited separately for a third dose. The figures reported over the past week show that although Covid cases remain at a high level, they are continuing to fall. To put current case numbers into context, in the five weeks between 2 August and 6 September, the increase in average daily cases was more than fivefold, from an average of 1,115 new cases a day to 6,438. Since then, though, average daily cases have halft to 3,119 new cases a day on average. The numbers now are also below the previous peak of early July. Indeed, in the last week alone, there has been a fall of almost one-fifth. The steepest falls of more than a quarter have been in the 15 to 19 and the 20 to 24 age groups. However, it is important to note that there have been significant declines across all age groups. What is obviously extremely positive is that this overall reduction in cases has happened without the need to reintroduce any lockdown restrictions, which of course all of us wear and are very keen to avoid. We consider that the falling cases is being driven by a number of factors. A key one is likely to be the increasing level of immunity, which is now relatively high in Scotland. That comes mainly from vaccination, although also to some extent from infection with the virus and indeed in some cases from both. I will return to my earlier point about the need to drive the already high vaccine uptake rates even higher. The current downward trajectory of cases underlines again the vital importance of getting vaccinated if you are eligible. That includes taking up the opportunity of a booster jag when it is offered. Getting vaccinated undoubtedly remains the single most important thing that any of us can do to help to keep cases under control. However, other factors are also likely to have contributed to the fall in cases. Those include obviously the performance and the hard work of those in test and protect and also all of the considerable efforts made by individuals, businesses and other organisations to step up compliance with the basic mitigation measures that remain in place. I am very grateful to everyone who has taken extra care in recent weeks in an attempt to halt and then reverse the spike in cases. That includes students and staff at our colleges and universities. This time last year, we were experiencing a rapid increase in cases, albeit from a much lower base level than is currently the case. Back then, that was at least in part down to the start of the new university term. However, so far this year, although it is still early in the new term, there has not been an increase in cases coinciding with the return of universities. Indeed, at this stage, it could tentatively be argued that the reverse is true. As I said earlier, cases in the 15 to 24-year-old age groups, which of course includes many students, have actually been falling. That, of course, will be in part due to the impact of vaccination. However, I also know how much effort has gone into making student campuses and accommodation as safe as possible, and I am deeply grateful for all of those efforts. Cabinet Secretaries will continue to engage with different sectors in the weeks ahead to ensure that we are working together to support strong compliance with key mitigations such as face coverings, hand hygiene, good ventilation and, where possible, continued home working. The clear evidence of recent weeks suggests that those collective efforts are making a significant difference. If we stick with it, I am hopeful that we will keep a downward pressure on cases as we head into the winter period. I cannot stress enough how vital that is. It is extremely positive that case numbers have fallen significantly, but they remain more than two and a half times higher than they were in early August. As we move further into autumn and winter and people meet indoors for longer periods of time, there remains a risk that cases could rise again. Of course, hospital admissions and occupancy are already at high levels. That said, in the last week, we have also seen a slight but welcome reduction in the number of patients with Covid in hospital from 1,107 to 1,027. That is in line with our expectations. We know that the number of people in hospital usually starts to fall about two weeks after the number of new cases begins to fall. With cases having fallen further, we would hope and expect that the direct Covid pressure on the NHS will ease somewhat, although we expect the service to remain under significant pressure for some time to come. We also hope that the number of people dying from Covid will start to reduce as well. Again, some context is necessary, although the slight slowdown in hospital admissions is very welcome. The number of patients in hospital today, with Covid in 1,027, is still three times higher than it was in late August. Similarly, while there has been a gradual decline in the number of patients with Covid requiring intensive care, ICU occupancy is still far higher now than it was in late August. It is worth highlighting that the hospital figures that we report daily represent the total number of people who have first tested positive for Covid while in hospital or in the 14 days prior to their admission. Those figures have always included people who, though they have Covid, have actually been admitted to hospital for other reasons. However, I can advise Parliament that Public Health Scotland will tomorrow publish a more detailed analysis that will seek to quantify those admitted to hospital, not just with Covid but because of Covid. I am sure that that will be of interest to many. What any analysis, though, makes clear is that the number of people in hospital, either with or because of Covid, is still too high, and that is putting immense pressure on the NHS. NHS staff are currently trying to care for hundreds of Covid admissions every week, while also dealing with the backlog built up during the pandemic and preparing for winter. That is exhausting and stressful for them, and I know that we are all deeply grateful to each and every one of them. It is therefore important to emphasise again that, by all of us, behaving in ways that can get and keep Covid cases under control, we are not simply protecting ourselves and those around us, we are also helping those who work so hard in our NHS and protecting their capacity to provide care and treatment to everyone who needs it. There are three further issues that I want to give an update on today. First, we confirmed last Friday changes to the rules on international travel. From 4 October, the blanket requirement for pre-departure tests for people travelling into Scotland will be removed. People who have been fully vaccinated or who are under age 18 will no longer need to provide a pre-departure test result if they are coming from countries not on the red list. We also hope to align our policy on post-arrival testing with that of England, although details of this UK-wide are still being finalised. As I indicated last week, we are making those changes to the travel testing rules with some reluctance. We do have a concern that the removal of testing requirements could hamper efforts to detect new variants. However, we have also considered, as I said last week, we would, the practical consequences of not having a UK-wide aligned position. In particular, we have to be realistic about the fact that people living here in Scotland could decide to return here via airports based in England if different rules are in place for Scottish airports. The result of that would be disadvantaged to our aviation and travel sector but without any significant public health advantage. We must be pragmatic. However, we will not be complacent. I can confirm that we are working with Public Health Scotland to develop additional surveillance safeguards to help to guard against the risk of new variants. We will set out further details in due course, but I can confirm now that those arrangements will not incur costs for travellers. The second point that I want to give an update on is ventilation. It is now clear and accepted that good ventilation is an important mitigation against the risk of Covid transmission. Last month, we established an expert group to make recommendations on improving ventilation. I am very grateful to the group, chaired by Professor Tim Sharp, from the University of Strathclyde, for all the work that it has done so far. In response to the group's initial recommendations, I can confirm today that we will allocate up to £25 million of funding to help small and medium-sized enterprises improve ventilation. That support, which will include grants, will help those businesses make necessary adjustments to their premises, including, for example, the installation of carbon dioxide monitors or alterations to windows and vents. The fund, which we expect to start making payments in November, will initially target higher-risk sectors, where people spend significant amounts of time in close proximity to each other, such as hospitality and leisure. We will set out more details of the eligibility criteria and the application process over the next few weeks. However, I hope that funding package will help many small and medium-sized businesses to make indoor settings safer, especially through the winter months. The final issue that I want to give an update on is the Covid certification scheme. Last week, we set out further details of how the scheme will operate. I can confirm that we will be publishing further detailed guidance for businesses later today, which will demonstrate the proportionate commonsense approach that we are asking businesses to take. I encourage businesses to familiarise themselves with the guidance, which will assist them in making the necessary preparations for the scheme coming into force. I can also confirm that the introduction of certification means that we are able to remove the capacity limits and the associated exemption process that have been in place for stadia and live events. I know that that will be welcomed by event planners and local authorities. The certification scheme will apply, as previously indicated, to late-night venues open after midnight with alcohol, music and dancing, to live indoor unseated events of more than 500 people, to live outdoor unseated events of more than 4,000 people and to any event of more than 10,000 people. That means that once the scheme starts, anyone over the age of 18 who wants to go to a large event or to a late-night venue will be required to provide evidence that they are fully vaccinated or evidence that they are exempt. To facilitate that, the NHS Covid status app will go live on Thursday. It will provide a digital record of a user's vaccination status, including a QR code for each vaccination a person has received. It is already possible for any of us, of course, to request a paper copy of our vaccination record or to download a PDF from the NHS informed website. We have continued to engage with businesses as we have developed the detail of the certification scheme. I understand that many businesses have concerns about certification, however I am very grateful to all those who have nevertheless engaged in these discussions so constructively. The Government remains of the view that a targeted certification scheme does have a part to play in driving vaccination rates up as high as possible and providing an additional layer of protection over the winter months as we seek to achieve the potentially difficult task of keeping Covid under control while keeping our economy fully open. Indeed, many other countries are already demonstrating the value of Covid certification. It is for those reasons that Cabinet decided this morning to proceed with the laying of the regulations that will bring such a scheme into operation. However, as I have said previously, we are also determined to listen to and as far as possible respond to the reasonable concerns of business so that the introduction and practical implementation of the scheme is as smooth as possible. I can confirm therefore that Cabinet this morning agreed a change to our original plans for the scheme's commencement. The new staged approach that we are proposing now is designed to help businesses adapt to the requirement that the scheme will place upon them and give them a period in which they can operationalise and test their arrangements in practice. I can therefore confirm that, after the legal obligation comes into force at 5am on Friday this week, we intend to allow a further period of slightly more than two weeks until 18 October before any business could face enforcement action for non-compliance. This period, effectively a grace period, will allow businesses to test, adapt and build confidence in the practical arrangements that they will need to put in place to be compliant with the scheme. As I said earlier, the Government is persuaded that a Covid certification scheme will help to mitigate the risk that the virus poses to us, to all of us, over the winter, and that is why we intend to proceed with it. However, the pragmatic compromise that I have just outlined in relation to a staged introduction of the scheme demonstrates, I hope, that we are listening to business about the practical challenges that they face and that we are determined to work with them to overcome them. To conclude, as we move for the first time into a winter with Covid circulating but without any significant restrictions in place, we are, I am pleased to say, in a much better position than we might have hoped for just a few weeks ago. Cases have halft in the past three weeks and we hope that that will be followed by a neasing of at least the direct Covid pressure on the NHS. However, there is no room for complacency about the potential impact that we might face this winter. The efforts that have been made by so many over the past month to step up compliance with mitigations and drive-up vaccination rates do seem to be working. We have collectively halted the surge and brought case numbers down, but this is always the more difficult message. Cases are still too high for comfort, so it is vital that we do not let up. We must maintain the progress of the past few weeks. As ever, that has to be a collective endeavour. All of us have a part to play in keeping transmission under control, so I will close, as usual, with a reminder of the three key things that we can all do to protect ourselves and each other. First, please get vaccinated if you are eligible and have not yet done so. That remains the single most important thing that any of us can do. Second, please test regularly with lateral flow devices. Those can be ordered through the NHS informed website or collected from a local test site or pharmacy. If you test positive or are identified as a close contact or have symptoms of the virus, please self-isolate and book a PCR test. Thirdly, please comply with the mitigations still in place. We face coverings in indoor public places, shops, public transport and when moving about in hospitality settings. Meet outdoors if you can. I know that this will get harder, obviously, as we move into autumn and winter, but outdoor meetings are still safer. When meeting indoors, open windows, try to keep a safe distance from people in other households, especially indoors, and wash hands and surfaces thoroughly. All of those precautions really do matter. They will help to keep you and those around you safer. As we can see from the data that I have reported today, they are making a difference. Let's all stick with it and hopefully get cases down even further. Thank you. The First Minister will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 40 minutes for questions after which we will move on to the next item of business. It would be helpful if members who wish to ask a question were to press their request to speak buttons now. The statement is correct to say that it is vital that people who can get the vaccine do, and I would encourage everyone who can to go out and get their jag. However, despite the falling case numbers reported today, Scotland's NHS remains in crisis. The A&E figures published this morning continue a very worrying trend. Given the scale of the challenge in Scotland's NHS, I first want to ask Nicola Sturgeon the exact same question that I put to her last week at First Minister's questions that she failed to answer. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said that we need 1,000 more acute beds. How many of those extra beds has the Scottish Government now identified? Today will the First Minister tell us how many of the extra beds have been delivered? Turning to other news in this statement, last week we called for a U-turn by the Scottish Government on their international travel plans. SNP ministers stalled and left it so late that many tourism businesses lost out. However, I have to say that it is welcome that finally the Government has agreed to align the rules with the rest of the UK on this. Today, Presiding Officer, we do not quite have another U-turn, but the First Minister is clearly conceding that her vaccine passport scheme is still not ready. We could all see this weeks ago, and that is why my party is bringing forward a debate and vote on this tomorrow, calling for the scheme to be halted. Warning after warning for businesses from weeks were ignored by this Government. Only now does Nicola Sturgeon finally admit that this is a botched scheme. In a little over 48 hours' time it will come into force, yet the Government is still publishing vital new information and guidance about how to administer the scheme. The goalposts have shifted. The First Minister has now delayed enforcement by over two weeks. It is more of the same last minute rushed chaotic planning that we have seen time and time again from this SNP Government. Can I ask the First Minister why she did not listen to businesses and opposition parties weeks ago who warned that the scheme would not be ready? Is not a scheme that is legally enforced but will not be enforced just adding to the confusion? Is not it about time that the Government cuts its losses on the shambles of a scheme and scrapped it altogether? The First Minister strikes me. Had I listened over past weeks to Douglas Ross, who has opposed every measure that this Government has introduced to try to stem the rise in Covid cases, we would not be in the position that we are in right now with falling Covid cases. We would probably still be seeing cases rise, because everything from face coverings to continued mitigations, Douglas Ross has stood here and opposed. That is just a regular feature of the management of the pandemic. On the issue of Covid certification, I will take that issue first, it is because we have and are listening to businesses that we have announced I think today a very pragmatic compromise. The scheme is ready and will be introduced on Friday, but businesses understandably want to have a period without the threat of enforcement where they can ensure that their arrangements for compliance are working well or where they think they have to adapt them and have the time to do that. It is because we are listening that we have done that. Again, we come back to the central point here. Covid cannot simply be wished away, as Douglas Ross sometimes believes it can. We have to take active measures to get it under control and keep it under control. Vaccine certification is a proportionate, targeted way of doing that. Many countries across the world are already doing that. Scotland, in a few weeks, Wales and even Northern Ireland, although they have not yet moved to a mandatory scheme, are encouraging Covid certification. Again, as on many things, it may be soon that the only part of the UK not having a scheme like that is England, although the Prime Minister has not ruled it out over the winter months. We will continue to take the sensible way forward. Briefly, on the other points that I will go in reverse order on international travel plans, we did what any responsible Government should do in the face of a pandemic. We considered very carefully the balance between the understandable, as I said last week, economic imperative of trying to align across the UK with the equally understandable concerns about the risks to public health in the same way that Wales and, I believe, Northern Ireland have been considering those things carefully. We have come to an on-balance judgment that I think is right. I have candidly said that it is not without its concerns, but we will seek to take other steps to try to mitigate against those concerns and to guard against new variants. Finally, on the NHS. The NHS continues to be under pressure. The issue about beds is an important one. There has been a slight increase in recent times in the number of acute beds. We are trying to make sure that we are freeing up capacity in our NHS, including bed capacity, through the range of measures that we are taking. For example, reducing again delayed discharge with support for care packages and moves to care homes. Through the work that we are doing to avoid unnecessary admission to hospital. Of course, the key and most important thing that we need to do to free up bed capacity in our NHS is to reduce the number that is currently sitting just above 1,000 of beds that are occupied by patients with Covid. That is work that is under way intensely across the Government and the NHS. Although I am not complacent because we have a hard winter ahead of us, if we look at the A and E waiting times still far below what we want them to be, but better than they were last week. On ambulance response times, again a slight, very slight easing of the demand pressure and a corresponding improvement over the past week in the performance of our ambulance service. That does not mean that we are out of these difficulties. This is going to be a challenging winter. That is why I and the Government remain so focused on taking the steps to support our NHS face up to these challenges. Anna Sarwar I start by sending my condolences to all those who have lost a loved one in the last week or indeed throughout this pandemic. The figures that are published today show that more than one in four A and E patients are waiting more than four hours. We also show that we failed to meet our cancer targets again. Despite this pandemic, cancer remains Scotland's biggest pillar. Missed targets mean people being diagnosed later, treatment starting later and chances of survival reduced. What urgent action is the First Minister taking to address this? We also know that the tools to confront this pandemic remain the vaccine, testing and tracing. Given the on-going challenges, the First Minister has not addressed the issues facing test and protect in her statement. We know that test and protect is not working. We have raised the concerns of staff and we have stated weeks after weeks the facts on the performance. The Government needs to focus on fixing the systems that already have, but instead it is fixated on creating a new system. There remain practical, legal and ethical concerns around a vaccine passport. Those comments were repeated this week by the Welsh First Minister, Martin Drakeford. The delay to implementing vaccine passports is welcome, but issues still remain. As the First Minister and I spoke about last week, in order to enter Labour conference, we had to present either a vaccine certificate or a negative test. I downloaded my vaccine PDF this week. It was incomplete as it failed to include the details of my first JAG. I know that this is a problem that others have faced too. The app launches in two days. Can the First Minister give a cast-iron guarantee that the team will work for everyone? If she is determined to go ahead and I plead with her again to please consider the role of testing as making sure that someone is negative going into a venue is still more important than if they are vaccinated. Again, I am going to take those issues in reverse order. On the vaccine certification scheme, there are processes in place to rectify any situation where somebody's vaccine record is incomplete. In any situation of the scale of this vaccine programme, as I have said all along, there will be cases where errors are made or things are not as they should be, and that is why processes are in place. On the issue of testing, I have always said that it is a legitimate issue to raise. We have not ruled out at a later stage, including a negative test as a part of Covid certification. The reason why we are not doing that at this initial stage is that part of the objective of our Covid certification scheme is to drive up the rates of vaccination as high as we can get them. It is also the case that, although LFD testing, because I repeat the importance of it every week, is extremely important, it is self-reported and therefore there are deficiencies in that, but that is something that I have said. We will keep under review as vaccine rates increase and as the scheme continues. We will continue to listen to the concerns of business as we have done today. Just a point of accuracy, the implementation of the scheme is not being delayed. The scheme is being implemented from 5am on Friday, but we will have a grace period before any business would face enforcement action for non-compliance with the scheme. On test and protect, this is where I just take issue with Anna Sarwar. It is not the case that test and protect is not working. Test and protect is working well, and the people who staff test and protect are working incredibly hard. There is no doubt that, of course, when cases are high, test and protect comes under pressure. It is the efforts of test and protect, along with other factors that I spoke about in my statement, that are helping to bring cases back under control and drive cases down. Let me take the opportunity again today to say a very heartfelt thank you to every individual who is working in test and protect across the country. They are doing a real service to people across Scotland. Finally, on cancer, which is of vital importance, all the waiting times figures across our NHS and other parts of the UK remain a challenge. Today's figures show that referrals on the urgent treatment pathway are now, in the last quarter, back to pre-pandemic levels, which is a positive that is good in terms of the 31-day standard. The target is being met there. That is the time 31 days from decision to treatment, starting 98 per cent to meet that target. The median weight is four days. The 62-day target, which is referral to treatment, is and has been more of a challenge, but more than eight out of 10 patients are being seen within that target. The median weight is 43 days. A range of measures have been taken to improve performance against the 62-day target, and we will continue to focus on them. Finally, on accident and emergency, as I said earlier on, there has been a slight improvement this week. We are not complacent. We need to continue to focus on the measures to improve waiting times and accident and emergency, which involve action right across the NHS, not just in our A&Es. However, while there is much more to do, Scotland's core A&E services are the best performing in the UK. That says to me that, while we have more to do, the steps that are being taken are the right ones, and we need to continue to focus on them. The First Minister told Douglas Ross that vaccine passports are being brought in to stem the rise of Covid. Last week, Professor Jonathan Montgomery told the Covid-19 Committee of a festival in Cornwall that chose to require vaccine passports on entry. Despite that measure, 5,000 attendees still caught Covid at this event. The night-time industry has taken the Government to court. The Human Rights Commission has expressed grave concerns that it has not seen the evidential base for this scheme and every opposition party is opposed to it. The 18-day delay in enforcement is an admission that the Government and businesses are nowhere near ready and we have evidence that shows that the passports do not even work. Will the First Minister abandon the assault on the right to medical privacy today? No, because I want to do everything that is reasonably possible to keep people and the country as safe as possible from the risk of Covid over these winter months. I have made a point that everybody makes, because it happens to be a fact. Vaccination does not eradicate the risk of transmission. Nobody pretends that it does, but vaccination does reduce the risk of transmission and significantly reduces the risk of somebody who gets Covid becoming very seriously unwell. The figures that Alex Cole-Hamilton has cited for a festival, I cannot remember the location of the festival, would have been potentially much higher without the protection of vaccination. It is an important part of an overall package of measures to reduce the risk that Covid presents to us. We will continue to work with businesses, we will continue to take pragmatic and sensible steps, but over this winter we, as I said earlier on, were in a much better position than we could have perhaps a few weeks ago ever hoped to be in. However, this winter we will pose challenges not just to Scotland, but to countries across the world that are greater than any in our lifetimes potentially. We must do everything we can to get through those challenges as safely as possible. If Covid certification can play even a small part in that, it is better than facing the risk of having to close down certain businesses again over the winter period. Jackie Dunbar to be followed by Alexander Stewart. Face coverings remain an important mitigation in the fight against Covid-19. It is vital that staff who are asking the public to comply with the law within their places of work do not face abuse. Does the First Minister agree that any form of abuse, threats or violence faced by workers as a result of simply doing their job is completely unacceptable? Can she advise what steps are being taken to support workers in this position? I thank Jackie Dunbar for that question and I agree with her wholeheartedly on the two related points that she makes. First, face coverings are a really important mitigation against the transmission of Covid. We have seen some evidence, I know that the publisher has reported just in the last couple of days, evidencing that. It is the case that if you wear a face covering, you are helping to protect somebody else from the risk of you transmitting the virus to them. If they wear a face covering, they are offering you the same protection. I would appeal to people across the country to continue. I know that it is inconvenient and not particularly pleasant, but it is a really important measure to help with that collective protection. Secondly, it is absolutely vital that people do that and understand the reasons to do that, and that they do not in any way abuse staff who are working in the settings where face coverings are still required. We have been very consistent in that message, and I know that businesses across those sectors are doing a great deal to support their staff, and I think that all of us should take the opportunity to thank staff working in those front-line occupations. I thank them for the job that they are doing and the contribution that they are making, and all of us recognise that we all have a personal responsibility to do the right things to keep Covid under control. Alexander Stewart, to be followed by Gillian Martin. The Night Time Industries Association Scotland confirmed that it was instructing its lawyers to start proceedings against the Covid-19 vaccine certificate programme policy. Does the First Minister accept that her Government rushed through those deeply flawed proposals without meaningful consultation, and today we have heard that they are having to extend deadlines and even give a grace period? No, I do not. It is really not consistent or credible for the Conservatives to come here week after week after week and say, listen to businesses and do what they are asking, and then when we do exactly that for them to complain and moan about us doing exactly that. This is a pragmatic way forward, and I think that it will help with the implementation. It is not a delay to implementation. It is a sensible measure to give businesses once the legal obligation comes into force, time to test and adapt the arrangements that they are putting in place, because those arrangements that will be set out further in guidance later today take a proportionate and a common sense approach. Any organisation, any individual in the country that we live in has the right to take legal action, and I would never criticise any organisation doing that if they think that they have a basis for that. Obviously, it would not be appropriate for me to comment, but of course the Government thinks carefully about the basis for all of the steps that it takes in relation to Covid and will continue to do so. One thing I would say about all of the steps that we have had to take over the past 18 months and are still required to take, and it might be worth all of us, including me, reflecting on this in the debates that we have in this chamber, is that everybody, even if we disagree on the wisdom or otherwise of some of these steps, we are all trying to do the right things for the right reasons to keep the country as safe as possible from Covid, and perhaps the tone of our discussions would benefit from all of us, as I say, including me, remembering that. A number of my constituents work internationally, as one would expect from a constituency in the north-east. Can I ask the First Minister for an update on the inclusion of vaccinations of ministers abroad on the Scottish vaccination certificate system? By the end of this week, people who have had a dose administered in another part of the common travel area and a second dose perhaps in Scotland will be able to upload their first dose record through NHS Inform and access their full vaccination record and QR code. For the purposes of domestic certification, we will accept proof of doses from each country in which somebody was vaccinated. Alex Rowley, to be followed by Bob Doris. The First Minister talked earlier about delayed discharge. Does the First Minister accept that many of those people who are being signposted into care homes do not want to go to care homes, do not have to go to care homes, but are having to go to care homes because there is not a care package for them in their own home? Is the First Minister aware, for example, of the unacceptable and growing waiting lists for people who have been assessed to get a care package but are not able to get one? All of that is going to put massive pressure on the NHS throughout this winter. Will the First Minister consider looking at a focus task group that can look at what actions need to be taken to address this emergency now? We cannot wait three years for a national care service. We must tackle this problem now. I agree. We are taking a range of actions to tackle the issue of delayed discharge now. The Health Secretary and I, just a few days ago, were discussing these actions in detail with our officials. This is about partly increasing the resource available for social care, which we are doing and will continue to do over this Parliament. It is absolutely about respecting the choice of people who are in home. We all agree that, where somebody has no medical or clinical requirement to be in hospital, it is not the best place for them. Supporting appropriate discharge is really important. Where that is care at home, that needs to be supported. In many cases, a care home will be the best place for somebody to be. Again, rightly or wrongly, over the course of the pandemic, understandably, some families will have concerns about their relatives being admitted to care homes. We also need to assure people that care homes are good and appropriate places for people to be. There is a range of work under way here. We are facing a challenge, as we have warned for the past two years, around the social care workforce, which is partly, in large part, being exacerbated by the impact of Brexit right now, as we are seeing across many different sectors. That will continue to be an added challenge in this area over the next months and possibly beyond that. However, we are taking a range of steps as we build towards the national care service that this Parliament will debate in full as that process develops. We have more members wishing to be taken than have already been taken. I would be grateful if we could pick up the pace or, otherwise regrettably, members will not be able to put a question. First Minister, I welcome the Department of Mobile Covid-19 vaccination units to university campuses and halls across Greater Glasgow and Clyde, such as Murrano Village of my constituency last Saturday, and today at Glasgow Caledonian University. I commend the efforts of universities in the NHS and students to get vaccinated. Can I ask how the Scottish Government is seeking to monitor the vaccination levels among its student population specifically, including at large halls of residence, to ensure that all we can to make sure that student communities are as safe as possible? As Bob Doris and other members will be aware, the statistics on vaccine uptake are primarily collected by Public Health Scotland and reported by them and by the Government according to age group rather than by employment or education. The high uptake in age groups, where there are likely to be a lot of students, would suggest to us that uptake among students is high, but we continue to work very hard with universities and colleges on a range of measures to help ensure that students get vaccinated so that we are maximising protection as the new term develops. Drop-in clinics continue to operate and individuals are able to rearrange appointments at time and locations to suit them. We are in regular dialogue with Universities Scotland and Colleges Scotland and have appointed a single point of contact within each health board for higher and further education institutions, and we will continue to engage with health boards to support vaccine delivery for international and home-based students. I have been contacted by a concerned parent who, as a result of the pandemic, was not sure whether her daughter, Lillie, was allowed to attend a GP surgery for assistance. Subsequently, she was passed from one prior practitioner to another and now her daughter faces further health complications as a result. Therefore, can I ask the First Minister in light of reported difficulties in accessing person GP appointments? How can she ensure that people who need help can be seen in person as soon as possible? First, on the individual case, if the member wishes to write to me or to the health secretary, we will look into that. It would not be helpful or appropriate for me to seek to comment on that without having much more of the detail. In general, face-to-face appointments are available with GPs, but of course it is the case that some of the arrangements that have been put in place during the pandemic and because of the pandemic, near me, for example, the online consultation service and telephone consultations will for some people be more appropriate. Therefore, GPs who are working extremely hard and we are deeply grateful to them for what they are doing, it is appropriate that GPs continue to strike that balance. Of course, we want to see face-to-face opportunities increase as we come out of the pandemic and recover from it, and we will continue to work with the BMA and with GPs across the country to ensure that that is the case. Christine Grahame, to be followed by Brian Whittle. Can I refer the First Minister to the Covid mitigation measures in schools and ask when those might be reviewed because it also impacts on many voluntary organisations such as Elstons Scouts and My constituency, which cannot meet on-school premises and this is becoming specially pressing as winter comes forward and makes meeting outdoors impracticable? First Minister, let me assure Christine Grahame and other members that all of those mitigations remain under regular review. Indeed, the advisory subgroup on education considered the mitigations currently in place within schools at their meeting just last week. That included the use of schools for community purposes. We are considering that advice alongside stakeholders as present and will provide an update as soon as possible, but the mitigations that are still in place are in place for an important reason because they are at this stage considered necessary to keep that down more pressure on cases. Brian Whittle, to be followed by Stuart McMillan. Last week's Covid recovery committee, a Public Health Scotland submission, highlighted a significant disparity in vaccine uptake relating to ethnicity, up to 20 per cent difference in some groups. I can ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to encourage vaccine uptake across all those groups and what work was done to measure the impact on that disparity that introducing a vaccine passport may have. We continue to work to make sure that uptake levels are high not just across the population as a whole but in different groups in the population. The issue around potentially lower rates of uptake among our ethnic minority communities has been a consideration all along. That is why we have worked, for example, with particular faith groups. It is why we have taken steps to ensure that vaccine clinics in some parts of the country are situated within places of worship. I have cited this example before in the chamber. In my constituency, Glasgow Central Mosque has been doing a fantastic job as a vaccination clinic. It is important to stress that uptake rates across all different groups in society are much higher than we might have thought. They would be at the start of the programme, but there are variations. We will continue to do everything that we can to level that out to make sure that every group has the highest possible rates of uptake. Equity and other considerations have, of course, been part of the planning of the vaccine certification scheme and will continue to be so. Stuart McMillan, to be followed by Gillian Mackay. First Minister, what assurances will be provided to Scottish football fans living outside of Scotland who have received both vaccines that they will have access to Hamden for the upcoming international qualifying matches? Proof of a full course of vaccination will be accepted at venues for domestic purposes. Proof of vaccination will be accepted from across the UK in crown dependencies as well as from members of the EU Covid certification scheme. Tourists from other nations, for example, the United States, will need to provide the same proof of vaccination status that is currently accepted for entry into the UK. We want people visiting Scotland to be able to go to football matches or night time venues, but we want to do everything possible to make sure that they, just like Scottish residents, can do so as safely as possible. Gillian Mackay, to be followed by John Mason. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am concerned about the decision to follow the UK Government's approach and end the requirement for double vaccinated people travelling from non-readless countries to Scotland to take a PCR test on departure. I appreciate the reasons for taking this decision that the First Minister has set out. However, this will weaken our ability to prevent new variants from entering the country, which could still pose a serious risk to Scotland's Covid recovery. Last week, I asked the First Minister to provide MSPs with the scientific evidence underpinning any such decision. Will she now do so, and could she provide the timescale for announcement of the additional safeguards that she set out in her statement? There is no particular scientific evidence beyond what I have said. This is a balanced judgment, and I absolutely accept the concerns that Gillian Mackay has set out, and I share many of them. I have tried to be as candid about the difficulty of this judgment as I can be and the reasons why we have arrived where we have. If there is a non-aligned position across the UK, simply because of travel patterns, the danger—in fact, the likelihood—is that we would end up in a situation where people travelling back to Scotland would simply route through English airports. We would lose the public health benefit of testing anyway, but in the process we would also incur damage to our own aviation and travel sector. That is a pragmatic judgment. On the issue of alternative surveillance measures, we are discussing that with Public Health Scotland. We are looking at potentially asking people who have returned to Scotland on a sample basis to take part in testing. We will set that out as quickly as possible, because it is really important that we continue to have good surveillance through PCR so that we can also do genomic sequencing, and we are very keen to do that quickly. The one thing that I have said to reassure travellers is that this would not be at additional cost to travellers, but we will set out the detail of that just as quickly as possible. John Mason to be followed by Rona Mackay. The First Minister mentioned funding, and I wonder if she can say how much the Scottish Government has spent on Covid so far and how much has been received from Westminster. I am happy to put the detail of that into SPICE or report it in the normal ways, but we have allocated all of the Covid funding notified by the UK Government towards our pandemic response. The most recent formal allocation in the autumn budget revision was published earlier this week. The UK Government has confirmed £13.3 billion in additional Covid consequentials to support the pandemic response, £8.6 billion in 2020-21 and £4.7 billion in 2021-22. All of that has been allocated by the Scottish Government. We have also received an indication of up to £520 million of further support for health, but that is subject to treasury confirmation, so that has not yet been formally added to the Scottish Government budgets. To ask the First Minister what measures are in place to help tenants who have fallen behind and rent as a result of coronavirus and as a result of tenants who may be at risk of eviction. Right throughout the pandemic, we have done everything that we can to support tenants generally and in particular to support any who may be facing the threat of eviction. Councils have now been allocated £10 million to give grants to tenants who have Covid-related rent arrears and are consequently at risk of eviction, and that brings our total pandemic support to tenants to almost £39 million. I think that additional money will make a big difference, but we will continue to consider always in which we can provide practical support. Colin Smyth, to be followed by Alasdair Allan. The legal obligation to present vaccine certification to enter large events in nightclubs still comes into effect at 5 am on Friday. Can I ask the First Minister the question that I raised with her two weeks ago? Many of myself's Scotland constituents work in England, often for the NHS, so that is where they were vaccinated. As a result, they cannot automatically access a vaccine certificate from NHS Scotland, so will they be able to do so by Friday? Will their vaccination in England automatically be on their NHS Scotland records by 5 am on Friday? The scheme will recognise people who were vaccinated in other countries. That includes the rest of the UK and the common travel area, and as long as they were vaccinated with an MHRA-approved vaccine. Work has been done in partnership with other parts of the UK to ensure that that will be recognised. As with any aspect of the vaccination programme, I am not going to stand here and say that no individual will ever face any difficulties in schemes, whether it is the vaccination programme itself or a certification scheme. It would not be reasonable to say that, but there are processes in place to ensure that those things work well and we will continue to support them as the scheme comes into force and as it develops in the weeks ahead. Alasdair Allan, to be followed by Finlay Carson. Despite, as we have seen, the severe consequences of a Covid case on board a CalMac ferry, earlier this month CalMac stated that compliance had dropped to around 50 per cent in some routes in terms of mask wearing. I do continue to hear anecdotal evidence about that. I appreciate that it is certainly not the job of CalMac crews to enforce the law, but what more can be done to make ferry passengers, including, particularly, perhaps, visitors aware of what the law is? The recent incidents on ferries are obviously concerning and they are a reminder, and there are many reminders that the virus is still circulating. We all need to continue to take care and think about our own behaviour and our own compliance with those important mitigations. CalMac is already taking some steps to seek to improve compliance on ferries. For example, they have increased the frequency of passenger announcements on face coverings and continued to promote adherence to other baseline measures. Of course, our guidance on travelling safely on public transport is available through their website and social media channels. Finlay Carson, to be followed by David Torrance. On top of worrying A&E figures and the lowest number of hospital beds for a decade, staffing levels are of huge concern despite the earlier bravado from the health secretary. An amazing staffer at break-in point in NHS Delfice and Galloway, with 212 nursering in midwifery post-vacant, that is 10.3 per cent of posts, a record high. Those worrying staff shortages are repeated across Delfice and Galloway and getting worse. We have repeatedly called for an NHS winter plan to be published as soon as possible. Can the First Minister confirm if there will be a plan published and if so, when? The NHS's planning for winter has been planning for winter, is planning for winter and continues to plan for winter each and every single day. There are record numbers of people working in our national health service across Scotland. This Government has presided over increases across almost all professional groups in our national health service and we will continue to support increased staffing over the lifetime of this Parliament as we implement the NHS recovery plan. I will concede that it is difficult to recruit right now to health and care services, just as it is difficult to recruit to haulage companies, just as it is difficult to recruit for agricultural businesses, picking fruit and vegetables, for example. The reason for that, which is why it is a bit galling to have this question posed by a Conservative member, is the damage done and now being felt by Brexit. Perhaps a bit of humility on those matters from the Conservative benches would go a long, long way. David Torrance, to be followed by Edward Mountain. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It has become clear that a travel industry is still facing serious challenges and, on a daily basis, with a customer uncertainty, having a devastating impact on our traditional high-street agencies. My discussions with some of his agencies in Cercori area have revealed that most have reported a healthy number of bookings for next year and the majority have serious doubts regarding their ability to continue operating until that time. First Minister, what steps can the Scottish Government take to help them through this difficult period and protect local jobs? I certainly recognise the significant challenges that have been experienced by travel agents as a result of the various restrictions that have been in place over much of the past 18 months. Since the start of the pandemic, we have done everything that we can to support travel agents. They have benefited from a range of support, including the travel agent support fund, the strategic framework business fund grant scheme, restart grants, non-domestic rates relief and, of course, through the UK Government. Although that is soon coming to an end, furlough payments for staff. Without further consequentials from the UK Government, we do not have funding available to direct additional support towards travel agents or others in the travel sector right now. We are actively engaging with the UK Government, though, around a potential additional package of support specifically for travel agents, but so far we have not received a response, but we will continue to press that with them. First Minister will be aware of the enormous strain on the provision of mental health treatment across the country, which has been exasperated by Covid. The chief executive of NHS Highlands has told me that personnel shortages are the problem, not funding, and that she is not happy with the offering in terms of responsiveness and support. Can the First Minister confirm what action is being taken to secure specialist support in the Highlands from outwith NHS Highlands before more constituencies lose their lives? Well, Edwin Mountain is right that funding, of course, is vital, but if that funding is then not able to secure the recruitment of staff, it is not going to have the desired effect. There is a range of support in place to help with recruitment across the national health service and social care, and we will continue to support NHS Highlands and other health boards in recruiting the staff that they need. I come back to a point that I made earlier on. It was the case that across both the NHS and social care, just as across the economy more generally, many people who came to Scotland from other European countries provided great contributions and support, and many of them have now been lost to our public services and to our economy as a result of the wrong-headed ending of freedom of movement, which we are all now paying a significant price for. So I take my responsibility for supporting the NHS to deal with these challenges, but perhaps Conservative members could take this message to their bosses in Westminster and spell out to them in no uncertain terms the damage Brexit is doing to our national health service and social care across the country. That concludes the First Minister's statement COVID-19 updates. There will be a very brief suspension before the next item of business.