 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. Today's statement contains several important updates. First of all, as I indicated last week, I can confirm that no part of the country will change Covid level next week. Apart from some minor amendments that I will cover later, restrictions in all parts of the country from Monday will be unchanged. I will also provide an update on vaccination milestones and set out indicative dates for the further lifting of restrictions as we hope to move into and beyond level 0 and back to normality. First of all, today's statistics demonstrate why caution at this stage is still required. Yesterday, 2,167 positive cases were reported. That is a positivity rate of 9.1 per cent. The total number of confirmed cases is now 257,742. 171 people are currently in hospital, 12 more than yesterday and 18 people are receiving intensive care, that is three more than yesterday. Sadly, four deaths were reported yesterday and the total number of deaths under this daily definition is now 7,696. Again, I send my condolences to those who have lost a loved one. On vaccination, I can report that as of 7.30 this morning, 3,664,571 people have received a first dose. That is an increase of 17,134 since yesterday. On vaccination, 15,783 people received a second dose yesterday, so the total number of second doses now administered is 2,602,753. The news on vaccination continues to be extremely positive, but it has to be balanced against the continued rise in cases. The number of new cases recorded over the past week has increased by almost 40 per cent on the week before. That total is seven times higher than in early May and higher than at any point since late January. That reflects the fact that the faster transmitting delta variant is now dominant. Obviously, we cannot be complacent about this, however, we do have evidence that the link between new cases and serious health harm is weakening. The number of people being admitted to hospital with Covid has fallen from around 10 per cent of reported positive cases at the start of the year to around 5 per cent now. Covid patients, on average, are spending less time in hospital, though we should remember that even if they do not need hospital treatment, some people will suffer significant health harms, including long Covid. However, overall, the evidence that vaccination is helping to protect people from serious health harms is allowing us to change how we respond to the virus. Today's total of new positive tests is the largest that we have seen since the peak in January. Those numbers are still shock. The virus is still with us, but the vaccines are protecting more of us. I will never regard any single death from this virus as anything other than a human tragedy. As cases rise, we can expect to see more deaths in coming weeks. Back in January, however, we were seeing daily figures of more than 50 people dying. I expect and I profoundly hope that the link between cases, hospital admissions and deaths will continue to weaken as more and more of us are fully vaccinated. In making decisions about when we lift restrictions further, progress with vaccination is a significant factor. I want to set out now the milestones that we will reach in the coming weeks, assuming that supplies are as expected. By this coming Sunday, we will have vaccinated with two doses, everyone in the top nine JCVI priority groups. Of course, there might be some people who can't attend an appointment this week and so get their second dose a bit later. Those caveats apply to the other vaccination milestones that I am about to set out. Essentially, by the end of this week, we will have completed vaccination for priority groups 1 to 9. Those groups include everyone over the age of 50, all unpaid carers and people with underlying health conditions and the account for well over half of the adult population. It is also estimated that, prior to the vaccination programme, those groups accounted for 99 per cent of all Covid deaths. The fact that virtually all of them will be fully vaccinated by the end of this week is hugely significant. The next milestone will be 18 July. By then, all adults will have had the first dose of vaccination, and that is significantly ahead of schedule. By 26 July, we expect to have given second doses to all 40 to 49-year-olds. By 20 August, all 30 to 39-year-olds will have had a second dose. Finally, we expect to have completed second doses for all adults by 12 September. We are also planning for possible future vaccination programmes, depending on the advice that we get from the JCVI. That could include booster jags this autumn and, of course, potential vaccination of 12 to 17-year-olds. There is no doubt that vaccination offers us the route out of this pandemic. We know that getting both doses provides good protection, including against the delta variant. Those milestones are really important, and they inform the decisions that I will set out today. Also underpinning those decisions and providing some more context for them are two substantive newspapers that we are publishing today. The first is our revised strategic framework for tackling Covid. Central to this is an updated strategic aim for our pandemic response. Up until now, the Scottish Government's strategic intention has been to suppress the virus to the lowest possible level and keep it there. From now on, our aim will be to suppress the virus to a level consistent with alleviating its harms while we recover and rebuild for a better future. That change reflects the fact that vaccination is reducing, we hope, significantly the harm that the virus causes. Vaccination means that it is now possible. Indeed, it is perhaps necessary to shift our strategic aim and reduce the wider health, social and economic harms that strict lockdown measures cause. The second paper that we are publishing today is the review of physical distancing. Physical distancing has been an important mitigation against the virus, but it is also burdensome for individuals and, of course, costly for businesses. As vaccinations bear more of the load of controlling the virus, we need to consider when and to what extent we can reduce the legal requirement for it. Ultimately, we hope to remove the legal requirement for physical distancing, even though we may, for a period, continue to advise people to think about safe distancing when interacting with people outside their close contact groups. Let me turn now to the changes that we hope to make in the weeks ahead. At the moment, the high number of new Covid cases being recorded is a significant consideration. To use the race analogy that many have used before, we must not allow the virus to get too far ahead of the vaccines. Therefore, as indicated last week, we intend to maintain the current restrictions applicable in each part of Scotland for the next three weeks. Within those levels, we will make some minor but important changes to the rules on weddings and funerals. Those will take effect from Monday 28 June. For example, suppliers of wedding services and other people employed by a couple getting married will no longer count towards the cap on numbers. Those accompanying a wedding couple down the aisle will no longer need to wear face coverings. Live entertainment at receptions will be possible, although people will still need to be seated at tables. We will also change the guidance for funerals so that people from more than one household can help carry a coffin and take a cord when lowering it. We expect those changes to have a relatively minor impact on transmission. They are relatively minor changes, but I hope that they will make some difference to those who are organising and attending weddings and funerals ahead of the more substantive changes that we hope to see at level 0 next month. With the exception of those changes, our assumption based on recent case numbers is that current levels will remain in force until 19 July, although, obviously, we continue to keep that under review. Let me turn now to when we hope to lift remaining restrictions. I want to be clear that what I am about to set out represents our best judgment at this stage of what is likely to strike a sensible balance. It is intended to give as much clarity as possible, however it is contingent on meeting our vaccination milestones and, of course, the revised strategic aim of alleviating the harms of the virus. If the data in the coming weeks suggests that we can go faster, we will do so. Conversely, if the data says that we need to slow down, we will do that too, though I very much hope that that will not be necessary. The next scheduled review point will be 19 July, though we will confirm the position a week in advance as usual. By 19 July, three weeks will have elapsed since the completion of the vaccination programme for over 50s, which means that the vaccine will be giving everyone in that age group a significant level of protection. Therefore, assuming that we are meeting the revised strategic aim, we hope that all parts of Scotland, not currently in that level, will move to level 0 on 19 July. That means, for example, that the limits for household gatherings indoors will increase from that date, and up to 200 people will be able to attend weddings and funerals. We also hope—assuming that the data supports that—that the general indoor physical distancing requirement can be reduced from 2m to 1m from that date. We also hope from that date to lift the outdoor requirement to physically distance altogether. In addition, in recognition of the reduced risk of outdoor transmission and, therefore, the desire to encourage people to stay outdoors as much as possible, especially over the summer, we hope that limits on informal outdoor social gatherings and private gardens, for example, will be removed at this stage. Rather than the current rules for level 0, which state that up to 15 people from 15 households can be outdoors, informal social gatherings of any size will be allowed. We will, however, keep in place temporarily the rules and processes that are currently applicable at level 0 for organised outdoor events, given that those can attract much larger crowds. If we can move as hoped to level 0 on 19 July, that will be a significant step back to normality, but we have always been clear that level 0 cannot be an end point. Some of the restrictions that it entails are still significant, for example, the household limit for indoor gatherings, so we want to move beyond level 0 as quickly as it is prudent to do so. The updated strategic framework sets out what that means in short. While we are still likely to need some baseline measures, it means the lifting of the remaining major legal restrictions. In reaching a view on when that can be done, we have considered the harm to health and the strain on the NHS that could be caused if Covid cases continued to rise. I must stress to Parliament that, even with a reduced ratio of cases to hospitalisation, case numbers at the level being recorded just now could still put significant pressure on the NHS. We must be mindful of that. We have also considered the wider harms that restrictions cause and we have considered how reasonable and proportionate it is to require people to comply with those legal restrictions as we meet vaccine milestones. If evidence continues to show, as we hope it will, that vaccination is protecting more and more people from serious health impacts. I mentioned earlier that we expect to have completed second doses for all over 40s by 26 July. We know that the protective effect of the second dose takes a bit of time to build up, but within two weeks, by 9 August, we would expect the vast majority of over 40s to have a significant level of protection. Of course, we need to remember that vaccination does not provide 100 per cent protection and it will not be until later in September that all adults will have the protection of full vaccination. However, our assessment on balance and assuming that we meet the necessary conditions on vaccination and harm reduction is that it would be possible and proportionate to lift the major remaining legal restrictions on 9 August. We will consider and make a final assessment nearer the time of whether, as we hope, this could include the lifting of the legal requirement to physically distance indoors as well as outdoors. The move beyond level 0 will be a major milestone and it will signal a return to almost complete normality in our day-to-day lives. Of course, while that is a longed-for moment, it is important to recognise that we still have a difficult path to navigate over the next few weeks to meet those milestones, and even assuming that we do, as we hope we will, the pandemic will not be completely over at this stage. As our strategic framework update paper sets out, basic mitigations will still be required as we move through summer and into the autumn when we face the risk of a further resurgence in cases. Measures such as rigorous and regular hand washing, cleaning surfaces and good ventilation will continue to be vital. Even if, as we hope to, we lift the legal requirement, we may still advise keeping a careful distance from people outside our close contact groups, especially if they are not fully vaccinated. Also, at least for a period, we are likely to require continued wearing of face coverings in certain settings, for example shops and public transport. Test and protect will also remain a vital part of our approach. Regular testing will still be advised for a period at least. While we are considering the impact of vaccination on self-isolation, isolation will continue to be necessary in certain circumstances, especially for those who test positive. There will also be a need to manage outbreaks as and when they arise, and the level system will still be available to help us to do that, if necessary. We all hope that we will not see a further variant against which our vaccines are less effective, but we do need to retain the ability to respond if that happens, both with updated vaccines and if necessary, with other measures. Also, we will not advise an immediate return to full office working on 9 August. Instead, we will continue to work with business to agree an appropriate phasing of this beginning when we enter level 0, we hope, on 19 July. However, I think that many would agree that, as a general principle, home working should be more possible post Covid than it was before. So while recognising that a return to the workplace will be right for many, we will encourage continued support for home working where that is possible and appropriate. This will not just assess with control of the virus, it will also help to promote wellbeing more generally. While we will continue to keep the need for travel restrictions under review, it is likely that some targeted restrictions will be needed after 9 August, as new variants continue to pose the biggest threat to our progress. Finally, we will also work over the summer to plan for the return of schools, colleges and universities. For the moment, I want to take the opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone in education. Most schools and many early learning and childcare settings are about to break for the summer holidays. Colleges and universities are also nearing the end of term. For everyone working in education, that will have been the toughest and most distressing year of your professional career. I am grateful for everything that you have done to keep nurseries and childcare facilities, schools, colleges and universities going in such difficult circumstances. We will be working to do everything possible to minimise any further Covid disruption in the next academic term. We must remember that this is a global pandemic. It will not be completely over here until it is over across the world. Unfortunately, the world is still some way from that. However, here in Scotland, while transmission is causing concern at the moment, vaccination is giving us much of the protection that only harsh restrictions have been able to give us so far. That means that we can now plan to move much more firmly and with much greater confidence from the need to control the virus through tough restrictions to being able to live much more freely. That is good news. We must be careful still, but from 19 July and then more substantially from 9 August, assuming that we are meeting our revised strategic aim of alleviating the harm of the virus, life should feel much, much less restricted for all of us. A very significant degree of normality will be restored for individuals and for businesses. As I said earlier, those are indicative dates, but they allow us to plan ahead with more clarity. As always, though, we all have a part to play in keeping us on track, so I will end with a reminder of the key asks of everyone across the country. The first is vaccination. Please get vaccinated when invited to do so and please attend for both doses. If you need to rearrange or if you think that you should have had an invitation by now, please go to the vaccination section of the NHS informed website. If you had your first dose of the vaccine eight weeks or more ago, check on the website to see if you can bring your second dose forward. Secondly, please do test yourself regularly. Free lateral flow tests are available through NHS informed. They can be ordered through the post or collected from local and regional test sites and also now, of course, from community pharmacies. If you test positive, please self-isolate and get the result confirmed through a PCR test. Finally, please continue to stick to the rules where you live and follow all the public health advice. This is still really important. The virus is still out there and it is spreading, so please continue to follow advice on physical distancing, hand washing and face coverings. Try to meet others outdoors as much as possible. We know that no environment is entirely risk-free, but outdoors is much less risky than indoors. If you are meeting indoors, please stick to the limits for now and make sure that the room is well ventilated. That applies when watching the football too. We all know that tonight's game is absolutely massive. Let me take the opportunity, I am sure, on behalf of all of us, to wish Steve Clark and the team well. We will all be cheering Scotland on this evening, but please do it safely and do it within the rules. Six months ago, when I confirmed to Parliament that tough restrictions were being reimposed, it was the day after the winter solstice, the shortest night of the year. That was one of the darkest moments in the course of this pandemic. For the past 15 months, we have endured restrictions that would have been considered impossible just two years ago. The pain suffered and the people lost along the way must never be forgotten. They will never be forgotten. In a global pandemic, we cannot be certain that there will not be difficult moments yet to come. I hope and I believe that today's statement, just a day after the summer solstice, marks a positive turning point. We are now living in more hopeful times. We can now see a route to lifting restrictions and to enjoying again the simple but precious pleasures that we have all missed so much. The path ahead is not obstacle free. I'm not going to pretend that it is, but it is clearer now than at any point so far. Thanks to vaccines, normal life is now much closer. It is within sight, so let's all stick with it and do whatever is required to get us there. I wish to ask a question where to press the request to speak buttons now. I call Douglas Ross. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I also express my sympathies and condolences to everyone who's lost a loved one both over the last 24 hours and indeed throughout the entire time we have been dealing with this awful virus? In the penultimate sentence of the First Minister's statement, she started, thanks to the vaccines. I'm pleased to see in the statement that the First Minister acknowledged that there is more evidence that the success of the Scottish and UK vaccination scheme is significantly reducing hospitalisations. That is something that we can all welcome. We can also welcome that we finally have changes to weddings and funeral guidance, although it's disappointing that this has come so late after so many occasions have already been affected. For the last two weeks, I have stood here at these statements and asked the First Minister to consider making immediate changes to the numbers that could attend funerals and weddings. Neither MSPs nor the businesses in the sector asking for that got a response. While it is welcome, those changes will now be made. The fact that the First Minister calls those minor changes is in fact not the case. Those are major changes for the couples who have been asking for them, the businesses who are seeking them and for too many. However, those changes come too late and they won't be in time for their own ceremony. It's of course welcome that today we have more of an indication of when we will be free from restrictions. I want to come on to that in a moment. Speaking about welcome, I also want to echo what the First Minister has said. I hope that we can all welcome a solid Scotland win tonight, and I wish Steve Clark and the team all the very best a kick-off at 8 o'clock. Can I ask the First Minister specifically about the basic mitigations that will remain in place after the 9th of August? Will those mitigations include social distancing, particularly at hospitality venues? The First Minister said that I didn't listen to what she said. I listened carefully because she made it very clear what was happening when we moved to level 0. She then made it very clear what she hopes will happen when we come out of restrictions on the 9th of August, but the statement is very clear that basic mitigations will remain in place. I think that it would be useful just to get clarity on those three points. Will social distancing remain in place under those basic mitigations in hospitality venues? Will there be on-going limits on indoor social gatherings? And finally, will the mitigations, after the 9th of August, include the wearing of masks in offices and in schools? I will try to address all those points as briefly as possible. On vaccination, the evidence is strong that it is increasing that vaccination is reducing the harm of the virus, and that is both in terms of reducing the numbers of people going to hospital and the length of time people are in hospital. That, of course, is also partly reflective of the fact that, as vaccination pushes the impact of the virus down the age ranges, many people going into hospital will be younger than was the case earlier on in the pandemic. That's really good news, but I do want to reiterate a point that I made in my statement. I think that it's important that Parliament is aware of that. Back at the start of the pandemic, we effectively, apart from urgent healthcare, we dedicated almost the entirety of the health service capacity to potentially dealing with Covid cases. We are not able to do that again because we are trying to catch up on a backlog and make sure that people get non-Covid treatment. Our margins in terms of what will put pressure on the NHS and what won't are narrower than they were before, which means that, even if the ratio of hospitalisations is following, we think that it's probably about half, perhaps now even more than that. 5 per cent of a big number of cases going to hospital is still going to put significant pressure on our health service. That link is weakening. That's good news, but it doesn't mean yet that we can be completely complacent about case numbers, and that's why, over the next three weeks, continued caution is required. On weddings, I hope that I wasn't misunderstood. If I was, I apologise for that. I wasn't trying in any way to suggest that the changes weren't important. When I called them minor, I meant relative to the changes that I think people really want to see for weddings, which is a significant increase on the cap that is currently on the numbers. That will come, if, as I hope we will, we go to level 0 on 19 July, when the number goes to 200. What I am announcing today will slightly ease up the numbers, because certain people will not be included in the cap, but I am not immediately announcing an increase in the cap. That's why, if I described that as a major change, I probably would have, and I think more justifiably, had people suggesting that I was overstating that. It's important, but the major change will come when the cap increases, hopefully, on 19 July. Of course, over the last two weeks, Douglas Ross has been asking me those questions. I'm sure that he would concede that case numbers have been rising as well. There is a need to continue to balance those things carefully. On basic mitigations, what I set out in my statement, and remember that this is all caveated. We must assess the data here at the time, but what we hope will be the case is that, as we go to level 0, we hope on 19 July, the indoor legal physical distancing requirement will reduce from 2m to 1m. In hospitality it is already 1m, so that would be the general one. We hope to remove the legal physical distancing requirement outdoors at that point completely. If we go beyond level 0 on 9 August, we hope, but we have to assess the data, that the legal requirement to physical distancing will be removed indoors as well as outdoors. There will be no legal requirement, if all goes according to plan, for physical distancing at all when we go beyond level 0. We may still advise people, if you're with somebody who's not fully vaccinated, if you're with somebody more vulnerable, if you're in a place where the ventilation is not particularly good, it would make sense to continue to pay attention to a safe distance to people that are not within your close contact group. That will be advice, not law and not regulation. Again, although no final decision has been taken on this yet, it may be that, in some settings, that may include schools, for example, but no decision has been taken that, for a period longer, we ask people to continue to wear face coverings. Those are the basic mitigations that we may require once we lift the major legal restrictions that are currently in place. I think that basic mitigations such as washing your hands regularly, ventilating a room, cleaning surfaces, compared to what we have all lived with over the past 15 months, I think that many of us will think that those are relatively, not insignificant but relatively small prices to pay to keep this virus under control. Anna Sarwar Thank you, Prime Minister. Can I start by sending my condolences to all those who have lost a loved one in recent days but throughout this pandemic? Can I also share the concern about the increase in the positivity rate and the continued spread of the virus across Scotland? We, of course, all hope that we continue to make progress so that we can return to a version of normal by 9 August. In order to maintain wider health and wellbeing, we must make sure that the last lockdown really was the last lockdown. To maintain public trust and confidence through this pandemic, we must make sure that we maintain effective communication and consistent decision making. I am sorry to say that that has frayed in recent weeks. I welcome what the Government has said about setting a clearer timetable around the vaccine. Can we get a commitment that if the supplies allow, we will ramp that up much faster if we can? Can we look to replicate what has happened in London, for example, where we have walk-in vaccination centres for those who are not registered with a GP so that we can get as spread of the vaccine as much as possible? Do we still have hotspots where we are targeting resources too? If so, we are still waiting for the publication of those hotspot protocols. Can we get a recognition that there is now a frustration among particularly lots of business sectors about a lack of communication and working together with the Government? Can we have much clearer financial support protocols and much clearer communication with those sectors to recognise the specific challenges that they face so that we can make sure that we can give confidence to the public, give confidence to employees and give confidence to employers and come through this crisis together? On all of those things, intensive work is continuing. Hotspot initiatives for local public health teams will continue to take action as appropriate. We, for example, at the moment, are doing a much higher rate of PCR testing than other parts of the UK. That will partly reflect some of the surge testing that has been done in local areas. It is for local public health teams to decide what is appropriate following the protocols that are in place. We are vaccinating as fast as supplies allow. If supplies allow it, we will accelerate further, but there is one important caveat that has to be understood, particularly as we go into second doses, that there is a recommended eight weeks between a first dose and a second dose. Clinically, we cannot accelerate that, which will, to some extent, limit the pace that we are able to go at with second doses, but that is clinical advice that it would not be appropriate for us to change. We will use supplies as quickly as possible within the clinical advice that is available to us. Health boards are using drop-in clinics where they think that that is appropriate. Obviously, that becomes more important and is being used in other places for younger people. However, if you look at first doses right now, all four UK nations are much of a muchness in terms of vaccination uptake, but we are slightly ahead of England and Northern Ireland in first dose vaccination, which suggests that we are doing all the things that everybody else is doing and getting through that population quickly. However, we will work with health boards to make sure that they have all the support that they need. The finance secretary will continue to work with businesses to make sure that the financial support that is available is understood and, more importantly, that is accessed by businesses as we continue this journey back to, I hope, significant normality. I thank the First Minister for the statement and I join with others in once again expressing my condolences to those who have lost or loved one or, indeed, to those whose health and wellbeing has been seriously harmed for the long term by this virus. However, I also share the sense of hope that we might finally, after such a long and difficult period, be coming to the end of the restrictions. I want to ask about the change of strategic approach from the Scottish Government and, in particular, the strategic intention to suppress the virus to the lowest possible level no longer being the Government's position. Does that imply that the Scottish Government is open to what Matt Hancock is proposing to end the requirement for international travel quarantine for vaccinated people or, indeed, what he suggested to end self-isolation and replace it with lateral flow testing, something that has been criticised by public health experts? Or does the First Minister share my concern that, wherever in the world further more dangerous variants emerge, that approach would almost guarantee that those variants were imported and would then spread? The latter does not automatically follow the former. In terms of the change to the strategic intent, that really is recognising the way in which and the extent to which vaccination is changing the reality of the impact of this virus. When there was no vaccine then, in my view, it was essential to try to suppress cases of the virus to the lowest possible level because you had no other way of reducing the harm. Although those restrictions that were necessary to achieve that did other harm, the harm that would have been done by the virus outwead those. That balance changes when you have a vaccine that helps to mitigate the harm of the virus and, therefore, to continue to seek to suppress to the lowest possible level becomes potentially disproportionate because the harm that has been done by the restrictions necessary to achieve that outweigh the harm of the virus. That is the reason for the shift in strategic intent but, with both, it is about reducing the harm of the virus. It is just that there are different ways with a vaccine to do that than has been the case previously. We want to see both testing and vaccines, particularly vaccines, progressively reduce restrictions domestically and, of course, in time restrictions on travel in and out of the country. We have to consider that carefully because we have to be satisfied that there is a degree of effectiveness in those substitutes that allows us to move that. We will consider whether testing in future coupled with vaccination can lead to a different approach to self-isolation, particularly for contacts of positive cases, even if not for positive cases themselves. We are not yet at a stage to take that decision, but that is under active consideration. We all want to look to a point, hopefully in the not too distant future, when vaccines can open up travel again as well. We know that the biggest risk that we face is a variant, at some point, undermining the effectiveness of the vaccine. That means that we need to take continued care and really look at all of those things carefully before coming to final decisions. All of those things are and will continue to be under active consideration. Willie Rennie to be followed by Kenneth Gibson. Every week, families of adults with special needs ask me when their day services will reopen. Every week, I ask the First Minister the same, and every week, nothing changes. Last weekend, those families witnessed thousands of fans travelling hundreds of miles to gather on the streets of London against official advice from the Government. The families were surprised that there were few words of criticism, especially from the First Minister. Can the First Minister understand how angry they feel? They feel left behind, others do too. All they want is fairness for their services to be reopened. Will the First Minister agree to that today? If Willie Rennie had, as I'm sure he was, paid close attention, he would have heard today something that will make possibly the biggest practical difference here. First, on football fans, I could not have been clearer that I advised against fans travelling to London as I advised against fans gathering in groups that are out with the limits. I have spent 15 months trying to persuade people, and the vast majority of people have complied with that, to stick to rules that are about keeping them and their loved ones safe. I get frustrated when people do not do that, but we all have a personal responsibility and we are moving into a phase where that personal responsibility is going to become more, not less important as we progressively ease legal restrictions. Every day, I will continue to seek to persuade people to behave in a way that is within both the spirit and the letter of the rules to keep us as safe and as on the right track as possible. As I said last week, it is not the case that services for adults with learning disabilities cannot open. Local authorities have to consider how they are safely open. The biggest restriction at the moment is on physical distancing and the 2m physical distancing. That is one of the reasons why we are keen to reduce to the point of eliminating completely the need for a legal requirement for physical distancing. If we go to level 0 on 19 July and if that allows us to reduce indoor physical distancing to 1m, that will significantly increase the capacity in services such as that and in many other settings as well. That does not mean that those services are closed between now and then, but it means that local authorities or the providers of those services can continue to plan for increasing the capacity further. My final point, no matter how frustrated we may get when people, whoever they are, football fans or anybody else, are not complying with the advice, the response to that is not to reduce protections for other people, including and in particular vulnerable people. This is really difficult for people in that category. I absolutely understand that, but getting everybody through this as safely as possible is what continues to be most important. I welcome the First Minister's statement. Wearing face coverings in shops, travelling and at work has become second nature to many and continues to be necessary, but doing so is neither pleasant nor particularly comfortable. One or two public health advisers even suggest that face coverings should become permanent. Although no change is envisaged at present, does the First Minister agree that, ultimately, we should aim to return to being mask-free once it is safe to do so? Yes, I do. I personally do not want to have to wear face coverings for longer than is necessary and I cannot imagine that there are many people across the country who do. I want to see us get a position where we do not have to think about Covid in our day-to-day lives in any respect. We are much closer to a position where we can lift legal restrictions and I think that that is welcome, but if we want to continue in that way, we may have to all of us accept basic mitigations for a period longer. I certainly hope that that is not for a significant period longer, but things like wearing face coverings, washing hands, keeping, even if it is not legally required, a careful safe distance in certain circumstances from other people. If those are the things that are required so that we can live without the limits on having people in our own homes or the limits on what we can do in the much more fundamental parts of our life, the limits on services for adults with learning disabilities, then I think that that is a price people are willing to pay, albeit we all hope that that will not be for any longer than is necessary. Liz Smith, to be followed by Gillian Martin. Scottish universities are reporting that the number of students likely to arrive from red list countries for the start of the new academic term in September is likely to exceed the hotel quarantine allocation and complaining that this issue has not been addressed in good time. Can I ask the First Minister why that is the case and what would be done to address these very serious concerns? We are working with universities. I will ask the education secretary to write on that specific point. Universities also have an obligation to make sure that they have in place the services and support that international students need. Obviously, those are fee paying students. We are also giving access to the vaccination programme for international students arriving here if they are coming from countries where they have not already been vaccinated. Those are issues that will be taken very seriously. We learned a great deal, not all of it good, from the experience of university return last year and a lot of work is going on to make sure that the right arrangements are in place this year. Gillian Martin, to be followed by Jackie Baillie. I have had a constitution get in touch pointing to studies in other countries in relation to vaccine efficacy of people who are solid organ transplant recipients. Those studies indicate a much lower efficacy rate than the rest of the population. Can I ask the First Minister what has been done to ascertain the efficacy of the vaccines in people whose immune systems are suppressed and what steps have been taken to maximise their protection? The JCVI priority list represents, as I said in my statement, 99 per cent of preventable mortality from Covid. Those who are clinically extremely vulnerable were prioritised for vaccination with around 95 per cent of those in the shielding list having now received both doses. The JCVI did consider emerging advice suggesting people who are severely immunosuppressed may not always get the same protection from vaccination as others. Households of adults who are severely immune compromised should now be vaccinated alongside JCVI priority group 6 to offer additional protection. Of course, there are on-going studies, and I am sure that there will be for some time into the efficacy of the vaccines, both generally and in relation to particular groups. Jackie Baillie, to be followed by John Mason. Just this week, Dumbarton academy completely closed down due to an outbreak of Covid, and it will remain so for this final week of term. The situation is bad at the Vale of Leven academy, and what is concerning is that parents and pupils were advised late, in one case, four days after contact with a person who tested Covid positive. They also visited elderly relatives over the weekend. In the case of a local gymnastics club with 40 members, they were only told of a Covid positive case seven days later. Does the First Minister agree that, unless we speed up the time in which people are notified by test and protect, or indeed the school, then the virus will simply continue to spread? Test and protect and the times for test and protect contacting and tracing people are published. I am pretty sure that they are published on a weekly basis, so people can look and see that. Test and protect perform a very good service to short timescales. In some circumstances, particularly complex outbreaks, it will take time to go through all contacts. It may be that it takes time for some contacts to come forward. I am not saying that is the case in this situation. Speed is of the essence, but there will be different characteristics and different outbreaks that will determine the complexity of that. I cannot comment any more on the specific cases, because I do not know the specific details concerned. John Mason, to be followed by Jackson Carlaw. The First Minister knows that churches and other places of worship have been keen to follow the guidelines, but are also keen to reduce social distancing and to be able to sing again. Can she clarify when that will happen? I know that singing, particularly congregational singing, is important to faith communities. The guidance for the safe use of places of worship advises that congregational singing can take place from level 1 and for small groups such as a choir or a band only from level 2. At all other levels 3 to 4, which no part of the country is in at the moment, singing should be avoided because of the heightened risk of transmission. From 19 July, assuming that the data supports that, we will be in a position to reduce physical distancing in all indoor settings to 1 metre, and that will include places of worship. We will continue to engage with and support faith and belief communities as we move forward, so that they, as I know they are all very keen to do, can get all aspects of worship back to normal. Jackson Carlaw, to be followed by Bob Dorris. One welcome success of the pandemic has been the support offered to the First Minister by signers. On behalf of the deaf community in my constituency, I thank them for the outstanding and sustained job that they have done. It belies a much more complicated pathway for the deaf community to public services and particularly to GP services. Initially many of them received letters saying that they should make telephone appointments, which I assume was inadvertent. Subsequent online appointments often take place without a signer, and when a signer is provided they can join the consultation from anywhere in the UK. Sign language, just like any other language, has nuances, which means that many in the deaf community are concerned that very delicate matters relating to their health aren't being properly translated. What they are looking, hopefully, to have again is the right to direct face-to-face contact with GP services, and they are looking for the First Minister to champion that so that they can have that right again at the earliest opportunity. Many have put off seeking a GP for far too long. Will the First Minister seek to intervene to allow that to take place? As I have done before, and as no doubt I will, in the future, I want to thank the signers who have worked so hard and so well to help people to access the Scottish Government's public health messages over the course of this pandemic. There has been criticism, I think justified criticism, that the same provision hasn't been made with number 10 press conferences and perhaps at something Jackson Carlaw might want to champion himself on behalf of the deaf community, because it's the deaf community amongst others that have made that criticism. The comments about the difficulties that many in the deaf community have in accessing services, particularly through the pandemic, is a legitimate one. As we get services back to normal, that will alleviate, although services right now should be catering for that. Last week on this, GPs should be offering face-to-face appointments already where that is appropriate. As we go through or down the path that I have set out today, when physical distancing is reduced, hopefully removed altogether and as more restrictions are eased, we will see and the Scottish Government will certainly be championing a much greater return to face-to-face services. I welcome the continued positive roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccinations in Scotland, but we must not be complacent. Australia, for instance, has a highly successful in managing the initial spread of coronavirus, but it has experienced a series of small outbreaks in recent months. Those are related to the slow roll-out of the vaccine and the vaccine hesitancy. Does the First Minister agree that that highlights the absolute importance for as many people in Scotland to take up the vaccine when offered their appointment, not just for the safety and protection of themselves and others, but given that there is now a clear link between vaccine uptake and Scotland continuing to ease restrictions? I couldn't agree with that more, and I'm sure that everybody across the chamber does. I would appeal to everybody, as I do almost every day, to get vaccinated when you are invited to an appointment, and particularly to get the second dose. We know that the first dose of vaccine gives some protection, but it is the second dose that gives significant protection, and that includes protection against the delta variant. Please turn up for the vaccine. The more people who are fully vaccinated, the more the link between cases, hospitalisations, serious illness and death will weaken to the point, hopefully, of almost breaking that link completely. Every person who is not vaccinated is somebody who is still vulnerable to the virus. As a way of protecting yourself, but also as part of that collective civic duty that we owe to each other, please come forward for the vaccine. We have seen extraordinarily high uptakes so far. They are not as high in the younger groups as they are in the older and frailer groups, but still high by comparison to other vaccination programmes. I think that every single one of us can really play a part in encouraging everybody we know to get vaccinated and to make sure that you get double vaccinated. It is absolutely the way out of this for all of us. Colin Smyth, to be followed by Joe FitzPatrick. The First Minister referred to the importance of the clinical advice on an eight-week period between first and second vaccine doses, but we have seen an increase in number of errors in letters inviting people for vaccinations. For example, in Dumfries and Galloway, some 800 children were invited for vaccination who are too young. We know that thousands of people in Glasgow have recently been invited for a second dose less than eight weeks from their first dose. Can I ask the First Minister if any review into those errors will cover all health boards to make sure that, as we move forward towards, for example, having booster jabs, procedures are tightened up to avoid future errors? All the administrative glitches that happen in the system are quickly identified and quickly rectified. We do not want to see them happen and lessons are learned from all of them, but I also think that, not least for the sake of those who are working round the clock to deliver this vaccination programme, it is important to put it in context as well. The biggest ever population vaccination programme that this country has delivered is going exceptionally well. The administrative glitches that are mentioned are tiny in the context of that. They are not unimportant, but let us not take away from how well this vaccination programme is running smoothly. It is accessible. We will learn all lessons as we go into, potentially, a booster period in the autumn and, potentially, into a further round of it next year or the year after that. I want to pay tribute to everybody who is running the vaccination programme. I got my own second dose yesterday at the NHS Louisa Jordan. It was running like clockwork, and all the people delivering this programme deserve our grateful thanks. Joe FitzPatrick, to be followed by Jeremy Balfour. Local businesses and charities in Dundee have been in touch to ask about bulk ordering of lateral flow devices to help support their efforts to drive down case numbers in the city. Can the First Minister advise what opportunities there are for such organisations to obtain bulk orders of lateral flow devices to help support our Covid recovery? In the event of an outbreak, local authorities and health boards have a very broad range of testing interventions that are available to them that they can and many are deploying quickly. Businesses who have been identified as high risk or who have been nominated by local health board leads are also considered for inclusion in workplace testing. At the start of June, we wrote to local health boards to invite nominations for businesses that could be considered for targeted testing. That is at the discretion of health boards. They need to use their local judgment and engagement with local authorities and decide which businesses they think will most benefit from that. In addition to that, lateral flow testing is universally accessible to anyone who can collect test kits from test sites or pharmacies or order online for home delivery. We will keep all aspects of the testing policy under review, but there is no need not to have access, whether you are a business or an individual, for lateral flow testing at the moment because they are widely accessible and on a universal basis. I call Jeremy Balfour to be followed by Rona Mackay. I welcome the statement from the First Minister, particularly for the festivals and things, starting in Edinburgh in a couple of months time. Can she confirm that our cultural venues, whether standing or seated, will come under a one-metre rule and for any venue that is outside there will be no restrictions at all? Is she confident that theatres and cinemas will be able to have no restrictions come the autumn so that we can plan for productions taking place? I will insert the caveat that I have throughout my remarks today. This is all dependent on meeting those milestones that were set out, both in vaccination and meeting that strategic aim of keeping cases at a level that allows us to alleviate the harms. If that is the case, I hope that by 19 July physical distancing, the legal requirement for physical distancing outdoors will be removed and indoors in premises. That would include premises mentioned that do not already have a one-metre dispensation that the requirement will reduce from two metres to one metre. If the data allows it—again, I will keep stressing that—by 9 August it would be our intention to remove the legal requirement for physical distancing indoors and outdoors completely. As I said, we may still advise people to take care around safe distances but we want to bring the legal requirement to an end as soon as it is safe to do so. We are setting out those expectations today in order that businesses, including those in the culture sector, can start to plan along those lines. Of course, we will keep people as updated as possible as we review the data on an on-going basis in the weeks ahead. There is still a great deal of interest in asking a question off the First Minister and I would be grateful if colleagues could pick up the pace wherever possible. Last week, I met my constituent, Kevin McPhillips, regarding his soft play business in my constituency. He is concerned that welcome petitors in level 1 can reopen his businesses without income. Can the First Minister outline what supports are available for soft play centres in Strathkelvin and Bearsden and whether the Scottish Government is reexamining their position within the protection levels? I do not underestimate at all the significant impact that the pandemic has had on soft play centres. In recognition of that, the finance secretary announced additional funding for the 14 local authority areas, which include East Dunbartonshire, that have remained for now in level 2. That includes £100,000 for soft play centres, which remain closed and receive funding on a weekly basis. We keep plans under review and will, as I have said today, accelerate the lifting of restrictions if possible. Hopefully, what we have set out today about the move to level 0 for the whole country will also be positive for the soft play sector. The funding that I have spoken about is in addition to rates relief funding through the contingency fund and closure grants as well. However, we will continue to do everything that we can to get to a position as quickly as possible where soft play centres are able to open again. For over a year now, patients at the length and breadth of Scotland, many of them vulnerable and elderly, have been suffering from chronic foot pain. Pediatrics treatment used to be handled by the NHS, but since Covid, GPs have turned patients away, sending them to the private sector instead, where bills for simple procedures can stretch into hundreds of pounds. After a tough financial year, patients have had to make a choice, either pay for the private medical treatment or endure chronic pain, lack of mobility and all the associated strains on their mental and physical health. Many have been forced to choose the latter option, consigned indoors while the rest of Scotland enjoys newly found freedoms. With NHS workers in our vulnerable groups now having had both jobs and with all of us placing so much importance in staying active, why are the treatments still not available on the NHS and when will these urgently needed services resume? All health services that people have a requirement for should be available on the NHS. It is an important issue. Pediatrics services often, for people as the member has reflected there, will make the difference between being able to get out and be active and not. I will ask the health secretary to write in more detail about specific plans and work under way to get pediatrics services and other services back on track as quickly as possible. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Free lateral flow home test kits can be made available online, I note that, but not everybody is online. The statement says that they can be collected from community pharmacies but at a constituent who was unable to do that. Is it practicable, First Minister, to provide a list of community pharmacies where you can uplift these for yourself and not have to go online? More than 90 per cent of the community pharmacy network have opted in to provide this service. Not absolutely every community pharmacy will be able to do so but, as I said, 93 per cent have. Since the community pharmacy service launched at the start of June, I think that over 18,000 free home test kits have been collected from over 1,100 community pharmacies. At least 87 per cent of the population are within a 30-minute walk of a pharmacy collection point in urban areas that will be much, much shorter. We will continue to work to try to open access and make access as flexible as we possibly can. I think that the system and the service that community pharmacies are now providing has been a step change in making these test kits accessible to people right across the country. Daniel Johnson to be followed by Stuart McMillan. Thank you, Presiding Officer. A number of constituents have been in touch with me who, while looking forward to starting the university careers this autumn, are concerned because they won't turn 18 until after September and therefore are not eligible for their first vaccination until after that point. I understand the importance of JCVI guidance but is this not a situation where there needs to be flexibility at the margins of that guidance? Will the First Minister look at ensuring or finding a way for people who have not yet turned 18 to receive their vaccinations before they start university in the autumn? No Government in the history of devolution has done anything other than base its decisions on vaccination and immunisation on the advice that comes from the JCVI. Although I'll be corrected if I'm wrong in any way here, this is not the case in Scotland. In England and Wales it's a statutory requirement to do so. I spent many years, as members know, as health secretary. One of the most difficult things to be asked to do and one of the things any politician should resist doing is interfering with that advice when it comes to who to vaccinate. I understand the point that has been made. We are eagerly awaiting the advice of the JCVI and will act upon that advice. Obviously there has been some speculation in the media about what direction that advice might go in. However, it is likely that the vaccination programme will not be a one-off that it will continue. Regardless of what the JCVI advice is right now in terms of younger age groups, those at the margins are likely to be vaccinated in a future programme anyway, even if the advice is not to lower the age recommendation. I understand all those points. I understand the reasons why those calls are made, but it is such an important principle that we follow clinical advice on vaccination given the need to maintain public confidence and some of the sensitivities and concerns that people have around those issues. Stuart McMillan, to be followed by Tess White. Thank you very much. The vaccination programme is going well. We know that there is a likelihood that booster vaccinations will be required. Can the First Minister give an indication as to when she expects to receive guidance about this from the JCVI? We are expecting to receive JCVI guidance on this point over the next few weeks. I do not know exactly when that is likely to be. I very much hope that it will be sooner in those few weeks rather than later. I know that all UK Governments are in that position. Obviously, those who were vaccinated at the earliest stage of the vaccination programme got their first dose of the vaccine in December in a small number of cases in January. It may well be that a booster campaign is needed through the autumn. We are making sure that we are planning for that right now so that whatever the advice is, if the advice is to do booster vaccinations in the autumn, we are ready to get going with that as soon as possible. However, we hope to get the advice within the next few weeks. Tess White. The bill's external groups, such as Amnesty International and Inclusion Scotland, have expressed concern that this timetable means that there has been no time for consultation on plans to extend extraordinary powers for ministers for up to another year. Given that those powers do not expire until the end of September, why is this bill being rushed through in the next three days with no consultation and limited parliamentary scrutiny? I wasn't in the chamber, but I understand that the Parliament has just had a vote on that matter. Members of the Conservative Party rightly had the opportunity to make their views known. This is always a difficult balance. I don't want to have to take emergency legislation through the Parliament if it can be avoided. I don't want to have emergency powers in place. In fact, that legislation will allow some emergency powers to expire, because we don't think that they are necessary anymore. Given that this Parliament is about to go into recess for two months, and given that we are still facing a much more hopeful prospectus in terms of Covid because of the vaccines, we are still facing an uncertain period ahead, it is prudent that with the debate and deliberation that will take place today, tomorrow and Thursday in this Parliament, we have those contingent powers there should they be necessary, but they are only used if they are absolutely necessary and Parliament has the opportunity to scrutinise them over the next three days. That concludes the First Minister's statement Covid-19 update. My apologies to those members that I was unable to take. There will be a short suspension while we move on to the next item of business.