Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 27 January 2021
There are lots of words, but very few facts come from the Government. I can give an example from care homes. There are only 30,000 care home residents in Scotland, but we are 140,000 vaccinations behind. What the cabinet secretary said about care homes makes no sense. Do not blame the care homes for the Government’s failure to get the vaccine rolled out.
GPs currently have one slot each week in which to submit their order to the local health board. The local health board then passes that on to the national organisation, which passes that on to Moviento, the distributor. Moviento eventually gets the vaccine back to the GP. There are two extra layers of bureaucracy that do not exist in England. That might be one reason why the Government is way behind on providing access to the vaccine.
The British Medical Association confirms that and says that it, too, wants direct access to the ordering process. It says:
“We’re having to go through quite a convoluted procurement process to get that vaccine into our fridges.”
Two weeks ago, the health secretary said that she had 200,000 vaccines in storage. This week, the UK Government said that that figure is nearer 500,000. The Scottish Government disputes that, but will not tell us what the number is. So much for open government. Please end the secrecy. Tell us that number and reform the ordering system so that we can catch up at last.
Last week, I asked the First Minister why the Government was always behind the curve on testing. Her response was to ask me why she would want to be behind the curve—more evasion. It is a serious issue and we can look at what has happened: the Government refused to test students before outbreaks on campus; it refused to test at airports before holiday makers brought the virus back from abroad; and it refused to test like Liverpool, claiming that that was only a political stunt by the Conservatives. Most devastating of all, it refused, despite repeated requests at the time from me and many others to the First Minister, to test new care home residents before they were admitted. Why is that important? It is because the Government must catch up on testing and the first thing that it must do is fully use the 65,000 PCR tests that it has at its disposal, rather than waste 50,000 every day.
The Government is even getting it wrong when it is giving away money. Last year was astonishing, and I give the Government full credit and compliments. Money was delivered to businesses with speed. It was a great success. Now, however, the funding schemes are delayed, full of holes and have complex criteria. Too many are missing out. Self-catering businesses, guest houses and the supply chain are all missing out on what they truly need and it is taking an age to get the money to them. The Government has taken far too long to develop the schemes; they have been announced several times, but many are still not open for application. Businesses are on the edge and the good work of last year is about to be undone unless the Government moves faster.
Whether it is on vaccines, testing or business, the challenges for this country are considerable. They need our undivided attention, not another divisive, distracting, costly and exhausting campaign for independence. We must put recovery first.
15:57