Hansard

Scottish Labour supports the Green motion because we agree with the basic principle that everyone should be able to afford to self-isolate.

The pandemic has already caused astronomical levels of hardship, but in tackling the virus, the current system still does not go far enough. Many low-paid workers struggle to afford to self-isolate, despite earning more than the real living wage. Many people face a choice between Covid compliance and financial devastation.

Transmission reduces only if people who have the virus self-isolate and if those who are identified as having been close to an infected person do likewise. However, many people are nervous about downloading the Protect Scotland app because they do not—mainly for financial reasons—want to be told to self-isolate if they have been near someone who has Covid. After a year of disrupted work, many people’s finances are under enormous strain and many feel that they cannot afford to self-isolate.

Dr Wanda Wyporska of the Equality Trust charity has said, as we have heard today, that people avoid testing for a range of reasons, from caring responsibilities to employment worries. She said:

“Some people have said they’re not going to take the test, because if they are told to isolate, they won’t be able to work”

and will, therefore, not get any income. Initial data show that there is low take-up of Covid testing in deprived areas of the United Kingdom, along with higher levels of people testing positive. We need to take stock to discover whether that situation has changed at all, and we need to try to understand whether a pattern exists, so that we can work out what we must do to respond.

People on lower incomes have been hardest hit by the virus and by the collateral damage of restrictions. It is obvious that the test and trace approach will reduce transmission only if infectious people are able to isolate effectively. That is the biggest barrier.

Recent research by University College London found that only 43 per cent of people who develop Covid symptoms say that they had requested a test. What happened to the other 57 per cent? That is a finding of the biggest study to date, and its lead author, Dr Daisy Fancourt, said:

“The number of respondents who say they are not isolating for the recommended number of days is also deeply concerning. The increased adherence to self-isolation rules among those with a higher household income suggests that many of those not isolating are breaking guidelines due to financial concerns, and more support needs to be put in place to allow people to self-isolate without fear of losing out financially.”

Without proper support to help people to self-isolate, there is an economic divide between those who have the means to stay at home and those who do not. Even if people want to self-isolate, finances can prevent them from doing so. Working-class households are bearing the brunt of that divide. We hear that “We are all in it together”, but for many people, it does not feel as though that is the case. While some people are paddling, others are waist deep.

Less than one third of the population of Scotland have downloaded the Protect Scotland app. People who test positive for Covid-19 are given a randomly generated code to enter, which then alerts close contacts who also have the app that they should self-isolate. However, fewer than half of those who use the app and have tested positive have actually entered the code to alert others. Clearly, we have more work to do in that regard.

I know that, in England and Wales, an update to the contact tracing system has been added to enable people to apply for the £500 grant if they receive a self-isolation direction. I note what Shirley-Anne Somerville said about updates to the app, so it would be useful if, in winding up, ministers could clarify whether we have similar processes here in Scotland.

As far as I can establish, the Scottish welfare fund is very important when it comes to self-isolation. There are issues around lack of public awareness of the fund and inconsistency in awarding grants. Last year, the Poverty and Inequality Commission found that the fund was underutilised through the initial period of lockdown from April to June and, shockingly, it found that there had been a massive underspend of £1.1 million compared with the same period in 2019. We can see how desperate things have become for a lot of people. The latest figures show that less than a third of people who applied for a self-isolation grant had their applications approved.

I think that we all agree that asymptomatic testing is extremely important in tracking down the virus, so we must make it easier for people to self-isolate without undermining their financial situation. One in three people has coronavirus without displaying any symptoms; therefore, we also need to target testing at people who cannot work at home during lockdown.

In conclusion, I say that no one should pay a financial price for isolating from family, work and friends to stop the spread of the virus, if they cannot afford to do so. Therefore, Scottish Labour supports the principle of the Green motion, which is that there should be a universal right to be supported in order to self-isolate to stop the spread of the virus.

I move amendment S5M-24029.1, to insert after “future”:

“and is integral along with the vaccine roll-out in the fight against COVID-19; believes that this will require full use of Scotland’s testing capacity to deliver mass asymptomatic testing in communities across Scotland”.