Committee
Health and Sport Committee 09 March 2021
09 Mar 2021 · S5 · Health and Sport Committee
Item of business
Subordinate Legislation
Health Protection (Coronavirus) (International Travel) (Scotland) Amendment (No 7) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/111)
Agenda item 4 is consideration of further subordinate legislation. We have before us four made affirmative instruments on coronavirus and international travel, which have been laid under section 94(1) of the Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008, which is on international travel. The 2008 act states that such regulations are subject to the affirmative procedure, except that that procedure will not apply if ministers consider that the regulations need to be made urgently. In such circumstances, they will be emergency regulations and will cease to have effect on the expiry of the period of 28 days, beginning with the date on which they were made, unless, before the expiry of that period, they have been approved by Parliament. It is for the Health and Sport Committee to consider the instruments and report to Parliament accordingly. In other words, the instruments before us are of the same family as many of the instruments that we have considered over recent months. Last week, we took evidence on Covid health protection travel regulations from travel, hospitality and public health representatives. Today, we will hear from the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity on the same issues. The regulations impose new requirements for self-isolation and mandatory testing for travellers who arrive directly into Scotland from outwith the common travel area, having departed from or transited through an acute risk country. They also make requirements for a managed self-isolation package to be applied to persons who travel to Scotland from England, where they would otherwise be required to comply with equivalent regulations in England. Finally, they remove the Falkland Islands from the list of acute risk countries and territories in schedule A2 of the international travel regulations. Those are the matters before us. In order to assist our scrutiny, I welcome to the committee Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, who is accompanied by, from the Scottish Government, Craig Thomson, border measures review team leader; David Pratt, policy lead for the health performance and delivery team; and Peter Brown from the police enforcement, liaison and performance team. We intend to ask questions on all four instruments together. Questions might therefore be more general in nature, although some might relate more specifically to individual instruments. I invite the cabinet secretary to make a brief opening statement. 11:30
In the same item of business
The Convener
Lab
Agenda item 4 is consideration of further subordinate legislation. We have before us four made affirmative instruments on coronavirus and international trave...
The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity (Michael Matheson)
SNP
Good morning. I made a statement to the chamber on 9 February, in which I set out the Scottish Government’s intention to introduce a comprehensive approach t...
The Convener
Lab
Members will have questions, but I want to begin by returning to some of the evidence that we heard last week when we discussed the different approaches acro...
Michael Matheson
SNP
Please bear with me, convener—this might be rather a long answer, because I think that it is important to give you the background. When we suspended the tra...
The Convener
Lab
In brief, would it be fair to say that your approach is based on the advice of the joint biosecurity centre and of SAGE, and that the UK Government’s decisio...
Michael Matheson
SNP
That would be a fair reflection of the situation at the moment.
The Convener
Lab
If a red list approach continues to be operated for people travelling to England, what impact will that have on the comprehensive managed isolation programme...
Michael Matheson
SNP
Given that the UK Government chose to pursue the red list system, we made representations to it to ask that anyone who enters a port of entry in England and ...
The Convener
Lab
In practice, therefore, there are two classes of people who have returned from international travel to Scotland, one of which is people in managed isolation ...
Michael Matheson
SNP
There are actually three classes. There are those who arrive directly into airports in Scotland and go into managed isolation, and those who arrive at airpor...
The Convener
Lab
That is a helpful clarification. I have another question before I pass over to colleagues. Given that different parts of the world have different quarantine...
Michael Matheson
SNP
The 10-day period is based on the clinical advice that we received towards the end of last year that the risk of moving the self-isolation period from 14 day...
David Stewart
Lab
I will raise a big-picture issue that I have to confess I have been working on heavily for the past six months, which is about having an internationally reco...
Michael Matheson
SNP
I recognise Mr Stewart’s interest in the matter of vaccine passports, which could play an important part in re-establishing international travel. As you righ...
David Stewart
Lab
The cabinet secretary has been very open and honest on the subject. My comments generally are not made in a party-political way. I am enthusiastic about the ...
Michael Matheson
SNP
I would recognise your frustration if we were not already progressing the issue, but we are. We are already engaging and looking to take forward the matter o...
David Stewart
Lab
I turn to my final question, although the cabinet secretary might not have the relevant information to hand. I know from my experience in politics, for what ...
Michael Matheson
SNP
I can pick up the specific points that Mr Stewart has raised with the chief executive of NHS Scotland and ask for more specific information. I do not have su...
David Stewart
Lab
Thank you.
The Convener
Lab
As you said, cabinet secretary, it is impossible to predict where things will be at any point during the coming summer. However, in your view, what circumsta...
Michael Matheson
SNP
First, I emphasise that we do not want to have managed isolation in place for any longer than it is needed. The trigger for ministers to start to move away f...
George Adam
SNP
Following on from the convener’s question, what are the latest numbers for inward flights to Scotland from red list and non-red list countries? How many peop...
Michael Matheson
SNP
At present, there are no direct flights into Scotland from red list countries. Those flights are banned, on the basis that they would be coming from a red li...
George Adam
SNP
There is great concern among the public that people could potentially come into Scotland having gone through red list countries at some point. What communica...
Michael Matheson
SNP
That is being taken forward in two ways, through my direct representations to the Covid-O committee and my written correspondence with Michael Gove at the Ca...
George Adam
SNP
That is all very concerning and worrying. We had representatives of the airports and the hospitality sector before the committee last week. You had to creat...
Michael Matheson
SNP
I very much appreciate the concerns that were raised by the aviation sector, and in particular the airports, about the speed at which the policy had to be in...
David Torrance
SNP
Good afternoon, cabinet secretary. Why has it been necessary to bring in a series of different regulations on a short timescale? Can you explain how they wil...
Michael Matheson
SNP
We have introduced some of the regulations to close down potential anomalies in the system. As I mentioned earlier, individuals who arrive from red list coun...
David Torrance
SNP
Can you indicate the degree to which there is now an understanding of the new rules? What is the plan to communicate those rules to the aviation and hospital...