Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) Wednesday 26 August 2020 Session 5 © Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Information on the Scottish Parliament’s copyright policy can be found on the website - www.parliament.scot or by contacting Public Information on 0131 348 5000 Wednesday 26 August 2020 CONTENTS Col. FIRST MINISTER’S QUESTION TIME ..................................................................................................................... 1 Care Homes .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Extension of Job Retention Scheme ............................................................................................................ 7 Mercy Baguma ............................................................................................................................................ 10 Covid-19 Testing (International Students) .................................................................................................. 12 Covid-19 (Winter Spikes) ............................................................................................................................ 14 Disabled People (Abuse During Lockdown) ............................................................................................... 15 Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill .............................................................................................. 16 University Towns (Covid-19 Measures) ..................................................................................................... 17 GlaxoSmithKline (Job Losses) ................................................................................................................... 19 Covid-19 Testing (School Pupils) ............................................................................................................... 19 Covid-19 Testing (Remote Areas) .............................................................................................................. 20 Covid-19 Testing Portal .............................................................................................................................. 21 Schools (Personal Protective Equipment) .................................................................................................. 22 Covid-19 Testing (Capacity) ....................................................................................................................... 23 Comedy Venues (Support) ......................................................................................................................... 25 Weddings (Restrictions) ............................................................................................................................. 25 Cameron House Hotel Fire ......................................................................................................................... 26 Showpeople (Funding) ............................................................................................................................... 27 People’s Action on Section 30 .................................................................................................................... 28 LIFE SCIENCES INNOVATION (COVID-19 RESPONSE) ......................................................................................... 29 Statement—[Ivan McKee]. The Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation (Ivan McKee) ............................................................. 29 BUSINESS MOTION ........................................................................................................................................... 42 Motion moved—[Graeme Dey]—and agreed to. AGRICULTURE (RETAINED EU LAW AND DATA) (SCOTLAND) BILL: STAGE 3 ...................................................... 43 AGRICULTURE (RETAINED EU LAW AND DATA) (SCOTLAND) BILL ................................................................... 114 Motion moved—[Fergus Ewing]. The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism (Fergus Ewing) ................................................ 114 Oliver Mundell (Dumfriesshire) (Con) ....................................................................................................... 116 Colin Smyth (South Scotland) (Lab) ......................................................................................................... 117 John Finnie (Highlands and Islands) (Green) ........................................................................................... 119 Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD) ......................................................................................................... 121 Maureen Watt (Aberdeen South and North Kincardine) (SNP) ................................................................ 123 Rachael Hamilton (Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con) ............................................................... 124 Claudia Beamish (South Scotland) (Lab) ................................................................................................. 126 Edward Mountain (Highlands and Islands) (Con) ..................................................................................... 127 Fergus Ewing ............................................................................................................................................ 128 BUSINESS MOTION ......................................................................................................................................... 131 Motion moved—[Graeme Dey]—and agreed to. PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU MOTIONS ............................................................................................................... 133 Motions moved—[Graeme Dey]. Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) ............................................................................................................ 133 The Cabinet Secretary for Finance (Kate Forbes) ................................................................................... 134 DECISION TIME .............................................................................................................................................. 137 1 26 AUGUST 2020 2 provides more detailed analysis of the causes of Scottish Parliament excess deaths during the pandemic. Wednesday 26 August 2020 I will give a brief update on the main clusters that we have been dealing with in recent days. First, with regard to the outbreak that was linked to [The Presiding Officer opened the meeting at the 2 Sisters Food Group processing plant in 12:20] Coupar Angus, as of yesterday, 156 positive cases were linked to that cluster—138 workers of First Minister’s Question Time the factory and 18 of their contacts. That is a rise of four cases on the previous figure, and all four The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh): Good new cases are workers in the factory. afternoon. Before the first item of business, which is First Minister’s question time, the First Minister Almost all the workers at the factory have now will make a short statement. been tested; in total, more than 5,000 people have been tested in Tayside over the past seven days. The First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon): I will That is good progress, and I thank everyone who give a brief update on today’s Covid statistics. An is working hard to manage that outbreak. So far, additional 67 cases were confirmed yesterday; the testing has not revealed a large number of that represents 0.5 per cent of people who were positive cases among contacts of the workforce. newly tested yesterday, and takes the total At this stage, there is still no evidence of wider number of cases now to 19,988. A total of 249 community transmission, although contact tracing patients are currently in hospital with confirmed and testing is still on-going. Workers at the factory Covid, which is six more than yesterday, and two and their households should continue to self- people are in intensive care, which is an increase isolate until Monday 31 August; that restriction of one since yesterday. applies even if any of those individuals have Unfortunately, I also have to report that, in the received a negative test result. past 24 hours, two deaths were reported to Public I will also give a quick update on the situation at Health Scotland of patients who first tested Kingspark school in Dundee. In total, 31 cases positive in the previous 28 days. This is the first have been identified as part of that cluster. Two of time that any newly registered deaths have been those 31 cases are pupils at the school. All school reported in our daily figures since 16 July, and it staff, pupils and household contacts of pupils have means that the number of deaths under that been given advice on self-isolation, as have other measurement is now 2,494. relevant contacts. In addition, testing has been We have all become used to hearing news of no undertaken for all staff who work at the school and deaths under these daily figures. The two new is available for children who have been identified deaths today are devastating for those who will be as close contacts. grieving the loss, but they should also be a Finally, in relation to the outbreak in Aberdeen, reminder for all of us that the threat of Covid has 261 cases are now associated with the cluster that not yet gone away. is linked to pubs; that figure is unchanged from National Records of Scotland has also just yesterday. The total number of cases in Grampian published its