6. To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government plans to offer self-isolating people under the national health service test and protect programme. (S5F-04179)

For those who need it, help is available via the Scottish Government’s national assistance helpline, which links to local authority teams who provide access to essential food and medicine and emotional and social support.

Financial support for those who are asked to self-isolate will also be critical to the success of the test and protect programme. It will be more difficult for people to comply with the arrangements if they face financial hardship through doing so. To that end, I welcome the United Kingdom Government’s decision to ensure that, for those who are eligible, statutory sick pay will be available for every day on which they are in isolation.

The extension of the self-employment income support scheme for a further three months is also welcome news. However, I look forward to hearing from the UK Government what more can be done through reserved powers to ensure that people who are isolating do not lose out financially.

The new trace and protect programme is wholly dependent on voluntary compliance. Hugh Pennington, who is emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, has

“pointed out that only half of people who develop coronavirus symptoms self-isolate for at least a week, according to government science advisers.”

In that light, what assessment has the First Minister’s Government made of non-compliance because of a reluctance among employers to pay statutory sick pay? What is her response to comments from Professor Pennington, who has

“warned if the NHS test and trace system wasn’t effective then the only alternative was compulsory random testing ... ‘in places such as supermarket queues’”?

The First Minister:

I am not currently aware of the evidence that Hugh Pennington cited, but I would be happy to look at it, if Rachael Hamilton sends it to me.

We have always been clear that the test and protect programme can play a critical part in suppressing the virus, but it depends on persuading people to comply with everything that we are asking them to comply with. That means their coming forward for testing immediately they experience symptoms and following the advice on self-isolation.

In my anecdotal experience, but also as shown by monitoring that the Scottish Government has been doing through surveys during the pandemic, the majority of people in Scotland have been complying with everything that we have asked them to do—the lockdown generally, and isolation in particular. I hope that that will continue to be the case.

We have already acknowledged that it is vital that support be in place. That support will come in a range of shapes and forms—from financial support, which is very important, to practical support. In some—I am sure that they will be rare—cases, support through alternative accommodation will be needed, so we are working to ensure that that is available.

I will repeat a point that I have already made today, because it is a point that we must all repeat as often as we can. Every single one of us will reduce our risk of being asked to self-isolate, as a close contact of somebody who has coronavirus, if we abide by the physical distancing guidelines and stay at least 2m apart from other people.

Scrutiny is important, but we all have a role to play in ensuring that the test and protect programme succeeds. That requires that we all make sure that we communicate the advice to our constituents and that we encourage them to abide by it. I have great confidence that if we all do that, the test and protect programme will play the part that we want it to play in suppressing and, eventually, eradicating the virus.