I ask this question on behalf of a young father with cystic fibrosis, who has spent nearly 12 weeks shielding. His twin five-year-old girls are due to start primary 1 on 11 August, but he is worried that they will not be allowed to do so because of his at-risk status. He says that he would prefer to leave his family home rather than have his girls miss out on their first day at school. He is not alone. The Cystic Fibrosis Trust says that “urgent guidance” is needed,

“especially as children start to go back to school and more people return to work.”

What response would the First Minister give to that young father? Can she reassure others who are in a similar situation that, when the shielding advice update is finally given, it will include detailed information on freedoms and restrictions for those who are in the same household as at-risk individuals?

The current period of shielding is due to end on June 18, and I and the health secretary have already said that we will publish updated guidance in advance of that. The guidance will be very much clinically driven and as detailed and as comprehensive as possible. It will look at the different risk factors and seek—as far as possible—to give people as much flexibility and allow them as much judgment as possible in relation to the risk factors that they face and how they can best mitigate them, and detail how the Government can support them in doing that.

We will try—as far as possible, recognising the risks that those groups still face—to get people back to some degree of normal life. We are taking great care over that guidance, and we recognise that the impact of somebody who is shielding on others who live in their household will be particularly acute when those people are children.

The reason that we are taking time to publish updated guidance is that we want to be able to answer as many of those questions as possible. Nobody wants to see people shielding any longer than is necessary, but I remind members that people in the shielded category are at greatest risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from the virus, so it is right that we take as much care as we can. It is really important that we do not act prematurely and that we do not give advice without proper care and consideration.

The final point that I will make to the individual who was quoted, and to those in the shielded category generally, is one that I have made before. The Scottish Government—including me and the health secretary—has not forgotten you or the difficulties that you are facing. However, you, your families, and your health and safety really matter to us, which is why we will take time to get the guidance as right as we possibly can.