– in the Scottish Parliament at on 11 June 2020.
Colin Smyth
Labour
1. To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to create any new offences to enforce restrictions on travel distances for the purpose of exercise and leisure and group size for the purpose of meeting other households. (S5O-04404)
Humza Yousaf
Scottish National Party
The overwhelming Majority of people are acting in line with the guidance, and I would like to take this opportunity to record my thanks to them for playing a vital role in reducing the spread of the virus and saving lives.
I cannot stress enough how important it is that people follow the rules. The reproduction number remains precariously close to 1 and we are at a critical stage. People should stay within their local area for exercise and recreation and meet with members of no more than one other household at a time, outdoors and in small numbers—eight at most.
I am in regular contact with the chief constable about public behaviour and levels of compliance. The Scottish Government does not consider it to be necessary, at this time, to create new offences to enforce the rules. However, we will continue to monitor the situation and will not hesitate to legislate, or move these rules from guidance into regulation, if necessary.
Colin Smyth
Labour
I was waiting to be unmuted, Presiding Officer.
Cabinet secretary
—
[
Inaudible.
]
— travelling to popular tourism hot spots that are more than 5 miles from their home. If there will be no legal measures to stop that, will he at least commit to ensuring that next week’s review on lockdown will look at how to mitigate its impact on communities?
The Government’s guidance is that car parks should remain closed, and that has led to a lot of residents’ lives being made a misery because visitors parking in streets and residential areas is having a big impact on them.
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
Did you manage to hear that, Cabinet secretary?
Humza Yousaf
Scottish National Party
I did indeed. Colin Smyth raised a very important, pertinent point. I give an absolute assurance that as we look towards the next review period we will absolutely consider that issue. Let me also give him an absolute assurance that we are not waiting for the next review period; we are already regularly consulting and in discussion with local authority partners and Police Scotland about beauty spots.
Although there were still some issues last weekend—Colin Smyth is right to raise some of those—there were far fewer than during the previous weekend, which was the first weekend of phase 1. That was because of a co-ordinated effort between Police Scotland, local authorities, national parks and others. However, where we can make improvements—and I certainly think that we can, whether in messaging, regulation or guidance—we will, of course, look to do so.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
