5. To ask the First Minister what measures the Scottish Government can put in place to prevent bars being hot spots for the spread of Covid-19. (S5F-04266)

Three significant pieces of guidance for hospitality have already been published: sector guidance that covers essential measures such as physical distancing, cleaning and hygiene; guidance on the collection of customer contact details; and guidance on additional mitigating measures for a 1m physical distance exemption.

As we announced last week, we will move guidance on to a statutory footing. Later this week, we will enhance measures on safe practices and will introduce measures to make collection of visitor details mandatory. That recognises the need to ensure that the following of guidance is not seen as optional. It is a key tool in balancing the risk between allowing the hospitality sector to operate and keeping the risk of transmission as low as possible.

It is clear that the vast Majority of eating and drinking establishments in Scotland have been complying with guidance since they were allowed to reopen, but as we have seen, it takes only a small number not having robust systems in place, or not managing systems effectively, for an outbreak to happen. Willie Rennie has blamed test and protect, but it is a compliance issue—as he would know, if his North East Scotland MSP colleague ever went to NHS Grampian briefings.

Is there scope for measures to ensure that there are sanctions for businesses that do not comply with regulations and guidance? What might those sanctions look like? How can customers’ concerns be raised?

The First Minister:

Gillian Martin has made really good points. In short, we will continue to consider the balance between guidance and regulation, and the balance between encouraging people to do the right thing voluntarily and imposing sanctions when they do not. Enforcement is a key part of our approach, but I continue to think that it is important to encourage people to do the right thing for the right reasons. The police have powers of enforcement across a range of the measures in question; we will continue to keep under consideration whether they have to be strengthened.

Willie Rennie was right to scrutinise the resilience of test and protect, because the issues that we are talking about are extremely important, but Gillian Martin is fundamentally right when she says that, first and foremost, keeping the virus under control is an obligation on all of us. The way I think of it is that we are the first line of defence; it is by complying with all the various measures that we keep that defence strong. When the virus gets through our defence, test and protect jumps into action, but that is then firefighting. Compliance is about giving ourselves the best chance of not starting the fires in the first place.

I make the same plea every day to businesses and individuals across the country. I ask businesses to familiarise themselves with the guidance and the law and to make sure that they are complying with it, and I ask individuals to assume, in everything that they do, that the virus is right next to them and to make sure that they are complying with the FACTS advice, because those are the things that will give us the best possible chance of keeping the virus under control.