Covid in Scotland: Lockdown exit 'could be accelerated'

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Willie Rennie says: "The three weekly review has changed to a weekly review."

The Scottish LIb Dem leader says there is no guidance ready for schools and teachers have been left to clear up this issue and make it work.

Mr Rennie points out teachers are exhausted and asks with two thirds of a class at home, how will they juggle the additional workload.

The first minister insists the government has always said the timetable would be accelerated if the data allowed.

Ms Sturgeon points out the data is slightly more promising than last week, which allows the assessment of doing more things earlier than anticipated.

She says she has huge gratitude for what teachers have done in the last year and she says we owe them a huge amount.

Ms Sturgeon insists the government must be able to take decisions as quickly as it can.

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Alison Johnstone from the Scottish Greens is next, asking about vaccinations for teachers.

She brings up the case of special school staff who have been accepted as a priority for getting the vaccine.

She asks if the first minister can clarify when all ASN school staff will be vaccinated.

The first minister says she will look into specific cases.

She says broadly, they are following the JCVI priority group recommendations and that teachers will be vaccinated in line with the existing groups identified for vaccinations.

She says deviating from this age-based approach would make the decisions political and that they want to stick to clinical advice.

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When presented with three options on schools, the Scottish government has opted for the one which covers the broadest ground.

They could have decided to send all pupils back at the same time in the middle of March, but this would have meant abandoning social distancing in secondary schools earlier than they would like.

They could have kept Secondary 1 to 3 out of class until the middle of April as originally planned, but this would have added to growing claims these youngest secondary pupils were being left behind.

Instead, they have decided to allow all pupils at least some time in class. So, for the first time, plans made last summer for so-called blended learning which were never used, will be dusted off and put into practice in schools across the country, if only for a couple of weeks.

It's a more complicated option, but it's one the government thinks balances the wants and needs of young people and their families and the dangers and problems posed by the virus.

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Anas Sarwar asks his first question as the new leader of Scottish Labour.

He says the collective priority for everyone in the parliament has to be on recovery and says every parent is worried about their child's education and mental health.

He asks when the first minister will set out a national recovery plan for these issues and says new figures show more than1,500 children are on waiting lists for mental health support.

He also asks about the decreasing numbers in daily vaccinations.

Nicola Sturgeon welcomes Anas Sarwar, joking that Glasgow Southside is "the centre of the universe" as they will both contest seats in the constituency.

She says work to support recovery in education is already under way and money has been made available for tutoring support, extra teachers and for local authorities to use however they see fit.

She says supporting children to catch up in a range of ways will be a long term project.

She adds that transforming and redesigning child and adolescent mental health services had already begun before the pandemic but that now has to be intensified.

On the vaccine programme, she says the dip in vaccination rates is entirely down to supply, which is out of the Scottish government's control.

Quote Message: We are in a position now to be able to go as fast as we have supplies to vaccinate people. The constraining factor is supplies. from Nicola Sturgeon First minister

We are in a position now to be able to go as fast as we have supplies to vaccinate people. The constraining factor is supplies.

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Ruth Davidson starts questions for the Scottish Conservatives and begins by congratulating Anas Sarwar on his new appointment as Scottish Labour leader.

She says it is right the Scottish government has accelerated plans for reopening.

She expresses concern about schools' ability to welcome all pupils back while sticking to social distancing. She asks what support and solutions will be made available.

Ms Sturgeon replies, saying there is "every reason" to believe the exit from lockdown might be quicker and come sooner than we may have believed a few weeks ago.

She says we must be careful and not move too quickly and jeopardise the current positive situation.

The first minister says she will continue to work with schools to ensure a good provision for remote learning and also blended learning for secondary pupils up until Easter.

She says funds have been made available to councils to help with practical improvements such as ventilation.

The key is to keep virus levels as low as possible to enable schools to open fully, she adds.

The first minister draws to a close saying everyone needs to abide by the lockdown rules.

"For the moment, please, continue to stick with it, stick together and stay at home."

Here's where to find the detail of the lockdown rules:

1. Scottish government - Coronavirus: What you can and cannot do

From Tuesday 5 January, mainland Scotland moved from level four to a temporary lockdown, with new guidance to stay at home except for essential purposes.

• Read a quick guide to what you can and cannot do: stay at home infographic
• Download the Protect Scotland app from NHS Scotland

2. Scottish government - Coronavirus: Strategic Framework update - February 2021

The first minister set out the plan to restore, in a phased way, greater normality to our everyday lives

3. BBC Scotland - Covid in Scotland: What rules are changing, and when?

Scottish governmentCopyright: Scottish government

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The first minister says next week she hopes to confirm the other changes to the level 4 restrictions that will take effect from the 15 March.

The week after that she is scheduled to set out a firmer timetable for the period after 26 April.

Ms Sturgeon says: "We will consider between now and then if the data allows us to bring forward any relaxation of the rules."

"I have always said if we can go further and faster, then we will not hesitate to do so."

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The first minister confirms that the government is clarifying guidance on an issue which is directly relevant to parents of newborn children.

There are currently a number of essential purposes – for example essential care – which enable people to go into someone else’s house.

Ms Sturgeon says: "We are amending guidance on this today, to make it clear that those essential purposes include support for the welfare and well-being of a parent of a child who is under the age of one."

Education Scotland will publish guidance for local authorities on the phased return of secondary schools during the next week.

The first minister says local authorities will have flexibility in how they implement the phased return.

"We recognize that the safety of staff and children must continue to be a key priority."

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All local authorities will - at least until Easter - continue to observe the current requirement for 2m physical distancing in secondary schools.

And when secondary schools return, face coverings will need to be worn at all times.

The first minister highlights the importance of ventilation and says many local authorities are using some of the £375m education recovery funding to monitor and improve ventilation in schools.

Twice-weekly lateral flow testing for all school staff in primary, secondary and special schools, and all secondary school pupils in years 4, 5 and 6 will continue.

The first minister encourages as many staff and senior phase pupils as possible to use the tests when they return to school.

The next step is a phased return to secondary school from 15 March - with a clear expectation that all secondary school pupils will be back in school on a full time basis after the Easter holidays.

However, it is the intention that all secondary school pupils will return to spend some time in school from 15 March until the Easter break.

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Students in the senior phase of secondary school – that is years 4 to 6 – who are taking national qualifications, will have priority for face-to-face lessons in school.

However the first minister expects that all children in secondary school will receive some in-school education each week.

"Before Easter, as this will be a blended learning model, we will also continue to ensure that remote learning is of the highest standard possible."

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"There is perhaps more reason to be optimistic now, than perhaps at any time since early autumn last year," continues the first minister.

She warns care must be taken to prevent progress going into reverse.

The new variant, which accounts for 85% of the new cases, is highly infectious, she adds and new variants like the Brazilian one poses a "significant risk".

Ms Sturgeon says the government must continue to be sensible in the decisions it takes if we want to keep going in the right direction.

The first minister warns there may be some vaccine supply issues next week.

Ms Sturgeon stresses these issues will not affect vaccination targets.

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She says this week the recent data strongly suggests case numbers are declining, to the lowest level since the first week of October last year.

Ms Sturgeon adds the average test positivity rate has also fallen and is now below 5%.

Hospital admissions are also falling, she adds, as has the number of people in intensive care.

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Ms Sturgeon says the focus of her statement today will be education, in particular she will update parliament on plans to get all children back to school on a full time basis as soon as possible.

As ever the first minister goes over yesterday's Covid-19 statistics, which we published before this statement.

The first minister says there is good and increasing evidence that vaccination is reducing the number of Covid deaths, particularly in care homes.

The vaccination programme should also, in time, impact on hospitalisations and transmission rates.

The first minister says later today the public health minister will support the resumption of competitive football in Scottish leagues one and two, the Scottish Women's premier league one and for Scottish Cup ties for certain Highland League teams.

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Nicola Sturgeon has arrived in the main chamber and will begin her update on the Covid response shortly, following a brief rundown of the daily statistics.

You can follow the statement right here on this live page and watch by clicking one of tabs above for BBC One Scotland or the BBC Scotland Channel.

The full parliamentary proceedings are also available.

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We already know the rough timeline which would see the rest of primary and the more S4 to S6 pupils back by the 15th of March and the remainder of secondary ( S1-S3) after the Easter holidays.

Since that was announced a week ago, there has been push-back to this plan which leaves that last group of young people out of face-to-face learning for almost four months in total.

Education Secretary John Swinney has since said he sympathises with them and they are "top of mind" for him when formulating a plan. Could we see these dates change at all to allow more secondary pupils to return sooner?

If that happens, then we are likely looking at "blended learning". It's become a much talked about buzzword within education, but has never actually had to be put into practice in Scotland.

It means some time learning in school and some time learning at home. If current plans to keep secondary pupils 2m apart are to stay, then this is the only way to get everyone back in class at least some of the time.

To get every pupil back full time, as England is doing, would mean getting rid of social distancing for school pupils altogether.