Our budget commits a further £20 million to reduce the harm caused by drugs. This means the total Scottish Government spend on drugs and alcohol in 2020-21 will be up to £95.3 million.

Decisions on configuration of local services, including residential rehabilitation, as well as the level of resource, funding allocated and referral to them are made locally by Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships.

We have established a working group to consider the provision of residential rehabilitation services and make recommendations for strengthening referral pathways, capacity planning and developing models of good practice for funding and delivery.

A requirement has been placed upon staff to wear face coverings in workplace canteens (when not seated, eating or drinking) and indoor workplace communal areas from 16 October 19 October respectively. Communal areas in workplaces are places where people mingle or gather, for example, passageways, stairs, lifts, staff rooms, training rooms, changing rooms, and entrances.

Employers are not required to provide face coverings to their employees for these purposes.

It is the responsibility of individuals to provide their own face coverings for wearing in communal areas in workplaces and in work canteens. This is consistent with the requirement to wear face coverings in other public places indoors, including restaurants, bars and cafes, especially where 2 metre distancing is difficult to maintain.

A number of exemptions apply, and these are well documented in the guidance. They include where there are already measures in place to keep persons separated. Some people may feel more comfortable showing a card or badge that says they do not have to wear a face covering. A Scottish Government exemption card is being developed and will be accessible to the public by the end of October.

Getting it right for every child is our starting position for all policies. Due to the current restrictions on households meeting up indoors or outdoors, the organised activities for children guidance has been put in place as recognition of the needs of younger children. This guidance will be reviewed to ensure that as many activities as possible can be undertaken safely at this time.

Factors such as background sound that may lead to raised voices or cause people to lean-in close to others to be heard are a risk factor in the transmission of coronavirus. This is recognised by a wide body of publicly available scientific evidence in relation to the role of aerosols in the transmission of viruses. The current position of no background sound, including low level music and audio from television, is a measured and cautious approach to reduce risk. It is being kept under review and government has engaged with industry experts to consider how guidance can be developed to allow low level background sound to be managed safely when transmission rates are back to a manageable level.

Communities, including those affected by the COVID-19 restrictions in Lanarkshire and Forth Valley health board areas, continue to be supported by investment through the Scottish Government’s Communities funding package. Details of funding allocated by local authority area can be found using the Scottish Government’s Communities Fund Mapping Tool .

The tool highlights that since the start of the pandemic over £20 million has been allocated to support communities in the Lanarkshire Health Board area and that over £9 million has been allocated to support communities in Forth Valley. These areas also benefit from wider investments, including those set out in recent correspondence to the Communities Committee . On 20 October 2020 the Social Security Secretary announced a further £30 million of funding to tackle financial insecurity across the winter period and continue the provision of Free School Meals during school holidays, allocations for this funding will be made available once formally agreed with COSLA Leaders.

To support businesses affected by the temporary restrictions the Economy Secretary announced the COVID-19 Restrictions Fund on 13 October, making an initial £40 million available. Ministers announced an increase to the value of grants through the scheme on 21 October with increased funding available to support businesses affected by the extension of restrictions.

These measures are part of the wider £2.3 billion package of support for business, including an estimated £972 million worth of COVID reliefs to reduce business costs during the pandemic, over £1 billion worth of business support fund grants and almost £160 million of additional grant support for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) and newly self-employed people.

Statistics on grants awarded by Local Authorities through the Small Business Grant Scheme and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant scheme are published on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-business-support-fund-grant-statistics/ .

Statistics on the grants for the Newly Self-Employed Hardship Fund, Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF) and Creative, Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises Hardship Fund (CTHEHF), and Bed and Breakfasts Hardship Fund (B&BHF) are published at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-hardship-and-resilience-funds-statistics

Statistics on relief awards by Local Authority will be available in the Non-domestic rates relief statistics publication scheduled for release on 30 November 2020.

Grant awards through the COVID-19 Restrictions Fund will be reported in due course.

Urgent treatment, including for cancer has continued through the pandemic. Our priority remains to ensure that vital services are delivered to patients based on their clinical priority and clinical risk.

We have invested £10 million to support cancer services during and beyond the pandemic. This will support increased access to cancer diagnostics and staffing. We have also utilised private sector capacity and extended working days and weekend working to tackle waiting times.

On 4 June, we published the Framework for Recovery of Cancer Surgery to assist NHS Scotland prioritise those most in need of cancer treatment. We have committed to developing a Cancer Clinical Trials Subgroup as part of our recovery of cancer services. We are currently establishing the group and anticipate it will convene shortly.

The COVID-19 Restart Operational Group established by the Chief Scientist office is also looking at cancer clinical trials as part of its work on the resumption of non-COVID research activity.

We are in the process of developing a new Cancer Recovery plan. The plan will ensure patients have access to the best possible treatment and care and will be published shortly.

It is the case that we had to pause some public health campaigns, including cancer, planned for 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NHS is Open campaign launched on 24 April and urged those with urgent cancer symptoms to still present. Planning is now underway for further public-facing activity, including cancer, but timings are critical to avoid public confusion during winter or detract from urgent health advice relating to the pandemic.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-32033 on 23 October 2020. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

A number of university and private laboratories were used to bolster testing capacity as we undertook our initial response to the pandemic. Since the start of the outbreak we have significantly increased our NHS testing capacity from 350 tests per day to a maximum weekday capacity of more than 10,000 tests.

A number of university and private laboratories remain part of the contingency plans for increasing testing if required. However, our focus is to ensure we increase NHS capacity. We will soon be able to activate 3 Regional Hubs – 3 large labs across Scotland – which will significantly increase our NHS lab capacity.

The forecasted spend in relation to university and private labs for Covid-19 testing is currently £12.5 million for this year. As this is a forecast, this figure is subject to change

We plan to establish at least 22 Local Test Sites. Sites in St Andrews, Glasgow city centre, west Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, West Dunbartonshire, Stirling, Dundee, west Edinburgh, Inverness and Inverclyde are operational. We have worked closely with universities, health boards and local authorities to deliver these local test sites.

We have committed to delivering a further 11 sites by winter, and are working with our partners to identify further site locations. Decisions on where to plan sites will take into account the overall national test site landscape and local area needs, including:

• high population density,
• low car ownership,
• higher deprivation,
• whether those in rural areas can access tests,
• distance from regional testing centres and mobile testing units,
• whether areas are not covered by home test kit delivery and pick up, and,
• higher positive test rates.