Welcome to a demonstration of accessible headings. This video was created with support from the Government of Canada's Social Development Partnerships Program, Disability Component. The opinions and interpretations in this video are those of the creator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Canada. It was produced with sighted assistance. Properly marked headings offer readers another way to navigate a book. More importantly, however, headings clarify the beginning of a new chapter. Is the best thing for him and you, but another stroke would settle him. Chapter II. The black spot. Note the helpful pause between the beginning of the new chapter. When a book lacks headings, however, there is no pause between sections. Piano player plays a closing series of chords and acknowledgments. Please ensure that each new section begins with a correctly coded heading.


Hi guys, so let's learn Skyfall by Adele on the piano and the song is basically on C minor. There are roughly three sections. You will have the verse repeating quite often like that this is the end and so on and then of course the part where she sings skyfall and the skyfall that's like this very epic part right. So what I'm going to do in this tutorial is I'm going to give you the actual chords of the song but while doing it I'm also going to try and give you the easier versions of it which don't include seventh chords and ninth chords and other extended harmony which is beyond the triads. So a triad is nothing but three notes right which build a chord. You have the root, you have the third and the fifth. So for the most part you can get away with playing the song with these triads however there are also some other alterations and some embellishments to the chord. You get chords like that and then there's a bridge also which happens obviously once in the part. A lot of these chords and you know stuff like that. So I'm going to give you the original version which I was able to hear to the best of my ability as well as the simplified version whenever I think it's getting a little bit challenging. So do stay tuned and follow along. So let's first do the verse part. So the verse is basically for those of you playing the chords even guitarist you can follow the note sheet which I have there. You'll see there's C minor, Ab major, F major and F minor. So these are the chords and you have an F minor seventh if you know what a seventh is, else you can just play F minor. So these are the chords for the first sorry for the first three cycles of the verse or the first three bars of the verse. The fourth bar we go into the next part so that happens three times and the fourth bar we go into this section C minor slash D that means you'll be playing D in the bass and C minor in the as a normal chord and then you have a suspended chord, G sus 4 I'll show you that and then G major and anything written with these yellow brackets means that the chord is played or these two chords are played over four counts or over one bar. So that means in most most most likelihood this would be twice or two counts. This would also be two counts similarly C minor for two. So this is the A flat F F minor and so on and so forth. So let's just break it down and I'll play you the chords first C minor A flat major F minor F minor C minor A flat major F major F minor however what the piano plays in verse one is this so it's quite easy actually if you think about it I've written it down in the purple colors basically E flat and C together E flat and the high C so you just hit that with the pulse of the song or as quarter notes and in the left hand you can play the base notes of the song namely C A flat F and stay on F and try to follow my thumb of the left hand it's basically playing the eighth notes which are against or off the beat right one and two and three and next and so on however the last hit of the F minor happens even more off the beat so this is the normal version and then so if you're counting in 16th notes this would be at the E of the four one E and two E and three E and four E so that's pretty much your pattern for three bars of every verse this is okay then it goes to C minor in the right hand and this is how I'm hearing it in the original E flat GC the first inversion of C minor right E flat GC and in your base you don't play C as you would normally play C minor you play C minor with a D in the base that adds clearly as you can hear it's adding a lot of tension right okay so basically the first three lines of the verse you play what I taught you earlier just E flat and C in the right hand C A flat F F in the left hand okay with that interesting thumb rhythm and one more time we break that down the last bar one just observe the last it's a G sus four chord so G sus four will be basically a major chord where you take the major third and move it up to a fourth in the original he plays an inversion so it sounds like this is the melody line like okay the name of the chord would be G sus four to G major two counts per chord right so feel the okay let me just show you the entire verse and pardon my singing it's basically just to give you an idea right so let's go this is the so that's your entire verse one so the second verse the piano what I've written in this red area if you see in that verse the piano in addition to these hits which is just basically E flat and C what I've heard is the piano is basically adds like the James Bond theme which I'm sure you know right and so on so you get that James Bond flair and obviously this is a James Bond song so you need to have that right so the second verse what you do different than the first verse is instead of just playing E flat and C you add the James Bond theme perhaps with these fingers so earlier you did you're just adding those middle notes which is G A flat A and back to A flat so let's do that and the left hand stays exactly the same the right hand also the extreme notes stay the same is just the middle notes which move which is why I wrote F minor seven because it actually forms that F minor seventh chord right your first verse that doesn't change and now we go to the chorus so the chorus I'm just gonna break it down just to understand how the chord changes happen so the the chords which I'm going to circle right now are basically the important chords which you need to play that's C minor A flat major F minor and then you need to do this part D minor and G and then the second time they go to F and then D seventh and G so these last two chords you need to get right however the ones which I circled are your main chords and the ones which I did not circle are the passing chords now the passing chords are very easy to play you just have to remain with the main chord and change the bass so let me just show you this section in the sky four three four so at the four you drift to B flat in the in the base or in the left hand and that's also what the bass instruments either the cello or that entire orchestra section is doing they are going or drifting to the B flat so that passes to the next chord which is a flat right so and you do three counts of C minor and the fourth count is also C minor but C minor with a B flat bass let's see how that sounds okay so now you go to an A flat major seventh so an A flat major seventh is nothing but an A flat with an additional major seven so that's a G A flat C E flat G could perhaps write this down A flat C E flat G and the way I am voicing it on the piano is in the right hand I am just playing C E flat and G because my A flat anyway comes in the bass right so if I add A flat here tends to sound a bit muddy so I so this is how it's actually voiced I think in the song so it's basically you can look at it like a C minor with an A flat or an A flat major seventh with a flat in the left hand C E flat G in the right hand so in the sky four okay that's a C minor seventh with a G in the bass okay so I guess you guys got C minor and then C minor with B flat now you should be able to get A flat major seventh with a C minor seventh forward slash G if you're not sure about the chord symbols just try to follow me playing I'm sure you'll get it because I'm sure you've all heard the song so it's easy to follow with the singing part and the score four C minor seventh with G and the second half of the chorus has this line first and then it has this line second so that's F minor seventh okay so that's F minor seventh this is how I'm playing it the notes for F minor seventh would be F A flat C E flat I'm voicing it like this with F in the bass and then we take it we climb it down F minor seventh then the bass changes to E flat and it comes back to this line the first chord C minor so let's do the whole first line of the chorus minus seven flat five this is how you play D minor seven flat five and D minor seven flat five basically is like a D diminished chord with a minor seventh that's C on the top so D minor seventh with a C on the top and this is your G seventh so and that's like a very popular two five progression the two five of the C minor scale generally two five goes back to one so it's a great way to sort of repeat the line it's like a very epic way also to do it okay so let's just do the second half of the chorus and now the whole line F major that makes it very positive and that's F major with an E flat okay so again you drift to E flat and that's like a very dissonant sound that's what the orchestra sort of playing they're doing a D majors or D dominant seventh which is D F sharp A and C and then you end with G seventh minus the G because I'm playing the G here okay so let's do the whole second line of the chorus back to your verse progression with that James Bond vibe right then another verse happens let's just do the entire chorus once and yeah just follow along I'll try to do it slowly and if you have any doubts try to write these chords down and try to write the notes of every chord down so that you are playing it you know the right way and when I started with chords it was more about the sound of the chord so the symbol of the chord can always reach you later it's the sound which matters more and how you play it so as long as you can play it and you understand the sound and you feel the vibe of what you're doing I think eventually the symbols will start catching up with you guys right so don't pay that much attention to the chord symbols yes it is confusing even for me but I think if when you understand that this that this sounds good with the song you're going to play it and then you'll find other songs like that and since the sound enters your system is just a matter of naming it with a simple chord symbol right so the chord symbol is just a means to simplify the chord otherwise you'll have to write down all the notes and stuff like that which becomes tough right so let's just do the chorus once more and then I think we just have one more part which is the bridge right and the bridge basically has two sections one where she does this and so on so that part is entirely C minor okay in fact I don't think the piano is there that often so it's more the orchestra but you can just hold a C minor at the bridge until it reaches the point where she actually starts singing the melody of that bridge so so I've added this diminished chord as well C diminished so perhaps at the end of the bar you could add the diminished chord okay and then lastly the singing part okay so let's break down that section so that's F minor seventh add the nine so basically you can play A flat C E flat and G in the right hand with an F bass here okay the second chord it's optional if you're not sure of playing this chord you can just play F minor and go immediately to A flat major right so that's a passing chord whenever you see a 3 plus 1 it means this is a passing chord for that so even if you don't play this as a newcomer to the piano it's it should be good enough right so okay that's B diminished seventh as we call it with a G bass so that creates a lot of tension right goes to A flat major with an additional sixth that makes it an A flat major sixth chord again if you're not sure of adding the sixth just play A flat major and that should be fine okay that's a very nice sounding chord that's E flat major with a B flat bass in the left hand and now that's E flat over B flat B flat right B flat bass now three four and the four you do G with B C minor and then C minor with B flat bass passing G which I wrote in red F minor then passing E flat and then that D minor seventh that D minor seven flat five which I showed you at the chorus ending with G major you can even add a G seventh if you know it okay so let's just do this entire singing part of the bridge so it's an awesome song for the piano um yeah so if you followed till the end of this video which I I'm sure you have since you're watching it there's also that intro which you have to figure out what to do right there's a string build up and a crescendo with lots of this orchestral drumming and bass sections so just follow along just for that intro part so you can just hold this chord so this is a C minor so C minor and just find a way to fit a D very beginning the pianist does that roll D C G E flat so you can either play it like by crossing or with your pinky if your pinky is weak you can perhaps do it with your middle finger and perhaps hold down the pedal so all those sounds come together and then you may want to lift it and then as I taught you the worst part which is the same as the intro part before she starts singing so you either go or it's just like a trill okay and at the beginning perhaps start like that so this is my understanding if you will of this famous song skyfall by Adele again I've demonstrated it on the piano but if you're a guitar player or any other instrumentalist do try and figure out the chords there are some amazing chords and pretty much all the James Bond theme songs are awesome right from the very beginning so you definitely have that James Bond vibe very orchestral and the chords since the theme is very very epic and very movie like you know the chords are definitely going to add a lot more character it's not going to be the same major and minor chords so this tutorial was I'm sure a little bit longer than the usual ones but yeah there were a lot of chords to talk about and if you have any doubts or any questions regarding the formation of the chords do try and send us a comment and we'll be happy to respond at the earliest cheers don't forget to like subscribe hit that bell icon for notifications leave us a comment for any other video you'd like us to do next and don't forget to share the video with all your musician friends cheers


That concludes topical questions. The next item of business is a statement by Nicholas Sturgeon on Covid-19 update. The First Minister will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Nicholas Sturgeon, First Minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'll give an update today on Covid generally and also the latest data on Omicron. I'll report on progress with booster vaccinations. I will again appeal to everyone across the country to reduce contacts and stay at home as much as possible in the run-up to Christmas day, and then again after this Christmas weekend and also reiterate the steps that we can all take to make family celebrations this weekend as safe as possible. I'll also confirm Cabinet's decision to propose some additional protections in relation to large-scale live events and indoor public places. We judge these to be necessary to further slow the spread of the virus so that we can protect health, the national health service and the economy as we work to complete booster vaccinations. I'll set out further support for the many businesses affected by the advice that we feel duty-bound to give in the interests of protecting public health. First, today's statistics are 5,242 positive cases were reported yesterday. 14.9 per cent of tests carried out. 515 people are in hospital with Covid, one fewer than yesterday. 37 people are in intensive care, one fewer than yesterday. Sadly, a further nine deaths have been reported taking the total number of deaths under the daily definition to 9,790. I want again to send my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one. In last week's statement, I reported that cases had increased by 25 per cent in the preceding seven days and that we would, in all likelihood, see a further increase in infections, as Omicron became the dominant strain circulating in Scotland. Omicron has now firmly established itself as the dominant strain. We know from the SDN drop-out indicator that it now accounts for 62.9 per cent of all cases. That's compared to 27.5 per cent this time last week. Omicron is significantly more transmissible than previous variants and what we estimate is that our number is well above three. It is currently spreading rapidly across Scotland and so the steep increase in infections that was predicted last week has now started to materialise. Cases increased by more than 50 per cent in the past week from over 3,500 a day on average to almost 5,500 a day. There were increases across all age groups, but the biggest, an increase of 161 per cent, was in the 20 to 24-year-old age group. The rate of acceleration in an age cohort with, to date, lower levels, relatively speaking, of booster protection underlines the vital importance of everyone getting booster jagged as quickly as possible, and I'll return to that later. However, as the booster roll-out is completed and bearing in mind that it takes around a week for immune protection to take effect on individuals, we must also act to slow down the spread of cases. I want to explain why that is so vital. Firstly, the toll that a rising wave of infections will have on health and on health and social care is considerable. We don't yet know if the proportion of Omicron cases needing hospital care will be lower, higher or the same as with Delta. However, there is still no compelling evidence that Omicron is intrinsically milder than previous strains. However, even if the proportion of cases needing hospital care is lower, as we hope it will be, a smaller proportion of a much larger number of infections will still have a deeply damaging impact. As well as the suffering that is caused to individuals and families, the additional pressure on our already stretched national health service will be extremely difficult to manage. In addition to that, if large numbers of people become infected even mildly, the impact on the economy and critical services through sickness and isolation absences will be crippling. Indeed, we are already starting to see this impact. 100 ScotRail services were cancelled yesterday due to staff absence. Theatres are already being forced to cancel shows due to Covid cases among cast and crews. Even more seriously, staffing shortages are already being felt across the supply chain and they are exacerbating the intense pressures that the NHS and emergency services are working under. That is why we must act, and let me be clear again that this is not a choice between protecting health and protecting the economy. If we do not stem the spread of the virus, both health and the economy will suffer. Before I set out the action that we must take, let me address one further point. Some ask why we cannot wait until we have more data and know exactly the impact Omicron will have on the NHS. I totally understand the temptation to delay to hope, after two long years of this, that further steps might not be necessary. First, as I said a moment ago, we are already seeing a significant impact from staff absences across the economy and public services. We must do what we can to stem this. Secondly, we know from experience that if we wait until the data tells us conclusively that we have a problem, for example with hospital admissions, it will already be too late to act to avoid that problem. We must act quickly, insofar as we are able, given our financial constraints, and we must get ahead of the data if we can. The obligation of government is to take difficult decisions to keep the country as safe as possible, no matter how unpopular those decisions might be. Let me now set out the steps that we all need to take. Firstly, though let me stress that we are not changing the advice for Christmas that I set out last week, it is important that, with just a few days to go, there is certainty about family gatherings on Christmas day and boxing day. I am not asking anyone to change those. However, and I cannot stress this enough, please follow advice to keep family celebrations as safe as possible. Keep gatherings as small as your family circumstances allow. Make sure that everyone does a test shortly before getting together. Anyone who tests positive should not mix with others. Given how infectious Omicron is, you should assume that if one member of a household is positive, the others are likely to be so too. Follow hygiene advice and keep windows open. Crucially, between now and Christmas day, cut your contacts with people in other households as much as possible. Minimize socialising with others, either at home or in indoor public places. Indeed, stay at home as much as is feasible. That is the best way of avoiding getting Covid and having to isolate over Christmas or inadvertently spreading infection when you do meet up with others. I am really grateful to everyone who has followed that advice over the last week. It will be making a difference. I want to stress this point. The steep increase in cases over the past week would have been steeper still, but for people who are complying with that advice. I hope that we may already be collectively slowing the spread, but it is important that we stick with it. My first new request of everyone today is this. From 27 December, as we come out of the Christmas weekend, and at least until the end of the first week in January, when we will review that advice again, please go back to limiting your contacts as much as you possibly can. Please stay at home as much as is feasible. When you go out, maintain physical distancing from people not in your own group. Difficult, though, it is, please follow that advice over new year. Minimize hugmanay socialising as much as you can. If we all follow the advice to minimise the contact that we have outside our own households, we will help to limit the spread of infections. That is the bedrock of our plan for the immediate period ahead. However, while our core advice is to reduce socialising and stay at home as much as is feasible, the Cabinet's judgment is that we must also take some further steps to make the places where people might still gather as safe as possible, and that is why we are proposing some additional protections. None of those are being proposed lightly, but we consider them necessary to help to stem the increase in cases, safeguard health and protect the NHS, the emergency services and the economy while we complete and get the full effect of the booster programme. First, from 26 December, inclusive of that date, for a period of up to three weeks, we intend to place limits on the size of live public events that can take place. That does not apply, let me stress, to private life events such as weddings. For indoor standing events, the limit will be 100, for indoor seated events it will be 200 and for outdoor events 500 seated or standing. Physical distancing of one meter will be required at events that go ahead within those limits. That will, of course, make sports matches, including football, effectively spectator-free over this three-week period, a situation similar to that in Wales from Boxing Day. It will also mean, unfortunately, that large-scale hugmenay celebrations, including that planned here in our capital city, will not proceed. I know how disappointing this will be for those looking forward to these events and for the organisers of them, but I want to underline why we think that this difficult decision is necessary. First, we know that the much higher transmissibility of Omicron means that large gatherings have the potential to become very rapid superspreader events, putting large numbers at risk of getting infected very quickly. Limiting those events helps to reduce the risk of widespread transmission. It also cuts down the transmission risks associated with travel to and from such events. Second, and this is not an insignificant point, these large events put an additional burden on emergency services, especially the police and ambulance services. At a time when these services are already under severe pressure and also dealing with high staff absences, limiting large-scale events will help them to focus on delivering essential services to the public. I would ask the public, despite the disappointment, I know that this decision will generate to please understand the reasons for it. Second, we intend to issue guidance to the effect that non-professional indoor contact sports for adults should not take place during up to a three-week period from 26 December. That is because these activities where physical distancing is not possible also create a heightened risk of transmission. Finally, from 27 December, again for up to three weeks, we intend to introduce some further protections in hospitality settings and other indoor public places to reduce transmission risk in what are, through no fault of those who run such venues, higher risk environments. I can confirm that a requirement for table service only will be reintroduced for venues serving alcohol for consumption on the premises. We will also ask indoor hospitality and leisure venues to ensure one-metre distance not within but between groups of people who are attending together. We will continue to advise, as I set out last week, people that if they are attending indoor hospitality or leisure venues and remember our core advice remains to minimise this, there should be no more than three households represented in any group. I know how unwelcome this will be for everyone, but we believe that these precautionary steps will help us to navigate a difficult period more safely. I am also acutely aware that the decisions and the advice that we are giving the public have significant financial implications for many businesses. Last week, I announced £100 million of support from within our existing resources for affected sectors. I can also confirm eligibility and guidance for the hospitality sector that will be published on the Scottish Government website today. Since then, the Treasury has given approval for money that would have come to us later to be allocated now. As I have said, we had already budgeted for most of that money, so we cannot allocate it now without causing significant shortfalls elsewhere, including in the health budget. Money simply cannot be spent twice. However, we estimate that the Treasury announcements give us additional spending power now of £175 million, and I can confirm today that we will allocate all of that to business support. The Treasury has also, in the last hour or so, announced additional funding for business. Unfortunately, it would appear that this announcement generates no further funding for Scotland and that any consequentials are already contained within previous announcements by the Treasury. However, I can announce that the Scottish Government will allocate a further £100 million from elsewhere in our budget between now and the end of the financial year. That will involve really difficult decisions, but the impact of the current crisis on business is such that we consider it essential. Taken together, that adds up to a fund of £375 million that will help to support businesses for the unavoidable impacts of our decisions over the next three weeks. That is significantly more proportionately than the Chancellor has just announced for businesses elsewhere in the UK. While that is significant funding, I understand that it will not fully compensate business. As I said last week, my view is that the scale and urgency of the Omicron challenge requires financial support for business on a scale similar to that at the start of the pandemic. However, current UK funding arrangements mean firstly that only the Treasury has the borrowing powers to provide support on such a scale, and secondly that financial support at scale is triggered only when the UK Government takes decisions for England. All of that means that our ability to act to protect public health and to compensate individuals and businesses that are affected is curtailed. That cannot be right in a public health emergency. While today's Treasury announcement may be a welcome acknowledgement of the crisis businesses face, it does not yet go far enough. We will therefore continue to press the UK Government to take the threat of Omicron more seriously and to act accordingly. However, in the meantime, we will indeed, we must live up to our own responsibilities to do everything we can to protect health, lives and livelihoods here in Scotland. Before I conclude with an update on vaccination, let me cover two further points. First, it remains our priority, I hope, Parliament's priority, to reopen schools as normal after the Christmas holidays. Indeed, one reason for asking adults to make sacrifices for a further period after Christmas is to help to minimise any impact on children's education. However, to help to ensure that schools are safe environments for young people and staff, updated guidance, based on recommendations from the education advisory subgroup, was published at the end of last week. Colleges and universities are also assessing any steps that they need to take for the new term, and some are returning to a default model of online learning for the start of the new term. For everyone involved in education, staff, children, students and parents, that has been another exceptionally difficult term. I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all those who have helped to ensure that children have been well supported, and to children and young people themselves, for the tough times that they continue to endure at such an important stage of their lives. Second point, I want to cover briefly, relates to test and protect. The current surge in cases is putting significant pressure on test and protect, and I am grateful to all of its teams for working so hard to help break chains of transmission. From this week, test and protect will flex its approach as necessary to ensure that priority is given to higher risk settings such as hospitals and care homes, where outbreaks can cause most harm. For many of us, that means that if we test positive, our contact from test and protect teams is more likely to be by text or email rather than phone call. Please make sure that you respond to those messages in completely online form that is sent. That helps your contacts to get the right advice as quickly as possible. If you are the contact of someone who tests positive, please follow test and protect advice. That will help to slow the spread of the virus. Let me turn finally to boosterjags, which are, of course, our best line of defence against Omicron, and they are what will get us through and out of this difficult phase, I believe. There has been a significant acceleration of the programme in the past week, and I thank everyone involved. A further two large-scale vaccination centres have opened this week at Hamden, Glasgow and at the Edinburgh international conference centre. Yesterday, 69,135 boosters or third-doses were administered, which means that well over half now of the adult population has had a third dose or a booster. Last week, I said that our target was to have 80 per cent of the eligible population vaccinated with boosters by the time the bell strike on Hugmanay. I can confirm today that we are now confident that we have the capacity to meet that target, but, of course, to reach it or get as close to it as possible, we need everyone who is eligible to come forward. If you have an appointment boot for January, please reschedule it for December. Appointments will be available right through Christmas Eve and then next week up to and including Hugmanay. Please book an appointment now. Alternatively, check out the location of drop-in clinics and go there instead. Getting fully vaccinated is the best thing that any of us can do to protect ourselves, our loved ones and the country, so please get boosted before the bells. This statement in some ways feels distressingly similar to the one that I gave last year. Just a few days before Christmas, I am again urging people to stay at home as much as possible to slow down a highly infectious new variant of Covid. Although it might not feel like it, we are in a much stronger position than last year. We have had far fewer restrictions in place for much of this year than was the case in the previous year. Christmas Day this year will be more normal than last year. Most importantly of all, a rapidly increasing number of adults is now protected by three doses of vaccine. All of us, as individuals, know what to do to protect ourselves and each other, so please make sure that you do all of those things. First, get fully vaccinated as soon as possible. Second, test regularly. Our advice, of course, is to stay at home as much as possible, but if you are meeting other people, test before you go every time and test as close to going as possible. This is really important for family gatherings on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. Finally, take all the other precautions that can help to make a difference. Work from home when possible. Stay at home as much as you can. If you do visit indoor public places, limit the number of households in your group to a maximum of three. We are face covering on public transport in shops and when moving about in hospitality.  Keep windows open if you are meeting indoors, even at this time of year, and follow all advice on hygiene. Sticking to all of this is really hard, but there is no doubt whatsoever that it will help to keep all of us safer. I want to end this final statement before Christmas, with a heartfelt thank you to everyone for everything that you have done to help us through another exceptionally tough year. I wish everyone the happiest and safest Christmas possible and, of course, a much better and brighter new year ahead. The First Minister will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 40 minutes for questions, after which we will move on to the next item of business. I will be grateful to members who wish to ask a question where to press the request to speak buttons now. I call Douglas Ross. We are once again facing the unwelcome reality of this new variant and new restrictions. Everyone in the chamber has to understand and accept the frustration and anger that people across Scotland are feeling right now. However, we can get through this. Like the First Minister, I want to encourage everyone to go out and get their boosterjacks. I have my own scheduled for Christmas Eve, but I also want to say to a proportion of the population out there that we often focus solely on boosterjacks, but there are people who have not yet had their first jag. I want to encourage them to come forward as well. They have not left it too late. There is no shame turning up to get your first jag now. The vaccinators simply want to protect you, so please consider doing that as well. It is our vaccination scheme in Scotland and across the UK that has helped to keep Covid under control, and it remains our best way out of this. It is absolutely crucial that we see the Scottish and UK Governments working together constructively, fully focused on Omicron. Instead, sadly, over the last week, we have seen an unnecessary funding route that is a distraction to the task at hand. The Scottish Government originally expected £268 million, which would have still been new money, but it has now been provided with £440 million. As the Institute for Fiscal Studies made clear yesterday, that £440 million is extra money now. The Scottish Government has the funding available and Scottish businesses are crying out for it. The First Minister said this last week that businesses are already bleeding every 24 hours counts, so will the First Minister tell us today when the first grants will start to reach businesses? Will it be before Christmas or will it be into the new year? Secondly, the First Minister explained in her statement that 100 ScotRail services have been cancelled due to stab absences and that there are similar pressures on our emergency services and others. Last week, we raised concerns that self-isolation guidance for household contacts would lead to those challenges. While well-intentioned in seeking to limit the spread of the virus, the rules could grind our transport network, our economy and public services to a halt. Given that the evidence is now showing the impact of those rules on our essential services, will the First Minister tell us if she is considered changing those rules so that household contacts can end self-isolation if they have a negative test? If not, is she confident that that position is sustainable for our economy and our public services? I will take each of those points in turn. First, I take the opportunity to agree with Douglas Ross about the importance of, if you have not already had your first or second jag to get those jags as quickly as possible, it is never too late. Come forward now and you will be vaccinated. Of course, the sooner you get your first jag, the sooner you will get your second jag, and then the sooner you will also be able to get the protection of booster vaccination. That is a point that I will reiterate and underline. Secondly, I am not trying to cause a row with anybody. There are structural problems in how our funding arrangements work. We have different views across the chamber on the Barnett formula, and I will leave those to one side, but what we have learned during a public health emergency is that the Barnett formula is not fit for purpose. That is a view that I think is shared by the Government of Wales in Northern Ireland, so we are trying to propose constructive ways of making sure that all of us are able to discharge our public health responsibilities fairly and equitably. I welcome the announcements that the Treasury has made. The money that was announced this time last week is not new money. It is already budgeted for, largely for the health budget. To spend it now, we have to remove money that the health service is already planning to use. The announcement that was made on Sunday gives us extra spending power now, money that is not already budgeted. I am saying today that we will allocate every penny of that to business support, and between my announcement last week and my further announcement today, we will find, through very difficult budgetary decisions between now and the end of the financial year, an additional £200 million. That means that we are creating a pot of money to help businesses over the next period of £375 million. That is proportionately, significantly in excess, of the £1 billion for the whole UK that the Chancellor has announced today. The grants based on my announcement last week for hospitality is up to £6,800 per hospitality business that compares up to £6,000 announced by the Chancellor today. We are working to get those grants to businesses just as quickly as possible, and we are working with councils to do that. Finally, on self-isolation, this is an important point, and it is one that is under on-going consideration by the Government, but the fundamental point that I need to make is this. It is not self-isolation that is creating staff absences, it is the virus that is creating staff absences. Given the infectiousness of Omicron, if at this stage we do not have households isolating when one member is positive, we will have many more cases of the virus spreading and we will compound not alleviate that problem. That is the position right now, but we know and we want to migrate to something more proportionate as quickly as possible, so I can tell the chamber that the Government is actively considering as the booster programme meets its target, moving away from the current situation to something more proportionate, but it would be counterproductive to do that right now, because the household isolation policy at the moment remains one of the protections that we have in place. Anna Sarwar I start by sending my condolences to all those who have lost a loved one. I was fortunate enough to get my booster yesterday, so I thank Zara and all our vaccinators for their extraordinary efforts. I appeal to people across the country that if you have not had your first or second dose of the vaccine, please do, and if you are due a booster, please book it. As we heard towards Christmas, I would also ask everyone to please wear a mask where appropriate, follow the advice and also please take a lateral flow test before meeting others. This is about protecting you, your family and those around you. This is a time of anxiety for people who are worried about their lives and livelihoods, especially for those in the hospitality, events and leisure industries, as well as the self-employed. People will expect and need the Scottish and UK governments to work together in the national interest at this time of crisis. I note the announcements of the chancellor today, but they simply do not go far enough. There must be an increase in the level of statutory sick pay. There must be much more significant financial support for impact of businesses and the self-employed. For the sectors that are shut down or as good as shut down, a furlough-type scheme so that we do not have businesses going bust and thousands becoming unemployed. Here in Scotland, there was a belief to be around a £4,500 limit that businesses could apply for. I think that the First Minister was suggesting that that perhaps would be increased to £6,800, but for many businesses that will go nowhere near covering the impact of the losses that they will face over Christmas. Also, no one should have to think twice about self-isolating due to financial pressures. Last month, 30 per cent of people's applications for a self-isolation grant were rejected. That has peaked at as much as 50 per cent, and with some local authorities, that has gone as high as 70 per cent of applications for a self-isolation grant rejected. Can that be urgently reviewed? All the data that is published for every local authority, the eligibility criteria expanded and the payment made much quicker. Of course, we hope that this is the last variant, but it is highly likely that it will not be. We must learn the lessons of Delta and Omicron. We need to build resilience and contingencies in our public services and the wider system. The Scottish and the UK Governments must develop a framework and triggers for when restrictions will kick in, what they will be and what financial package of support will come with it. Will the Scottish Government commit to urgently starting that work, and that is something that we will commit to engage with them actively on? The on-going uncertainty only adds to the level of anxiety and impacts negatively on people's health and wellbeing. I agree about the importance of the Scottish and UK Governments working together. In many respects, we have been and continued to work well together in the past week and a half. I have taken part in three Cobra meetings. We have regular four nations discussions over and above that. We have an issue with financing that we cannot unilaterally resolve, and anasarwar has narrated much of it today. The points that I make in this chamber are almost identical to the points that anasarwar's Labour colleague Mark Drakeford is making in Wales. We cannot unilaterally resolve them, but I hope that we will get movement to find better ways forward on that. After the announcements that I have made today, we will have further consultation with businesses to see what additional support can be made available from the additional funding and what way it is best to make that available in. We have already given commitments to hospitality in other sectors. The additional money that I am announcing today will allow us to go further, but I agree. I said it myself in my statement that it will not fully compensate businesses. That is why I think that there should be the reintroduction at this stage of at least a targeted furlough scheme in order to help the most affected sector. We will do everything that we can within our own resources and we will work with colleagues in Wales and Northern Ireland to try to get more support from the UK Government. I will again take away the points on self-isolation grant. I accept the premise of that question, but I come back to the fact that we have a limited pot of money. We have decisions to make about whether we try to focus that money on those that are most in need or spread more thinly over a wider range of people by extending eligibility criteria. That is not an easy balance to strike, but we have put an extra £100 million into self-isolation grant, so we will again consider that. Lastly, we have already started work on longer-term health resilience, not just about entry to and exit to restrictions. I very much hope, although I have said this before, that this will be the last time that we have to impose restrictions. More fundamentally, as we come out of the acute phase of Covid, as it becomes more endemic in our society, how do we build the resilience in the economy and health services to deal with that? That is work that is at an early stage. We are looking at whether our overall Covid strategic framework and how it can be adapted. We may publish an updated version of that with more of a focus on health resilience in the early part of next year. If members across the chamber have thoughts that they want to feed into that, I am sure that they would be grateful that they have received it. Presiding Officer, today is the longest night of the year, and the statement will spell further darkness to an event sector that is already on its knees. It will be the first to be asked to close. Pantos and theatres will shut their doors and stadiums will close. Hogmanay is cancelled again, and all of that has a knock-on effect to pubs and restaurants. They will all need to be made whole and compensated pound for pound and drink for drink. We are seeing a return to the pandemic that we first experienced last year, which puts so much pressure on so many of our key sectors and services. I would like to ask about PCR testing capacity. Last week, on one day alone, 64,000 tests were processed. The last time this chamber was updated, our national capacity stood at just 80,000 tests a day. Can I ask the First Minister to update the chamber? Is 80,000 still the reach of our capacity in PCR processing? Is she confident that demand will not outstrip lab capacity? If it does, we run the risk of having key workers, particularly health workers, who are healthy, asked to stay at home for want of a negative PCR test. I absolutely accept the points about the impact on the event sector and the knock-on effects of that into hospitality and other parts of the economy, which is why it is so important that we do everything that we can to deliver financial compensation and, of course, with others, encourage the UK Government to provide more wherewithal. On the points about the pandemic, it is really important. I think that the point is legitimate, and I will address it directly. It is not people being pinged that is causing the problem, it is people getting the virus that is causing the problem. Therefore, we need to suppress the virus, and that is just an inescapable truth, which is why that leads to some of the difficult decisions that Governments are again having to take. Some of the decisions that I have outlined today are in common with decisions that are being taken by Governments in many other parts of Europe. Indeed, in many other parts of the UK, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, slightly further afield has taken many of those decisions too. So it is suppressing the virus ultimately that will help us to relieve the pressure. Self-isolation, which is where the pandemic comes from, is part of the way in which we help to suppress the virus. I will go back to the comments that I made in response to Douglas Ross. On the issue of testing capacity, testing capacity is being increased. Lab testing capacity is being increased across the UK right now. I will put in spice the up-to-date figures for our daily capacity. It is increasing, but it is still a bit of a moving feast if you forgive me for using that non-technical expression. We have ample capacity right now. In addition to the UK network capacity, we have the three regional NHS labs and pre-existing NHS capacity. However, if cases continue to soar, we will reach a point—not just in Scotland but across the UK—where we start to challenge that capacity. That is another reason to keep a downward pressure on cases. Lab capacity is only one half of our testing capacity. The sampling capacity is another. Right now, we have testing capacity.  We continue to have constructive discussions, because this is an area of very good joint working between the four nations about how we continue to increase that testing capacity as far as we possibly can. Jackie Dunbar to be followed by Murdo Fraser. First Minister, I have been contacted by a number of constituents who are concerned about their employer requiring them to attend their office as they feel that they should be able to work from home. What advice would you give to my constituents in this situation? What steps will the Scottish Government be taking to ensure that employers are treating this situation as seriously as possible? My constituents are treating this situation seriously, but I would encourage very strongly all employers to do so. Where staff do have concerns, I would encourage them to raise them with their employer or their union reps, where that is appropriate, or to contact the Scottish Hazards and their local authority environmental health team for advice and support. Remember—this is a message to employers—from last Friday, it is a legal requirement for businesses to take all reasonable measures to minimise the spread of Covid. The guidance makes clear that one of the measures that employers must take is to allow employees to work at home if they can. We expect businesses and employees to take that requirement seriously. Working from home is a really important measure in controlling this more transmissible version of the virus. We continue to engage regularly with business organisations and trade unions on encouraging working from home. Lastly, I would encourage businesses to remember that suppressing the virus is in the interests of business and the economy as well. That is not a choice between protecting health in the NHS and protecting the economy. If we do not protect health, the economy will suffer, so we all have an interest in making sure that all of that guidance is followed. Myrtle Fraser, to be followed by Kenneth Gibson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The First Minister, in her statement, mentioned the issue of schools. She will be aware of calls in some quarters or schools in January to return to a blended learning model. I wonder whether the First Minister would agree, however, that, given the harm that can be caused to children of being absent from the classroom environment, we should be doing all that we can to ensure that schools do reopen fully in January. Will she commit to ensuring that there is no delay to the start of the new school term after the Christmas and New Year break? I think that I have made my views very clear on that.  I think that everybody suffered through these last two years, but children and young people have suffered disproportionately, particularly given the very important stage of their lives and their education that they are at. My views on that are very clear. I would say two further things. First, when teachers hear me say that, they might think that I am dismissing concerns about their safety. I am not and I want to be very clear about that. We must make sure that schools are safe environments for young people and for staff, which is why the guidance that was published last week is so important. This is a message to all of us as adults. The best way of keeping schools safe and getting schools to open normally on time is to suppress community transmission of the virus. If, for a period, we as adults need to accept some further sacrifices, then if that helps us to ensure normality in our schools, then, while none of us will enjoy it and while it will not be easy for anybody or for businesses, that is one good reason why we should accept that and work together to get transmission down. Before I move on to the next question, I advise members that there is a great deal of interest in the statement and I would be grateful for short and succinct questions and responses. Kenneth Gibson is to be followed by Jackie Baillie. A number of constituents and even a member of my own staff have visited pharmacies to collect lateral flow test kits. We are initially refused them as they were not registered with the pharmacy. This is even though the advice is that people do not have to be registered to receive test kits. Given that regular testing is essential to curb the spike in omicron cases, can the First Minister advise that assistix has been taken to encourage pharmacies to hand out test kits for people who need and request them? LFD kits are available to everyone. Clearly, they do not require a prescription and they do not require the need to be registered for any form of community pharmacy services in order to obtain one from a local pharmacy. The Scottish Government wrote to the community pharmacy network on 17 December to re-emphasise that point and, along with other advice for streamlining the process for distribution, to relieve pressure on community pharmacy teams who are extremely busy and who have done heroic work over the course of the pandemic. The community pharmacy network is a vital part of the public health response to Covid and, actually, since the introduction of the pharmacy collect arrangements in June, it has distributed over 1.3 million packs. That is almost 10 million tests helping to keep all of us safe during this time. Let me take the opportunity to place on record my thanks to pharmacists and their teams in communities the length and breadth of the country. Jackie Baillie to be followed by Eleanor Whitton. A and E statistics for week ending 12 December are the second worst on record. As John Thomson of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has said, these delays will cost lives. We all applaud A and E and indeed all NHS staff for their valiant efforts, but things are about to get tougher as staff absence increases due to Omicron. Can I ask the First Minister what contingency planning is in place to deal with staff shortages in the NHS and also in other essential and emergency services? Accident emergency services like health services generally are under intense pressure because of this pandemic. Again, that pressure has been exacerbated because of rising cases. We come back to the essential point here. We need to get cases coming down again to relieve that pressure. That is direct health pressure but also the pressure that comes from staff absences. In the week quoted, there was not an exemption from isolation for NHS. There is now, so that will help to some extent to alleviate that pressure, but the only way of properly alleviating that pressure—not just in the health service but in the economy more generally—is to get the numbers of cases down, which comes back to the reason for the difficult decisions that I am setting out today. While the advanced funding that is announced by the UK Government is welcome, it falls well short of the financial support schemes that are required to reinforce public health messaging. It is just not sustainable that, although the Scottish Government is responsible for protecting public health, its actions are constrained by UK Government funding decisions. Does the First Minister agree that this is yet another example of how the current funding arrangements for Scotland are entirely inadequate when it comes to responding to the impacts of the pandemic? Yes, I do. That is the view that is shared by the Labour First Minister of Wales and indeed the DUP, the First Minister of Northern Ireland. Whatever your views on constitutional matters, let us put those to one side right now. The Barnett formula depends on decisions being taken by the UK Government for England. That then triggers resources through consequentials for the devolved administrations. That may, and we have different views on that, be appropriate in some circumstances, but in a public health emergency where all of us have our own responsibilities to act to protect public health and protect public health quickly, that situation self-evidently does not work. It is just not fit for purpose in these circumstances and we are making that case. I hope that we are getting some understanding of that and I hope that we might be able to see some changes. We are making available as much money as we can from within our own resources. I welcome the acknowledgement by the chancellor today that help is needed but further help is required. It is not just me saying that or even Wales and Northern Ireland's Governments. Many voices across England are saying that right now. The hospitality businesses and others are facing all the same pressures that businesses in Scotland are facing, but even after the chancellor's announcement today, we will be getting significantly less funding to help with that. That is an unsustainable position and I suspect that some in the UK Government understand that, but the quicker the act, the more we will be able to get on top of the latest phase of infection. The need for caution is clear and the chancellor must bring back furlough to protect small businesses. The absence rate in schools that we have seen over the past 10 days cannot possibly be sustained in January and February without massive disruption to pupils' learning. I fully appreciate the difficulties with finance currently, but given the transmissibility of the new variant, has any new funding been identified to help schools to ensure that ventilation is as effective as it can be? We have, as I know Gillian Mackay is aware, because she takes a very close interest in this. We made some additional funding available to local authorities some months ago for carbon dioxide monitors, allowing them to assess the ventilation. We continue to discuss with local authorities what further help and support we can provide to ensure that ventilation is given due priority. Ventilation is not the only thing that needs to be done, but it is a really important protection, particularly in the school environment. We will continue to look carefully at what further steps we can take. I keep coming back to the central point. I know that it is one that Gillian Mackay absolutely understands. We should not accept the inevitability of soaring cases and soaring staff absences as we go into January and February. If we do not do the right things now, there is a real danger of that. That is why we are setting out the decisions that we are taking right now to try to change the future. I was listening to a discussion on the radio this morning where somebody was saying that sage models always turn out to be wrong. Modelling is an imprecise science. I grant you that, but the reason why the worst predictions of sage have not come right in the past, on all occasions, is that we have acted to stop them coming to pass. That is the key point here. We have to act to influence what happens over the next few weeks to avoid some of the worst impacts that will otherwise confront us. I very much welcome the £375 million that is available for business. I note the First Minister's comments about needing a targeted furlough scheme, but I understand that the Prime Minister and the chancellor were not at the recent Cobra meetings. Does she think that they really understand the seriousness of the situation? Does she know who is in control at Westminster or is anyone in control? I am not sure that that is a question that I am able to answer. I might pass on that question. I spoke to the Prime Minister on the telephone late on Friday. I certainly think that he appreciated the seriousness of the situation. That is definitely the impression that he gave me when we had a good conversation on Friday. Appreciating the seriousness of the situation and acting in a way to try to change the seriousness of the situation are two different things. I and my Government take responsibility for public health decisions here in Scotland. I cannot and should not second guess the decisions that the UK Government takes for England, although there are many voices pointing out that, just as in Scotland, action needs to be taken to get Covid under control. The interest for me and my Government is that it is only when the UK Government act for England that funding at scale is triggered. That is the unsustainable asymmetrical bit that is constraining our ability to act. I hope that we see the Prime Minister, the chancellor and the entirety of the UK Government treat the challenge with the seriousness that it merits, because frankly all of us need them to do that. Sandesh Gilhane, to be followed by Christine Grahame. Thank you. We know coronavirus is airborne, not droplet spread. We know Omicron causes differing symptoms from the classical triad. It has an R of 4 and a attack rate to 50 per cent, evades double vaccines and thus can be unwittingly spread by people. My question is, given that it is our responsibility to protect the Scottish NHS workforce, will the First Minister upgrade healthcare workers' PPE from a surgical mask to FFP2 and 3? I will take advice on the clinical requirements for PPE in the health service. I have done that throughout and respond accordingly. The guidance on PPE, if memory is still serving me correctly, is on a four nations basis. We are using the same grading of PPE in different circumstances. If clinicians say to me that something additional is required there, then of course, as a non-clinician, I will listen to that and I will act on that. Christine Grahame, to be followed by Foisal Troudry. What with vaccines, boosters and lateral flow tests, the role of test and protect is to some extent disappeared from sight. I welcome test and protect, prioritising higher risk settings such as hospitals and care homes, but will the First Minister remind us all of the importance of test and protect generally and keeping the app active? I hope that, for most people, it is out of sight, because that means that we will not get contacted by it, but it is doing incredible work every single day to help to break the chains of transmission of the virus. I would take the opportunity, as was invited by Christine Grahame, to remind people of the importance of it. If they contact you because you have tested positive, make sure that you fill in the details that they will ask you for so that your contacts can be given information as quickly as possible. If you are contacted as a contact of someone who is positive, make sure that you follow the advice that you give. That is really important. Of course, to end on Christine Grahame's final point there, the app is really important. If you download the app to start with, go on check that it is still active, that you have got it properly switched on and activated, because if you do that, that absolutely helps test and protect to do its job and make sure that people are getting the protection that they need. Delayed discharge continues to affect many of my Lothian constituents due to carestuff shortage. One 82-year-old man from Corklistan has been stuck in hospital for almost three months now, as there is lack of care homes available to residents who require local authority funded places. As we witness the surge of Covid cases, how will the Scottish Government solve the rough shortage and increase funded places so that social care packages can be delivered for many of my constituents in Lothian? It is an important question. Delayed discharges are not in the interests of people who are delayed in hospital, but they are not in the interests of the wider health system either. We are working hard to try to reduce delayed discharge. I come on to the issues that are compounding that challenge at the moment, but one of the key things that we have done, the health secretary reported this to Parliament in the recent past, is to provide funding for the recruitment of 1,000 additional workers to help with exactly the problem that the member outlines. Of course, all of those problems right now are being compounded by staff absence due to the virus. That is happening in social care, the health service and across all sectors of our public services and the economy, which comes back to the essential point that I keep coming back to today. We've got to get this virus under control. It won't solve all of those problems, but it will at least mean that we're not exacerbating them by the absences that we're seeing right now. That's one of the big factors behind the decisions that we've set out today, not least the cancellation of large-scale events to reduce the pressure on the ambulance service, for example, who are already struggling with some of those issues. It's so important that everyone eligible comes forward for vaccination. I would like to ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to encourage the uptake of the vaccine and boosters in our communities of Black, Asian, ethnic minority, heritage and culture. That's a really important question because it's vital that we get uptake of boosters high across the whole population, but that we make sure that in particular communities, communities that we know have been disproportionately affected by Covid, that uptake is high to and Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities are certainly a key grouping there. We're working with health boards. Health boards have inclusion plans within the vaccination programme, setting out how they will actively offer vaccination to groups that we know face barriers to uptake. The decisions around the location of clinics are often taken with that very much in mind, so clinics in places of worship, for example. Glasgow central moth has been not the only one, but probably the most prolific example of that across Glasgow in particular. The ambulance service is also providing mobile outreach units to try to get into communities that have been harder to reach. We are also working closely with organisations such as BEMIS, which is the national umbrella body supporting ethnic minorities voluntary sector groups in Scotland. There is a whole range of work that has been done, and I know that health boards will keep at this for as long as is necessary. It's imperative that there are enough personnel to run offshore oil and gas facilities, but equally that there are enough competent personnel in all the safety, critical roles and emergency response teams at these installations. We're still learning about Omicron, whom we've heard about today, but failure to act swiftly could result in the shutdown of offshore installations or the shutdown of onshore terminals, which would result in a security of supply issue for Scotland and the wider UK. Will the First Minister support the oil and gas industry with a more flexible approach and a strategy that can be deployed quickly to focus on the protection of the most vulnerable yet retained personnel on their installations to ensure that they can continue to power the UK? Yes, is the short answer to that. We work with different sectors to make sure that those challenges that are being faced right now with staff absences are being mitigated as far as possible. There are exemption arrangements in place for critical sectors, and we keep that under review. We officials and ministers engage with different sectors, and I'll make sure that we are engaging closely with oil and gas to address the particular concerns that have been raised. At last week's NHS Grampian MSP Covid update, we discussed the challenge of people with health and attention not presenting with conditions that require investigation or treatment. While the situation was beginning to ease and concerned the upsurge in Omicron, we will again discourage those in most need of healthcare from seeking help. What assurance can the First Minister give that everything is being done to encourage people to make and keep appointments with GPs and others while recognising the huge pressures that are facing health services once again? That is an important point as well. Obviously, all parts of the NHS are under severe and increasing pressure right now, but the NHS remains open to people who need it, and if anyone needs to contact their GP or other parts of the health service, they should do that. We have worked hard to try to ensure that GP capacity for medical care is preserved. For example, that is one of the reasons why we have deliberately limited the involvement of GPs in the Covid vaccination programme. They have not had no involvement, let me stress, and I am very grateful to them for what they have done, but we have not relied overly on GPs to deliver the vaccination programme. We are also increasing funding for the expansion of multidisciplinary teams, and we have provided additional funding to primary care to help specifically support services through the winter to try to increase the availability of face-to-face appointments as much as possible. We will also recognise that, for many reasons, not just Covid protection, but for many other reasons, patients will benefit from other ways of accessing their GP online or telephone services, so we will continue to work with and support GPs as much as we can. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Constituents have contacted me concerned about the distance that they need to travel to get their Covid vaccinations. Many do not live near vaccination sites and do not drive, so they are reliant on public transport, which in Glasgow is patchy, especially in the north of the city. That not only poses financial challenges to low-income households but can also be inaccessible and distressing for some disabled people. One constituent has said that they are afraid of using public transport due to the risk of catching Covid. Can the First Minister outline what plans are in place to ensure that people can get their vaccines closer to home and where they have to travel, that there is affordable, accessible and safe transport available to get them to the Covid vaccination centre? Pam Duncan Glancy illustrates very well the challenge that I have articulated on occasion in the chamber, not least when I have been, understandably, challenged by others to have more mass vaccination centres. Mass vaccination centres have a part to play, but we need a balance of provision so that we have much more community availability as well. That is why we have tried to get that balance between big-scale, sometimes more remote places and smaller-scale places that are easier for people to access in their own communities. That balance is difficult to get absolutely right. My advice to people who are struggling to get to a vaccination appointment is to contact the helpline to seek advice on how they can get that vaccination in a way that is more accessible. There are a variety of appointments. You do not have to book an appointment in your own area. There are different ways now of booking appointments. We will also make sure that health boards are making sure that any appropriate assistance is given to people who really struggle to get to vaccination appointments. We will ensure that that continues to be borne in mind. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Public health messaging remains a crucial part of the fight against Omicron. Given that recent Ugov polling found that less than 2 per cent of Scots understood the full-facts acronym, how will the Government ensure that any new Covid guidance is communicated effectively? Whenever possible, will the First Minister ensure that those communications are consistent through the adoption of a four-nations approach to messaging? We do adopt four-nations approaches. Some of the advertising right now is on a four-nations basis. Just as the UK Government would reserve its right to say what I am about to say as well, I reserve the right, and there have been periods in the pandemic where we have not thought to the messages from the UK Government were appropriate or right. Therefore, we have had messaging that we thought was appropriate for Scotland. I try and the Government tries to communicate as clearly as possible. We do not always get that right. We test messages, we learn from that. The fact is that advice we certainly will learn from that. That particular campaign is no longer in use because not all of the components of it are currently what we are advising people to do, although we are getting back closer to that at the moment. Sometimes, I am criticised for taking it too seriously. I take the whole public communication aspect of that really seriously, because I know how important it is, and we will absolutely learn any lessons as we go about how we improve that. The JCVI advice now includes pregnant women in the at-risk category, and the First Minister provides an update on the uptake of the Covid vaccine by pregnant women. I welcome the JCVI's recent advice that moves pregnant women into the at-risk group for Covid vaccination. That demonstrates the importance of women getting vaccinated when they are pregnant to protect them and their babies against what we know are the risks of Covid in pregnancy. The uptake among pregnant women remains much lower than it is for non-pregnant women, but it is increasing. The most recent data published by Public Health Scotland, which covers September and October, shows that the uptake has been more similar in pregnant women in recent months compared with the general female population than was the case previously. The fact that it is improving is encouraging, but I will continue to urge all pregnant women who have not already done so to book a vaccination as soon as possible. It is really important to protect your own health, but it is also really important to protect the health of your baby.


t like to see the park left as natural as possible so that the school children nearby and the people that live in the area can walk to a natural park like people in other parts of santa rosa are able to easily get to spring lake or howlard park thank you very much goodbye i can close public comment on this item here thank you dina i'll go ahead bring it back and councilmember flaming can you please put a motion on the table for discussion yep okay a resolution of the council of the city of santa rosa rescinding resolution number 2021-162 which adopted the mitigated negative declaration for the rosland creek community park master plan and the rosland creek community park master plan and directing staff to prepare an environmental impact report for the rosland creek community master plan and waive further reading of the text second motion by councilmember flaming second by councilmember sweathelm who wants to start mr vice mayor thank you mayor i i completely understand the concerns of our community and i do want this to go as quickly as possible as i feel this is a mini a resource a gem that's been spoken about for rosalie for decades and yet we still are without a park i believe children deserve to enjoy appreciate nature and not be kept out of it i believe parents deserve to send their children to school and i have to worry about them when they leave out the door nature safety is exactly what this project is about and what it means but i got to tell you nature is not a septic tank in the middle of a park it's not tires that fill a creek it's not the foundation of three homes that are strewn within the property i too want this gem to be preserved and displayed for what it is i believe we're all in agreement with that and if this means that we rescind approval that we made a couple months ago then so be it what i do not want to see is that this project is lost in litigation that resources are spent when they could be used to improve the natural resource that this park is and we heard it from our community they want nature they want to be preserved but i have to tell you nature is not a septic system thank you thank you vice mayor there any other comments from council all right i'm going to be uh fairly candid uh there is a lot of anger and frustration i think around the item tonight i think that that frustration comes from an understanding that at least one of the people bringing this lawsuit stands up week after week and land based this council for not making investments in roseland this is a substantial investment that we have been trying to make and because it's only 75 percent of what a small minority of folks in roseland wanted that wasn't good enough and i can understand some of the comments around the ecology and the environment but i will tell you one of those people that i talked to that are neighbors that are opposed to the park told me they opposed it because the sound of children playing was going to be detrimental to their community so i want to be very clear this precision is not based on environmental factors it's based on a select few who recognize the gem that they have next to their homes and want to make sure that nobody else can participate either when they talk about not having parking spaces what they're saying is that folks who live three blocks away who can't walk across the the street which is busy and can be detrimental for kids that they don't want their parents to be able to drive them over so that they can enjoy the park too i want to thank the vice mayor for all the work that he's put into this leading is hard finding compromise is hard and eddie has worked very hard to try to bring together everyone in the community to develop an asset that's going to be beneficial to everyone not just to the people who live up against the park like i said i'm i'm frustrated i'm angry i know that the rest of the council is as well we want to deliver a park for the community we don't want to be stuck in litigation needlessly and baselessly but i want to make it really clear to the community that this is not an instance of santa rosa the city not wanting to invest in in roseland it is an instance where we're doing everything we can to get a project across the finish line and we're having to push through some of the privilege of the people who live right there who are bringing this lawsuit with that madame clerk if you could please call out councilmember soyer i just want to thank you mayor for for being clear and concise and accurate i appreciate it madame city clerk thank you councilmember schwethelm hi councilmember soyer hi councilmember rogers hi councilmember fleming i vice mayor alvarez hi mayor rogers no that motion passes with five eyes and with mayor rogers voting no all right thank you staff we will move on to our final public comment for non-agenda items it's item 17 i'm going to check on zoom to see if there are any additional hands for items that have not been discussed tonight it's seeing none we still have item 10 which is our councilmember reports we did skip that earlier to facilitate our dc team not having to be up until midnight to be able to give their report uh who has a report for tonight that they'd like to go over council member fleming yeah uh our new city manager scooped my report about the shenate uh the north trunk sewer project i wanted to give a shout out to our public works team for all the work that they've done up there the residents are glad to have this the um egress from shenate ingress and egress up there and also um additionally all the work i know they're not quite done on pacific but the the road is like glass you could probably ice skate down it on a cold morning it's a really a beautiful thing um even for someone like me who's not not a car person but i do use that route to get my daughter to school many mornings a week and it is really really wonderful so um a huge shout out to to our staff who've put in tons of work and tons of communication with the residents of district four thank you so much thank you council member council member soyer thank you mayor i wanted to report out um this evening on sp 1383 um in december the interim city manager and city attorney signed a memorandum of understanding with zero waste sonoma to establish certain roles and responsibilities that zero waste sonoma shall assume on behalf of the city of santa rosa as it relates to sp 1383 implementation jurisdictions like santa rosa may enter into a contract with a joint powers authority to implement certain requirements of the sp 1383 regulations except that the jurisdiction shall remain ultimately responsible for compliance prior to its signage city staff with subject matter expertise on solid waste matters reviewed the mou and is comfortable with the roles and responsibilities set forth in the agreement city staff will remain closely involved and up to date regarding sp 1383 implementation and progress in santa rosa thank you council member council member sweat home thank you mr mayor just want to report out that i was able to attend uh the virtual santa rosa rotary lee abrahamson public safety awards program on the 19th it's kind of nice seeing jeff colonn our former interim city manager and former city manager facilitated the meeting and i was so nice to see our current city manager and attendants but i want to express my congratulations to the santa rosa fire department honoree tim avidera and the santa rosa police department honoree jason jucatan for their selections and they were selected by their peers additionally sonoma county sheriff's lieutenant andy kash was also recognized but it's a wonderful community event with about 80 85 folks there thanks right thank you so much council member are there any other reports okay as is customary tonight i will be shuffling some of our appointments for council members on boards and commissions it's always a interesting process talking to folks and giving them a blend between what they would like to serve on and what the city needs them to serve on uh so i do want to uh to sort of express my my thought process we do have a couple of council members who have come in over the last year and have been particularly involved on a number of issues and uh had talked with a couple of not to call you old hats but folks who have been here for a while who have a lot of experience who have been able to help mentor over the last year and so many of our assignments i'm going to flip around to put council members in new positions to be able to lead and to get experience running boards and commissions i'll start with the regional appointments that are uh mayor appoints and council confirms so i will make my my comments and then see if there's a motion to approve uh and i will also mention that there are a number of appointments tonight that will either be left open or if permissible we actually have staff that can serve in some of the roles temporarily while we find our seventh council member to be able to plug in as they can as well and we'll shuffle it up a little bit when we know what their skill set looks like so first for the renewal enterprise district my recommendation is council member Fleming to continue to serve and council member sweat helm to move from the alternate position to the main position with council member excuse me vice mayor alvarez as the new alternate for that committee to come up to speed on it for zero waste sonoma council member soyer to continue to serve as the city's representative with joey henowitz one of our staff members who's fantastic and who deals with zero waste as the alternate at the moment until we have a seventh council member since he's at all of the meetings anyway uh sonoma county transportation authority and regional protection climate protection authority i would like to stay on that with council member fleming becoming the alternate particularly with her ties to the mtc uh work that she is doing now uh for sonoma clean power the same i'll stay on that with council member fleming continuing to be the alternate for the senator as a senator as a plain ground water sustainability agency i'd like to leave council member sweat helm on it and give vice mayor alvarez an opportunity to serve as his alternate for our continuum of care uh council member sweat helm will continue to serve on that and kelly kikendall our staff member who is at all of the meetings will serve as the current alternate uh if until the time that we have a seventh member as well for our water advisory committee i'm going to switch uh council member rogers into the primary and keep council member sweat helm as her alternate for the russian river watershed association i'll keep vice mayor alvarez as the primary with council member fleming as the alternate for the mayors and council members legislative liaison committee i will continue to serve on that with council member fleming as the alternate i'll note i'm also the chair of that committee for the league of california cities north bay division i'll retain council member soyer and council member rogers on it for the library advisory committee the vice mayor will continue to lead with council member rogers as his alternate and that's in particular focus with the actions that we've taken to develop a new library in southwest santa rosa i think that's a good team uh for health action i'm going to ask council member rogers to serve as the primary with council member fleming as the alternate and for a bag the association of bay area governments uh the mayor is the primary delegate but i'm going to ask council member fleming to serve as the alternate so those are our regional positions can i get a motion from council to approve so moved second so motion from council member sweat helm and the second from council member fleming it's called the vote council member sweat helm hi council member soyer hi council member rogers hi council member fleming hi vice mayor alvarez hi mayor rogers hi that motion passes with six eyes thank you council now for our subcommittees and ad hoc's our bpu liaison committee will uh and this is mayor appoints the bpu liaison committee will remain council member vice mayor alvarez and council member soyer with a third to be named later our downtown subcommittee will stay the same with vice mayor alvarez as the chair and council member soyer on the committee and a third to be named later economic development subcommittee i will chair that committee with council member soyer and council member fleming joining for our violence prevention partnership both the steering and the policy meetings we will flip council member rogers into the primary for the city with council member sweat helm as support a long-term financial policy and audit will keep the same with myself council member sweat helm and council member soyer the open government and community engagement committee i'm going to ask council member rogers to chair that committee and then i will remain on the committee as well council member alvarez for our climate action subcommittee i'll continue to chair with council members rogers and alvarez continuing to serve for our public safety committee uh give a leave it the same with council member fleming as the chair and council member sweat helm and rogers as support on the committee and serving for our homeless ad hoc we will keep council member sweat helm on the committee and add council member fleming and then for our fire resiliency and rebuild ad hoc which was defunct for the last year through covet but is going to have some work to do this year i'll continue to chair that with council members sweat helm and fleming on that committee as well i will make sure i send this list over to staff so you don't have to try to capture it off of the video and through the mayor the council get a copy of that since of course yeah i'll make sure it's distributed to everybody yes staff will update the list and send it all thanks to all the council members excellent i do also want to let council know that a number of our uh boards and commissions that we appoint need new members so make sure that you are making those appointments i also will be doing some of the same thing that we've done here where i'm going to give a couple of additional uh members on those boards and committees a chance to lead and change some of the chairships around just to make sure that we have broader diversity of experience for folks who are serving uh who will plug in at some point as well uh with that let's move on to item 10.2.1 oh sorry go ahead council member i was going to say i'm probably also remind the community that a number of our boards and commissions need have vacancies and need appointments so if they want to take a look if they're interested in participating that would be um a good way to do so and serve absolutely and that's srcity.org is the city's website and there are links to our boards and commissions it's a great reminder thank you forward slash boards forward slash boards great so srcity.org forward slash boards thank you let's move on to item 10.2.1 it's the appointment to our waterways advisory committee we only received the applications from incumbents interested in continuing to serve so that is the recommendation from council i will see if there is any discussion from council members on this otherwise i will look to council member schwethelm for a potential motion not seeing anything so i will make a motion to reappoint mark neely kevin c steve robinowitz and art dyke to fill the four at-large vacancies for the waterways advisory committee it's a motion from council member schwethelm and a second from council member soyer let's call the vote council member schwethelm hi council member soyer hi council member rogers hi council member fleming yes vice mayor alvarez hi mayor rogers hi that motion passes with six eyes great that's our last item for the night thank you everybody we will go ahead and adjourn