Question reference: S5W-34770
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 25 January 2021
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Current status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 January 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce repeated routine testing for COVID-19 for teachers in (a) mainstream and (b) special needs schools.
Answer
The Scottish Government is operating a number of pathfinder testing programmes with the aim of delivering a sustainable system of regular asymptomatic testing for staff in a school environment. The pilots are primarily intended to help us rapidly identify and understand any logistical and implementation challenges involved in the different models of testing.
Consideration of options to scale up testing of school staff in all schools in Scotland is ongoing, and will be informed by early learning from these pilots. Regular staff testing is just one potential COVID-19 mitigation in addition to the robust package of measures already in place in schools.