Coronavirus

[Hibrandenburg]

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Jeanne Freeman explains in this article.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...itics-53298429

The example in that article only supports my point. How can the Scottish government be expected to keep tabs on people who arrive in Heathrow from abroad. How can the Scottish government possibly know that they plan to then travel to Scotland?

[Sir David Gray]

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I still don't get it. How can they carry out checks on people they don't know are in the country?

Has the access to passenger data that Public Health Scotland officials were given access to in July last year been revoked?

[Sir David Gray]

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The example in that article only supports my point. How can the Scottish government be expected to keep tabs on people who arrive in Heathrow from abroad. How can the Scottish government possibly know that they plan to then travel to Scotland?

What about the people who arrive directly into Scotland? I'm sure I've read from at least a couple of people on here who travelled abroad over the summer and never got any contact from anyone to make sure they were isolating.

That's obviously a small sample but I'd love to know how many people who came back to Scotland and were supposed to isolate were actually checked up on.

[Ozyhibby]

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The example in that article only supports my point. How can the Scottish government be expected to keep tabs on people who arrive in Heathrow from abroad. How can the Scottish government possibly know that they plan to then travel to Scotland?

Also, if this is not something they are doing in England then there are no Barnett consequential to fund it here. If we want to do it then the money needs to come from education or Health or some other cash strapped part of the Scottish budget. Straying far from Westminster policy has a cost.


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[Santa Cruz]

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The example in that article only supports my point. How can the Scottish government be expected to keep tabs on people who arrive in Heathrow from abroad. How can the Scottish government possibly know that they plan to then travel to Scotland?

I'm going to presume a Home Office system is highly sophisticated. It will hold info on all international arrivals/departures. Passport details will be linked to registered addresses. Someone arriving at Heathrow who is a Scottish resident will be able to be identified. Otherwise, why ask for access if it serves no purpose because it's not possible to do?

This isn't about people arriving at Heathrow and travelling on public transport into Scotland. This is about carrying out checks with the info you have access to. There is no fool proof system, but the fact is they're not doing enough with the info and systems they have at their disposal.

[Santa Cruz]

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Also, if this is not something they are doing in England then there are no Barnett consequential to fund it here. If we want to do it then the money needs to come from education or Health or some other cash strapped part of the Scottish budget. Straying far from Westminster policy has a cost.


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Pretty sure if funding from WM was the problem, we would have heard the FM mention this. They are doing it in England, I've no idea how well they're doing it, this isn't about England though. Health's devolved.

[Just Alf]

Feels a bit like folks want a nanny state, of the 7 people I know personally that travelled from abroad in the past few months every single one of them followed the quarantine rules, are we really saying that folk won't be **** and put people's lives in danger unless they know they'll be checked ? (I mean the whole UK in this observation as none, 3 in Scotland and 4 in England, were contacted even once)

Surely the vast majority will do the right thing? Then again I'm possibly being a bit naive





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[ronaldo7]

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The example in that article only supports my point. How can the Scottish government be expected to keep tabs on people who arrive in Heathrow from abroad. How can the Scottish government possibly know that they plan to then travel to Scotland?

If only we had a Scottish border force. Where are all those having to check passengers coming from? Are we to take them from our public health teams who could be doing other work? Have we had any funds to be "allowed" to do this work?

[Santa Cruz]

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If only we had a Scottish border force. Where are all those having to check passengers coming from? Are we to take them from our public health teams who could be doing other work? Have we had any funds to be "allowed" to do this work?

If funding was the problem Sturgeon wouldn't miss an opportunity to mention that. I wonder why she hasn't if that's the case.

Do you not think with new variants having the potential to derail a vaccination programme, that isolation checks are a crucial part of the public health response?

[Jack]

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I'm going to presume a Home Office system is highly sophisticated. It will hold info on all international arrivals/departures. Passport details will be linked to registered addresses. Someone arriving at Heathrow who is a Scottish resident will be able to be identified. Otherwise, why ask for access if it serves no purpose because it's not possible to do?

This isn't about people arriving at Heathrow and travelling on public transport into Scotland. This is about carrying out checks with the info you have access to. There is no fool proof system, but the fact is they're not doing enough with the info and systems they have at their disposal.

Far from being highly sophisticated it appears to be similar to a landing card that is collected by the UK Border Force. There's no need to advise the Passport Office of any change to address or phone number once the passport application has been processed.

Anecdotal evidence from this thread is that no-one has ever had that landing card taken from them be that Heathrow or Edinburgh or anywhere else.

If this is what is happening then any failing lies with the UK Border Force although both the Home Office and Scottish Government should have been bumping the gums about it.

[Santa Cruz]

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Far from being highly sophisticated it appears to be similar to a landing card that is collected by the UK Border Force. There's no need to advise the Passport Office of any change to address or phone number once the passport application has been processed.

Anecdotal evidence from this thread is that no-one has ever had that landing card taken from them be that Heathrow or Edinburgh or anywhere else.

If this is what is happening then any failing lies with the UK Border Force although both the Home Office and Scottish Government should have been bumping the gums about it.

If that's the case, I would agree it's strange that the SG haven't made an issue about it. Anecdotal evidence from this thread suggests nobody has received a call to check they are isolating. I wonder if that's why the SG haven't made more noise. If they're not managing to hit a 20% target (by their own admission) on carrying out checks in an area that they are responsible for, they're hardly in a good position to criticise the UK Gov for failing in an area they have responsibility for.

[ronaldo7]

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If funding was the problem Sturgeon wouldn't miss an opportunity to mention that. I wonder why she hasn't if that's the case.

Do you not think with new variants having the potential to derail a vaccination programme, that isolation checks are a crucial part of the public health response?

I think all the borders should have been closed. No need for anyone travelling, but the UK Gov put a premium on travellers coming into the UK. If you had the money it was fine. We got the virus down to nearly zero levels in Scotland during the summer months, only to have the new English variant travel north to give us the second wave.

[marinello59]

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Far from being highly sophisticated it appears to be similar to a landing card that is collected by the UK Border Force. There's no need to advise the Passport Office of any change to address or phone number once the passport application has been processed.

Anecdotal evidence from this thread is that no-one has ever had that landing card taken from them be that Heathrow or Edinburgh or anywhere else.

If this is what is happening then any failing lies with the UK Border Force although both the Home Office and Scottish Government should have been bumping the gums about it.

The ‘card’ is completed online so what you actually have is an email confirmation that you have done so, it’s checked when you arrive as it isn’t linked electronically to your passport. It’s down to the relevant bodies in whichever Home nation you list as the address you will be quarantining in to follow it up.
When I got home from Poland mine wasn’t checked, though at that time there was no need to quarantine. My wife arrived back in the U.K. when there was a need to quarantine, her’s was checked and she was contacted to make sure that she was obeying quarantine rules, as was everybody else in her group.

[Santa Cruz]

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I think all the borders should have been closed. No need for anyone travelling, but the UK Gov put a premium on travellers coming into the UK. If you had the money it was fine. We got the virus down to nearly zero levels in Scotland during the summer months, only to have the new English variant travel north to give us the second wave.

Aye, but there's more than one new variant causing concern, and it's obvious there's going to be more. So, do you not agree we need to up our game and take on the area's we are responsible for by carrying out far more of the necessary checks to reduce the risks?

[ronaldo7]

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Aye, but there's more than one new variant causing concern, and it's obvious there's going to be more. So, do you not agree we need to up our game and take on the area's we are responsible for by carrying out far more of the necessary checks to reduce the risks?

Of course we do. This virus will continue to spawn new variants. That why when we got our levels down so low in the summer, we shouldn't have caved in to the heid honcho of Edinburgh airport telling everyone that was willing to listen(courtesy of the BBC)that Nicola surgeon was delivering an ongoing attack on his industry.

I've asked about the money, and who's doing all this work, and haven't received an answer, anywhere. If only we could do some borrowing to develop a plan for our own borders.

[Santa Cruz]

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Of course we do. This virus will continue to spawn new variants. That why when we got our levels down so low in the summer, we shouldn't have caved in to the heid honcho of Edinburgh airport telling everyone that was willing to listen(courtesy of the BBC)that Nicola surgeon was delivering an ongoing attack on his industry.

I've asked about the money, and who's doing all this work, and haven't received an answer, anywhere. If only we could do some borrowing to develop a plan for our own borders.

Or even spend the money we have more wisely, I suppose it's all about priorities. I don't know much about the state owned Scottish Investment Bank that came into being last year. I've googled it and can't see how this was funded, I could well be wrong but the fact it's state owned suggests to me it was the SG.

[marinello59]

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Of course we do. This virus will continue to spawn new variants. That why when we got our levels down so low in the summer, we shouldn't have caved in to the heid honcho of Edinburgh airport telling everyone that was willing to listen(courtesy of the BBC)that Nicola surgeon was delivering an ongoing attack on his industry.

I've asked about the money, and who's doing all this work, and haven't received an answer, anywhere. If only we could do some borrowing to develop a plan for our own borders.

Public Health Scotland contact those returning from abroad to check they are at home and to offer any additional advice required. The work is being done.

[ronaldo7]

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Or even spend the money we have more wisely, I suppose it's all about priorities. I don't know much about the state owned Scottish Investment Bank that came into being last year. I've googled it and can't see how this was funded, I could well be wrong but the fact it's state owned suggests to me it was the SG.

Are you saying you want to take the money from the SIB to protect the UK borders/do virus checks?

[ronaldo7]

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Public Health Scotland contact those returning from abroad to check they are at home and to offer any additional advice required. The work is being done.

I know it is. Not in large enough numbers for some it seems.

[Santa Cruz]

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Are you saying you want to take the money from the SIB to protect the UK borders/do virus checks?

No, you asked where the money was coming from. I'm asking where the money is going and if in the current climate, the spending priorities are correct?

[marinello59]

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I know it is. Not in large enough numbers for some it seems.

There wasn’t in the early days but it works fine now. Unlike down South lessons have been learned up here. Even I’m struggling to be critical of the Scottish Government's handling of things just now.

[PaulSmith]

I wonder if other European citizens are blaming their neighbouring countries as as much as I’ve read in this thread.

The time to reflect back on what worked and what didn’t work will form part of any inquiry. We’re a matter of weeks away from breaking the back of this wretched virus via protecting the most vulnerable and then the wider population shortly afterward.

Dominic Rabb saying that it’s hoped to lift some restrictions early March, the picture will look much much better by then.

[Santa Cruz]

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I know it is. Not in large enough numbers for some it seems.

One poster so far has experience of a quarantine check. The SG set their own target of checking 20% and when asked about it, admitted missing the target. It's not large enough numbers by their own admission.

[ronaldo7]

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No, you asked where the money was coming from. I'm asking where the money is going and if in the current climate, the spending priorities are correct?

I'm still asking where the money is coming from. If we can't borrow it?

[Hibrandenburg]

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I'm going to presume a Home Office system is highly sophisticated. It will hold info on all international arrivals/departures. Passport details will be linked to registered addresses. Someone arriving at Heathrow who is a Scottish resident will be able to be identified. Otherwise, why ask for access if it serves no purpose because it's not possible to do?

This isn't about people arriving at Heathrow and travelling on public transport into Scotland. This is about carrying out checks with the info you have access to. There is no fool proof system, but the fact is they're not doing enough with the info and systems they have at their disposal.

The Scottish government checking up on people they know have arrived into Scotland from abroad and are in Scotland is pretty pointless with an open border with the rest of the UK. It would be like driving a convertible with the roof down in February and winding the windows up to keep out the cold.

[ronaldo7]

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One poster so far has experience of a quarantine check. The SG set their own target of checking 20% and when asked about it, admitted missing the target. It's not large enough numbers by their own admission.

I've had three friends checked up on when they got home. Does that count? 😆

[Santa Cruz]

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I'm still asking where the money is coming from. If we can't borrow it?

and I'm still asking if the money we have at our disposal has been spent wisely in the current climate?

[Santa Cruz]

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I've had three friends checked up on when they got home. Does that count? 😆

I know of ten families with no checks.

[Ozyhibby]

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and I'm still asking if the money we have at our disposal has been spent wisely in the current climate?

Do you just have a feeling we are not spending money wisely or any examples?


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[Keith_M]

Could we maybe have another thread arguing about Scotland's efficient/pathetic/underfunded/well-funded Border Force and Quarantine Checks?