Council consulted on five level Covid protection system

The Leader and the Chief Executive of The Highland Council earlier today took part in a meeting of COSLA focussing on the Scottish Government’s new five level protection system for Covid.

The meeting gave council leaders the opportunity to examine in more detail the mechanism outlined by the Scottish Government along with the framework of how the tier system will be implemented.

Councillor Margaret Davidson said: “The proposals will be going to the Parliament this week, so I welcome the engagement opportunity we had with other local councils today. The framework should help us to tailor our Covid response. There are still some areas we need to debate further and seek more clarity on, such as the impact on our tourism industries.  Our discussions will be fed back to the Scottish Government and we wait to hear from them what tier level the Highlands is on.”

She added: “Highland Council continues to work closely with the NHS Highland Health Protection Team and our Resilience partners to manage risk and to prevent the spread of the virus in the Highlands. We will continue to follow national guidance as it develops and changes throughout this pandemic and support national efforts to keep people safe.”

In the meantime, Local Authority Chief Executives have been asked to engage with their Councillors and the Directors of Public Health as a matter of urgency and feedback to the Scottish Government over the course of the next two days and before the Framework is debated on Thursday in the Scottish Parliament.

Highland Council Chief Executive Donna Manson said: “We are holding briefings this afternoon to engage with Councillors and will be feeding back their views and comments to the Scottish Government, so they have this information before holding their debate on Thursday.”