David Porter
Scotland Westminster editor

Image source, PA Media

The Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack, has written to Scotland’s First minister, Nicola Sturgeon, offering to help the Scottish government accelerate the rollout of vaccines.

In the letter Mr Jack says that both the English health department and the Ministry of Defence are on standby to help.

Mr Jack writes: "My colleague Ben Wallace has been clear that the Ministry of Defence stands ready to work with the Scottish government on further requests for military assistance."

He adds: "The British military has played a key role in setting up testing and in recent weeks has begun a new programme to create 80 vaccination centres across Scotland."

The first minister says "managed quarantine" will apply to all travellers arriving directly into Scotland.

• Scotland's youngest pupils are likely to return to the classroom full time from 22 February as schools start a phased reopening
• The move will include all pupils in P1-P3 as well as pre-school children
• There will also be a part-time return, but on a very limited basis, for senior secondary pupils to allow them to complete work for national qualifications
• A final decision will be taken on the partial reopening in a fortnight

Image source, PA Media

• All of the country's other lockdown restrictions will remain in place until at least the end of the month
• The first minister is "cautiously optimistic" that some gradual easing of the rules could be possible from early March
• Travellers coming to Scotland from any country may be asked to quarantine in a hotel - which goes further than systems announced in the rest of the UK
• There will be a "significant expansion" of testing in schools and nurseries in the coming weeks.

David Henderson
BBC Scotland Business and Transport Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Today's new rules make it almost impossible to fly from Scotland for a foreign holiday or for any other reason, without facing quarantine on your return. And very tight restrictions now apply to anyone coming here from abroad.

All four UK nations have agreed that travellers coming to the UK from countries with a travel ban in place, will now face supervised quarantine in hotels.

But Nicola Sturgeon went further. She set out plans for quarantine for anyone arriving in Scotland, regardless of which country they came from.

All this, she said, was vital to guard against the risk of new Covid cases being imported into Scotland. And she's especially concerned about the arrival of new severe variants of Covid19, which vaccines can't defeat.

This clampdown makes life even tougher for Scotland's airports and travel industry, which are reeling after almost a year of disruption. Nicola Sturgeon said she'd work with the UK government, to give them the support they need.

How long will this last? Will foreign holidays be impossible this summer? That's unclear. But the First Minister said efforts to eliminate Covid here last summer had been thwarted after Scotland was "re-seeded from overseas travel".

So what's crystal clear is she wants to avoid a wave of foreign holidays this summer causing another wave of Covid and lockdown in the autumn.

Jamie McIvor
BBC Scotland education correspondent

Image source, PA Media

The SSTA teachers' union says it is very worried by the first minister’s statement.

General secretary Seamus Searson said: “It shows a real lack of understanding of how teachers are feeling at the moment”

Mr Searson said there’d been no discussion with SSTA (or other unions) prior to the announcement and stressed problems that will be created in secondary schools.

He highlighted the position of vulnerable and shielding staff and their involvement in pupils returning. And said teachers with child caring responsibilities have not been considered.

Mr Searson said: “There will be a lot of frightened and worried teachers as a consequence of the FM statement especially as everybody is in lockdown until the end of February. Teachers are not allowed the protections that everybody else has. “

John Beattie will be here shortly on BBC Radio Scotland with plenty more reaction to today's announcements from the first minister.

While most children will have to wait a bit longer to get back into classrooms, routine testing will expand and Nicola Sturgeon said some restrictions could start to ease from early March if case numbers continue to fall and vaccinations increase.

The programme will hear from pupils, parents and teachers...and the education secretary, John Swinney.

Glenn Campbell
BBC Scotland Political Editor

Image source, PA Media

The current stay-at-home lockdown, like the last one, is a long slog.

It will last what’s left of the winter.

But as we move into spring, change is coming.

Plans to reopen nurseries and schools from 22 February for the youngest children will not only restore their full time education but will allow some parents to resume work.

However, the phased return of schools could add to the burden some families have to carry.

If, for instance, you have a young child to get to school and an older pupil to organise for online learning at home, that could be harder to manage than either having both at home or both in school.

It’s not clear how quickly full-time schooling will resume for all age groups.

It will be another fortnight before the first minister sets out how wider restrictions might be eased from the beginning of March.

It is already clear that process will be gradual and that some measures such as social distancing, wearing face-coverings and avoiding international travel will not be lifted anytime soon.

Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie says Scotland needs to be "ambitious" with its vaccination programme and says there was no need to ditch the rest of the rollout while care homes and other vulnerable groups were prioritised.

Nicola Sturgeon says she has tried to explain "rationally" the trade-offs between depth and breadth in the rollout strategy.

As we go further into the programme, we won't need to make that trade-off, says the first minister.

She says there has been an "extraordinary uptake" among the priority groups which matters because these are the people most likely to get the virus and die.

"My judgement is we have approached this in the right way," Ms Sturgeon adds.

The first minister set out no changes to the restriction levels for Scotland's local authorities in her statement.

All of mainland Scotland remains in level four - the highest level of restrictions.

From last week, the whole of the Western Isles was also placed in level four.

This means the only places in level three in Scotland are Orkney, Shetland and the following islands in Argyll and Bute: Coll, Colonsay, Erraid, Gometra, Iona, Islay, Jura, Mull, Oronsay, Tiree, and Ulva. All islands in Highland are in level three, except the Isle of Skye which is in level four.

BBC Radio Scotland

Image source, PA Media

Prof Devi Sridhar, director of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, says it is a "hard decision" for the government over when and how to allow pupils to return to the classroom.

“If we open schools, we likely have to keep restrictions in other areas at least until Easter, until we can see if there is any impact with the new variant and schools going back," she told BBC Scotland.

“We need to tell parents not to mix, otherwise schools will have to shut again. One of the issues when schools go back is parents end up mixing more.

“It is really not a sign of normality of opening up everything; it is a case of prioritising the wellbeing of children. It is a difficult trade-off."

Patrick Harvie asks if the twice weekly at-home testing of staff and senior pupils will be in place by 22 February.

The Scottish Greens co-leader also calls for reassurance that teachers' workloads will be manageable going forward and that safety is the priority.

The first minister explains that the twice weekly home-testing will be available at schools for the phased return and thereafter expanded.

Ms Sturgeon reminds teachers they can get a test right now without symptoms.

She insists keeping everyone in schools safe is paramount.

Image source, PA Media

The largest teachers union, the EIS, questioned some aspects of the plan for children to return to school.

The union said: “Clearly, any school return remains contingent upon continued progress on community suppression of the virus and that is not a given so we need to see infection levels coming down substantially before the return date can be confirmed.

“A phased return is a more cautious approach but we are surprised that the first minister did not discuss the need for physical distancing amongst P1-P3 pupils, given that she clearly stated the new variant impacts on all age groups, whereas previously younger children seemed to be less directly involved in transmission. We will need to see the scientific evidence to justify this approach.

“The availability of regular resting for staff is something the EIS has called for, so that is welcome, as is its extension to senior phase pupils which will offer some reassurance to their families.”

Interim Scottish Labour leader Jackie Baillie highlights a report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies that says by the time the pandemic is over, most children will have missed more than half a year of normal, in-person, schooling.

This will lead to lower incomes and higher inequality over the course of their lifetime, she says, and asks what remedial action the Scottish government will take to address this, particularly for pupils with additional support needs.

Nicola Sturgeon says she is "deeply concerned" about the ongoing impact on young people and hopes that a phased return to the classroom can begin from 22 February.

"That is the most important thing we can do," says the first minister.

Ms Sturgeon adds that more investment will be needed "for some time to come" to support teachers to help children to "catch up".

The education secretary John Swinney is continuing discussions about what format that hep will take over the medium and long terms, she says.

Image source, PA Media

Campaign group Us For Them says it is disappointed by the first minister’s announcement.

It warns that “the unbearable limbo for thousands” looks set to continue for months, adding that that would be devastating for families.

Us For Them has argued that schools should remain open and fears that disruption to education is doing more harm than good.

The first minister adds, in response to Ruth Davidson's question, that she wants to see the daily number of vaccinations "grow and accelerate".

She says today's tally of 34,881 is 55% higher than number of doses last Monday.

Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives at Holyrood, says the Scottish government’s vaccination programme is “slow, stuttering and lagging way behind the rest of the UK”

She highlights the lowest daily figure of jabs recorded on Sunday, 31 January, and asks by what date all over-70s will get their letter or be contacted to tell them their vaccination date, and why the rollout is “so far behind”.

Nicola Sturgeon says the government has worked with GPs and others to ensure any issues are being overcome.

All over-70s in the extremely vulnerable group will have received a letter by the end of this week at the latest, says the first minister, and the government is on track to meet its target of vaccinating everyone in the first four group by the middle of February.

"I won't apologise for deliberately focusing on uptake in the most clinically vulnerable groups," she adds, highlighting that 98% of care-home residents have received their first dose.

Jamie McIvor
BBC Scotland education correspondent

If some children and teenagers return to school on 22 February, they will be among the first in the UK to do so.

Some children in Wales may return on the same date – England and Northern Ireland are looking at 8 March.

In a sense, the Scottish government is being ambitious and cautious at the same time.

There is bound to be a range of opinion on the wisdom of its decision which will be confirmed in two weeks' time.

Teachers’ unions are concerned that without further safety measures, the return to school risks adding to the risk of infection numbers rising.

One big question of course is what the number of infections – which has been coming down in recent weeks – will be like by 22 February. There is also the question of what impact the vaccination programme may be having on the numbers by then.