Lockdown easing hopes

The Scottish Government is to consider accelerating its exit from lockdown, Nicola Sturgeon said alongside her announcement on pupils returning to school.

The first minister told MSPs, in light of positive trends in coronavirus figures, that “we will be considering if it might be possible to accelerate the exit from lockdown in any way”.

She had previously announced plans for all primary school children and senior secondary school pupils to return to schooling from March 15.

Younger pupils in secondary school would not have returned until after the Easter holidays in April.

But she said it was now her “intention that all secondary school pupils will return to spend some time in school from March 15 until the Easter break”, with full-time in school learning after the holidays.

She said that while “years 4 to 6 may have priority, we expect that all children in secondary school will receive some in-school education each week”.

“This will allow pupils to get used to being back in school and allow them to start seeing friends again.

“Before Easter, we will also continue to ensure that remote learning is of the highest standard possible,” she said.

Ms Sturgeon told MSPs the Scottish Government will consider in the next week if other planned easing of restrictions can be accelerated.

She said coronavirus figures in the past week were encouraging and ministers would be considering if the exit from lockdown can be moved forward.

“When I update Parliament next week, I hope to be able to confirm some changes to Scotland’s level 4 restrictions,” she said.

“Between now and then, and in light of the positive data that I will report on today, we will be considering if it might be possible to accelerate the exit from lockdown in any way, consistent, of course, with the care and caution we know is necessary.”