COVID-19 vaccination records in Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

1. Has the Government of Scotland refused to utilise the NHS Vaccine Pass service developed by NHSX within the Department of Health and Social Care of the UK Government?

2. Communication between the Government of Scotland/Scottish Ministers and HM Government in the United Kingdom relating to the implementation of NHS Vaccine Pass in Scotland.

3. The incident report, records or documentation relating to the security breach suffered by the NHS Scotland vaccine portal in relation to COVID-19 vaccination status, reported in May 2021.

4. What plans exist to allow individuals vaccinated wholly or partially in another part of the United Kingdom but resident in Scotland to utilise the Scottish Vaccine Pass service when developed?

5. What plans exist to allow Scottish residents vaccinated in another part of the United Kingdom to receive booster doses in Scotland and/or have their vaccination record in Scotland reflect the true and complete status of their vaccination records?

Response

1. Scottish Government explored using the NHSx health app but discovered it was not feasible due to Scotland using CHI numbers rather than NHS numbers. It was identified that it would require 9-12 months of development to adapt the NHSx app to meeting Scotland’s requirements.

2. Disclosure would (or would be likely to) prejudice substantially the economic interests of the whole or part of the UK (section 33(2)(a));

3. There was no security breach but it was identified that PDFs were editable with professional software so PDF downloads were withdrawn until they could be reintroduced with additional security features. Please see attached PDF file.

4. The Scottish Government are looking to address this with introduction of the COVID Status app at the start of October .

5. The Scottish Government are working with other UK Nations to ensure this is incorporated into the app scheduled for release at the start of October.

An exemption(s) under section.38(1)] of FOISA applies to some o] the information you have requested. This is to protect personal information , names, email addresses and contact details, of non-senior civil servants. An exemption applies to some of the information you have requested section 33 . This is as detailed in Point 2. detailed above.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI - 202100235958- Information Released - Annex

File type

3 page PDF

File size

675.6 kB