REHIS News

On Wednesday 22 July First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed in her Coronavirus (COVID-19) update speech that Environmental Health Officers had visited a number of secondary locations with links to COVID-19 outbreak in Lanarkshire, based around the Sitel call centre.

The REHIS Food Hygiene Secondary Schools Initiative, which is co-funded by the Institute and Food Standards Scotland, was adapted to be delivered digitally to allow secondary school pupils in Scotland complete the REHIS Elementary Food Hygiene course (SCQF Level 5) through homeworking. This proved to be very welcome and vital for the Home Economics teachers in supporting their pupils during the pandemic lockdown.

REHIS Approved Training Centres are cautiously returning to face-to-face training sessions whilst implementing rigorous hygiene and social distancing measures. Many have been waiting patiently until it is safe to return to the ‘classroom’ and it is great to see the Centres starting to take bookings and course registrations coming in to the Institute.   For some learners returning to face-to-face training simply isn’t an option, so with this in mind, the Institute is continuing to allow virtual courses and e-Learning to carry on for the time being.  

The Scottish Government have produced guidance for Scotland’s live event sector following the announcement that they have be given the green light to hold drive-in entertainment from Wednesday 22 July.

Live concerts, comedy nights, theatre productions and local bingo events are among the experiences organisers have been ‘reimagining’ right across Scotland.

Highland Council Environment Health Officers and the Police have been visiting businesses in Inverness city centre in a bid to raise public confidence, demonstrating that the city centre is doing all it can to ensure public safety as lockdown restrictions are eased.

As Scotland have moved into Phases 2 and 3 of Scotland's route map the Scottish Government has produced additional guidance for the sectors who are allowed to open.

Hairdressers and Barbers

Hairdressers and barbers re-opened on 15 July.

The guidance also covers services such as beauty salons, spas, indoor photography studios and make-up counters which have been given an indicative opening date of 22 July.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) Knowledge Services team have developed a new bulletin for those working in Health Protection, and are also piloting a new Data and Intelligence bulletin, which focuses on topics including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, data science, analytics, data visualisation and associated areas.

In addition, they have developed new bulletins which aim to reflect the remit to support Scotland’s Public Health Priorities and have created bulletins to cover each of the six priorities:

Since the Scottish Government tasked Scottish local authorities with the enforcement of The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 , their Environmental Health and Trading Standards (EH&TS) teams have responded to record numbers of requests for help and advice from business, and enquiries and complaints around compliance.

Food Standards Scotland have updated their Coronavirus Question and Answers for consumer and businesses. 

These can be accessed here.

Food Standards Scotland COVID-19 Guidance for Food Business Operators and Their Employees has been updated to reflect changes in COVID-19 restrictions.