Nicola Sturgeon turns to Barrhead Travel to help stem Covid

Barrhead Travel agents have been selected by the Scottish Government to help stem the spread of coronavirus.

Staff from the agency will work on the country’s Test and Protect scheme which has come under fire for ‘going in the wrong direction’.

They will play a key role in identifying and tracing people who may have been in contact with people who have tested positive for Covid.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed the move in a coronavirus update.  

Barrhead Travel President Jacqueline Dobson said the agency approached the government in a move to save jobs.

"As travel is unlikely to return to pre-Covid levels before 2021, we proactively explored other business options to help preserve as many jobs as possible," she said.

"Our people are our most important asset at Barrhead Travel. By working in partnership with NHS Scotland to provide highly skilled personnel for national contact tracing efforts, we will be able to save many jobs and keep our people in work until the demand for travel returns.

"Travel is, of course, still our primary business and our stores are open as normal across the country to support all of our customers with their holiday plans for 2021 and beyond."

The consultants will help boost the number of contact tracers after it emerged last month that Scotland had just 874 contact tracers available despite a pledge to recruit 2,000.

A Scottish Government spokesperson, quoted in the Daily Record, said: "In recruiting staff to Test and Protect, Barrhead travel offered the support of call centre workers who would normally support their travel business, but who are not required at present due to the decline in the travel market.  

"Training those individuals in Test and Protect, where they will work for and be under the direction of the NHS, has helped to not only support our recruitment of staff for Test and Protect, but also helped to prevent potential redundancies or unemployment."

NHS National Services Scotland said it has recruited additional staff to support the National Contact Tracing Centre.

"This further strengthens our national capacity to identify close contacts of any individuals within 24 hours of a positive test result," a spokesperson said. "The National Contract Tracing centre is critical to the continued success of Scotland’s Test and Protect programme.

"This interim staffing solution allows us to source experienced and highly-skilled contact centre staff who can hit the ground running.

"We are ensuring Scotland’s contact tracing system has the resilience needed to handle the challenges ahead."