Official Report 211KB pdf
Mental Health Services <br />(Deaf and Deaf-blind People) (PE808)
Item 3 is consideration of petition PE808, which was lodged on 17 January 2005 by Lilian Lawson, on behalf of the Scottish Council on Deafness, and calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to develop and establish a specialist in-patient mental health unit for deaf and deaf-blind people and to provide resources, such as training, for mainstream psychiatric services in the community to make them more accessible to deaf and deaf-blind people in Scotland.
Given the response that we have had from the minister about the work that is being done on the possibility of establishing a specialist in-patient service, we should keep a watching brief on the issue and revisit it once that evaluation has been carried out. To judge by the minister's letter, that should be October 2008. We can reconsider the matter then.
That is the option that I prefer for the same reasons. There is no need for us to produce a report, given that a significant body of work is being undertaken in respect of the petition. I support option B, which is to maintain a watching brief.
I agree—option B.
There is no need for a formal report as such, but I suggest that we write to the Scottish Government pulling together some of the issues that were raised with us in evidence. It would be useful for us to feed those into the work that is being done.
Yes, I am content for us to draft a letter to the minister about the issues that have been raised. We will definitely return to the matter once the evaluation has been done in or around October 2008. That is a commitment.
Convener—
Rhoda—
I am Helen.
I know you are; that was just a senior moment. I am allowed one a day. I have had mine, so you can have yours now if you like.
I do not disagree with anything that has been said, but will we send copies of the Official Report for both weeks of evidence to the individuals who lodged the petition?
I am content to do that, although I am sure that they are monitoring it. We will close the petition—it does not go back to the Public Petitions Committee because it is live and active with us—and write to the minister with the issues that have been raised in evidence. We will also write to the petitioners undertaking to return to the matter so that they are secure in knowing that it is not just parked and kicked into the long grass.
Meeting closed at 11:43.