Chamber and committees

Please accept my apologies for not being in the chamber this evening, Presiding Officer. I thank my colleague Marie McNair for bringing this important subject to the chamber for a members’ business debate.

Ovarian cancer is not my friend. I first met it back in August 1977 when I was nine years old. I did not know what it was at the time, but I knew that it was not good. Mam and Dad sat me down to tell me that I would need to go and live with my granny and granda for three weeks while mam went into hospital to get a small black spot removed from her belly. I know now that the explanation was not very factual but, at nine years old, it was good enough for me to get a grasp of.

Mam had her operation on 16 August 1977, the day that Elvis Presley died. My sister still remembers this, as Mam was a huge fan of his and it has always stuck in her mind. I came home after Mam got home from hospital to find Mam and Dad’s bed in the living room, and could not work out why. I thought, “Mam was getting better, wasn’t she?” After all, she had had the operation she needed. Eight weeks after her operation and 17 days after my 10th birthday, my mam passed away, aged just 34 years, from ovarian cancer. So, no, ovarian cancer is not my friend.

What do I know about it now? Well, I know that ovarian cancer is one of the most lethal of female cancers. I know that it is most often diagnosed at a late stage. The symptoms are commonly experienced as a result of other conditions, but people should let their doctor know how often they are experiencing symptoms, as that is an important step in helping the doctor to know when they should consider ovarian cancer as a possible cause. I know that, when it is detected at an early stage—when the cancer remains confined to the ovary—up to 90 per cent of those diagnosed are likely to survive for more than five years. That compares to 17 per cent surviving for five or more years when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

I also know that there is still no routine simple screening test to accurately detect ovarian cancer. Contrary to popular belief, cervical screening will not detect ovarian cancer. Although cervical screening is effective in early detection of cervical cancer, it is not a test for ovarian cancer. There have been no advances made in the last 40 years in the diagnosis or treatment of this silent cancer, and it is time that it got as much publicity as other cancers. That is why I am telling my, but more importantly, my mam’s story tonight.

We need a consistent approach to testing. Why does it have to rely on doctors taking the decision on whether someone fits the bill for testing? My sister used to get a CA-125 blood test done routinely, but I never have. Why? We both come from the same mother, but we have different doctors and different health authorities. I urge the minister to look into that as a matter of urgency.

I started my speech by saying that ovarian cancer is not my friend, and I am determined not to allow it to have the last say in my speech tonight. I dedicate this to my mam, Elizabeth May Dunbar, née Watt, wife to Jimmy and mam to Elaine, Andrew and Jacqueline, born 10 May 1943 and died 19 October 1977, aged just 34 years. You may be gone, Mam, but you are definitely not forgotten.

Is the money for crew members’ food and travel included in their wages? Is that what is bringing down their terms and conditions?

I am not entirely sure that your sacked employees will agree with that.

When my colleague Emma Harper was down at Cairnryan last week, she spoke to some of the folk who have been sacked. They raised serious concerns about how a new crew can be trained in health and safety to a competent standard so quickly. How long will that process take? Are you confident that they will be trained to a competent standard?

You said earlier that the pay was the same and that the terms and conditions were changed slightly but not a lot. That is why I am asking why you needed to sack the Cairnryan seafarers.

Good morning, panel, and thank you for coming along.

In previous evidence-taking sessions, the committee has heard about staff retention in local authorities. In response to Monica Lennon, you mentioned planning services and building standards, but have you been made aware of concerns about any other services in local authorities? If so, what impact has that had on you and your members?

I will go to Grant Tierney first, and then Martyn Raine.

Ian Hill, do you have anything to add?

You have still not said what the difference is in the terms and conditions, or maybe it is just that I have not heard that. If there is no change to pay and very little change to terms and conditions, why did you feel the need to sack 800 people so that you could take on new people under new contracts?

I say, with all due respect, that I do not think that it matters where it is happening; it is happening.

I still do not think that I am getting much of an answer, deputy convener. I think that I will just pass back to you.

So you are saying that every new member of crew will be paid exactly the same as the previous crew members, and that the terms and conditions have not changed. In other words, the new crew will receive holiday pay, employer pension contributions and sick pay, for example.