Chamber and committees

I congratulate Clare Adamson on securing this debate and on her excellent and compassionate opening speech. It is important that we take this opportunity not just to recognise pancreatic cancer awareness month but to strive to improve the response to a dreadful disease.

I use this debate to ensure that the voices of my constituents who have been impacted by pancreatic cancer are heard in the Parliament. My constituent Annmarie Adams and her mother Margaret have travelled through from Clydebank to support today’s debate, and I welcome them both. Annmarie’s husband Billy passed away peacefully on 17 June this year, just two months after his diagnosis. He was surrounded by his loving family, who had to cope with losing him at 55 years of age.

Billy was a born-and-bred Bankie, who worked in security and pubs in his local area. A die-hard Liverpool and Glasgow Warriors fan, he had hoped to visit his beloved Anfield before he died, but he did not get the chance. However, Annmarie and her mum visited Anfield at the start of this month to mark Billy’s 56th birthday on 8 November and to scatter some of his ashes in the River Mersey.

Annmarie feels that the general public and health professionals need to be more aware of the signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer, to enable quicker diagnosis. Her experience has convinced her of the need for enhanced end-of-life care and support. She thinks that better communication and streamlined services are essential if we are to enable people to use the time that they have left to greatest effect. Billy’s cancer was, unfortunately, too far advanced for him to receive treatment. Annmarie wants everything to be done to prevent other families from having to face the same heartache.

I welcome another constituent: Katie Hendry, from Milngavie, who is watching online. She also wants more awareness of this terrible disease, to which she lost her grandmother Christine, who, sadly, passed away on 25 June 2021 at the age of 79. Christine left behind her husband of 57 years, Bill, her three children, her five grandchildren and two grand-dogs. Christine was a retired primary school teacher who loved singing in rock choirs—her favourite number was “Dancing Queen”, by Abba. She was a devoted grandmother and had a large network of friends. She always managed to make people feel special while they were in her company.

Christine had been back and forth to her GP, who eventually referred her to hospital for tests. She was tested for bowel cancer in December 2020, but the results came back clear. She continued to feel unwell, so, knowing that something was not quite right, she decided to go private to get a scan. The scan detected a shadow on her pancreas. Further tests were carried out and Christine was eventually diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on 26 March 2021.

Christine’s ashes were scattered in Mugdock country park and on the beach at Anstruther—places she had enjoyed visiting and where she had had happy times with her family.

Christine’s granddaughter Katie would like there to be increased funding and scanner capacity, quicker referrals from doctors, person-centred care and more clinical trials and research.

It is an honour to share my constituents’ heartbreaking experiences in the Parliament. I pay tribute to their strength and determination to highlight how important early diagnosis is to saving lives.

We know that pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, with 900 people dying from it each year in Scotland. However, two-thirds of people in the UK cannot name a single symptom. We must do more to get the message out there about the symptoms and to ensure that pancreatic cancer gets the correct response in the new cancer strategy for Scotland.

I praise Pancreatic Cancer Action Scotland and Pancreatic Cancer UK for everything that they do to raise awareness and for their support for today’s event. The powerful testimonies of my constituents must drive us to do everything that we can to get the best possible answers when it comes to the dreadful impact of pancreatic cancer. We must show that we have listened and we must ensure that the response to pancreatic cancer gets the priority that it deserves.

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to bus companies that are currently facing driver shortages. (S6O-01592)

The driver shortage is having an impact on bus companies’ ability to provide a full service and reliable timetables in parts of my constituency. I have been advised by one bus company that the shortage is, in part, due to recruitment issues that are related to Brexit and Covid-19. Is the minister aware that those two issues are having an impact? Can she offer any guidance on what is available to companies to help them to mitigate the issue?

I am pleased to speak in the debate about the Westminster-imposed cost of living crisis. It is a time of great concern for many of my constituents who are struggling to get by and to provide the basics for their families.

The Tories’ disastrous mini budget, which it called on the Scottish Government to copy, has created a terrifying situation for many people. That budget made a difficult financial outlook even worse. As the motion points out, the situation is putting immense pressure on people in households with a mortgage. Recently, I spoke to a constituent who has a variable-rate mortgage. She described the fear that she experiences each time a letter from her mortgage provider arrives. Of course, those letters never have good news—it is always bad, and there are a few options available to assist her.

We must do everything that we can to help people who have mortgages, which is why I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government is already reviewing the eligibility criteria for the home owners support fund. The support for mortgage interest scheme from the Department for Work and Pensions does not provide adequate help to people who are on universal credit. It is welcome that the Westminster budget statement announced that the waiting period for universal credit claimants before they can make claims will be reduced from nine months to three months. The removal of the earnings bar for making claims is also welcome. However, none of that is due to happen until next spring. It makes no sense to wait until spring to do that, when home owners need our help now.

I call on Labour and Tory members to join me in calling for the changes to be brought in immediately, which would allow help to be accessed now.

No. I have a lot to get through.

The budget statement should have done so much more; it was a missed opportunity to provide the help that is needed to mitigate the cost of living crisis. Instead, it kept the five-week waiting time for universal credit, which is forcing people to go into debt. Millions of pounds need to go towards mitigating the two-child policy, the Tories’ abhorrent rape clause, the bedroom tax and the benefits cap. Instead—to just give one example—the budget should have matched our Scottish child payment. The Child Poverty Action Group said:

“If the Scottish Government can make this kind of serious investment in protecting our children from poverty, then so too can the UK Government.”

However, it was more of the same from the Westminster Government: no compassion and no radical game-changing policies. In fact, Torsten Bell from the Resolution Foundation said that the Tories had delivered a budget with the “policies of Gordon Brown”.

My party is usually accused of saying that there is no difference between the Tories and Labour; we are seeing evidence that that might be true. We know that the cost of living crisis has been made worse by Brexit. The extreme Tory Brexit, which is now a policy of the Scottish Labour Party, is an unmitigated disaster for our country. Scotland’s economy has been hammered by Brexit, which is hitting people’s pockets badly. Just last week, MPs were told by a member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee that Brexit has added 6 per cent to food prices. Back in June, respected think tank the Resolution Foundation said that the average worker was on course to suffer more than £470 in lost earnings each year by 2030.

That is what the Tories and the Scottish Labour Party have to offer in the cost of living crisis—further misery and hardship, fuelled by their Brexit policies. The UK economy is in crisis and the new age of Tory austerity is on its way. Scotland deserves better than that, which is why Scottish independence is now essential.

It is a pleasure to follow Maggie Chapman’s speech. I am pleased to speak in this debate to recognise the international day for the elimination of violence against women on 25 November and the 16 days of activism that follow it. The United Nations declares—rightly—that

“Violence against women and girls ... is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today”

and that it

“remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.”

The theme for 2022 is “UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”. The theme makes it clear that supporting and investing in strong and autonomous women’s rights organisations and feminist movements is key to ending violence against women and girls.

In preparation for my speech and in recognition of the main theme, I took time to speak to one of the women’s aid groups in my constituency. Clydebank Women’s Aid has been providing emotional and practical support and refuge for women, children and young people subjected to domestic abuse for 41 years. I asked what it wanted the Parliament to know. The group is clear that dedicated days of action extend beyond 16 days of the year. Women, children and young people who experience abuse need more than 16 days of action. They live with male violence 365 days of the year. Some of them will live with lifelong implications and several others will be murdered.

The reality for women, children and young people remains unchanged, with barriers limiting women’s options. Clydebank Women’s Aid points out strongly that we need to ensure that enough refuge spaces are available for women. Refuge is vital when women flee domestic abuse and a lack of spaces might mean that they have no option but to stay. The group is keen that we recognise that the current cost of living crisis will impact on a woman’s ability to flee. The more economically deprived that women are, the fewer the financial choices that they have available to them.

Women deserve specialist women’s aid services that are underpinned by feminist analyses of domestic abuse, and the cost of living crisis might impact upon that. To support that, Clydebank Women’s Aid calls on the Scottish Government to guarantee ring-fenced funding for the women’s aid network in Scotland.

During my 19 years as a councillor, I formed a good relationship with Clydebank Women’s Aid. It is a strong part of a strong partnership and policy platform that aims to support women and change societal attitudes. As part of that approach, West Dunbartonshire Council became the first social landlord in Scotland to introduce a zero-tolerance policy on domestic abuse in its properties. The council introduced measures that ensure that victims have immediate access to practical help and specialist legal assistance and support following any incident of domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse can have a devastating and long-term impact on a woman’s life. It can result in homelessness, isolation, loss of earnings, physical and mental health problems, injuries and even death. Living with domestic abuse can seriously affect a child’s emotional and psychological wellbeing, undermine their relationship with their mother and have other negative consequences.

Research by UN Women showed that 45 per cent of women reported that they or a woman they know experienced a form of violence against women and girls. Seven women in 10 say that they think that verbal or physical abuse by a partner has become more common. Those statistics are unacceptable.

There are a number of welcome initiatives in place that are making a difference, and important legislative changes were made by the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. Those are all important to the aim of eliminating violence against women and girls but, as the “UNITE!” campaign points out, uniting with groups such as Clydebank Women’s Aid will be key to the success of that aim. The silencing of women through violence must end.

I have one more question. There are numerous references to the infrastructure first approach in the revised NPF4. Is that being delivered in practice? If not, what needs to change?

Thanks for your comments, which are very helpful.

I am keen to continue with the line of questions that I asked of the previous panel. I would like to hear from Liz Hamilton first, then from anyone else who would like to come in.

Are you satisfied that terms such as “community wealth building” and “20-minute neighbourhoods” are sufficiently well defined and understood to provide a robust basis for planning decision making? You touched slightly on 20-minute neighbourhoods earlier, but you might want to expand.

There are numerous references to the infrastructure-first approach in the revised NPF4. Can it be delivered in practice and, if not, what needs to change? I am keen to hear views on that. Previous witnesses have mentioned the resource implications.