Chamber and committees

Thank you.

You could perhaps follow up with a written submission, Mr O’Neill.

To ask the Scottish Government what work has been done to improve accessibility to prescription wig provision for those affected by hair loss. (S6O-03142)

A constituent of mine currently receives real-hair wigs but, given the advancements in acrylic wigs, she would like to try one of those instead. She has advised me that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has said that, if she makes that decision, she would not be able to move back to a real-hair wig prescription should she wish to do so. That seems a bit harsh. Can the minister confirm whether there are any plans to review that approach to allow more flexibility in moving between the two wig prescriptions?

It has been touched on a wee bit already. How reliable is the data to allow rent officers and the tribunal to make an informed decision?

I am an MSP for the Clydebank and Milngavie constituency.

Just before I do so, I declare an interest as a former councillor, up until 2022. That will be applicable to discussions later in the agenda.

In your experience, how well are the Scottish Government and those responsible for working to achieve the housing to 2040 aims including local communities, tenants and residents in delivery plans? Given that Stephen Connor talked earlier about the importance of tenants being at the table, he might be best placed to kick off responses. Secondly, are outcomes improving for communities, tenants and residents?

I thank my colleague Stuart McMillan for securing this highly important debate. I know that he has done a lot of work in this regard to support his constituents and raise awareness, and I thank him for that.

I am speaking on behalf of several constituents who have been affected by McClure. As has been mentioned, it is estimated that around 100,000 people across the UK have been impacted by the scandal. The clients are predominantly elderly and, in some cases, vulnerable, too. Many who were impacted were advised that a new will was beneficial, and they were later sold family protection trusts and powers of attorney on the back of that. The cost of that was in the thousands—money that the clients had worked hard for over their lives and could not afford to lose. Since the takeover by Jones Whyte, it is believed that files have been passed over without the express permission of clients, which is a cause for concern among some constituents.

With McClure Solicitors now in administration, thousands of people are left with significant difficulties in accessing assets, because of numerous inaccuracies or failings by McClure. That has caused undue stress, anxiety and financial difficulty for clients and their surviving families, who are often now having to pay extra to remedy those failings. It is a disgrace.

One of my constituents, who gave me permission to share their story, told me:

“I paid McClure to prepare a will and power of attorney for me in 2020. The power of attorney was never registered with the Office of Public Guardian. Jones Whyte Solicitors have taken over from McClure and said that I need to pay again. As a 75-year-old pensioner, frightened to turn my heating up, I am distressed to have to start further payments to yet another law firm.”

Another said:

“My mother was a victim of McClure Solicitors and was encouraged to put her home into a trust and buy a will and a power of attorney for £3,500. It was mis-sold to her, and two of the McClure staff put themselves on the trust as trustees and also changed the title deeds of my mother’s home to name themselves on the deeds without her knowledge. We are now trying to unravel the mess that they have made with the new solicitor, costing further expense to my retired mother.”

Those are just two examples of the several cases that I have received in my office. What links each one is that the victims are elderly, and that some also have serious health conditions. It is utterly unacceptable that they have been put into such stressful financial difficulties at a point in their lives when they should be able to relax and put their feet up.

I back Stuart McMillan’s calls for an inquiry into the firm’s conduct and subsequent collapse to prevent a recurrence of the situation. Unfortunately, it is expected that thousands might be unaware of what has happened and that, as a result, their legal affairs will not be in order. It is therefore vital that, as MSPs, we do what we can to spread awareness, in tandem with the excellent work of the victims of McClure Solicitors campaign. If that awareness raising can be extended to a Scottish Government information campaign, as suggested by Stuart McMillan, that would also have my backing.

How we treat elderly residents says a lot about who we are as people, and it says a lot about our country, too. They deserve to be treated with compassion, honesty and respect, and they should not have been misled. It is vital that we do everything in our power to support those victims as best we can. I am firmly on their side, alongside Stuart McMillan.

As case transfer for carer support payment is likely to be complete in 2025, does the Social Security (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill provide a timely opportunity to introduce a statutory requirement to uprate the carer support payment earnings threshold?

We need an immediate ceasefire and an end to the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

As a forward-thinking and compassionate nation, we cannot stand by while an obvious genocide happens. The killing of innocent civilians and the brutal slaughter of children must end. The civilian death toll—which stands at around 30,000 people in Gaza, more than 1,000 people in Israel, and more than 300 in the West Bank—is rising daily. The only way to end the suffering is an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages and those who have been detained without charge. The relentless suffering that is being faced by the people of Gaza has been weighing on the hearts and minds of so many across the country.

Two days ago, Andrew Gilmour, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights from 2016 to 2019, said:

“Israel’s onslaught against Gaza is probably the highest kill rate of any military killing anywhere since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.”

I have joined thousands on the streets to protest and call for an immediate ceasefire, an end to collective punishment and an end to illegal occupation. I am glad to see that, since that, and with the pressure from the Scottish National Party, the new Labour Party has backed calls for a ceasefire—at least of a sort. External pressure does more for Labour at the moment than what is enshrined in its internal principles.

The Tories and the Labour Party made a devastating mistake by opposing a ceasefire in November. Lives have been lost and the death toll has since risen enormously. Their failure to back calls for a ceasefire earlier will be remembered in the history books with their names on it. Yesterday in Westminster, new Labour’s position was appalling. The new Labour cabal came together to deny a motion that called for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the collective punishment of Palestinian people.

“Newsnight” journalist Nicholas Watt said that the House of Commons speaker was left in “no doubt” that new Labour would “bring him down” after the general election unless he allowed a weak new Labour amendment on Gaza. The new Labour junior deputy speaker, Rosie Winterton, was then deployed to defend the indefensible. Like most Labour stitch-ups, it ended in disaster and humiliation, but it was still cheered on by some lapsed Corbynistas in the Parliament who want to be chummed with the arms industry that provides weapons to Israel.

Most of us have never experienced anything close to the level of horror in Gaza, so comments from Dr Salim Ghayyda have stuck with me. Dr Ghayyda grew up in Gaza and he has family there. He now works as a consultant paediatrician in Inverness.

When discussing his family, he said;

“The stories of immense suffering I hear from them every day. Every part of their life turns into an astonishing amount of suffering. There is nothing in their life that you could consider a life, actually. Water is contaminated and they eat one meal a day. The number of children killed is around 12,000 to 14,000. Do you know how many children there are in Inverness? 14,000. Imagine we, the Scottish people, wake up one day and all the children in Inverness have been killed. This is what happened to the children in Gaza. Stop. Enough is enough. Stop this genocide, please.”

Those comments are terrifying. This perpetual cycle of violence has been going on for far too long. We either call for the killing to end or we sit by and let the death total escalate. History will judge us all on that. We need an immediate ceasefire and an end to the collective punishment.