Chamber and committees

Thank you, John, and I thank the committee. It is a true honour to be elected as convener of a really important committee. We should all take comfort from the fact that at least the word “Recovery” is in its name. We are all acutely aware of the responsibility that we have in our roles on the committee, not only to the Parliament but to all people in Scotland, as we work our way through the journey of recovery. I am really looking forward to working with the clerks and with all members of the committee.

You have raised some valid points.

I go back to the suggestion about reconvening during the recess. As we know, the situation with Covid is fluid. I hope that we will not be called back, but do members agree that, should an emergency situation arise, we could reconvene during the recess?

Everybody seems to be happy with that suggestion. I will speak to the clerks about that, and they will be in touch with members.

Would members like to make any other comments?

We all long for the day when the bill will expire in its entirety and our lives will get back on track. No one will ever forget the fear, uncertainty and sense of unknown of what was ahead of us back in March 2020 when the world went into lockdown. There was no guidebook on how to handle a pandemic on such a huge global scale, and Governments around the world did their best to steer their countries through one of the most difficult times that any of us has ever known.

Thankfully, we have come a long way since March 2020, but coronavirus continues to pose a significant threat to public health. That is why it is still so important that our priority is to lead Scotland out of the pandemic and reopen the country as quickly and safely as possible.

I am sure that other elected members receive correspondence from people who are keen to get their lives back to normal and are frustrated by restrictions not being lifted quickly enough. We all want our lives to be back to normal: we want our kids back at school, carefree and enjoying their lives as they should; we want our businesses truly without restrictions; and we all want to go on holiday. However, the stark reality is that Covid is still with us and is still a threat.

Covid-19 is ageist, sexist, ruthless, dispassionate and opportunistic—as we have seen from the new variants emerging in recent months. Many of us have lost loved ones to this cruel pandemic and families have been devastated. Recently, I met a grieving constituent from Ayr, whose family had been torn apart by Covid-19. Lee Dodds from Ayr, aged 32, his wife and children all contracted coronavirus in March 2021. Lee was a fit and healthy hard-working man who had never been in hospital in his life. Tragically, Lee lost his life on 2 April, leaving behind his wife, a 10-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter. The family asked me to remind everyone that Covid is still a concern and to say, “Don’t think it won’t happen to you. Please stay safe.”

The bill is welcome and will ensure that the provisions to maintain essential public services can continue beyond 30 September, on our road to recovery. There is no quick fix for a pandemic, but we have learned lessons in the past 15 months. The bill will not add any new measures to restrictions, but will expire several provisions that are no longer necessary. That is progress in the right direction.

In what has been a difficult year for so many people, we have also learned about resilience, innovation and the importance of support within the community. I have been out in my constituency in recent weeks, talking to local businesses. In what we cannot deny has been a very difficult time for them, many have come up with innovative ways to trade and to work with restrictions in a positive way. It is of huge importance to those businesses to keep their staff and the general public safe. Many businesses have chosen to close for a period if they were at risk of an outbreak. Times continue to be tough, but there is optimism and responsibility and care for the local community, which is admirable.

Although we are on the long road to recovery, I still have concerns for our youth, who have suffered greatly during the pandemic. Thankfully, we have some routine back in our lives, and the dark days of attempting to home school, with even the play parks being closed for our young ones, are becoming a distant memory.

However, life is not back to normal for children. With the new variant, schools continue to have outbreaks and many students in recent months have had to isolate up to three times, for 10 days each time. That absence from school has a further hugely detrimental impact on our children’s education. It is not easy days for them and it is not easy days for teachers, who are working to the best of their ability in the most challenging of circumstances.

With South Ayrshire reporting a high number of positive cases in recent weeks, our local schools have had to put in place preventative measures to contain the spread. I understand the frustration of parents, as we all wish that life could get back to normal, but I must applaud those who have gone way and beyond to adapt and to make all the special occasions, such as our kids’ nursery graduations, as magical and memorable as possible for our students.

My five-year-old leaves nursery this week. Unfortunately, her primary 1 induction day was cancelled due to a local outbreak, and her first ever sports day was videoed by the team of dedicated teachers, who captured every moment and sent the video to all the parents. It is not everybody’s first preference, but the extraordinary efforts that are being made during these times by teachers cannot and should not be dismissed.

Although the pandemic is not over, the efforts that have been made by people all over Scotland since March last year and the success of the roll-out of the vaccination programme have allowed us to be optimistic about our future. Although we have had setbacks from time to time, we have started our journey towards national recovery. Now more than ever, it is important that all political parties across the chamber put the interests of the country first in order to guide Scotland through the pandemic and into recovery, so I will support the bill today.

I thank the First Minister for the update on Covid.

A constituent of mine, who requires a gluten-free diet, recently had to self-isolate in a hotel for 10 days on her return to Scotland. Will the Scottish Government confirm, for any person who enters Scotland and has to self-isolate in a hotel, that hotels will be able to cater for all dietary requirements?

I thank the minister for leading today’s important debate on women’s health. It is so important that we do not ignore early signs of disease, because early diagnosis can be life saving. I welcome the opening next week of the early cancer diagnosis centre in Ayr, as part of the Scottish Government’s health recovery plan, and I encourage people not to ignore concerns but to get in touch with their doctor.

It is the biggest privilege to stand here as the first SNP member, and the first woman, to be elected to represent the people of Ayr, Prestwick and Troon in the Scottish Parliament. I would not be here today if it were not for the support and commitment of my campaign team. I thank Con, Ian, Alison and Becca, as well as all the local activists who put their heart and soul into helping to win the seat. Their extraordinary efforts mean that I am able to join the other four SNP MSPs in representing all the people of Ayrshire.

I thank all the people who trusted me with their vote. I will work hard to repay their trust. I assure those who did not vote for me that I am their MSP, too. I am determined to represent each and every one of my constituents to the best of my abilities at Holyrood.

I also pay tribute to my predecessor, John Scott, who represented the people of Ayr, Prestwick and Troon for 21 years. Although our politics are different, I have the utmost respect for him. He was a highly regarded member of the Scottish Parliament, and I wish him health and happiness.

Politics and public life can, at times, be somewhat challenging to family life, so I thank my husband and children for their support and patience. I am lucky to represent a beautiful part of the world, on the picturesque west coast of Scotland. I represent the Ayr seat, which includes the neighbouring towns of Prestwick and Troon. We have many valuable resources such as our world-class golf courses, our Robert Burns heritage, Prestwick airport and the aerospace industries, Troon port and the yacht marina, a campus of the University of the West of Scotland and, in normal times, a buzzing restaurant scene and nightlife. If you have never been, I urge you to come and visit my constituency. Weather permitting, you might be rewarded with a sunset over Arran that will make you appreciate life, even during a pandemic.

My constituency is fortunate to have many areas of affluence, but it also has areas with high levels of deprivation. Years of Tory austerity have impacted heavily on the resilience of our poorest communities and have increased the difference in life chances for our young and our old. A child in some parts of Ayr north is twice as likely to grow up in poverty as one living in Troon, and the life expectancy of a child born today is around 10 years less in our poorest areas than it is in our most affluent areas.

Tory austerity and social welfare cuts have exacerbated inequality. That cannot be denied or excused—more so since the cuts have been revealed to be a deliberate policy choice and not an economic necessity. That is why the Scottish Government’s renewed commitment to tackling child poverty is welcome. Measures such as doubling the Scottish child payment to £20 per week in the first year of this parliamentary session, which has already been described as a poverty game changer, will give children in our communities the life chances that we wish for them all.

There are also inequalities in our communities at the other end of the age spectrum. I am sure that members are aware that levels of pensioner poverty are higher and that the state pension is lower in the UK than in most of western Europe. The stolen pensions of the WASPI women—the women against state pension inequality—are a national scandal. Given that the proportion of my constituents who are aged over 65 is higher than the Scottish average, that is of huge concern to me. In one of the richest countries in the world, all our elderly citizens should be able to live with dignity and receive the level of care that they deserve. I am delighted that the Scottish Government has made it a priority to establish a national care service on a par with the NHS and has committed to scrapping charges for non-residential care.

Our young people are perhaps our most important local assets. As it has for kids around the world, the pandemic has had a huge impact on their education, their lives in general and their mental health. As we help our young people to get their lives back on track, we must take the opportunity to consider what kind of country we want them to grow up in and who we want to lead a fairer, greener recovery. That should be—and will be—decided by the people of Scotland. They have returned an SNP Government with a landslide victory, and the people’s will must be respected.

The Covid pandemic must be a priority, but, when the time is right, the people of Scotland should have the choice to determine their future. That is not about being divisive; it is about being democratic.

I congratulate you on your new role, Presiding Officer.

To ask the First Minister what engagement the Scottish Government has had with the United Kingdom Government regarding the extension of the deadline for application to the EU settlement scheme. (S6F-00048)

There are grave concerns that some EU citizens, such as the elderly, the infirm and children in care and foster homes, will fail to apply for settled status by the deadline of 30 June, either because they are incapable of doing so or because their guardians are unaware of the deadline.

How has the Scottish Government, together with local authorities, worked with local care homes and children’s care services to prevent any miscarriages of natural justice over the issue, especially given the life-changing consequences that missing the deadline could have?

made a solemn affirmation.