Chamber and committees

Audit Scotland has highlighted that cultural differences between partner organisations are barriers to collaborative working. How can we better overcome those barriers and foster collaborative working and greater integration of services?

On behalf of the Scottish Greens, I associate ourselves with the solidarity with the people of Ukraine that has been shown across the chamber.

The UK Government’s decision to scrap the requirement to self-isolate and to scale back free testing will undermine Scotland’s ability to recover from Covid. It also signals the abandonment not only of a four-nations approach but of people who were previously asked to shield. How can those people protect themselves from the virus if they do not know where it is? What steps can the Scottish Government take to mitigate the risk that is being posed to clinically vulnerable people and ensure that they continue to be protected and supported?

LGBT history month gives us an opportunity to celebrate Scotland’s diversity and reflect on historic injustice and persecution. Let us be clear: Scotland is an inclusive nation, and our commitment to human rights must not waver. That is why it is so shocking for many that bigotry and damaging practices such as conversion therapy still happen in this country. This week, it was revealed that crimes against LGBT people accounted for more than one third of all hate crimes that were reported to the British Transport Police in the nine months to January this year.

Will the First Minister stand with the LGBT community, condemn those hate crimes, and outline what more she and her Government can do to tackle anti-LGBT discrimination in Scotland?

I am concerned about staffing at stations and accessibility for disabled people. At some stations, lifts are not turned on when the station is not staffed. That limits the ability for disabled people to travel when they want, which many of us take for granted. Can the minister confirm that any changes will be discussed with disabled people’s organisations and that they will not adversely impact the accessibility of the network?

I have been contacted by a constituent whose son is nearly three and has complex needs. My constituent has been informed by NHS Lanarkshire that her son might have to wait for up to four years for an autism assessment. Does the cabinet secretary agree that that is unacceptable as we recover from the pandemic? What action can the Government take to support the health board to reduce waiting times?

I thought that that would be Jackie Baillie’s question. Yes, I will be supporting the amendment.

Alongside ensuring that adequate support is available, we must also publicise it, so that people know what they are entitled to. As I highlighted during the stage 1 debate, the Scottish Women’s Convention said in its submission:

“Of ... the women we spoke to, none of them had successfully accessed the Self-Isolation Support Grant or the Local Self-Isolation Assistance Service.”

Many women said that they had not heard of the scheme, and those who had heard of it did not think that they would be eligible. They also said:

“the application process can be daunting and confusing.”

That must be addressed urgently so that people can access the support that they are entitled to.

We know that the bill is a starting point. It aims to address a very specific issue and further pandemic-related legislation is undoubtedly needed. Like many other countries, we were unprepared for a global pandemic. We did not have appropriate legislation in place to help us to respond to that unprecedented situation. We must learn from this experience and ensure that we are better prepared in future. The Law Society of Scotland has recommended revision of

“the whole vista of emergency legislation”

as well as

“a law for emergencies ... that ... is flexible enough to meet every contingency.”—[Official Report, COVID-19 Recovery Committee, 2 December 2021; c 10.]

That is important work, which the Parliament must undertake. As hard as it may be to look to the next pandemic, given that we are still facing daily challenges related to Covid, we must take the learning from the past two years and ensure that we are better able to respond in future—wherever possible, without the need for emergency legislation.

Once again, I thank the public for self-isolating and for all the sacrifices that they have made to keep others safe.

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting households that are facing hardship and debt as a result of the rising cost of living. (S6O-00736)

We have a Westminster Government that has not only put a cap on benefits, cut universal credit and put up national insurance, but locked people into years of rising energy bills and concern about how they will heat their homes. When David Cameron told his Government to “cut the green crap”, it pulled the rug away from alternatives to gas. That decision has added £2.5 billion to our home energy bills.

Does the minister agree that green energy is the key to reducing our reliance on gas and cutting bills, and that we can build a greener Scotland only if we are given the full powers over energy policy?

As has been noted by others, the Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008 was written long before the Covid pandemic and was not intended to meet the challenges that we have faced over the past two years. The bill therefore serves an essential purpose as it will protect health boards from facing unaffordable self-isolation payments when they are already under immense pressure, and the Scottish Greens will be pleased to support it at decision time.

As I did in my speech at stage 1, I emphasise the importance of ensuring that sufficient self-isolation support is in place, while recognising that the 2008 act is not the appropriate vehicle for that. In my stage 1 speech, I highlighted concerns raised by Shetland Islands Council about the targeted nature of the support provided by the self-isolation support grant. Its response to the COVID-19 Recovery Committee’s call for views highlighted the socioeconomic impact that a failure to review the existing self-isolation support grant scheme would have on people on lower incomes or people in areas with a higher cost of living.

That is an important point. We are two years into the pandemic and the cost of living is rising. Soaring energy prices, the cut to universal credit and the rise in national insurance are creating a perfect storm, and there will be severe consequences for people across Scotland. Many people and their families are not in the financial position that they were in in March 2020. Although I recognise that the 2008 act is not the appropriate means of providing financial support for those who are self-isolating, support must be on-going and should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it continues to be adequate.

We must recognise that, as rising costs hit people’s incomes, it will become harder and harder for them to self-isolate without support. The Scottish Greens have consistently called for comprehensive financial and practical support for people who are self-isolating. We are clear that there are financial and practical barriers to self-isolation, and that addressing those will help to boost compliance. That need will become more pressing as the cost of living crisis continues to unfold.

Given that those practices often happen in secret, which means that it is difficult to gather data on them, is there any plan for an awareness-raising campaign around the fact that those practices are now offences, in order to ensure that women and girls who might not be aware that they are offences are well informed and know their rights?