Chamber and committees

I echo the moving testimony from Monica Lennon in representing her constituent; it is an incredibly touching issue. We have all had interactions with constituents and others in the past, with the same themes repeated around how, when people feel that they are in a crisis situation, help is not there. That is a devastating realisation for a lot of people, who perhaps assumed that, if the worst came to the worst, someone would be there to help.

I echo the useful points that Tess White made about the need to widen our investigation and inquiry. I think that we should pursue that.

I suggest that we also include prisons in the scope of our inquiry. I visited Barlinnie relatively recently and experienced the mental health crisis in the midst of our prison system. People who are suffering severe mental disability and mental health problems are incarcerated in conditions that are not appropriate for their condition. People who are suffering acute mental illness are, in effect, being warehoused in prisons. That is another element that needs to be discussed. I therefore suggest including the Scottish Prison Service in the organisations that we invite to discuss the issue with us.

I have a further reflection on reimbursement. Many families will not have the cash flow to fund the costs up front. Given that, under the Scotland Act 2016, the Scottish Government has greater latitude to introduce new benefits, consideration could be given to setting up a special grant for the very small number of families who are affected. Such a grant could support families with up-front payments to enable them to travel and stay in a location that is quite far from home.

I note that the Government says that it is up to individual health boards to determine the appropriateness of that service provision. Perhaps it would be worthwhile for us to invite health boards to make submissions on the provision in their areas so that we can see their views.

I agree. There is a potential reconsideration of the regulations on cannabidiol—CBD—products, although they are currently legal, so the point about the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is a bit of a red herring. Further investigation of safe dosage levels is needed, and we could undertake potentially informative clinical trials in Scotland. Furthermore, a cross-party group on medicinal cannabis has recently been established, so it might be useful for the petitioner to consider participating in that as a way of furthering his objectives.

For the record, the school that I referred to is the Sunnyside school of conservation, which has developed a specialised curriculum. It would be well worth the Government taking action to benchmark against that.

There are systemic issues that need to be thoroughly investigated, particularly the effect of the moderation of examinations. The pandemic threw up huge issues of gross inequality, particularly in the 2020 exam diet; the grades were effectively determined by a postcode lottery, even though academic performances might have been the same. We need a serious investigation of the fundamentals of the operation of the exam system in Scotland. The petition’s suggestion would be a very worthwhile exercise and I am in favour of writing to the Scottish Government on that basis.

The petition is timely, because it identifies a gap in thinking and planning. I acknowledge that the population base is insufficient to sustain such a service. Given that, on average, there have been only five cases per year, the service would not be economically viable, nor would it be clinically viable, because expertise could not be sustained with that throughput of operations, so it makes sense for children to go to a UK-level centre of excellence.

However, that might cause huge disruption to a family, so it is very important that there are more robust obligations on the health service to provide sustenance to families who face that disruption. That point has probably been missed. If necessary, there should be greater statutory obligations on health boards to ensure that families do not suffer financial detriment as a result of that disruption.

I believe that we have received a submission from the petitioner, who is very keen to address the committee. I would therefore be content for the gentleman to be invited to present to the committee. I understand that the previous petitions were referred to the Mental Welfare Commission, which recommended closing them without action. The petitioner’s concern is about the act not having a measure of outcomes to which professionals and pharmaceutical companies are held. On that basis, I would be content to invite the gentleman to present to the committee, if my colleagues are minded to agree.

While I agree with the Scottish Government’s broad intent, it might be useful to identify areas where there is good practical application of such teaching in schools. It could be useful to identify and share that with the broader education bodies. There are pockets of very good teaching in schools. There is a particular school in Easterhouse that is doing a project called nae straw at aw. The whole school is engaged in it, and it is an incredibly inspirational exercise.

There are examples in Scotland where some really good work is being done. Perhaps those should be identified, and we should try to transplant the ideas behind what the schools concerned are doing more widely. I was not convinced from its submission that the Government is as enthusiastic about doing that as it might be.

Nice to see you, minister. We are trying to get a feel for what our workload will be so that we can anticipate as best as we can the number of future SSIs in relation to non-Covid aspects of legislation. How will the Scottish Government prioritise non-Covid SSIs to ensure that the necessary SSIs are lodged and scrutinised by the Parliament in a timely manner?