Chamber and committees

The storm Arwen review is welcome, but there is a concern that it will not be acted upon by winter. Can the Deputy First Minister commit to having deliverable timescales in place before winter?

Gillian Martin makes a very good point about radios and radio stations. It is important that we deliver the 15 points in the storm Arwen review and that we have specific, measurable and time-agreed plans so that all of the recommendations are in place and effective before this winter.

The British Red Cross has suggested that the Scottish Government should fund research with communities affected by the recent storms to understand how best to communicate in advance of and during emergencies. I support that recommendation, and I ask the Deputy First Minister to address that point in closing.

Earlier this week, I visited SSEN’s headquarters in Perth, where I was briefed about lessons that it has implemented following the storms. SSEN recognises that the estimated power supply restoration times during storm Arwen were overly optimistic—that point is also recognised in the Scottish Government review and the interim reports from the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. That was deeply frustrating for customers trying to make informed choices about alternative arrangements, and many felt, understandably, let down and angry. I understand that SSEN has acted on that feedback and has put a new process in place, as well as a £1 million community resilience fund. It is for the north of Scotland and was launched in February.

There has also been feedback from responders that the identification of vulnerable people and the provision of timely assistance to them was delayed by the poor availability of information and lack of data sharing between organisations. There is great scope for co-operation between key stakeholders in that area.

The scale of human endeavour to help the stranded and hungry will stay with us in the north-east for a long time, as will the haunting images of the devastation in places like Kemnay, Fettercairn and Edzell, where forests were all but flattened. I was in Stonehaven after storm Malik and storm Corrie hit and I saw first hand how much the community rallied together but also how much better the response at a structural and systemic level could and should have been. Ahead of the winter months, people right across Scotland need to know that lessons have been learned and change delivered. They cannot go through this again.

How do you propose to act as a channel of communication between people who are affected by heart disease, health professionals and the research community? Each of those groups is quite a distinct stakeholder.

The minister recognises that Grangemouth is important. It accounts for 4 per cent of Scotland’s gross domestic product and 8 per cent of Scotland’s manufacturing. It is critical to national infrastructure and supplies two thirds of the petrol and diesel that are used in Scotland, as well as jet fuel for airports. Any change in the outlook for the refinery’s future has wide-ranging and wide-reaching repercussions. What assessment has the Scottish Government made of the economic impact of potential restructuring and of the impact on energy resilience and fuel supply?

As the minister said, the Grangemouth refinery is one of the most strategically important employers in Scotland, with hundreds of staff who will, understandably, be alarmed by the prospect of restructuring at the refinery. What discussions has the Scottish Government had with Ineos about the retention of jobs at the site, following the reports? Has the Grangemouth future industry board convened to respond to that worrying development?

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Ineos regarding possible restructuring at the Grangemouth refinery. (S6T-00685)

Does the minister agree that the latest RCM survey findings are alarming, with three out of four midwives considering leaving their post and only 6 per cent—that is 6 per cent—believing that their workplace is staffed safely? Will the minister please say what she will do to hear the midwives and act on what they are telling her?

It is an honour to speak in the debate. This is my tribute to the extraordinary midwives in Scotland, in the UK and around the world—including my own sister, Cath, who has been a midwife for some 40 years. She says that she was “born a midwife”. For Cath, midwifery was a calling, and I know that it will forever remain a part of her, as it is for many midwives.

There is a remarkably special bond between women and their midwives. From antenatal appointments to the delivery room and the early postpartum period, midwives and the women in their care navigate the journey to new motherhood together. It is a truly unique partnership, and the Covid-19 pandemic brought that into sharp relief as pregnant women accessed antenatal services without the support of their partners. For many women, their midwives were all that they had.

Midwives provide care to mother and baby from those early weeks of pregnancy to the post-birth period, but they do so much more. It is a highly skilled profession, but their value too often goes unrecognised. They listen, they offer emotional support, they facilitate and they advocate. They see women at their most vulnerable and at their most empowered.

The journey is not always straightforward. Midwives help to bring new life into the world, but they also bear witness to the fragility of life. Debilitating pregnancy symptoms, complications during pregnancy, the devastating emotional and physical aftermath of baby loss, difficulties during and after delivery—those are just some of the profound and distressing challenges that a midwife must contend with.

During my own pregnancy, I had pre-eclampsia—a condition that affects more than 2,500 pregnancies in Scotland every year. My midwives spotted the signs and intervened. They saved my life and they saved my son’s life. I am eternally grateful to them for their wonderful and professional care.

Midwifery can be rewarding work, but it is often highly pressured and stressful. The past two years have been extremely difficult for midwives. They have continued to provide exceptional care to pregnant women and new mothers not just in hospital, but in the community, visiting new families in their homes, carrying out newborn check-ups and providing breastfeeding support at the height of the pandemic.

The Royal College of Midwives recently surveyed its members on their experiences in the workplace. The full results of that survey will be published next week, but a preview of its findings makes for alarming reading. Midwifery is “near breaking point”; three in four RCM members are considering leaving their posts; 88 per cent reported experiencing work-related stress; and 92 per cent worked without breaks over the past 18 months. Only 6 per cent of RCM members believe that their workplace is consistently safely staffed.

For the health and wellbeing of midwives, for the student midwives whom they train and for mothers and their babies, I implore the Scottish Government to respond to those findings. The Scottish Government’s five-year plan for maternity and neonatal care in Scotland, “The best start: five-year plan for maternity and neonatal care”, emphasises:

“The health, development, social, and economic consequences of childbirth and the early weeks of life are profound, and the impact, both positive and negative, is felt by individual families and communities as well as across the whole of society.”

Midwives have issued a clarion call. I do hope that the Scottish Government will act.

Yes, please.

Thank you. That is helpful and clear. I will follow that up with a final question. Do you say that for reasons of transparency and robust scrutiny?