Chamber and committees

I will ask my question to Dr MacGilchrist initially and then other panel members may want to answer it.

Looking at the facts and the data, we can see that alcohol deaths are the highest now since 2008. The number of male deaths has remained unchanged, yet the data from 2022 shows that the number of female deaths has risen by 31, to 440. How does minimum unit pricing help to reduce the number of female deaths?

The cervical screening scandal was the result of not one blunder but many, and it cuts to the core of the issue of how the SNP Government supports women. One woman who recently received a letter believed that she had undergone a total hysterectomy, and she was shocked to learn that that might not have been the case. Women cannot be left in the dark any longer, so what exact support are you giving to health boards?

To ask the Scottish Government how it sets the priorities for its international offices each year. (S6O-03028)

In the recent tax-and-axe Scottish budget, spending on international offices increased by 12 per cent. With another office set to open in Warsaw, the Scottish National Party Government is spending millions of pounds on a function that is already provided by the United Kingdom Government, which has a massive overseas network of embassies and high commissions. This is about priorities. Why does the SNP Government believe that funding for international offices should be increased, while Angus residents who lost their homes to storm Babet are desperate for more support?

It is an honour and a privilege to contribute to this debate to mark Holocaust memorial day 2024. I warmly thank Paul O’Kane for securing parliamentary time for such a poignant and sobering topic. We come together each year in remembrance, so that the Holocaust may never again be repeated.

A tragedy is now unfolding in the middle east. Israel has suffered the worst terror attack in its history at the hands of Hamas, and Palestinian civilians in Gaza are experiencing a humanitarian disaster. What to say, after 1,200 Israeli men, women and children were slaughtered in 24 hours? Where to begin, after the rising tide of antisemitism that we have witnessed in recent months? Understandably, as we commemorate Holocaust memorial day, we look to the past. The devastating events in Israel and Gaza since October 2023 have shown us that we must also look to the horizon.

Experts argue that genocides do not simply happen; they are the culmination of a series of circumstances or events. They begin with the persecution of a particular group of people simply for who they are and escalate to annihilation—of lives, religion and culture. In a diary entry dated Saturday 20 June 1942, Anne Frank wrote:

“That is when the trouble started for the Jews. Our freedom was severely restricted by a series of anti-Jewish decrees.”

She listed many restrictions in her everyday life, from having to turn in her bicycle to being forbidden from using swimming pools. She said:

“You couldn’t do this and you couldn’t do that, but life went on.”

As other members have touched on, the theme for this year’s Holocaust memorial day is “Fragility of Freedom”. Anne lost her freedoms before she, ultimately, lost her life. The lives of millions of Jews were curtailed before they were brutally cut short. We must understand what precedes genocide and how the seeds of hatred and prejudice are sown, so that we might prevent it from happening again and again.

The conflict in the middle east must not become part of the culture wars that are waged on streets and screens. The nuance and complexity of crisis cannot be effaced for social media likes and views. With the rise of antisemitism incidents across the UK, Europe and the US, I worry that we have reached a tipping point—we cannot allow the clock to turn back.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would have voted no.

Good morning, minister and your team. My question is about costs and regulation. I understand about care, but cost is also part of care. In the press recently, it was highlighted that funeral costs are on an upward trajectory. There are eye-watering figures of more than £4,000 for funerals. Each funeral company can set its own fees. I hope that you will agree that £4,500 is a lot of money.

There are also what are known as paupers’ funerals, which could be regulated. The costs of those can and do vary for each area; they can vary from £683—that is a figure from Edinburgh—to more than £1,000. The data that I have managed to find was from 2015—it is not recent. It showed that there had been 549 paupers’ funerals in Scotland, which cost the public purse half a million pounds. Can that be looked at? If it cannot be incorporated into the code, can you look at it?

I admit that progress has been made. However, the Royal College of Midwives has said that midwifery is in crisis, due to turnover. In order to improve the culture, does the minister recognise that we need to do something to help our midwives?

I move amendment S6M-11935.2, to insert at end:

“; recognises the benefits of breastfeeding to both the child and the mother, as well as the challenges that mothers can face as they try to establish breastfeeding, and acknowledges the importance of ensuring that midwifery is sufficiently staffed to support postnatal care and infant feeding as well as acute care.”

The work of MSPs is wide ranging. The press often picks up on our adversarial politics, but the work that we do to build relationships, find consensus and increase understanding together is often overlooked. That is why I am grateful to Emma Harper for providing MSPs with the parliamentary time in which to discuss our involvement with the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. The most recent BIPA debate in the Scottish Parliament took place in 2012, so another one is long overdue, and I thank Emma Harper for highlighting the Assembly’s work.

As a newly elected MSP in 2021, I jumped at the chance to participate in a different type of parliamentary engagement. As Emma Harper pointed out, last year BIPA provided a valued forum for parliamentarians to discuss and develop dialogue on issues in the north of Ireland. In particular, it offered an unrivalled opportunity to learn about the peace process and the courage and humanity that have been required to maintain it.

I was fascinated to hear about the real change makers: those who really made a difference in the Good Friday agreement, such as John Hume, Mo Mowlam, President Bill Clinton and Bertie Ahern. As Emma Harper pointed out, we met the Women’s Coalition—the women who really were at the tipping point of change—which was a tremendous privilege for us.

With cross-party participation from across the British isles, BIPA has provided a wider arena for discussion and co-operation. I have particularly enjoyed meeting people and finding out what matters to them. I have learned so much about the power of talking, sharing a meal and debating calmly, with gentleness and humility, topical issues of mutual concern. The importance of that should not be underestimated.

Emma Harper touched on the structure of BIPA. Much of the day-to-day work is carried out in the four cross-party committees, which meet regularly.