Is the committee content to delegate responsibility to the deputy convener and me to agree the report on the draft instrument on behalf of the committee?

Members indicated agreement.

Is the committee content to delegate responsibility to the deputy convener and me to agree the report on the draft instrument on behalf of the committee?

Members indicated agreement.

Good morning, and welcome to the 30th meeting of the Education, Children and Young People Committee in 2022. We have received apologies from Stephen Kerr.

The first item on our agenda is evidence from the Minister for Children and Young People, Clare Haughey, and her officials on the draft Police Act 1997 (Offences in Schedules 8A and 8B) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2022 and the draft Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exclusions and Exceptions) (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Order 2022.

I welcome the minister to the committee, along with her officials: Alison Martin, a solicitor for the Scottish Government, and Kevin Lee, the head of policy at Disclosure Scotland.

I invite Ms Haughey to speak to the draft instruments.

Thank you, minister. Do members have any questions or comments on the draft instruments?

As there are no comments, we move to agenda item 2, under which I invite the minister to move motion S6M-06431.

Motion moved,

That the Education, Children and Young People Committee recommends that the Police Act 1997 (Offences in Schedules 8A and 8B) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2022 [draft] be approved.—[Clare Haughey]

Motion agreed to.

I thank the minister and her officials for attending today, and I thank everyone for their time.

Our next item of business is to invite the minister to move motion S6M-06432.

Motion moved,

That the Education, Children and Young People Committee recommends that the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 Exclusions and Exceptions) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Order 2022 [draft] be approved.—[Clare Haughey]

Motion agreed to.

The Scottish Government has described the current process for obtaining a gender recognition certificate as overly medicalised, and it is proposing to remove the requirement for medical evidence to change one’s legal gender through the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The Sandyford gender identity clinic in Glasgow is currently offering initial appointments to patients who registered three to four years ago. Does the minister agree that the real problem that is facing trans people is a lack of timely medical care support? What does the Scottish Government plan to do about those sky-high waiting times for patients who are experiencing gender dysphoria?

I thank Clare Adamson for bringing the debate to the chamber and for her speech, which was full of emotion. It brought some harsh realities of the disease to the chamber, but it was also full of hope. I also thank members of the public who are in the gallery for taking the time to come along this evening to hear us speak.

November is pancreatic cancer awareness month, and I welcome the chance to speak in the debate to show my support. It is a fantastic chance for the pancreatic cancer community to come together to raise awareness and funds, and to remember loved ones who have, sadly, died of the disease.

Across the UK, 10,000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year, yet only one in four people who are diagnosed survive beyond a year. Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest form of cancer in Scotland, with about 900 people dying of the disease each year. More than half of those who are diagnosed will die within three months, and only 7 per cent will survive for more than five years.

My life before I came to the Parliament allowed me unparalleled access to the surgical treatment of this deadly cancer. I worked alongside upper gastrointestinal surgical consultants across the country, and I know at first hand of the complex nature of the surgery that is needed to treat pancreatic cancer. Those specialist surgeons are committed to adopting innovative techniques to reduce surgical operative time, even by the slightest margins, and to seeking new ways to reduce risk, including surgical risk, and the number of post-operative complications. That all serves to make survival rates better and people’s lives as liveable as possible. Those surgeons all work collaboratively across the NHS to do all that they can to increase the five-year survival rate of their patients, but the outcomes following the potentially life-saving surgery are still a long way from being acceptable.

There has been barely any improvement in pancreatic cancer survival rates in the past 50 years, and the survival gap between pancreatic cancer and other cancers has doubled during that time. The likelihood of surviving other cancers beyond five years is 50 per cent, while it is just 7 per cent for pancreatic cancer.

There can be no progress without change, and the need to improve pancreatic cancer diagnosis and outcomes in Scotland is urgent. After all, pancreatic cancer is the fifth biggest cancer killer in the UK. However, as Clare Adamson rightly said, it receives only 3 per cent of the annual UK cancer research budget.

Raising awareness is key, because two thirds of people in the UK cannot name a single symptom of pancreatic cancer. In October, Pancreatic Cancer Action Scotland completed a national awareness survey, which produced some concerning results. It found that 62 per cent of people in Scotland know “almost nothing” about pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer has vague and non-specific symptoms, and it lacks a simple test for detection. That is what makes it hard to diagnose and, unfortunately, about half of pancreatic cancer patients visit their GP with symptoms three times before being referred to hospital.

Although those stats paint a bleak picture of the disease, pancreatic cancer can be survived with early diagnosis. For those who are diagnosed in time for potentially life-saving surgery, the five-year survival rate increases to about 30 per cent. That presents an opportunity for intervention to allow people to be diagnosed earlier and to live longer, with a far better quality of life.

A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer can affect every aspect of life, bringing emotional, financial and practical problems that can last long after the treatment ends. If anyone is in such a position and is listening to the debate, I direct them to the practical, emotional and financial support that is available from Macmillan Cancer Support. As a first step, they can call its telephone line—the Macmillan support line—on 0808 808 0000, which is open seven days a week, from 8 am to 8 pm, or they can go to Macmillan’s website for help.

I reiterate my thanks to Clare Adamson for bringing the debate to the chamber and helping to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer.

Indeed. Thank you, minister.

Thank you for that, minister. I am glad to hear what you say about joining the dots, which is the intention and ambition of what we are doing. We have had a discussion around a constituency case in which the individual found their situation very challenging, having first tried to access services in February but not gaining a space in rehabilitation until September. Again and again, we hear about people who seek services being treated like a pinball in a pinball machine: they are pinged about, and they follow the route that the service wants them to follow, rather than it being centred around them. We often hear about person-centred care, but I do not get a sense that the service is really delivering for people in that way.

As regards the no-wrong-door approach, we are not getting a sense that what is happening on the ground is the same as what is being stated in documents, by ministers and by civil servants. What can we do to address that implementation gap to ensure that there is no wrong door for people to go to and that they get help quickly, rather than having to wait six or seven months before they can access it?