Chamber and committees

It is clear that completion of the project by 2025 is not possible any more. Do you have a date in mind when it could be completed, Mr Shackman? For the time being, are any emergency procedures being taken so that no more accidents happen? What are the temporary measures? Are there any at all?

Thank you very much, and good morning.

Sorry, I am just confused, although I do not want to repeat what my colleagues have already asked. I get your point that it is up to us to make the policies and that you will not be able to answer quite a lot of questions. However, my question is about how the samples are examined just now. From what we are hearing and what I have read, what is happening here is not the same as what is happening in England and Wales. If that is the case, why? Who should be telling us that we are not doing the same job as they are doing in England and Wales? What procedures are we following?

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the 2023-24 budget on the ability of local authorities to keep sport and leisure facilities open to the public. (S6O-02365)

The reduction in local government budgets has forced pools and leisure centres to pass on the increases in their running costs to the clubs and customers who use them. We cannot allow swimming pools to become unaffordable and let involvement in and enthusiasm for Scotland’s highest-participation sports decline.

Recently, the United Kingdom Government announced a £63 million fund specifically to support swimming pools in England. Does the minister recognise the value of swimming pools, and can he tell us what Barnett consequentials are to be made available to local authorities as a result of the UK Government’s spending?

Courses in skills-based labour make a positive contribution to industrial recruitment. A recent report that was published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that the biggest gaps in recruitment are in technical, vocational and specialist skills. It also found that bringing employers and the education system closer together can result in benefits for young people as well as for the organisations involved.

What assessment has the Scottish Government made of the impact of the reduction in skills-based courses on recruitment of new workers in vital industries?

Families in Lothian placed their trust in a service that was there to assist and help them. Instead, they were failed by that service.

I have read some difficult accounts of children who were eligible for a cochlear implant—a technology that allows deaf children to hear for the very first time—but who, due to a late diagnosis, were too old or no longer eligible for that potentially life-altering technology. Some of those children were also diagnosed incorrectly. That was rectified so late that families have now been told that their child might never be able to speak. Other children will face major language and communication difficulties throughout their lives as a result of a late diagnosis. I do not need to express how difficult that must be for all of the families involved.

The failings of NHS Lothian between 2009 and 2018 mean that late-diagnosed deaf children have lost out on years of potential support and guidance. Sufficient tailored support must now be put in place to help those families.

The audit that identified the failings ended in 2018. As my colleague Jeremy Balfour said, many wrongly diagnosed or late-diagnosed children might still to be identified, and we must ensure that they are offered support. There will also be cases of children who were not included in the audit or who have not responded to the communication. Those children might still be without support, and sufficient measures need to be put in place to ensure that support is offered to every child who is affected by the issue.

A one-size approach will not fit all. There must be multi-agency tailored support available for those affected. Tailored support means looking at each child’s case individually and assessing how best to support them and their families.

Access to British Sign Language lessons and training should be readily available to the children and families who are affected, but consideration must also be given to cases in which BSL is not the best solution. Some of the children come from families whose first language is not English. What support will be offered to those children who might struggle to communicate with family using BSL? Children with additional support needs might also struggle to learn or communicate using BSL. Additional means of support must be offered to families whose children have learning or communication difficulties. That is how we can continue to support the families whose lives have been permanently altered by NHS Lothian’s paediatric audiology failures.

I thank Jeremy Balfour for bringing this important issue to the chamber.

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to fund traditional skills-based apprenticeships that lead to professional qualifications. (S6O-02344)

Instrumental music tuition has been drastically reduced by some councils so that they can keep up with budget cuts, which means that thousands of children in Scotland might not have the opportunity to learn how to play a musical instrument at school. What assessment has the Scottish Government made of the impact of that on the ability of the industry to continue to recruit young musicians?

Do you not think that it would be helpful to know what systems are in place just now?

What systems are in place to receive suggestions, complaints and issues from health workers in prisons regarding medication?