Chamber and committees

Thank you very much. Before I finish, I want to declare an interest: I am the chair of Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council, which is a registered charity organisation.

Do you have any concerns regarding the provisions for charities to redact certain information from published accounts where there might be safety or security concerns?

I am sure that you would agree that a smaller organisation will probably need more support from OSCR and the Government. Can that be provided?

Thank you, cabinet secretary.

Convener, I should have said that I am part of a small third sector organisation.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. I have a small question. Do you believe that enough small organisations have been consulted? Have any areas of regulation not been sufficiently covered in the consultation process?

The UK Government’s Illegal Migration Bill is likely to have a significant impact on migrants and asylum seekers in Scotland. Scotland’s legal profession alone will likely see the number of cases in their case loads skyrocket under the bill’s provisions for removal.

Many asylum seekers who have arrived here have risked their lives and arrived with nothing, so it is likely that the legal assistance that many asylum seekers would require would have to be done pro bono. Will the cabinet secretary advise what the potential impact of the bill will be on Scotland’s legal aid service?

I thank my colleague Jackie Baillie for bringing this important issue to the chamber.

Long Covid is not simply a long recovery time from Covid-19, nor is it an occasional feeling of fatigue or sickness following a Covid-19 infection. That is a common misunderstanding. Long Covid is a complex, multisystem, neuroimmune illness that currently has no known cure. A recent ONS survey showed that an estimated 2.3 million people in the UK suffer from long Covid. A recent BBC “Panorama” documentary estimated that nearly 10,000 NHS workers are currently absent because of long Covid.

One of my constituents, Marie-Claire, is an NHS doctor in Edinburgh. Marie-Claire told me that the overwhelming response from colleagues was that they often had little understanding of the severity or specifics of the illness. Marie-Claire also suffers from long Covid. There is a growing stigma about long Covid within the medical community and wider society. She told me that patients are having to educate their medical professionals on this debilitating illness in order to get help.

Another of my constituents, Cass Macdonald, was a full-time NHS nurse who contracted Covid-19 while working in an out-of-office nursing role in Edinburgh. Despite having multiple underlying health conditions and being told to shield according to the Scottish Government’s advice, the same Government still advised that it was safe for NHS staff to come to work. Cass has been living with long Covid ever since and is unable to go back to full-time work.

Since Covid special leave has ended, Cass is now on standard sick pay, which has been halved this month and will be stopped altogether in September. Cass has also been told that, due to their financial circumstances, their only option is to declare themselves bankrupt or sell their home. A recent survey by key workers petition UK showed that Cass is part of the 20 per cent of key workers in the UK with long Covid who said that they were at risk of losing their home due to financial circumstances.

Like many others, Cass has experienced frustration within the health service due to lack of awareness surrounding the health impacts of long Covid. Tomorrow, Cass and other key workers will deliver a petition in London urging the UK Government to create a pension and compensation scheme for all key workers who have developed long Covid as a result of their front-line work during the pandemic. The petition already has more than 118,000 backers.

The Scottish Government must be part of the process to help stop the stigma around long Covid. It must do more to ensure adequate support for key workers who are desperately struggling due to long Covid. It must do more to increase public awareness of the danger of long Covid and to help people such as Cass and Marie-Claire and the thousands of others suffering from long Covid across Scotland.

I again thank my colleague Jackie Baillie for bringing the debate to the chamber.

Good morning, panel. Before I ask my question, I declare an interest as the chair of a charitable organisation. I apologise, convener, because I should have done that previously.

My question is probably for Martin Tyson, but, if any of the other witnesses wants to get involved, that is fine. Do you have any concerns that the bill will disproportionately affect smaller charities, particularly ethnic minority charities, that are already struggling to stay in business, given the cost of living crisis?

Do you have any concerns about the provisions for charities to redact certain information from published accounts where there might be safety or security concerns? That is probably a question for Alan Eccles.

My last question is probably for John Maton. I have been involved in smaller organisations. The majority of the trustees are volunteers and work elsewhere. Is any support provided to smaller organisations if they are struggling? What kind of support could be provided?