Chamber and committees

In the interests of fairness, I note that Oliver Mundell, as the constituency member, indicated in advance of First Minister’s questions today that he intended to raise the issue with me, so I thank him and Colin Smyth for doing so.

I am not aware of all the detail of the issue. However, given that two members have raised it with me today, I will look at the circumstances and consider whether the Scottish Government can make representations to retain the museum, which certainly sounds to me as though it is a valued part of the local community that should be treasured to enable future generations to learn all that that history has to offer. I will get back to both members in due course.

First, I take the opportunity to yet again extend my deepest sympathies to the families of patients who died and to everyone who was affected as a result of the issues at the Queen Elizabeth hospital. Of course, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on any individual’s care, but I will seek to answer the question as best I can in general terms.

The expert panel has provided individual reports to the families of patients who were included in the case note review and has offered to discuss individual findings with them. I understand that the review team has managed to contact all families with the exception of one. Regrettably, despite extensive efforts by the team and by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, one family has not been able to be contacted. However, any family who wishes to get in touch with the independent case note review team can email the team at [email protected].

I am happy to seek to provide later the specific answers on when the first attempted contact was made and how many attempts have been made, but I have had an assurance that rigorous attempts have been made to contact the one remaining family that has not been contacted and, unfortunately and regrettably, it has not been possible to contact them. I know that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will continue to take all reasonable and appropriate steps to locate the family.

I am sure that, as a councillor, Meghan Gallacher knows that, if I were to answer that question in any way that pre-empted or prejudged a planning decision that could ultimately come to the Scottish ministers, it would not be helpful for any of the interests concerned. Fundamentally—and, of course, initially—it is a matter for the local council. After that, there are rightly robust statutory processes in place for any applications that come to ministers. It is very important that ministers do not prejudge cases.

I understand the concerns that are being raised in general, which is why my initial answer is important. It is time to review—and the Government is committed to reviewing—the role that incineration plays in our overall waste system. It is also important to recognise the progress that we have made in reducing the whole-life carbon impact of household waste and to look at the variety of things that we need to do to continue that progress.

I am sure that, if there is an application in this case, it will be dealt with by all the appropriate processes.

I take the opportunity to briefly put on the record my deep gratitude to the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for their extremely distinguished service during the past five years. I am sure that I will have more to say about that in the days and weeks to come, but I record my appreciation, gratitude and respect for them both.

The Government will put nominations for new law officers to Parliament for approval shortly. Until then, of course, the current law officers will remain in office.

As we said in our manifesto, the Government intends to publish a consultation on the dual functions of the law officers, and we will do that in due course. It is vital that the systems of criminal prosecution and investigation of deaths, as well as the role of the law officers in Government, continue to enjoy the full confidence of the public, and I believe that they do.

I agree. That is an important point that shows starkly the difference between our two Governments and our two Parliaments. This Government and this Parliament are focused on tackling poverty through significant investments, including the £100 million fund to support families through the pandemic, the £50 million for expansion of universal free school meals and, of course, the introduction of the Scottish child payment, which we are committed to doubling.

By contrast, the UK Government penalises families through the two-child limit—which cuts £500 million from low-income families in Scotland alone—through the benefit cap and through the plan to remove the universal credit uplift. This Government, with the unanimous backing of Parliament, has strengthened children’s rights by enshrining them in law, but the UK Government wants to take us to court over that. That illustrates, again, why we need more powers being taken out of the hands of the Tory Government at Westminster and put into the hands of this Government and this Parliament.

I think that most people across the country, and most responsible businesses that I speak to and have interaction with, know that, although it is important to support a strong, vibrant and sustainable economy, it is also vital—in fact, it is a moral imperative—to do that in a way that meets our obligations to the planet and delivers our climate change targets. From his final question, I am not sure that the climate is particularly high up Douglas Ross’s agenda. We will continue to ensure that we support industry and the economy, and that we also support the country to move to net zero, which is a key priority and should be a key priority for all of us.

On the questions about the Glasgow business community, I believe that, on Tuesday of this week, Stuart Patrick from Glasgow Chamber of Commerce was in a call with the Deputy First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy. I expect and assume that the issues that Douglas Ross has raised today were raised in that call and that the Scottish Government will be taking those issues seriously and working with the business community to address them. That is how we operate as a Government. We always look for ways in which to improve engagement and responsiveness, and we will continue to do that.

To go back to the central point, this country, like much of the world right now, is in the grip of a global pandemic. The pandemic has taken too many lives already and, if we do not get the decisions right, it has the potential to take more lives in future. The situation is very difficult for everybody, including businesses and individuals. My responsibility—I am not complaining about this, because it is what I am elected to do—is to try to take those difficult decisions in the best way possible to get the country through this as safely as possible. I will continue to treat that responsibility with the utmost seriousness.

I take the opportunity to welcome Jim Fairlie to Parliament. Seeing him in his place in the chamber makes that afternoon in the torrential rain in Letham all the more worth it.

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands and the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise met UK Government ministers on 25 and 26 May to reiterate our concerns about the devastating impact that the UK Government-proposed deal could have on our farming communities. That followed an earlier letter from the rural affairs secretary to the UK Secretary of State for International Trade, on 19 May. However, the UK Government seems determined to shut the Scottish Government out of that decision-making process, just as it has ignored our interests throughout the Brexit process.

We are extremely concerned that, yet again, a crucial decision that affects Scotland’s future is being taken by the Tory Government not just against the wishes of people who live here but fundamentally against their interests.

For some reason that is best known to him, Douglas Ross seems intent on telling Jim Fairlie that he is a lamb, not a calf. However, the general point that no Tory member seems willing to stand up for the interests of Scottish farmers stands. The Tory party has, of course, already betrayed Scotland’s fishing communities, and it now seems to be about to betray Scotland’s farming communities.

We must see that any imports of Australian agri-food will be produced to equivalent standards of Scottish production, and imports must be controlled by tariff rates and quotas. Anything short of that, which would be short of what the Tories promised, will be a betrayal of our farmers and deeply damaging to the Scottish economy.

We hear a lot of rhetoric from the Conservatives about standing up for Scottish business; we have heard that again today. Perhaps it is about time that they actually stood up for our farming community and told their bosses in the UK Government that what is proposed is simply not acceptable.

This is a matter of the utmost seriousness and, because of that, it is really important to be clear. A case note review was undertaken, which looked at 118 episodes of serious bacterial infection in 84 children. All the families of those children, with one exception, have been contacted and the information from the case note review has been shared with them, and I am sure that a number of questions have been asked. There is one family whom, despite various attempts—serious attempts—having been made to contact them, it has not proved possible to contact. I think that that is deeply regrettable, but in a situation in which 83 out of 84 families have been contacted, I simply say to Anas Sarwar that it is reasonable to conclude that that is the case not because the health board does not want to contact the family in question, but because, despite its attempts, it has not so far proved possible for it to do so. Therefore, to characterise matters as me simply handing out an email address is unfair. We are talking about an inability to make contact with a family.

I will certainly seek to provide further information about the number of attempts that have been made to contact the family and when the first attempt was made, and I will certainly ensure that the health board is doing everything that is reasonably possible to locate the family. However, as I understand it, this is a case of attempts having been made, but it having proved impossible to locate the family. I think that everybody who is involved wants the family to be located so that information can be shared and any questions can be answered.

I repeat that all the families, with one exception, have been contacted, and it is important that further reasonable attempts to contact the remaining family continue.

All the points that Anas Sarwar raises are very serious, but there is one important fact that he omits to raise, which is that the Scottish Government has established a full, independent public inquiry. That public inquiry is under way and is still to do its work and to report. [Interruption.] Anas Sarwar says that we cannot wait for that, but—this is an important point—he called for a public inquiry and we have established one.

In the lead-up to that public inquiry, there has been an independent review. There has been a report from the oversight board that was established, and there has now been the case note review process, which has produced an overview report and also, of course, the individual case reviews for each of the affected children and families.

What I am not disputing, because nobody could or should dispute it, is that this is an incredibly serious matter. What I am disputing is that the Government is not taking it seriously and is not determined—through, ultimately, the full independent public inquiry—to get to the bottom of everything that happened, from the opening of the hospital right through to now, to make sure that families have the answers that they need. That process will continue until we feel that we have got to the point where all questions that can be answered have been answered. I think that it is a real omission to say all the things that Anas Sarwar has rightly said but to leave out the fact of the full independent public inquiry that is already under way.

Finally, I come back to the point that one family has not been contacted. That is regrettable, but I stress that it is not because there have not been attempts to contact them. The health board will continue to take steps to contact that family as it has already contacted the other families involved.