Chamber and committees

The women’s health plan sets out a goal to reduce endometriosis diagnosis from eight years to less than a year in this parliamentary session. However, there is very little detail on how the Government plans to reach that goal, especially in remote rural areas, where proximity to services poses a unique challenge. Campaigners in Caithness are calling for a review of all women’s services, including in relation to endometriosis, to highlight the challenges that they face. Will the First Minister listen to those campaigners and review women’s services in areas where there is a greater distance from such services, such as Caithness?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I was unable to vote. If I had voted, I would have voted yes.

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the legislation on commercial sexual exploitation during the current parliamentary session. (S6O-00133)

The minister will be aware of the recent work that the cross-party group on commercial sexual exploitation carried out on commercial websites that sell people for sex, which causes misery and turbocharges trafficking. In light of the report, will she look to outlaw online pimping to stop commercial websites profiting from exploitation by advertising prostitution?

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to increase capacity on the ferries on the west coast routes. (S6O-00129)

Our island communities in the west have suffered for a number of years from a lack of capacity and a lack of reliable ferries. This year, the additional challenge of Covid-19 has taken the service to breaking point, with many people unable to travel. That is unacceptable—it damages the economy and blights lives.

The Scottish Government has, so far, failed to increase capacity. What steps is it taking to procure additional capacity over and above that provided by the MV Arrow in the short term to alleviate those communities’ issues?

I disagree with the First Minister that the programme is essential to ensure the long-term viability or indeed safety of air traffic in the Highlands and Islands. Digital Scotland classed the project as an amber-to-red risk. Added to that, the Sumburgh radar project, which is part of the scheme, is currently believed to be running six to 12 months behind schedule and costs have already increased. Is the First Minister still convinced that it is the right project to go forward with, and what steps is she taking to avoid another vanity transport project in the Highlands and Islands?

I will not repeat what Liam McArthur said, because the committee’s time is short. The petition is about two things: the new air traffic management system but also the downgrading of Wick and Benbecula. Members will have seen in the petitioners’ response some focus on the downgrading of Wick and Benbecula airports, as they will provide an aerodrome flight information service, which means that they will be able to take only booked unscheduled flights.

Wick is in the process of developing a public service obligation to encourage more traffic through the airport. It is important to note that, in the past, Wick has served as a base for North Sea oil, so it will be very difficult to have only booked unscheduled flights, especially helicopter traffic, that can land only if booked in an emergency from oil rigs and the like. Wick is not suitable for an aerodrome flight information service, and neither is Benbecula, because Benbecula is home to a Ministry of Defence range. Air traffic from all over the world comes to test weapons on that range, so having only booked slots available at those two airports makes no sense to me.

I urge the committee to consider what impact that will have on the local economy in relation to oil and the MOD’s work on Benbecula. I am concerned because the Benbecula facility was under threat a few years ago and was almost closed by the MOD. It was due to community intervention that it was kept open. It is a facility of national importance. I do not think that the MOD has been properly consulted on the proposals, although I am having difficulty getting information out of it. We need to look at the economic impact.

HIAL says that it is now exploring the option for staff to commute, so that it does not force people out of work. However, in my early discussions with HIAL about commuting, it made it clear that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs would allow that as a transitional arrangement, but not permanently. Therefore, I suggest that the committee looks at the feasibility of that. Obviously, it would be difficult for people to be away from home and their families, given that they go home every night at the moment.

I also ask the committee to look at what is happening in Inverness. One of the reasons for the process, according to HIAL, is recruitment, but Inverness, which is where it intends to move everyone, is the place where it has had issues with recruitment. My understanding is that Inverness is suffering from staff shortages, to the point that the head of air navigation services is doing operational shifts to keep things going. Therefore, it seems crazy to move people to Inverness, if that is where it is most difficult to recruit. HIAL was really good at recruitment on the islands—it recruited local people who wanted to remain at home and trained them up. It had a process that could have been an exemplar in other areas, but, because of a problem in one area, it seems to have moved away from that.

Digital Scotland has classed the project as being an amber or red risk. I urge the committee to contact it to find out what its concerns are. I contacted Audit Scotland, which told me that the annual audit of HIAL was outwith its remit but that it has a responsibility for HIAL’s use of resources. Therefore, will the committee contact Transport Scotland’s auditors, who are responsible for the annual audit of HIAL, to see whether they have any concerns? I understand that the project is already delayed and over budget. It seems to be just another vanity project that will have a detrimental effect on the very communities that need the system to work and to work properly.

As Liam McArthur said, nobody is saying that nothing needs to change—we need radar in those airports and we need to make them more sustainable—but this project is not the way to do it. I urge the committee to keep the matter alive and to probe in those areas to get a better understanding of the risks involved.

When the petition started, NHS Tayside and the University of Dundee were working together to fund and purchase a machine. They have now done that—the machine is available and is giving treatment in Scotland. However, that treatment is termed experimental treatment—I say “termed” because it is not experimental; it has been approved elsewhere. It is called experimental because it is under that locus that it can be used to treat people. A general practitioner or consultant in Scotland cannot always refer someone to the facility in Dundee unless they are talking about experimental treatment; if they do not do that, they have to refer the person to Professor Nandi and his colleagues in London. There is a huge waiting list for treatment in London, as you can imagine, and it seems wasteful that we have this treatment available in Scotland but Scottish people cannot access it.

Mary Ramsay recently sent me a video that I will make available to the committee. It features Ian Sharp, who has received the treatment. Mary Ramsay also told me this morning that she and Ian Sharp would be willing to come to the committee to give evidence about their experiences of the two different treatments. If they did, that might give you a better idea of what the treatments entail.

I urge the committee not to close the petition. We have come a long way, and I think that the previous Public Petitions Committee was instrumental in moving the issue up the political agenda—indeed, perhaps it was instrumental in getting the technology into Scotland. However, having the technology here is a waste if we cannot use it for the good of patients in Scotland.

I ask you to pursue the Scottish Government on this issue and to push for the treatment that is available in Dundee to be made available to people in Scotland. I also urge you to hear from Mary Ramsay and Ian Sharp, who can tell you what the treatment has meant to them and explain how life changing it can be.

I understand that there are two centres in London. For the invasive treatment, people in Scotland go to Glasgow or Newcastle. Newcastle might be looking to develop the new treatment, too, but, at the moment, people must go to London for it.