Chamber and committees

I think that I know what a register of unlicensed litters is, but, to many people out there, there will be an inherent contradiction in the idea of registering someone who has not licensed themselves. How do you do that? I think that I know what it means, but can you understand why, to many people, it seems a strange idea?

Yes.

Presiding Officer, you might reasonably ask why a member from the islands is talking about neonatal care in Lanarkshire. However, as members from other parts of the country regularly mention my constituency, as is their right, I make no apology for occasionally straying across the Minch. Before I say anything else, however, I recognise the authoritative and heartfelt contributions that were made by Mark Griffin and Keith Brown, in very fine speeches.

The fact is that the provision of neonatal care is an issue across Scotland, and I am acutely conscious not only of the excellent work that hospitals in my constituency do, but of the many mothers who, for various reasons, already make very long journeys away from their families to have their babies in larger hospitals on the mainland, and have done so for many years.

I am happy to take this opportunity to acknowledge that University hospital Wishaw has provided an extremely high standard of neonatal care. Countless parents are grateful to staff there for supporting them through some of the most challenging, joyful or heartbreaking moments of their lives. The neonatal unit at Wishaw will continue to provide that support and care for parents and babies in the future. The key change, as others have mentioned, is that the most premature or unwell babies will now be cared for at specialised intensive care neonatal units. As others have set out, that model of neonatal intensive care was recommended by the best start report and it was based on clinical evidence that care for babies at the highest risk is safest in units that can treat a higher number of patients. Meanwhile, neonatal units in Dundee, Glasgow, Kirkcaldy and Kilmarnock, as well as Wishaw, will continue to provide neonatal care for their populations.

As a rural MSP, I am in favour of localised healthcare provision wherever it is possible. However, where the expert advice calls for specialist units, it is crucial that patients and their families are fully supported to receive care where it is felt to be clinically most appropriate. Keith Brown alluded to the fact that ensuring the best possible outcomes for patients must be the priority.

The best start report, which was published in 2017, listed 76 recommendations as part of a five-year programme to improve maternal and neonatal services in Scotland. The Scottish Government accepted all those recommendations, including the establishment of a new model of neonatal intensive care. Within the model, the most preterm and the sickest babies will receive specialist complex care in three main centres. That approach is based on evidence showing that babies who are cared for within that kind of framework have improved outcomes.

I must make progress given the little time that I have.

The Scottish Government has taken many significant steps to support expectant and new parents. Those steps have been alluded to today. Quite rightly, the vast majority of the 5,000 babies who are admitted to neonatal care each year will continue to be treated in their local neonatal units and postnatal wards. I therefore say respectfully that I am not sure that questioning the expert clinical advice of those who were involved in producing the best start report—which is, in effect, what some are doing today—is a helpful way forward. Nor do I believe that making undeniably difficult decisions, which the NHS has to make, in the context of highly charged political debate would be entirely helpful when compared with the other option of listening to clinical advice.

The Linda Norgrove Foundation in my constituency has been desperately trying to get 20 female medical students out of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and into medical schools in Scotland. However, they are being stymied by United Kingdom visa issues. The foundation was extremely appreciative of the help of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills when they met with her last month. Is there anything further the Scottish Government can do to help these inspirational women?

Over the summer, the housing minister made an announcement of funding of £960,000 to support community housing trusts in rural and island areas. That is a welcome example of what is needed to boost progress towards Scotland’s ambitious housing goals. Will the minister say what role empowering local communities has in ensuring that we meet our affordable housing needs?

Some of the arguments around the instrument have focused on animal welfare. Will you say a bit more about the animal welfare evidence that you have considered? I am thinking of—this has been alluded to—the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s finding that

“Providing the normal requirements for high standards of public safety and animal welfare are adhered to ... there is no need for a close season for males”.

What animal welfare evidence has been considered?

Please say a wee bit more about the extent to which the Scottish Government could be said to be following scientific advice on the decision, and how that compares to, or contrasts with, the position taken by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in England.

Aside from the environmental consequences that you have mentioned, is there also an animal welfare consequence to not intervening here? The prospect of malnourished deer or deer in poor condition has been raised. Would it be fair to say that one of the big reasons for deer being malnourished and in poor condition, to the point at which many cannot successfully leap a fence, is because in many places there are too many of them and they cannot survive in the habitat in which they have multiplied?

Minister, can you say a bit more about the reasons and the context for all this? You mentioned a doubling of deer numbers. Would it be fair to observe that, in many parts of the country, deer numbers are out of control?

I am thinking, for instance, of a public meeting that I attended in my constituency, where debate raged over whether 100 per cent of the deer on South Uist should be killed or merely 90 per cent of them. Nobody spoke up for anything less than 90 per cent. I do not pretend that that is typical of all areas, but would it be fair to say that deer numbers in Scotland are out of control?