Chamber and committees

Returning to the minister, I will have to put her on the spot by asking whether the funding will indeed be available for recording that information.

I interrupted you earlier to go to Mr O’Kelly, minister. Was there anything more that you wanted to say?

Thank you. I call David Torrance.

That brings us to the end of our consideration of new petitions. We will have a short suspension to allow witnesses to join us.

In the interests of time, we will leave that question.

Given how the Government is approaching the matter, with the detailed schedule of actions, and given that it will share the details of the petition and its response, I am minded to close the petition. A package of actions seems to be in place.

I agree, however, that there are two actions that we could take. First, we could ask the Scottish Government, in developing its consultation, whether it would be possible to consult or potentially utilise the petitioners themselves, given that they are an organised interested party. I also think that it would be useful to pick up Paul Sweeney’s suggestion about giving more focus to best practice, and to do so with the appropriate level of enthusiasm and zest.

Beyond that, given that the Government is going to share the petition and is taking forward many of its aims, I am minded to close the petition.

PE1873, which was lodged by Graeme Harvey on behalf of the Scottish Hypnotherapy Foundation, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to instruct the NHS to provide hypnotherapy for the treatment of mental health, psychosomatic disorders and chronic pain.

In its submission, the Scottish Government recognises that hypnotherapy may offer relief to some patients but says that it is up to NHS boards to decide which complementary and alternative medicines services are made available—good luck with that. However, the submission states that hypnotherapy does not meet the standard of evidence that is required for recommendation for use as a psychological treatment on the NHS. Similarly, on addressing chronic pain, the Government’s submission points to the Scottish intercollegiate guidelines network guideline, which states that

“No good-quality studies were identified to evaluate the efficacy of hypnotherapy”

and that further research is required.

In response, the petitioner suggests that the main issues are a lack of regulation and a lack of research. The petitioner explains that hypnotherapy is not regulated because the UK Government decided that it is a safe modality and that self-regulation should be sufficient.

Do members have any comments or suggestions? Having been on the petitions committee previously, I am always slightly suspicious when the establishment tries to close such things down on the basis that there is no evidence, because without research and trials there cannot be any evidence. I am nervous about that being the basis on which we agree to not do anything. Is there something that we could do to evidence any research?

Our final new petition, PE1886, which has been lodged by Ryan Gowran, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to establish a specialist paediatric liver centre in Scotland.

In its written submission, the Scottish Government explains that there is neither any specific highly specialised service nor the clinical expertise to deliver paediatric liver transplantation or complex paediatric hepatobiliary surgery in Scotland, due to the specialist training that is required. Therefore, NHS Scotland commissions those services from NHS England, and they are delivered at King’s College hospital in London, St James’s University hospital in Leeds and Birmingham children’s hospital. The submission notes that the reimbursement of travel and subsistence for children and their families is the responsibility of the NHS board where the child resides.

Based on available data for the past five years, the Scottish Government states that NHS Scotland’s national services division has funded an average of five children per year to be assessed and/or treated by the specialist paediatric liver services in England. It explains that such a level of need is not consistent with ensuring that the case volumes seen or treated in Scotland are adequate to sustain a safe, fully staffed, highly specialised service. We have seen that across other medical disciplines, too.

In response, the petitioner states that there are significant costs involved when supporting a family member who is being treated so far from home and that that puts more strain on families. He states that it needs to be easier for families to be reimbursed for those costs and that long-term hospital families need much better support. He argues that the recently launched young patients family fund does not provide any true form of assistance for travel to other nations.

Do members have any comments or suggestions for action?

It is not appropriate for the committee to investigate individual cases. That is clearly stated in the guidance on submitting petitions. The evidence submitted in relation to the petitioner’s previous petition, and from the Scottish Government in relation to the current petition, does not appear to highlight any new issues meriting investigation into the level of prosecutions under sections 315 and 318 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. We might want to elicit further information about what we could reasonably take forward before we invite the petitioner to speak to us.

PE1880, on awareness and practical experience of litter picking and waste separation in the school curriculum, has been lodged by Calum Edmunds, Susanna Zanatta and Tannith Diggory of Cleanup Glasgow. It calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to make an appropriate level of daily cleaning, including litter picking and waste separation, part of the curriculum in schools.

In her submission, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills explains that the Scottish Government is committed to increasing the prevalence of learning for sustainability in the curriculum and says that the Government supports the ultimate aim of the petition. However, the Government believes that individual schools should determine the precise content of their curriculum and how it is applied to the timetable at school level.

Although the Government

“would prefer to avoid excessive prescription”,

the cabinet secretary states her intention to share details of the petition, and her response to it, with Education Scotland and Keep Scotland Beautiful to ensure that the issues that it highlights are taken into account. She will do that in the context of exploring the current programme on litter and waste management to see which aspects of it could be strengthened.

The cabinet secretary seems keen to take forward the sentiments of the petition. Do members have any comments?