Chamber and committees

Good morning to the panel. Thank you for joining us. I have a few questions about the minimum all-tenure housing land requirement. First, what are your views on the process and methodology that have been used to establish it? I will start with you, Tony Cain, as you have touched on issues about housing in Lothian. If anyone else would like to come in, I ask them to type R in the chat function.

I thank the witnesses for those answers. Tony Cain is right that it is an art form, and not necessarily a science.

Homes for Scotland’s useful briefing ahead of today’s meeting talked about flexibility and what that should look like. It highlighted that alternative sites could be given planning permission for housing if those that are allocated in local development plans prove not to be deliverable. If there is no change in how the estimates are formed, what would such flexibility look like? How can we direct new developments to where they are needed? What are the witnesses’ thoughts on that? I will bring in Nicola Barclay, as I mentioned Homes for Scotland’s call for flexibility.

As co-convener of the Parliament’s cross-party group on cancer, I congratulate Jackie Baillie on securing this evening’s debate, and for the work that she has done in Parliament during 20 years of campaigning on health issues.

I also thank those organisations that have provided us with useful briefings ahead of the debate. I specifically thank Cancer Research UK, which has supported the CPG for more than 20 years as our secretariat. As a member and co-convener of the CPG—I am sure that this is true of many of its members—I really enjoyed the work that we did during the previous parliamentary session.

One of my greatest concerns is the impact of the pandemic on cancer services. We have seen cuts to research projects and patient trials. We have also seen the huge amount of work that is going on across Scotland and the wider UK to support people living with cancer and their families being set back and undermined in many cases.

I do not think that we can overestimate the impact of the pandemic on cancer services and outcomes. We need to rededicate ourselves to turning that around, because, as has been mentioned, approximately 34,000 of our fellow Scots are diagnosed with cancer every year, and that number is expected to reach 40,000 by 2027.

It has been estimated that more than 650,000 patients in the UK have had treatment disrupted during the Covid pandemic. We know that the pandemic has had a profound impact on cancer services, including on early diagnosis of cancer in Scotland, with screening programmes paused and a fall in urgent referrals from GPs; on cancer prevention measures, with reduced service capacity and delays to planned legislation; on cancer treatment, with surgery delayed or cancelled, and staff shortages; and on the care of patients, with many experiencing poor mental wellbeing and limited provision of the holistic support services that we have all campaigned to see improved.

As Jackie Baillie has outlined, it is clear that staffing is a significant issue and one on which we must focus all our attention if we are to see a proper recovery. The Scottish Government must develop and resource such a plan early if we are to meet the targets now and in future. We should also focus on the design of new services.

We should all be seriously concerned that Cancer Research UK estimates that, as Jackie Baillie has said, survival rates might go backwards for the first time in decades if we do not take action to address backlogs and deliver the workforce that we need. It would be absolutely disastrous, were that to happen. I hope that we can all be united in dedicating ourselves to ensuring that it does not.

I have consistently raised my concerns about, for example, the breast screening programme in Scotland not being fully recovered, and I have spoken out about the fact that women over 70 still cannot self-refer into the breast cancer screening programme. I hope that the cabinet secretary can update us on that in closing the debate.

In my remaining time, I want to talk about the future, because I think that that is what we should all be looking towards. Jackie Baillie said that we should

“resolve not to go backwards.”

I absolutely agree, so I want to talk about a piece of work that many campaigners have been doing during the pandemic. A lot of people who work in the cancer community have not let the pandemic get in the way of what they want to do. One of my constituents, Jen Hardy, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in October 2017. Many members in the chamber will have met Jen, who has been campaigning for many years to improve opportunities for people. During the pandemic, she developed Cancer Card. I recommend that members visit www.cancercard.org.uk. Cancer Card has looked at how we change and provide the information that people need and are desperately looking for when they are diagnosed with cancer.

I hope that the Government will look at some of the work that has gone on during the pandemic, because there are a lot of positives to take from that.

On world cancer day, I hope that we can send out a message of hope and a call to action to the global cancer community to come together and for all of us once again to focus on working together to beat cancer.

Congratulations on your appointment, convener. I, too, pass on my thanks to Neil Gray. We will miss his colourful socks in committee, when we are able to meet in person again.

Good morning, minister. I have a few questions that carry on the line that Foysol Choudhury developed. What is the Scottish Government’s view on the merits of a single disability benefit that would apply to children and to working age and older people?

It is an important area, and we should develop it in some of the work that is going on.

I want to return to younger people, because it is important that the system can meet their needs. How has the system been designed to consider younger people? They may not be encouraged to apply or be aware of what benefits are available. How will the situation change compared to what has gone previously?

I have two questions, the first of which is on the back of the letter that you sent to the committee yesterday, about the recruitment of practitioners. We have previously discussed the development of hubs and where people will be located to work. Could you update the committee on that? Also, I discussed with you previously the potential to create local authority hubs where people could go to access practitioners, and how they can help people in their homes as the pandemic regulations are lifted. Where is the Government on the development of potential hubs for such practitioners?

That is helpful. Thank you very much. The last time that we discussed this, it was not necessarily clear whether the practitioners would be located in hubs, so I welcome any additional information that you can provide us with, as and when it develops.

Finally, I want to ask about the financial projections. Information that the committee has been given, specifically that from some of the work of the Scottish Fiscal Commission, suggests that in 2026, spend on ADP could rise to £567 million. The budget for this year looks to be around £38 million. We are debating stage 1 of the budget this afternoon, so are there any updated figures for the current financial projections?

I will try not to get into a debate about Scottish Government policy decisions at this late stage in the committee meeting, so I hand back to the convener.

It would be useful to update the committee on any timelines that the Government is aware of for that independent review, because we are keen to add value to the process where we can.

I want to ask about changes that I think that the DWP has announced today to the PIP application process to try to make it easier for people to start a new claim. Has the Scottish Government captured and been involved in that work? The changes relate to individuals who need assistance to make a claim. For example, a supporting person, rather than the individual making the claim, will be able to make a phone call. Will those changes be captured in any changes to the ADP system, so that we have a system that can be flexible at UK level and in Scotland? Is the minister aware of that?

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?