Chamber and committees

Good morning, and welcome to the 11th meeting in 2024 of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. I have received apologies from Tess White. Sandesh Gulhane and Emma Harper are joining us remotely.

Agenda item 1 is to decide whether to take items 3 and 4 in private. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Agenda item 2 is consideration of one negative instrument. The purpose of the instrument is to allow employers and members of the public to see more information about persons who are on the register that is kept by the Scottish Social Services Council under section 44 of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the instrument at its meeting on 19 March 2024 and made no recommendation in relation to it. No motion to annul has been lodged in relation to the instrument.

Given that no member has indicated that they wish to comment, I propose that the committee make no recommendation in relation to the instrument. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.?

That concludes the public part of our meeting.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I was not able to connect to the digital platform. I would have voted no.

I congratulate Christine Grahame on securing today’s debate. I, too, pay tribute to Crystal FM, which is based in her constituency, for winning the best community radio broadcaster award.

Community radio stations provide a voice for our local communities. In my speech, I want to highlight and celebrate one of the UK’s 300 licensed community radio stations, CamGlen Radio, which is based in my constituency. As the name suggests, CamGlen Radio primarily serves the areas of Cambuslang and Rutherglen, in my constituency, as well as surrounding localities. It broadcasts on 107.9 FM locally and worldwide online.

As part of the brilliant local third sector organisation Healthy n Happy community development trust, CamGlen Radio has broadcast since 2007 and became a full-time service in 2015. As it says on its website, the station’s purpose is to

“address inequality and improve wellbeing.”

It does that through supporting local people to be active and involved by providing media training and skill building as a pathway to employment and by using radio to connect people and communities.

On the latter point, community radio plays a crucial role in fostering a sense of belonging and connection among its listeners. At a time when radio is dominated by large media conglomerates, which are more focused on regional, national or global news, community radio stations very often tell stories of local significance that would not be picked up elsewhere.

CamGlen Radio offers a variety of programming, including music spanning different genres; talk shows covering local news, history and events; and speciality programmes catering for specific interests in the community.

Not only that, but the radio station provides local people with vital opportunities and experiences. CamGlen Radio helps its volunteers to develop their radio skills, covering all aspects of radio operations from planning and presenting shows through to editing, production and broadcast support. Whether it is in teaching people how to host a radio show, produce compelling stories or operate technical equipment, community radio stations play a vital role in nurturing the next generation of broadcasters and journalists in our communities, and they provide local people with transferable skills to take into whatever career path they choose.

Since starting, CamGlen Radio has given the opportunity to local primary and secondary schools to take over the airways and produce their own shows. Some of the schools in my constituency that have made content on CamGlen Radio over the years include Newton Farm, James Aiton, St Bride’s, Hallside, Burgh, Bankhead, Calderwood, Cairns, St Mark’s and St Anthony’s primary schools, as well as Rutherglen, Cathkin and Trinity high schools. Two of my sons took great pride and pleasure in presenting shows with their classmates from St Columbkille’s primary school some years ago.

Community radio stations, like local newspapers, connect people to stories in a way that national media cannot. If the issues at hand are not local to them, people might feel that articles and stories are abstract and they might feel disconnected from them. Community radio stations such as CamGlen Radio ground stories in the heart of the communities that they serve.

One of my constituents, Dr Janice Ross, wrote her doctoral thesis on community radio and was the first person in the country to do so. Janice is currently interviewing local refugee women she has met and befriended through her local volunteering work, to learn more about their experiences, their journeys to these shores and how they have adapted to life in Scotland.

That series of programmes, which will provide a unique personal, social and political history archive, will be broadcast on the radio station in the coming months. Such highlighting and amplification of diverse local voices is what makes CamGlen Radio what it is, and it explains why community radio is much loved across Scotland.

I have had the pleasure of being on CamGlen Radio a couple of times over the years, the first of which was when I was interviewed by the late Bob Rowatt just before the 2016 election. As someone who had hosted many local political hustings that CamGlen broadcast, Bob was Rutherglen and Cambuslang’s answer to Jeremy Paxman. He was a very astute interviewer, who kept many local candidates on their toes.

Like so many other community radio stations, in promoting informed decision making among voters and holding us politicians to account, CamGlen Radio plays a vital role in our democratic process.

I again thank Christine Grahame for securing today’s debate. I am sure that CamGlen Radio will give Crystal FM a run for its money at next year’s awards ceremony.

Many of the powers to support businesses, as well as wider economic levers, are reserved to Westminster, including the level of VAT, alcohol and fuel duty, energy prices and interest rates, but I know that the Scottish Government’s small business bonus scheme has been a lifeline for many businesses in my Rutherglen constituency. Can the minister outline the work that will be undertaken through the new deal for business group, which is keeping reforms to the non-domestic rates system under review to ensure that they support businesses and communities?

To ask the Scottish Government how many premises in South Lanarkshire currently receive rates relief through the small business bonus scheme. (S6O-03272)

Agenda item 2 is consideration of two draft affirmative instruments, the first of which is the draft Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 (Continuation) Order 2024. The purpose of the order is to continue the effect of minimum unit pricing provisions that were inserted into the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 by the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012. In the absence of this order, those provisions would expire.

The policy note states that minimum unit pricing has had a positive impact on tackling alcohol-related harms in Scotland and should be continued, as evidence suggests that, if MUP were no longer in effect, alcohol consumption would increase, contrary to the policy aim of reducing alcohol-related harm.

The second instrument is the draft Alcohol (Minimum Price per Unit) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2024. The purpose of the instrument is to increase the minimum unit price, which is currently set at 50p per unit, to 65p per unit. The policy note states that evidence has found that MUP at 50p per unit has had a positive impact on health outcomes in Scotland and that, in order to derive greater health benefits, the current level should be raised to 65p per unit. I also note that the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the instruments at its meeting on 27 February 2024 and made no recommendations in relation to them.

We will now have an evidence session on the instruments with the Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy and supporting officials. Once our questions have been answered, we will proceed to a formal debate on the motions.

I welcome to the committee Christina McKelvie, Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy and from the Scottish Government: Orlando Heijmer-Mason, drugs policy division; Katherine Myant, health and social care analysis; and James Wilson, population, health strategy and improvement. I invite the minister to make a brief opening statement.

Thank you, minister, for that opening statement. As it has pre-empted what was going to be my first question, I will move on to my next.

You touched on claims from certain stakeholders that the conclusions that Public Health Scotland had reached in its evaluation of MUP were

“selective, biased, misleading or flawed.”

How would you counter that? How would you respond to those claims?

Thank you for that. I should also place on record a reference to my entry in the register of members’ interests as a registered mental health nurse with a current bank contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Briefly, one of the initial aims of MUP was to decrease the sales of high-alcohol-by-volume products, particularly strong ciders and so on. Has the Government done any research on whether there has been an impact on the sales of those products?