Chamber and committees

The first item on our agenda is consideration of a negative instrument, the purpose of which is to introduce the mandatory fortification of non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid. That is intended to be a public health intervention that will work alongside other public health measures to help to reduce the incidence of foetal neural tube defects in Scotland by increasing the dietary intake of folic acid, and therefore blood folate levels, in women of child-bearing age.

The amendments that will be made by the instrument specify that mandatory flour fortification will take place by requiring that non-wholemeal wheat flour be fortified with folic acid in the specified quantities. The instrument amends the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 in Scotland by introducing the mandatory requirement for non-wholemeal wheat flour to be fortified with folic acid, amending the required quantities of fortificants that are currently added to flour, introducing an exemption from the fortification requirements for small mills, and making other technical amendments.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the instrument at its meeting on 14 January 2025 and made no recommendations in relation to the instrument. No motion to annul has been lodged in relation to the instrument.

As no members wish to make comments, I propose that the committee does not make any recommendations in relation to the instrument. Do members agree?

Members indicated agreement.

That would be great. Thank you very much, cabinet secretary.

Carol Mochan is joining us online.

We continue our scrutiny of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill by taking evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and supporting officials. I welcome to the committee Neil Gray, the cabinet secretary; Nicki Crossan, assisted dying shadow bill team leader; Ailsa Garland, principal legal officer; Neil Ritchie, palliative care unit head; and Joanna Swanson, healthcare quality and improvement divisional head, all from the Scottish Government.

Before we move to questions, I believe that the cabinet secretary would like to make a brief opening statement.

The second item on our agenda is evidence from two panels of witnesses as part of our scrutiny of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill at stage 1.

By virtue of rule 12.2.3(a) of the standing orders, Liam McArthur MSP is attending the meeting today as the member in charge of the bill.

We begin today’s scrutiny of the bill by taking evidence from representatives of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Police Scotland on law enforcement considerations in relation to the bill. I welcome to the committee Laura Buchan, procurator fiscal, policy and engagement, and Andy Shanks, head of the Scottish fatalities investigation unit, both from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service; and Assistant Chief Constable Steve Johnson from Police Scotland.

We will move straight to questions.

I want to go back to the financial memorandum on a point of clarity. The Government has looked at training time and costs in comparison with Mr McArthur’s financial memorandum, and your response to Emma Harper’s question was that you anticipate that, if the bill were passed, some pre-registration training would replace the training that would initially be needed as the bill was coming in. Would there be any scope to factor in costings for updates? What you learn pre-reg does not necessarily translate to something that you are doing in clinical practice five, 10 or 15 years down the line.

I have no indication of any more questions from the committee. I thank the cabinet secretary and his officials for their attendance.

Next week, the committee will conclude its programme of oral evidence as part of its stage 1 scrutiny of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill by taking evidence from the member in charge of the bill.

That concludes the public part of our meeting.

My final question is about section 17 of the bill, which would require that the terminal illness involved is recorded as the cause of death on the death certificate, as opposed to the administration of an approved substance that is associated with assisted dying. Is the Government perhaps looking with National Records of Scotland at how that might be recorded on a death certificate, given that that would deviate quite markedly from current practice, as we heard from earlier witnesses?

I have some final questions, cabinet secretary. Again, there might be issues that you cannot comment on.

I thank the panel members for their attendance today. The committee has found your evidence to be very helpful in our scrutiny of the bill at stage 1. I briefly suspend the meeting to change over witnesses.

Thank you very much, cabinet secretary. We will move straight to questions.