Chamber and committees

We have had a couple of meetings online. Because Scots is spoke fae Shetland tae Stranraer, we find that meeting online, rather than bringing everybody here, means that people can participate and engage. We have had great attendance so far, and we disseminate information through email engagement and support.

Our secretariat, which is the Scots Language Centre, helps to supply us with all the connections and the people. It already has contact with the 128 potential individual members and groups. I am confident that we will be able to continue to support online and electronic engagement, to make sure that we keep folk up to date with what is going on.

The Tory-made cost of living crisis will do nothing other than exacerbate social isolation and loneliness, particularly for those living in rural areas such as Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders. People are being forced to choose between eating and heating, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has stated that 19 per cent of people in Scotland currently say that they cannot afford social outings.

Will the minister outline what further action the Scottish Government is taking to support people’s wellbeing this winter? Does she agree with me that, ultimately, Scotland must have independence to be free from constantly mitigating the harms that the United Kingdom Government creates?

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate, and I thank Mark Ruskell for securing it. I am also happy to support his motion. I associate myself with his comments, and I thank all the groups that he has mentioned for the action that they have taken.

Greyhound racing is legal in just seven countries in the world. As many speakers have mentioned, only two tracks now remain in Scotland: Shawfield, in Rutherglen, which has not been operational since 2020; and Thornton, in Fife. Colin Smyth has just mentioned Halcrow stadium in Gretna, which is in my South Scotland region. It closed in 2018, and housing has since been built on the site.

The number of greyhounds intended for racing is currently at its lowest in Scotland and, as the Scottish SPCA has highlighted, if implemented in a phased manner, with full communication with all involved, a ban at this time would place the smallest possible burden on rescue organisations in relation to ensuring that all dogs currently racing can be rehomed responsibly.

Ultimately, I agree that we need legislative change to ban racing in our country in order to tackle the high number of injuries, deaths and positive drug tests that are reported in the industry and to reflect the lack of public support for this unsavoury use of animals for human entertainment and gambling profit.

The regulatory body for greyhound racing, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain, has been required to publish injury and death statistics since 2017. In 2018, the board introduced a greyhound commitment, with the aim of improving welfare and reducing injuries. Despite that, according to the board’s injury retirement data for 2018, across the UK, just short of 5,000 dogs were injured—an increase on the previous year. The figures also state that more than 2,000 dogs died or were killed in the racing industry in 2018-19. The GBGB also reported nine positive drug tests in dogs at Shawfield in 2018 alone, as reported in various issues of its Calendar publication. Information that is published by the GBGB demonstrates that there continued to be positive drug tests with class A drugs in 2019. Those tests show that dogs were drugged with cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs, as Ruth Maguire and Rona Mackay have described. In reality, the rates of drugging are likely to be much higher, as only about 3 per cent of dogs who are running are tested.

There have been 119 entries and 15 deaths at Shawfield alone. As the Scottish SPCA reports, we do not have the numbers for the unlicensed Thornton track. Those numbers speak volumes and demonstrate the need for a ban.

Anyone who has a greyhound will know that they love comfort and attention. As a dog owner, and as a proponent of dog-friendly policies, I know how much love our four-legged companions bring. As Colin Smyth described, great rehoming work is being done by Dumfriesshire and Cumbria Greyhound Rescue, which has a shop in Lockerbie. I commended it for its rehoming work.

It is absolutely not right that those dogs are forced to run in a practice that is simply for human entertainment and monetary gain, and I absolutely agree that there must be a ban. A Scottish animal welfare charity, the Scottish SPCA, has reported that greyhound racing is a significant animal welfare issue, and one that needs to be stopped.

The question is not whether there should be a ban but when the ban should happen. Again, I thank Mark Ruskell for his motion.

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle rural isolation and loneliness, particularly in the approach to the winter period. (S6O-01433)

That is for Vicky or Judith.

Good morning. I have a question for Gordon Arthur about the “Changing the Boundaries” review, which, as the convener mentioned, recommended producing an action plan by 30 September. I understand that the action plan has not been published yet and that it has been delayed because there has not been adequate anti-racism expertise—perhaps there has been none—to scrutinise the plan prior to publication. I am interested in your comments about the delay. What action is being taken to embed anti-racism expertise in the plan? When will the action plan be published?

The report was published in July 2022 and the action plan was meant to be published by the end of September. Has it just grown arms and legs and got bigger as you have uncovered issues that need to be dealt with? Have you therefore had to not exactly prolong the publishing process but take a more in-depth approach to tackling racism in Scottish cricket?

Good morning everyone, and thank you for coming today. I have a couple of questions about performance. Integration authorities have been required to report on a core suite of integration indicators within their annual performance reports. The indicators were developed to allow integration authorities to review progress towards health and wellbeing outcomes. The frameworks and the papers seem to be pretty straightforward.

I am interested to know whether appropriate measures and indicators are in place to track progress in integration. If not, could you suggest something that should be added that might be more appropriate?

Thanks for that response. You mentioned particular local issues that you measure, which is probably quite important in relation to rural areas versus urban areas. Integration authorities such as those in Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders are for pretty rural areas. Are you able to give a particular example of what local performance measurements you use and of successes that you feel have been good and need to be reported on, so that we can continue to build on them?

We heard that, during the pandemic, you had some teams that were self-starting, and there has been good experience of how to support getting people out of the hospitals. There was an issue with that in the early part of the pandemic. I want to hear your thoughts about integration partners and whether they all collaborate effectively. That is about improving performance on the basis of the outcomes and the data indicators. If there are challenges, how do you foresee overcoming them?