Chamber and committees

Good morning, everybody.

We have heard some really interesting responses so far. Dr Chopra touched a wee bit on training. I am interested in what training is available, what training is being delivered, and what barriers, if any, there are to training. My understanding is that there is a Royal College of General Practitioners perinatal mental health toolkit. Information has also been produced by NES, and there are re-learning modules. I know that the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale is used to assess women once they have delivered a baby. There seems to be so much information out there, so how is it being delivered to health professionals—midwives, GPs and other practitioners?

What you have said about education in work time is really important. I probably need to remind everybody that I was a clinical educator before I was an MSP, and provided education to midwives.

It is important that we offer education in work time. Would providing education directly in the workplace, and not expecting people to do continuing professional development away from their workplace, also support retention of the workforce, which you previously mentioned?

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, and I congratulate my colleague Paul McLennan on securing it. The theme this year is calling for awareness, action and accountability all year round, with a focus on the importance of all men taking action to prevent violence against women and girls. Jim Fairlie described that well. I, too, thank the organisations that work to tackle gender-based violence, including Zero Tolerance, Scottish Women’s Aid—including Wigtownshire Women’s Aid and Dumfriesshire and Stewartry Women’s Aid—Rape Crisis and White Ribbon Scotland. The recollections of women who have experienced violence and abuse are not easy to hear. As Audrey Nicoll stated, women who are survivors should be commended for their resilience.

There is no place for harassment or abuse in any form, whether in the home, schools or the workplace or in wider society. Violence against women and girls and against LGBT+ people and other groups is unacceptable. International awareness-raising activities such as this debate are crucial to raising the profile of gender-based violence and to tackling its causes.

The group UN Women has called violence against women during the Covid-19 pandemic the shadow pandemic. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, emerging data and reports have shown that all types of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, have intensified. The shadow pandemic needs a global collective effort to stop it. I ask members to please check out the shadow pandemic campaign on the UN Women website.

One of the best ways to tackle gender-based violence is by education. I welcome the Scottish Government’s determination to ensure that children and young people receive high-quality relationship, sexual health and parenthood education in schools. Campaigns such as Police Scotland’s “Don’t be that guy” campaign are crucial educational resources, as they encourage frank conversations with men about gender-based violence and negative stereotypes. The Scottish Government has a number of policies to deal with violence against women and girls and to advance gender equality here and abroad. Whether in Scotland or around the world, violence against women is a fundamental violation of human rights, and this is human rights day.

The Scottish Government is investing in front-line services and has introduced new legislation to tackle gender-based violence and discrimination. Scotland rightly aims to set an international example of good practice on gender equality and the eradication of gender-based violence, and in creating a world in which women and girls are safe and can achieve their goals.

In Scotland, we are seeing the implementation of “Equally Safe: Scotland’s strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls.” The strategy rightly deals with issues of gender-based violence in Scotland, but it also has a commitment to preventing international discrimination against women.

Members might recall that last January I brought forward a debate on UN Security Council resolution 1325, on women, peace and security, which was unanimously passed by the Security Council more than 20 years ago. The resolution was the first of its kind, in that its aim was to specifically address the impact of war on women and the value of women as conflict resolvers.

At the heart of the equally safe strategy is the principle that all women and girls, regardless of background, race, religion, sexual orientation or age, should feel safe in their communities and should live without fear of violence or abuse.

On an international level, Scotland, working in partnership with the UN, has pledged practical and financial support for women and girls to achieve that goal and learn peace-building and conflict-resolution skills. The programme that is supported by the Scottish Government consists of talks, seminars and lessons and gives women and girls access to international experts and female role models in positions of power, so that they have the opportunity to learn from each other about the fundamentals of peacekeeping. Such actions should be commended; they contribute to the strengthening and empowerment of women and girls.

The steps that we in Scotland are taking—such as equally safe, equal representation on public boards, gender-balanced cabinets, and commitments to a wellbeing economy and the education of women and girls to tackle gender-based violence—are also welcome. It is important that the Scottish Government will introduce legislation to protect the anonymity of complainers of sexual crimes under Scots law. I also welcome that serious consideration will be given to the introduction of special courts and to allowing victims to prerecord their evidence.

I welcome this debate. I join the calls for men to call out gender-based violence, and I welcome Scotland’s outward-looking approach to tackling gender-based violence.

Specifically in relation to the issue that has just been raised, the union connectivity review recommended that the UK Government make funding available for A75 upgrades. The minister is aware that I, too, have lobbied for that since my election in May 2016. Can the minister outline specifically what the UK Government has promised in terms of the amount of money that it proposes to give, and the timescales for the money being delivered?

I welcome this debate on world AIDS day, which this year has the theme of “End inequalities. End AIDS. End pandemics.” I congratulate Jamie Greene on securing the debate and commend his contribution. I led the debate in 2019 and am pleased to continue my support for world AIDS day and the opportunity that it presents to raise awareness 40 years since the emergence of HIV and AIDS.

I encourage everyone to access the Waverley Care and HIV Scotland websites and to learn about their work, including the generation zero campaign by HIV Scotland.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to get the message across to everyone that, once a person has received a diagnosis and had appropriate treatment so that they have no detectable load of the HIV virus, they cannot pass on the virus through sexual transmission. Waverley Care, along with NHS boards across Scotland, is doing important work to promote the importance of people knowing their HIV status, as well as promoting the undetectable equals untransmissible, or U=U, message.

In preparing for this debate, I reflected on my time working at the Cedars-Sinai medical centre in the heart of west Hollywood in Los Angeles in the early 1990s. I was in LA when Magic Johnson was diagnosed, which was huge news at the time. The stigma associated with HIV and AIDS was absolutely evident back then. I recall how people who were HIV positive or who had AIDS were negatively affected by attitudes of the public and of healthcare professionals, who should have known better. That was very distressing for people and their families and truly stigmatising. I am glad that we have moved on since then.

I also reflected on the lives that have been lost and the people I have known who have lost their lives. My condolences go out to all.

LGBT Scotland, Stonewall and even the recent Channel 4 show “It’s a Sin”, which others have mentioned, have had a huge impact in tackling the stigma, and that is welcome.

Scotland is leading the way in the fight against HIV and AIDS. When I led the debate in 2018, I spoke about the progress that was being made in Scotland to meet the United Nations 90-90-90 targets. The UN stated that, by 2020, 90 per cent of people living with HIV would be diagnosed, 90 per cent who were diagnosed would be receiving treatment, and 90 per cent would have an undetectable viral load. Despite the pressures that have been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Scotland has met those targets. Ninety-one per cent of those people are now diagnosed, 98 per cent are receiving treatment, and 94 per cent have an undetectable viral load. I pay tribute to NHS Scotland staff, such as the NHS Dumfries and Galloway sexual health and blood-borne virus nurse Marie Murray, who has just received a nurse consultant post for her work.

Today in Scotland, HIV is considered to be a manageable long-term health condition with treatments such as PrEP, which allows people to live long and healthy lives. On PrEP and other HIV and AIDS treatments, it is extremely reckless that the UK Government has cut UNAIDS funding by 83 per cent. A recent International Development Select Committee report laid bare the devastating impact that those cuts are having on the global fight against HIV. It said that the cut would reverse decades of hard-won progress in cutting transmission rates and death rates. Today, on world AIDS day, I repeat the Scottish National Party’s calls on Boris Johnson’s Government to reverse the cuts to UK funding for crucial AIDS and HIV treatment, as we continue to battle that other deadly pandemic.

Testing has a central role to play in reducing the number of new infections, particularly by helping to reduce the proportion of undiagnosed HIV cases. Testing can be as simple as taking a finger prick blood sample, and the results are known immediately. My ask of the Scottish Government is not to take the foot off the pedal and to continue public awareness campaigns about the importance of sexual health tests, including for HIV and AIDS.

I again welcome the debate and the progress that has been made so far, and I commend Jamie Greene for bringing the debate to Parliament.

Thank you, convener. I will be as quick as possible.

This is a question for David Ferguson. It is about how we can use our infrastructure to meet our climate change, net zero and biodiversity targets. I am talking about issues such as having access to green space, 20-minute neighbourhoods and so on. When I lived in California, we got points for car pooling and walking or cycling. There was a scheme whereby those points could be exchanged for movie tickets, which was great in Los Angeles. That was a good way of getting outside and getting active. However, I do not know whether we have car pooling or car sharing or walking or cycling incentive schemes in Scotland. Do we need to provide such schemes?

I am also thinking about the e-bike revolution. How do we make e-bikes less expensive? Do we need to do more to encourage uptake of e-bikes? I know that the Scottish Government has an e-bike grant fund. In 2019-20, £273,000 was given out and more than 100 e-bikes were provided. So far, more than 600 e-bikes have been provided through that scheme. How do we use our infrastructure to support our net zero targets?

Sure. In the previous session of Parliament, the Health and Sport Committee, of which I was a member, held an inquiry into the subject, and its report was called “Social prescribing: physical activity is an investment, not a cost”. We gathered evidence and held sessions around that.

My question is for David Ferguson, who asked what further evidence we need in order to do more to support social prescribing programmes. I know that there are general practices that do a fantastic job in signposting people, but community link workers would help to play a part in that. Do you have any reflections on the Health and Sport Committee’s report and how it can feed in to develop further evidence about the benefits of social prescribing of physical activity?

We have seen a massive uptake of e-bikes and cargo bikes. Even Michael Matheson, who is the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, has an e-bike. What more should be done to encourage folk to get out and use their e-bikes?

Jenni Minto has just mentioned loads of lamb recipes, but does she agree that lamb also has evident nutritional benefits? For example, it is high in protein—a 3oz serving contains 25g of it. That shows how beneficial it is to our health.

Given the public health advice to redouble efforts in respect of face covering, space and infection-control measures, does the Scottish Government intend to update guidance on the type of face covering that the public should use to ensure that that is an FFP2 mask or equivalent, that it is worn over the nose and the mouth, and that it is disposed of or laundered properly?