Chamber and committees

I did not intend to speak, but on listening to the contributions—and having read the epilepsy briefing that was sent to us by Andrew Lindsay ahead of the debate—I thought that I would jump to my feet. I thank Marie McNair for bringing the debate to the chamber.

On reading the briefing, I was surprised by the additional items on depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder; Pam Gosal mentioned depression and anxiety. It is an important issue. Briefing papers to us in the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee also included something about raising awareness on anxiety and depression in persons with epilepsy.

I am a type 1 diabetic. As part of my care, about once a year, when I go to my doctor’s appointment they give me a self-assessment tool for depression and anxiety, because those are higher in type 1 diabetics. The self-assessment that is used is the hospital anxiety and depression scale—the HADS scale—which uses the scale 3, 2, 1 and zero to assess the level of anxiety and depression.

I am also co-convener of the lung health cross-party group and the diabetes cross-party group, where we have had discussions on the assessment of anxiety and depression in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as persons with diabetes.

I just want to raise awareness of assessment tools such as the HADS, and I seek to make sure that people who self-assess know that they can access a healthcare professional if they score highly on a scale that might indicate that they need to do so. I would be interested to hear from the minister any comments on self-assessment—including, crucially, the need for people who act on any self-assessment scale to know when they should seek assistance and support.

I welcome what the First Minister is describing as the Scottish Government’s determination to ensure that lessons are learned from the infected blood scandal. Will the First Minister say a wee bit more about the make-up of the oversight group that the Scottish Government has established to consider the inquiry’s recommendations for Scotland?

I will speak to amendment 88, in my name. I have a particular interest in the parts of the bill that relate to continuing professional development. I was a clinical nurse educator in my previous role with NHS Dumfries and Galloway, and I was embedded in CPD for 30 years as a registered nurse. During those 30 years, I witnessed and experienced the value of on-going education and CPD.

The Barony campus of Scotland’s Rural College in Dumfries and Galloway, which I have visited on a number of occasions to meet and hear from the exceptional expert team that provides education for our current and future farmers, is crucial for agricultural education.

I lodged amendment 88 to make it clear in the bill that continuing professional development activities need to be made available in “a range of formats”. It needs to be clear that there is no requirement for farmers, crofters, land managers and other agricultural producers to attend off-farm or away from their business to achieve their CPD.

With CPD, a person who is working in agricultural production could obtain knowledge or improve their knowledge about the best techniques, innovations and skills in a range of ways that meet their individual needs. That could mean peer support and completing online learning, which is similar to how healthcare staff achieve much of their required continuing professional development. NFU Scotland has highlighted that CPD could be obtained by engaging with professional organisations such as the Soil Association.

I am aware that there are other amendments on CPD, and I will listen carefully as everyone speaks. I will end there, and I will now hear from colleagues and the cabinet secretary.

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

On the point about high quality, I am interested in the work of Henry Dimbleby and Chris van Tulleken on the links between the safety of food and obesity related to ultra-high-processed food. I know that a Government consultation on high fat levels, sugar and salt in food is currently under way. Will the cabinet secretary continue to engage in looking at the evidence on ultra-high-processed food and how it impacts on health in Scotland?

Given what the cabinet secretary has said about co-design and working with us, I will not move amendment 88.

Amendment 88 not moved.

Amendment 196 moved—[Edward Mountain].

I am happy to speak in support of the general principles at stage 1 of Christine Grahame’s Welfare of Dogs (Scotland) Bill. I have long advocated for a variety of policies to support and advance animal welfare, including by taking forward my member’s bill on livestock worrying in 2021.

We need to aim for responsible acquisition, giving away and selling of dogs. The minister mentioned the personalities and behaviours of dogs in his opening speech. I have twae border collies: Maya, who won the first Holyrood dog of the year competition, is now 12 years old, and Meg is 13. Those are the twae dugs that we have in our house. As they are collies, it requires a lot to keep their brains active and to give them lots of exercise. They are both rescue dogs. When we think about people acquiring a dog, it is important to talk about the way in which they will do so and about the types of dog personalities.

I put on record my thanks to Christine Grahame and I recognise her work in bringing her member’s bill to the chamber. I know the amount of work that goes into a member’s bill, so kudos to Christine Grahame and her team for putting in that hard graft.

As many members will be aware, I have campaigned for stronger action to address the horrific illegal puppy trafficking trade, which others have mentioned. In the time that I have, I will focus many of my comments on that. There has been a real increase in the practice of selling puppies without considering the puppy’s welfare. That is a particular issue in the South Scotland region, which Colin Smyth highlighted. The SSPCA reports that illegal puppies are still being brought into Scotland through the port of Cairnryan, and that they are then sold in Scotland and the wider UK.

Illegally bred puppies that are sold through black-market trade on social media or small advert sites have been identified as a significant source of revenue for serious organised crime gangs. Price tags for some designer breeds can reach thousands of pounds. Prosecutors at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are concerned that money that is raised by unauthorised puppy dealers from some online platforms could be laundered to support drug traffickers and other criminal activity, as part of a multimillion-pound enterprise. A Scottish multi-agency strategic threat assessment—SMASTA—report that was published last year reported that the market for illegally traded puppies is estimated to be worth £13 million.

So far this year, the SSPCA has received 336 calls in connection with puppy farms and puppy breeding. Many of the pups involved later suffer severe health problems and either cost their new owners money in huge vet bills or are too ill to survive their first months.

That all demonstrates that puppy trafficking is a hugely pressing issue, and it is one that the bill and the proposed code can seek to address. The committee’s stage 1 report highlights a quote from Christine Grahame. She said:

“Six years ago, I became aware of the growth in the supply of puppies and dogs purchased online and from puppy factory farms”.

She went on to say:

“I decided that, if supply was the issue, the current legislation and policing were not having a sufficient impact and that I should perhaps tackle demand, which would have an effect on supply.”

Ms Grahame said that her bill would be

“a valuable tool in the box alongside other on-going work set out by the Scottish Government in the minister’s evidence.”—[Official Report, Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, 22 November 2023; c 14.]

According to the evidence that was taken at committee, that view is supported by the Scottish SPCA and the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government ran the “Buy a puppy safely” campaign with a budget of £300,000, £225,000 of which was to pay for media and overall development of the campaign, with the remaining £75,000 covering insight and evaluation. The campaign aimed to help people to source their new puppy responsibly by informing them of the consequences of illegal puppy farming, arming them with knowledge of the warning signs to look for and directing them to the “Buy a puppy safely” campaign website.

Although those steps are welcome, as the SSPCA has said, more targeted action is needed to combat the illicit trade, and I believe that the bill will be an additional tool with which to do that.

The Scottish Government has set out its support for the general principles of the bill but has outlined areas where it feels that the bill could usefully be amended. I believe that the bill would have huge value in improving the welfare of dogs. I welcome Christine Grahame’s commitment to working with the Scottish Government on it.

As recently as February this year, 24 cockapoo and cavapoo puppies were discovered in a dire situation. They were confined in cardboard boxes under a lorry coming off the ferry at Cairnryan. Do you think that there are aspects of the general principles of the bill that would help to address the puppy trafficking that we still see at Cairnryan?

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate and I congratulate my friend and colleague, Collette Stevenson, on securing it. Collette has outlined the issue really well, so I am pleased to follow her at the beginning of LGBT+ history month.

I, too, want to start by condemning domestic abuse in all its forms, whether it is sexual assault, coercive control, psychological abuse or any other form of controlling behaviour.

The University of Glasgow has carried out a great deal of work on LGBT domestic abuse, and the findings of its report make for concerning reading. The research shows that LGBT+ people face fear of being stigmatised and disbelieved by police, support services being designed for heterosexual people and a systemic lack of LGBT+ domestic abuse knowledge and inclusion across “most services” in Scotland.

On the few inclusive services, the report recorded prolonged waiting lists and “inadequate” safe accommodation for LGBT+ people—a problem that the report’s author Dr Steven Maxwell has warned will only be worsened by impending local authority cuts. Dr Maxwell said:

“Domestic abuse experiences of LGBTQ+ victims and survivors are overlooked and unheard. One in 3 LGBTQ+ adults will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, the same level as heterosexual women.”

We know that such abuse has a profound impact on a person’s life, so it is absolutely crucial that the Scottish Government does all that it can to get the services right for our LGBT+ community. We must deliver parity of esteem for domestic abuse services for all domestic abuse victims—of any and all sexual orientations.

There is a clear way forward to improve the current situation. According to Dr Maxwell, a number of steps could reduce the high-risk situations that LGBT+ victims experience.

The starting point is for the Scottish Government to review the national equally safe policy, which Collette Stevenson mentioned, to have it include LGBT+ domestic abuse experiences. The University of Glasgow report says that LGBT people’s experiences are “invisible” in the equally safe strategy.

The report calls for a tailored national action plan to provide “visible competent measures” to meet people’s needs. They include: stronger prevention; service inclusion messages; more inclusive safe spaces; and practitioner workforce education for health and social care staff through, for example, Turas e-learning modules. Previously, as a clinical nurse educator, I developed and delivered e-learning courses, and it seems pretty achievable for us to pursue that, so I will ask the minister whether that could be considered.

As Collette Stevenson’s motion shows, statistical publications show that 30,139 charges that had a domestic abuse identifier were reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in 2022-23. The accused was male in 86 per cent of reports, which means that 4,219 women were perpetrators of domestic abuse. We need to ensure that policies such as equally safe work to support anyone who has experienced domestic abuse, because it is not a women-only problem.

One excellent example of work that is being undertaken to support LGBT+ people who are experiencing domestic abuse is the work of the charity Galop. Galop specialises in supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence, hate crime, honour-based abuse, forced marriage, conversion therapies and other types of interpersonal abuse. Galop is run by LGBT+ people for LGBT+ people, and the community is at the heart of everything that it does. Galop is a fantastic organisation, and I would like to hear from the minister whether the Scottish Government could engage with it.

Enabling our LGBT+ community to be supported in cases of domestic violence is crucial, so I welcome the debate.

Good morning, everybody. I worked on drafting amendment 93 with NFU Scotland. It is a fairly simple amendment, but I believe that it is an important one. I am sure that we can all agree that it is important to specify the role of Scottish agricultural policy. Through amendment 93, I believe that we are emphasising Scotland’s world-leading reputation for high-quality agricultural production and high standards of animal welfare. As NFU Scotland highlights, those commitments should be specified in the bill to enhance the understanding and importance of Scottish provenance.

During my past eight years as an elected member for the South Scotland region, I have spoken in chamber debates and have raised questions about promoting and protecting the provenance of our world-class produce, especially in the language of protected geographical indicator status. We know that we have world-class produce in Scotland, including our Scotch beef, Scotch lamb and other products, and I know that we are always keen to support the work of Quality Meat Scotland and the Scotch whisky industry. They are so valuable for our economy.

I will keep my contribution short. The legislation sets out the requirements for Scottish agricultural policy and it should be defined as such.