Chamber and committees

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the latest reported figures highlighting the impact of livestock worrying in Scotland. (S6F-02874)

The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2021 has proved successful in raising awareness of livestock attacks and livestock worrying and in encouraging farmers to have the confidence to report livestock worrying incidents. However, NFU Mutual’s latest report on rural crime shows that livestock worrying reports are increasing. Stakeholders including NFU Scotland and Scottish Land & Estates have called for a change to the outdoor access code to mandate that dogs be kept on leads when in fields where livestock is present. Will the First Minister comment on how the Government can continue to raise awareness of my livestock worrying act and on whether it will consider making such an amendment to the Scottish outdoor access code as part of the upcoming land reform bill?

As a member of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee who has been present during the entirety of the committee’s scrutiny of the bill and preparation of our stage 1 report, I welcome the fact that we are debating the bill at stage 1 today. I thank everyone who has been involved in providing evidence, the clerks and, of course, anyone who provides care for our people across Scotland.

We must remember that the bill is about a change that might be described as monumental, just as the creation of the national health service was. That was done through framework legislation, just like this bill.

The evidence that we have taken at committee has clearly demonstrated that the current social care landscape is cluttered and complex and that, fundamentally, it isnae working for those requiring care, who are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. The Parliament has a duty to those individuals to get the bill right and to create a social care system that meets the demands of our society and that is underpinned by the principles of human rights, respect and person-centred choices.

There is a need for standardisation of the social care system, employment practices, education for social care workers and social care standards across all of Scotland.

I will come on to self-directed support, but it is part of the complex landscape that needs to be reformed, so that we can make changes and help to support the most vulnerable people who need care.

It is clear from the evidence that one of the best ways to make the necessary changes is by reforming integration joint boards, as the minister set out to the committee. The committee has heard repeatedly from people with lived experience that the current adult social care system must change so that we can drive up standards to a consistent level across our country.

One of the ways in which it is intended that the aims of the bill be met is through the creation of a national care service board. The NCS board will ensure that consistent, fair and human rights-based social care support and community health services are in place. It will be responsible for reviewing and overseeing the performance of local strategic plans. To support that, the Scottish Government proposes to transfer ministerial powers of intervention to the board, which will be able to invoke them as a last resort. That will give the board the levers that it will need to drive and support performance, and—if required—to act.

As a former clinical educator and a nurse, I am interested in how the NCS board will help to standardise how we approach social care and social work and care across Scotland. Just this week, my office spoke to a local organisation that provides care across Dumfries and Galloway about the NCS board and standardisation, and it welcomed the approach.

Stewartry Care, which is one of the largest providers of social care in Dumfries and Galloway, gave evidence to the committee when we visited Dumfries. The other day, it told my office that, although it provides mandatory moving and handling training for its staff, much of the training that it provides on top of that is not mandatory. Stewartry Care also trains staff on how to assess nutritional status, and staff are educated on how to spot the signs and symptoms of malnutrition among those within their care.

However, as was evident from my meeting with the Food Train last week, the provision of such education is not universal practice. Many care providers do not offer such education or training, despite the importance of nutrition and the commitments in the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 that was passed by this Parliament.

That is just one example of an area of education that would benefit from standardisation across Scotland. I ask whether the minister agrees with me and whether she will consider making nutritional monitoring one of the national standards as the bill progresses. I am not necessarily suggesting that it should be done in primary legislation; I am simply saying that we should consider it as we seek to make progress on standards.

I also want to touch on the commitment to establishing a national social work agency, which COSLA has agreed with. For the people who work in the social work profession and their leaders, the establishment of a national social work agency is a vital piece in the jigsaw of reform. As has been noted by Social Work Scotland, the current national arrangements for social work are messy and inefficient, with the Scottish Government, employers, the Scottish Social Services Council, Social Work Scotland, improvement bodies and many others all separately “leading” on aspects of social work’s development.

If we are to effect the changes in social work systems and practice that were outlined in the independent review of social care and the Promise, which the profession itself has called for, we need to create an enabling context. The national social work agency has real potential to address those challenges.

Dumfries and Galloway Council pays its social workers lower wages than any other Scottish social work department. That is why some of our social workers are leaving to go and work south of the border or in other parts of southern Scotland. That issue could be addressed by progressing a national agency.

Another example is that of self-directed support, which Gillian Mackay’s intervention was about. Different local authorities take a variety of approaches to the administration of SDS. While some perform really well, others perform less well. Therefore, I ask the minister to confirm that it is the Scottish Government’s intention for the national social work agency to deal with such discrepancies, to support the social work profession and to get it right for those who engage with social work.

It is clear that the bill is needed to improve the social care and social work landscape in Scotland. I will support the bill at stage 1, and I urge other members to do so.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. In my work on the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee and in various health-related cross-party groups, and following the work of Henry Dimbleby and Chris van Tulleken, I have been looking at different issues around ultra-processed foods—that is, foods with a high fat, sugar and salt content. I am therefore interested in the work of the commission in that respect. Will its remit include food production as well as food security? Given that that is part of how we look at the whole food system, will that be a focus of the commission?

I am interested in other issues that might impact the spawning of cod, such as climate change, predation by other species and activities other than disturbance of the sea bed. One of my local fishermen says that he is witnessing more sea bass in the northern waters. Could you say something about the impact of climate change and other activities that might affect spawning?

Thinking about my original questions to the cabinet secretary, and noting that these regulations stem from the 2022 act, I think it important that we achieve a healthy nation that is underpinned by good diets, as is set out in the act. I am interested in our pursuing the core values of the food commission, which are to support Scottish agriculture and food production, to ensure Scottish food security and to ensure that the food commission will work closely with our valued Scottish farmers. I would like to make sure that we achieve that as we progress.

I want to pick up on what has been said, including about bycatch, the need for a complete absence of disturbance on the sea bed and what Dr Coby Needle said about changing the design of creels to avoid bycatch. We need to ensure that we are working with our fishermen. The Galloway Static Gear Fishermen’s Association has 20 vessels and more than 40 members. Their knowledge makes them experts in the territory where they are fishing. I am keen to ensure that we continue to work with the fishermen so that the science, data and evidence are accurate and they can fish for the future.

I thank Sharon Dowey for bringing the debate to the chamber. I think that all of us, as MSPs who represent south-west Scotland, have either raised the issue in debates previously or asked the Scottish Government questions on the need for improvements to those main arterial routes, the A75 and the A77. The A75 is part of a 95-mile long Euro route, which is fundamental to the UK’s connectivity and our wider access to Europe.

Fundamentally, it is time that we see much-needed upgrades to improve safety and efficiency. I pay tribute to the A75 and A77 action groups. Their continued campaigning efforts cannot be overplayed. It is vital to note that there have been fatal accidents on the road, as Sharon Dowey said. That includes two very recent accidents on the A75 in as many months. We now have a wife and two daughters without a husband and a father, and, as a result of the other accident, near Annan, we have a community that is devastated by the loss of a friend. My thoughts and my condolences go to the families.

We have commitments from both Governments, but the focus now must be on transforming those commitments into action as quickly as possible. I made that clear at the recent south-west Scotland transport alliance summit in Stranraer, which was held on 29 January at the North West Castle hotel. The summit was attended by MSPs and by representatives from the ferry companies Stena Line and P&O and from Belfast Harbour. There were also national health service representatives there, as well as Dumfries and Galloway and South Ayrshire council leaders. There was a consensus from all those in attendance on the absolute need for road upgrades. I know that my colleague Elena Whitham, who has attended our joint meetings on the issue, agrees that there is a critical need for road improvements.

In 2022, the Scottish Government published its second strategic transport projects review, which states that the A75 and A77 will benefit from

“improving junctions, enhancing overtaking opportunities ... or climbing lanes ... where slow moving traffic leads to risky overtaking manoeuvres, and widening or realigning carriageways to alleviate ‘pinch points’”.

Those recommendations will bring the change for which constituents have long been calling. However, the issue now is funding. The Scottish Government continues to operate in a tight economic situation—[Interruption.] I will not take any interventions, because I have only four minutes.

The Scottish Government continues to operate in a tight economic situation, with a budget that is handed to us without the ability to commit to huge infrastructure spending. That means that it is necessary for the UK Government to provide funding to ensure that the upgrades progress. That was acknowledged in the final report of the UK Government-commissioned union connectivity review.

Since the publication of STPR2 and the “Union Connectivity Review: Final Report”, progress has been made. I welcome that the Scottish and UK Governments have been working together, and I welcome collaborative engagement to explore the options for making funding available. The Scottish Government has secured £8 million from the UK Government for a feasibility study on creating bypasses for Springholm and Crocketford villages. Again, I ask the Cabinet Secretary for Transport to provide exact timescales for when the STPR2 commitments will be enacted.

In addition to the need for improvements for better safety and efficiency, I seek further clarity on the strong economic case that the central belt benefits from the connectivity to Northern Ireland. I have written to Transport Scotland to seek an update on figures and travelling patterns for cars and HGVs, so that we can show that other parts of Scotland benefit from A77 connectivity and that it is important for goods and services.

Just this week, my office has been in touch with Gist logistics, a major distribution hub in Motherwell that employs more than 2,500 people. Gist has stated how important the A77 is as part of its distribution network. The economic importance of both roads cannot be overplayed, and I ask the cabinet secretary for a commitment that the Scottish Government recognises that.

In conclusion, I ask the Government to do all that it can to get shovels in the ground on the A75 and A77 to deliver those much-needed improvements.

You mentioned America, Rachael. I forgot to mention that I was a registered perioperative nurse for 30 years, working in California, England and Scotland. I am thinking about activities in the United States. A lot of violence has been perpetrated over the years, and there has been serious intimidation of people who work in healthcare at the homes of doctors, nurses and staff. My point is that, when we speak about people encountering protest, that includes staff, which you talked about earlier. The overarching aspects of the bill will protect everybody who is going to their work or going to access healthcare. That is what we are aiming for. Is that correct?