Minister, you have talked about management and protection, which are vital. You have gone into detail in some of your answers. I will ask about the implementation of a number of policies that come into play. The whole idea behind protecting such woodlands is to ensure that they are sustainable and that they continue.

In our round-table session, people touched on resources—what is being spent and how that is being managed—which have implications for what can be achieved. Knowledge and enforcement are other aspects, and you have touched on enforcement issues. Resource has a massive impact on what you can achieve in the short to medium term. What is the Scottish Government doing to enhance that? How are you tackling that situation? Without the financial resource to manage the situation, it becomes unsustainable.

Given all that, I think that it is probably time to close the petition. A lot of work has already been done, as you have just described, by the Scottish Government. However, in closing the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders, it would be useful to write to the Scottish Government to ask when it expects that a new sector-specific scheme will become available; when details of that scheme, including how to apply for it, will be published; and how the scheme will be publicised to ensure that self-employed individuals in the sector will have the opportunity to ensure that they are supported and will be given the means that they have been requesting for some time.

Good morning, and thank you for your comments so far.

I want to ask about the plan. As we know, five themes have been drawn out in the plan: accommodation, access to public services, better incomes, tackling racism and discrimination, and better representation. Davie Donaldson talked about the rhetoric. It is good to have all of those themes, but not all of them are working at the same level across the sector. What do you think will develop in the long term? At the moment, the biggest issue that is facing any individual is probably the cost of living crisis, which has a massive impact on all those themes.

It would be good to hear about priorities. Is any one of the themes seen as having a higher priority than the others or as overtaking the others in terms of the progress that is being made on it, or are they simply running in parallel with one another? Perhaps we can hear from Davie Donaldson first, as he has already expressed some very strong views on the matter.

Thank you very much. Time is pressing, and my questions have been answered, but if others want to contribute I am more than happy to give them some time.

Suzanne, in your opening remarks, you talked about frustrations in the sector. It would be good to hear your views on how the themes are being managed. Is there, for example, frustration with the process for developing long-term access?

Thank you. Lynne, you spoke about the grass roots and said that there is a lot of disparity in terms of how councils manage things, so is there a difference in terms of how successful the five themes have been in different council areas?

It is very important that religious and faith groups are involved in the process, because they have the right to have their say on the issue. What views will be taken from the expert group about what will be achieved, and how will that be managed? It is a delicate situation to balance.

I am grateful for the opportunity to open the debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives, and I welcome the fact that the issue has been given parliamentary time this afternoon. I am sure that that view is shared by other members of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee.

The case for introducing a ban on conversion practices has been one of the key bodies of work that the committee has focused on in this parliamentary session. I thank the many individuals, charities and campaign groups that provided evidence to the committee on the issue. In particular, I want to talk about the individuals who were willing to share their experiences of conversion practices. Those experiences were hard to hear, and sharing them was hard for those individuals to do. I remember clearly that one survivor of the practices described conversion therapy as “horrendous” and “threatening”, and that he spoke of how badly his mental health had suffered because of it—it almost drove him to a nervous breakdown.

It will, no doubt, have been difficult to provide such personal testimonies of trauma, which are very important. We received some very trying testimonies. As I have said, it was not easy for witnesses to give us those testimonies, but I give them full respect for their attitude and their courage in bringing them to the committee and ensuring that we heard first hand how they had been treated and how the abhorrent practices took place. The Conservatives are therefore clear that we need to look forward to a ban on conversion practices.

Much of the evidence that the committee heard points to a comprehensive approach to a ban being preferable. Some medical professionals, for example, spoke about the possibility of a less comprehensive ban resulting in loopholes, which would cause concerns. It is clear that any proposed ban should mirror existing bans on acts such as female genital mutilation, in that it is not considered possible to provide legal consent to those practices.

Although I would welcome a comprehensive ban on the practices, it is perhaps disappointing that progress to get here has been a bit slow. I acknowledge that the Scottish Government has established an advisory group, and I am delighted that we have had some clarity on where we are with that, as it was announced back in November, and we are now in March. That has taken some time, but I am delighted that the minister has clarified what will happen.

Our committee report makes it clear that the Scottish Government should not wait for the UK Government to act before introducing legislation. We have now received confirmation that the UK Government ban will apply to England and Wales only. Despite that, it is important that we talk about the possibility of cross-border frameworks, which will no doubt be important. The UK Minister for Equalities, Mike Freer, has given assurances that the UK Government will work constructively with the Scottish Government in implementing the ban on conversion practices and therapy. Given that a truly comprehensive ban will include criminalisation of any practices falling within the definition of conversion therapy, it is very important that legislation in the devolved areas is clear.

The time to act is now, not later, and further steps need to be taken to ensure that that is the case. Given the consensus that a ban on the practices is needed, we should ensure that we move forward at pace. I look forward to seeing that happening.

There are already international examples of where such a ban has been put in place and is working. We know that 13 countries have already introduced a ban in some form, and I welcome the Government’s statement that it will consider existing examples of good practice. Scotland wants to ensure that it has the same opportunity to set an example, so it is important that, as we go forward, regardless of what is happening with the UK Government’s legislative process, the Scottish Government does everything possible within its capabilities to ensure that we can look forward to banning the practice.

I am pleased that Parliament has given us the opportunity to debate the issue today, because it is vitally important that we send a very strong message from the chamber to the individuals and organisations involved that we will not accept what has been the practice in the past. We want to ensure that there is a constructive debate on the whole topic, and it is therefore good to see that there is cross-party consensus on banning this abhorrent practice. It is vitally important that the ban is effective, comprehensive and timeous in what it is trying to achieve.

As we move forward, I and the other committee members stand ready to scrutinise the Government’s progress on the issue and to ensure that any forthcoming ban meets every one of the criteria that we have set out. That is important, because we said to the individuals who gave evidence that we would take on board their views and opinions in order to protect individuals in the future, and a ban will certainly do that.

Clackmannanshire’s out-of-hours general practitioner service is in crisis. Late last year, assurances were sought regarding the situation and reassurance was given by the local MSP and the council group leader that NHS Forth Valley remained committed to providing services in Clackmannanshire. However, despite the rhetoric, the service is being eroded. GPs who had been appointed to the service are being told that they are no longer required and NHS Forth Valley regularly goes into code black. The situation is jeopardising the safety of patients. What action can be put in place to maintain, retain and sustain the service for the people of Clackmannanshire?

Good morning, Callum. You did a long walk to raise some funds to make sure that you could buy some bottles for your school. Where did you walk and how long was it?