Chamber and committees

I thank our witnesses for attending this morning. The discussion has been enlightening.

In her opening statement, Megan Snedden talked about the loneliness, the suffering, the damage and the risks that individuals who identify in certain ways face. I would like to tease out something about the further measures that might be in place to support people. We have heard suggestions that a legislative ban might not be enough to end conversion therapy, and we have taken some evidence from organisations and individuals who have stressed that there needs to be a range of supportive measures in place across many sectors. Those measures might be practical mental health support, education and awareness work, support for survivors, and a range of developments across regulatory standards for professionals in many sectors who might be involved in such support. It is important that we understand that. What further support measures might need to be in place to ensure that a ban is successful in ending conversion therapy?

Each of your organisations exists to manage issues and support people, and you all have your ways of doing that. It would be useful to get a flavour of how you identify different needs and how you target support to ensure that survivors and people who are at risk come forward. Each individual is different, and, as you have identified, the experiences that people have gone through can be traumatic. Although some people might not wish to unravel some of those experiences, others might look to do so. How do you strike a balance so that people feel that they have the opportunity to come forward and get the support that they need?

There is a role for the third sector and social enterprises in all that. What discussions are you having with those sectors to capture their projects and proposals and marry them with your work in Government?

I will move on to the topic of older people.

As we know, we have an ageing population, and a large percentage of our society falls into that bracket. “A Fairer Scotland for Older People—A Framework for Action”, which came out in April 2019, identified a number of priorities, including outcomes for access to services, health and social care employment, financial scrutiny and housing. Will the cabinet secretary give an update as to where we are with the framework, and how likely it is that a report will be published? Obviously, the pandemic has had an effect on the report, but it has also had a huge effect on the older population across Scotland.

It is important that people feel comfortable. We have already touched on culture, religion and other aspects, including disability, all of which add to the complexity that an individual might feel they have to break through and the weight of what they want to express. They need to know that whomever they are speaking to will give them support and advice and, as Dr Crowther said, will not open a Pandora’s box that creates a more difficult situation for them in the future. Each of your organisations has an ability to balance that support. LGBT Youth Scotland does it through the youth work sector and others look at a wider area in trying to manage these issues. The challenge is in co-ordinating it.

You have pointed out the progress that has been made and have touched on potential new ways of working. Technology, for example, has developed quite rapidly over the past 18 months of the pandemic to tackle loneliness and social isolation. I also believe that some work has been done on intergenerational wellbeing. It would be good to hear your thoughts on those two areas, as they will continue to develop over the next few years and during this parliamentary session. We might have to change direction slightly as we tackle such issues, enforce measures and change how things have been done in the past to ensure that we capture as many individuals as we can who fall into the older age group.

Barriers to technology are also a problem for some people, as they might not have full knowledge and understanding of all the technology that is available to support them. How do we enhance that knowledge and ensure that they are exposed to some of that technology and receive the support and training that they need in that respect?

Cabinet secretary, you talked about the staggering increase in levels of domestic abuse during lockdown in many communities. The police and other organisations and sectors had to be much more robust in tackling it because, as you identified, home was not a safe place for many individuals. The funding that you talked about will go to support that action but, as we saw, there needs to be more of a crossover between agencies and organisations to capture some of what different groups were identifying using different ways and means. Was information about that collated and transmitted to other support mechanisms to ensure that lessons were being learned about how vulnerable some of these people were and the conditions they were living in?

I think that the strategic objectives that you are putting forward, Mr Bruce, show that you are attempting to have greater accountability and transparency, and even stakeholder engagement. That is welcome, because we want people to feel that they are able to engage. How are you balancing that attempt to have that meaningful relationship against your existing resources? You have indicated that you have some new roles and have taken on some new people, but your budget constraints are still there and your workload is increasing. In trying to ensure that you do all of this, how have you managed to square that circle?

It is about avoiding the tick-box exercise or just going through the motions.

The pandemic has meant that staff are not able to meet as they would normally in an office environment. Has that given you any difficulties in fulfilling your role and responsibilities and in ensuring that you can still have engagement and transparency? It would be good to get a feel of how you see that developing.

Do you think that that is to do with pressure of work, or is it just the environment that you are in?