This search includes all content on the Scottish Parliament website, except for Votes and Motions. All Official Reports (what has been said in Parliament) and Questions and Answers are available from 1999. You can refine your search by adding and removing filters.
The reason why we introduced annual health checks for people with learning disabilities is the evidence that they suffer some of the poorest health of any population in Scotland and die, on average, 20 years younger than the rest of the population, very often of preventable diseases.
Racing round an oval track at speed is inherently dangerous for greyhounds—we know that it causes injuries and that in some cases the greyhounds die or are put to sleep. As an animal charity, we cannot just stand by and watch that.
I would have thought that it would be a factor that, generally, men die younger than women, because, if women claim benefits for longer, there will be a greater cost.
We know from successive annual reports that more than half our people who die have a history of overdosing, so when people survive a near-fatal overdose, we really need services to kick in quickly.