Chamber and committees

The subject is certainly a priority: it sits in my portfolio and is a priority within public health. I look at the matter from an education perspective. The joy is clear on the faces of some children, who might never have tried various fruits. That is why it is important that we work with education services to ensure that families understand the importance of food. Food should be a pleasure, and not just something that people have when they are watching television. That is where I am coming from. There is a huge challenge in changing the health and food environment across Scotland.

Thank you, cabinet secretary, and thanks to James Dornan for his question.

In the summer, I spent some time with a group providing peer support to people living with long Covid. I and my officials found that incredibly helpful, and we listened to the concerns that were being raised. What the cabinet secretary talked about and the fact that we have allowed health boards to ensure that they provide the services that are most important for the people who live in their vicinity was passed on to the group but it was helpful for me to hear what they said.

In the next couple of weeks, I have two meetings. One is with Long Covid Scotland, and the other is with children and families who have been affected by long Covid. That is important for informing the work as we go forward.

Absolutely. As they say, a healthy start to the day—breakfast—is so important. The free school meals are also helping to support families who might not be able to afford the foods that we would like them to be able to eat. That is part of a whole Scottish Government policy to transform the food environment. As you will know, we recognise the need to bring people out of poverty in order to improve the general health of the population.

We are seeing a hugely worrying situation and we are doing a number of strands of work in the area. Just last week, at a round-table event that was co-hosted by Lorna Slater, there was a discussion, from an environmental perspective, on the impact of single-use vapes. I also have a meeting this Saturday with young children. At the round-table meeting, there was real strength of feeling that we need to consult younger people more about the best thing to do.

We are building on regulations that are already in place and we are reviewing promotion and sale of vapes to under-18s to ensure that we have the right processes in place. We consulted in, I think, 2022 on restrictions on advertising and promotions, and we are looking at that as well. Much work is on-going, and I am working closely with my officials to ensure that we make the proportionate and right response to the current situation with regard to vapes.

I would be really interested to get the read-out from the meeting that you chaired yesterday. There was quite a bit in that question. Ideally, the approach would be through prescriptions, but there are currently no such products that are approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. However, we are looking into the matter and I am working with my officials in pharmacy and suchlike.

We were clear that payment reform was the first step on the journey towards looking at dentistry services. We will collaborate with the BDA and more widely with other dentists on further work on governance and workforce.

I have asked for, and we are arranging, a meeting on dentistry with representatives from the other four UK nations. The issue affects not only Scotland; there are problems with dentistry services across the whole of the UK, partly as the result of a reduction in the number of new dentists coming in. That has happened for two reasons. About 160 student dentists lost a whole year of study because of the pandemic, and then Brexit left us asking how we could encourage dentists from across the world to come to the UK, and to Scotland in particular. A lot of work is being done on that.

I am pleased to say that 183 or 184 students are studying dentistry this year and that will help to move things forward. A lot of work has been done with the directors of dentistry in each of the health board areas to find ways to support dentists who are coming in, specifically in rural health board areas where work similar to that designed to attract GPs is being done. All that work is incredibly positive. My officials and I are engaging with dentists to make progress on it.

That is a good suggestion, Ms Harper, and I will take it away.

I lodged amendment 2 in response to the committee’s recommendation to remove section 4 of the bill as drafted on the basis that it is already provided for in the Equality Act 2010.

I move amendment 2.

I do not support amendment 22, which would allow the commissioner to make a special report on any recommendations from a previous report that they felt had not been, or would not be, implemented. The bill expressly gives the commissioner power to publish information on the implementation, or not, of their recommendations. The amendment is therefore superfluous.

I am also concerned that requiring the commissioner to lay before Parliament a report about actions that they felt would not be implemented could leave them open to defamation actions, as it anticipates or speculates about wrongdoing by others.

I urge members not to vote for amendment 22.

I do not support amendment 11. The commissioner will need sufficient time in post to understand the patient safety landscape, gather sufficient information, carry out any investigations that they feel are necessary and see their recommendations lead to change. Eight years is the standard period of office for all Scottish parliamentary commissioners. A commitment has been made to the Presiding Officer that the patient safety commissioner will be as consistent as possible with existing procedures to reduce the burden on the Scottish Parliament. I therefore ask Sandesh Gulhane not to press amendment 11.