Chamber and committees

That is a natural follow-on. Given that the service is improving its support for pre-referral and post-referral people, there has to be an indication on the patient’s records that that has happened, so that GPs and local health boards and their officials recognise that additional support may be required.

I have had meetings with groups that have concerns about treatment for other women’s conditions, and they have talked about that issue as well. I do not want to increase the pressures on the women’s health plan, but there is something to think about more holistically across health delivery for women in Scotland, to ensure that their aftercare is appropriate to their surgery and the support that they have had around it.

I know that Dr O’Kelly has talked about credentialling across the four nations. I am not clear how far those discussions have gone, but I know that the surgeons who operate in Scotland have been trained to very high standards.

I do not know whether Greig Chalmers has anything to add, but it is probably best if we come back to you with an indication of progress that has been made in credentialling across the four nations and with the numbers of those who have been trained.

I am sure that we can.

I want to follow on from Karen Adam’s question about improved dog welfare. In the introduction to your report, you talk about the term “cruelty”, which has sometimes been used as a synonym for welfare. Can you put on record the difference between those two descriptive terms?

That is helpful. You touched on the role of Parliaments and the capacity that the devolved Parliaments have, and you noted what Professor McEwen said last week. Can you expand on our capacity as a Parliament to scrutinise not only legislation that we want to pass and which is appropriate for Scotland but changes that Westminster makes that impact on us?

Thank you, Professor McHarg—this session has been really informative. Thank you for your paper as well.

I have been listening to what you have said. I hope that I am not misquoting you, but you implied that there was a need to amend the devolution statutes in a “consensual” manner. I am interested in that point. We have had some suggestions that looking at taking back control included the idea of fully taking back control to Westminster, which could have changed the way of thinking about devolution. In your paper, you talk about changes taking place

“in an ad-hoc, often rushed and largely non-consensual manner”.

Given where we are just now, how do you think the four Parliaments could move to amending the statutes in a consensual manner?

As you have touched on, farmers need to think about the long term—they cannot make decisions in a year. How could the bill help in that regard? Currently, what challenges are there with regard to long-term planning?

You have just answered my question, Mr Hall. I was going to ask about the connections with the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022. I also wanted to ask about communities and the importance of the policy to them, but you have also covered that, so I do not need to come in at this point.

Thank you for joining us. I will follow on from the point that was made by my colleague Dr Allan. When I travel around my constituency, it is very clear that one size does not fit all. That applies within Scotland, and, as you have explained, there is also the comparison between Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom. Could you expand on that point?

Could you also tell us the key challenges for the farming and crofting sector and how a new rural policy could overcome them?

We took evidence, two weeks ago, from the House of Lords Constitution Committee. One of the issues that were brought up was the use of secondary legislation, which was touched on in Mr Golden’s question. I am interested to hear your thoughts on Baroness Drake’s statement that

“it is constitutionally dubious to use secondary legislation more and more to intervene in … devolved legislation”.

She went on to say that

“where secondary legislation is used, consent should still be sought.”—[Official Report, Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee, 2 March 2023; c 3.]

We have already had a bit of a discussion about consent and what that means. I would like to hear the panel’s views on that.