Chamber and committees

I refer to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I am a registered landlord.

I have a few questions about the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. What impact do you think the bill will have on the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament?

Are you taking any specific steps to identify what will be devolved to us?

I have one last question about dates and times. Do you have any anticipated dates for when subordinate legislation under that bill might come to us? Will there be peak times when there will be a high level of scrutiny?

I just want to declare an interest, as a registered landlord with rented property.

I have nothing to declare.

It is only fair to ask the cabinet secretary directly about the petitioners’ request for an agency for engagement with service users to find out exactly what his view on that is. I was very interested in the discussion about a rural commissioner. It might be useful to discuss that with the petitioners, as well. What is your view on an agency?

My question is about workforce training, which is quite a wide subject. I understand that the cabinet secretary will not be able to answer all aspects of the question, but I am interested in whether NHS Education Scotland has done a lot of work on rural training and clinical places. I am interested in the notion of local places, because I believe that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that, if people can be trained locally and we can get people into those areas, we will be able to retain staff, because the jobs are interesting. There is a wider issue relating to the different professions—AHPs and nurses, for example—but I am interested in what engagement you have had with NHS Education Scotland.

Good morning, and thanks for coming to the meeting.

I am very interested in exploring the experiences of people in remote and rural areas, and how they interact with services. The Government often repeats its commitment to and engagement with service users and people with lived experience, but there is a sense from the petition and from other action groups that that engagement does not happen particularly well. Will the cabinet secretary speak a little about how he thinks that that is going? I know that there is a responsibility to do that and that Healthcare Improvement Scotland monitors that. However, how does the cabinet secretary feel that the engagement in relation to the petition has gone in remote and rural areas?

When you have had your budget deliberations, have you talked at all about moving towards collective sectoral bargaining? The trade unions say that that one change could make a significant difference to retaining staff, and that would help with budgeting across social care.