Chamber and committees

Fiona Collie mentioned carers a number of times, and they are an important part of the discussion. We know that unpaid carers provide the bulk of our social care. There is a thought that some carers are unaware of exactly what their rights are, or of what is in place to support them. Will the witnesses, particularly Fiona Collie, share some of their thoughts on that with us? What are the key things that we should be thinking about in relation to providing a new strategy for supporting carers to ensure that they get what they are entitled to?

It is very welcome that both the minister and the cabinet secretary have indicated that, in what is a crisis, we should be dealing with things that we can deal with now.

I am interested to know their opinion on the low-income winter heating assistance scheme, which is out for consultation, although it is not pencilled in to start until next winter. Do they agree with me that that is far too late? I would be interested to know about the discussions on that. To what extent are we taking into account the views of the energy suppliers over those of the people who actually need the assistance—and who need it now, as I think we are all agreed?

I am quite new to the subject matter and I want to put on record that I am interested in the way the matter has progressed. Similar to other members, I have been involved in the mesh debate with women in relation to transvaginal mesh. It is important that we use the evidence that we have from other areas.

I support the overall sentiment of the petition: it is a perfectly reasonable request that a review is held and that guidelines around the surgical use of mesh are established. The petitioners have brought evidence to the minister and the committee has gone over other evidence. It is incumbent on us to ensure that reasonable requests are respected; it seems reasonable for the Citizens Participation and Public Petitions Committee to take action and at least further scrutinise what can be done to support the petition.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak today. I hope to keep an eye on what is happening around mesh for those people.

Everything seems to have been put in place—quite rightly—to make things work as smoothly as they can. However, if there was a suggestion that any of the Governments wished to dispute anything or withdraw from the agreement, how would that work? How would the Scottish Government bring that to us, as parliamentarians?

Good morning. Maree Todd spoke about the fact that things are much more difficult for people in more deprived areas. We need to be honest with ourselves about what happens in those communities. Less funding is going to local government. In local communities, people are able to access more affordable and more local activity rather than just sport. If we are absolutely honest about wanting to get people more active, is it important for us to send the message that we have to resource local communities, particularly in more deprived areas?

Another thing that some of the professionals talked to us about in evidence, and which we hear about time and again, is the move towards prevention and how we are trying to improve that area of our work, particularly for people in deprived communities. Do you think that we are doing enough in Scotland to move the model of prevention for these health difficulties that are causing such inequality?

I am interested in how we address the inequalities that we see. We have talked a wee bit about sport, but I am thinking about access to services across the board. Does either of the ministers have a view on how we could improve that?

I have found the evidence really useful, but I am particularly interested in finding out how we can encourage young people from poorer backgrounds to take part in sport and other activities that use green spaces. Some of the earlier comments about local services and local government funding were therefore music to my ears.

What are the barriers for young people both in and outwith schools with regard to accessing sport and other activities? What do we as parliamentarians need to do to break down those barriers and give people, particularly those from poorer backgrounds, the opportunity to take part?

That would be great.

No, that confirms some of the work that we need to do, which is helpful.