Chamber and committees

Our next agenda item is to take evidence on the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Bill. I welcome Yvonne Evans, a senior lecturer in law at the University of Dundee; Professor George Gretton, the emeritus Lord President Reid professor of law at the University of Edinburgh; and Professor Roderick Paisley, the chair of Scots law at the University of Aberdeen.

I note that Mercedes Villalba is joining us online today. I remind all attendees not to worry about turning on their microphones during the session, as those are controlled by broadcasting. Anyone who would like to come in on any question should raise their hand, catch my eye or indicate that to the clerks. Any witness who cannot answer a question should feel free to follow up in writing or to indicate that the question is not for them to respond to.

I will open the questioning for the committee. Will you confirm whether you support the general principles of the bill? If so, what do you see as being the key strengths of the bill? We will go into more specific areas of the bill as we progress through the session.

On that point, I know that the Scottish Government was keen to explore the extent to which that problem might arise in practice. That is touched on in the policy memorandum. Are sufficient legal safeguards already in place to protect beneficiaries who are under the age of 16?

Would it be common to operate using two separate bits of legislation?

I will go back to something that was touched upon earlier, regarding the centre for pandemic preparedness. The language used by the advisory panel was highlighted—in particular, the use of the word “centre.” Can you clarify whether you are considering setting up a building somewhere as a centre, or whether it will be more flexible than that?

Thank you, convener. I have no interests to declare.

Has the network—I will use “network” rather than “centre”—had full support from the private sector thus far in your engagement?

You touched on the issue of complacency earlier. The language that is used for the public is hugely important. There are politicians in the Scottish Parliament who 12 months ago claimed that the pandemic was over, but that is clearly not the case; there are still people going to hospital with Covid. Politicians have a role to play.

In relation to what you just said about the private sector—I accept that it is a broad term—if there is a sense of cooling from the private sector about looking ahead, that is a concern. Is the private sector purely thinking about a profit opportunity in the future, or does it want to engage in that dialogue?

I could not agree more regarding the partnership approach.

My final question is regarding the network. You touched on it earlier in answer to Brian Whittle’s question about bureaucracy. Looking at the confidentiality issue with the data, could the network that is being considered be the mechanism to access the data from the different health board areas in Scotland? That could guarantee confidentiality but also provide the information that is required to assist with any research.

Under agenda item 4, we will consider three instruments that are subject to the negative procedure. No points have been raised on the regulations. Is the committee content with them?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you. With that, we will move into private session.