Chamber and committees

How will sectoral bargaining operate across all sectors of provision, including the public and third sectors? The Scottish Government has pledged a rate of £12 per hour. How confident are you that that will be given to a worker no matter who their employer is?

Good morning, everyone. On NHS recovery, why have waiting times not returned to pre-pandemic levels?

Are national treatment centres being considered for any other specific areas, such as cancer treatment, which would be part of the transformation of cancer care?

What impact are national treatment centres having on waiting times for orthopaedic and cataract operations, and on unscheduled care and patient flow in secondary care?

I wonder whether we could write to the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport to highlight the equality and welfare issues that the petitioner has raised in her recent submission and to ask when the promised £10 million will be allocated to the changing places toilet fund and when it will be distributed. Perhaps we could also highlight to the petitioner the existence of the rural tourism infrastructure fund, which is available to be used to build new toilets or to provide upgrades to existing facilities. That might be a route for the Tyndrum group to go down.

I hope that the committee will keep the petition open and dig into it a bit more. In that case, I hope that we would write to Scottish Women’s Aid, the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre and the Law Society of Scotland to seek their views on the action that the petition calls for. I would like the committee to write to the Scottish Law Commission to seek an update on the review of civil remedies for domestic abuse, including clarification on whether the issues that are raised by the petitioner will be included in the scope of the review. I would also like the committee to write to the Scottish Government to seek clarification of when part 1 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 will be fully implemented.

Thank you, convener.

Considering the Government’s position and the fact that the scheme has been delayed until October 2025, I would like to close the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders on the basis that the Scottish Government has paused the introduction of the deposit return scheme until October 2025.

I am still quite happy to close the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders, because the Scottish Government will not change its mind on imposing anything on local authorities, which are autonomous and can make their own decisions.

I wonder whether the committee would like to continue the petition and write to UK Anti-Doping, Anabolic Steroids UK and the Scottish Drugs Forum seeking their views on the action that is called for in the petition. I would like the committee to write to the Scottish Government to highlight the petitioner’s submission and seek clarity on the membership and terms of reference of the multi-agency working group.

The committee could write to the Scottish Government to seek a summary response of the recent consultation on council tax for second and empty homes, request details of the future relevant work planned by the joint working group on sources of local government funding and council tax reform, and ask for the Government’s view on making the property owner liable for payment of council tax in the light of the points that were raised in the petitioner’s recent submission. The committee could also write to Citizens Advice Scotland and Shelter Scotland to seek their views on the actions that are called for in the petition.