Chamber and committees

There are positive aspects to social media, but there are negative ones, too, as many of us know. To what extent do you feel that the impact of social media fitness content on young women’s body image has changed since the “Young Women Lead” report was published, and in what ways?

Good morning, minister and witnesses.

In evidence to the committee, witnesses expressed that the patient safety commissioner should have additional and regulatory powers. The minister just said that she does not think that it should. Will people take heed of the commissioner’s recommendations if it does not have those powers?

Might the committee be minded to keep the petition open and to write to the Scottish Government to seek details of the engagement and consultation that it plans to undertake when developing the new BSL national plan?

Christine Grahame will be extremely disappointed with me because I do not think that we can take the petition any further on the evidence that we have received.

I ask the committee to close the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders on the basis that the petitioner is satisfied that the Scottish Government’s current approach will adequately address the issue of mandatory microchipping of Scotland’s cats; the Scottish Government does not consider that the scanning of microchips should be made compulsory for cats at this time due to concerns about the potential impact on the welfare of cats and veterinary surgeons; and microchipping domestic cats features in the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s work plan as a medium-term issue.

To be fully engaged with citizen participation, it would be good for the committee to see how we could engage with the youth of today and how we could do it more. As I see it, doing it every two years is a paper exercise, and I would like it if the Scottish Youth Parliament could meet with us far more regularly.

Could we keep the petition open to gather more information? There are several stakeholders that I would like the committee to write to, including the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Faculty of Advocates, the Law Society of Scotland, Rape Crisis Scotland and Victim Support Scotland, seeking their views on what is raised in the petition.

We can take the petition no further on the evidence that we have, so I would like to close it under rule 15.7 of the standing orders, on the basis that an operational system of independent advisers on the ministerial code exists; the Scottish Government has no plans to amend the decision-making process in any way proposed by the petitioner; and no current examples of independent committees in UK legislatures exist in any way proposed by the petitioner.

I wonder whether the committee can write to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service to ask what steps it is taking to ensure that the procedural rules and practices of the courts and their complaints procedures are transparent and accessible to members of the public.

It is an important issue. I used an accessible defibrillator for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and it makes a huge difference. It is important for defibrillators to be in the public domain. I would like us to keep the petition open and, in doing so, write to the Scottish Government to ask when the next report on the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest strategy will be published and what percentage of OHCAs in 2023 had a defibrillator applied before the ambulance service arrived. I would also like to write to the British Heart Foundation to seek information about its grant funding of public access defibrillators and, specifically, about demand and the potential barriers and challenges that it faces.

Minister and Laura Meikle, thank you very much for your time. Members, are we content to consider the evidence that we have heard at a future meeting?

Members indicated agreement.