Chamber and committees

Stephanie, thank you very much for your opening statement, which must have been really heartbreaking and emotional for you to read out. Members have a number of questions that they would like to explore. If you are happy, I will ask the first question. What are your main concerns about Police Scotland’s current handling of unexplained deaths?

That is okay.

If members do not have any other comments, do we agree to close the petition?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you for that. Is there any real-world research being undertaken on Evusheld that could be considered by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to help to promote its use?

Good morning. How do the witnesses respond to the assertion that Evusheld is not so effective against the omicron variant of the virus?

Good morning, everyone. Councils have various ways of dealing with unsafe memorials. What good practice would you like to see from councils?

I am extremely disappointed by the progress that has been made on the petition, so could we ask whether there are any barriers that will prevent the application from progressing?

Considering the response from the Government, I would like to close the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders, on the basis that the Scottish Government has committed to expand early learning and childcare to one and two-year-olds. The plan states that, from 2023-24 onwards, the Scottish Government will

“start to develop, trial and evaluate models of provision.”

Considering the information we have received back, I think that the petition has achieved what it was meant to achieve. I would like to close the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders, on the basis that the Scottish diabetes group is continuing to develop the national diabetes dataset, SCI-Diabetes using data to inform on-going commitments related to the “Diabetes Improvement Plan: Diabetes Care in Scotland—Commitments for 2021-2026”, and has discussed the women’s health plan at Scottish diabetes group and national diabetes MCN meetings to ensure widespread awareness of the policy and its impact on the diabetes improvement plan.

Like, I assume, most of the committee, I would like to keep the petition open and gather more evidence on what the petition asks for. I would like to write to several stakeholders, including the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the Educational Institute of Scotland, Unison, the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Scottish Social Services Council.