Chamber and committees

I have a wee final supplementary. That reminds me that we visited Dumfries and Galloway, which has a hatchery, so it isnae just the Western Isles that are benefiting in terms of employment. That was an interesting visit.

On our visit, the committee saw what looked like healthy fish, externally, in that their gills looked okay and there were no sea lice. However, what is the trigger number of moribund fish for you to investigate the cause of death?

Does AI technology help to reduce stress because you are not handling the salmon?

The Griggs review identified issues around planning and consenting. Has the industry seen an improvement with regard to the creation of a streamlined, flexible and adaptive planning and consenting process? That relates not only to resiting away from migratory routes for wild salmon but to resiting if there is a fish health issue in certain pen sites. Is the process streamlined enough to allow for that?

Good morning to you all. Do you think that using language such as “dead in the water” is helpful? Is this not about co-design? The bill is a framework bill and it is about what the people with lived experience want. They want what Derek Feeley recommended, which is reform of social care. Is this not about all the regulatory bodies and the folk like you coming to the table to get this right? We know that bills get amended after stage 1, through stage 2 and even stage 3 amendments. Is this not about everybody working together and not using language that is not helpful?

We have heard that. That takes me back to my earlier question about the bill not being “dead in the water” and how we should not use that language. We have heard that the social work profession sees the creation of a new agency as critical to the survival of the profession. The witnesses in the previous session talked about the need for parity and for people to understand what social workers actually do. We also need to look at how we support standards in social work education.

There is lots of really good language in the documentation about empowerment, co-production, person-centred care and the values that we would like to be upheld for anybody who receives care in Scotland. I would be interested in any specific ideas that you might have about what the national social work agency could do in addition, which relates to another issue that has been brought up: the difference between an executive agency and a non-departmental public body that is completely separate from the Government. Do our witnesses have any thoughts on that?

I have a couple of questions on the creation of a national social work agency and a chief social work adviser. What do you think the purpose of a national social work agency would be?

The issue is complex. Remote and rural care and urban care might be delivered differently, and there are issues around accepting and valuing what social workers and the multidisciplinary team that we heard about earlier do. It is complicated, and the bill is part of addressing that. It is looking at how care is delivered, to prevent folk from going into hospital in the first place, for instance, or to address delays in discharging folk from hospital. That is what I am saying. The whole system is complicated and the bill is part of the process of better supporting care in Scotland.

Good morning to the witnesses. I have a couple of questions about the establishment of a national social work adviser and an agency. It is proposed that the national social work agency would be an executive agency, closely aligned with the Scottish Government, to deliver on Government policy. Is that the right way to proceed? During an earlier session and during last week’s evidence taking, we talked about non-departmental Government bodies versus the establishment of a new agency. What are your thoughts on that?

A new agency could take the lead in further collaboration, co-design and co-working with other agencies. Earlier in the session, we spoke about how NHS Ayrshire and Arran is one health board, but there are three local authorities—East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and North Ayrshire—and they do things differently. For example, some of them are performing well in relation to delayed discharge. Is there a potential role for the national social work agency in considering what is working really well and supporting the dissemination of best practice through collaboration with other agencies?