Chamber and committees

Yes, you have. You already admitted that you did something illegal. You broke employment law. You already admitted that.

I have watched the story develop, Mr Hebblethwaite, and I would suggest that you and the board are not stupid people. In taking this decision, you must have thought through all the repercussions that there might be and you must have known that there would be significant pushback at the level that there is. You must have known that it would not be allowed to happen. Therefore, my question to myself and to you is what outcomes P&O is really driving at, because you know that you will not be allowed to deliver the change the way you have done.

When listening to David McNeill’s testimony, I was very struck by his suggestion that having access to the internet does not mean that a person is confident or knowledgeable enough to navigate form filling or applications. My concern is that, for those who are furthest removed from mainstream society, that was an issue before the pandemic, which has now been exacerbated. Are we in danger of forgetting about and leaving behind a section of society?

That is helpful. I will take that a little bit further. The third sector tends to be the main interface between such communities and services and councils. What is the third sector’s role in ensuring that those issues are brought to the attention of MSPs and people in the councils? How, as part of the strategy of moving to digital, do we ensure that there is improved communication between council services and the third sector?

You are back. We can hear you.

To segue to Mairi Millar, some local authorities expressed some concern that holding remote meetings and hearings might limit public attendance. Is that your experience? Is there support to amend the bill to make sure that licence applicants can be present and have input into the format that a hearing should take?

Can Douglas Hendry give us the council perspective?

My concern is that, if we reduce the prevalence of Covid to the hoped-for levels, the pressure on the health service will simply move from treating Covid to treating other conditions whose presentation has been delayed. Is that a reasonable assumption to make?

We know that that pressure is coming, and I am sure that it is a global issue rather than something that affects Scotland in isolation. How do we prepare for the fact that, as I said, there are conditions that will continue to put pressure on the health service?

Thank you, convener. I appreciate the opportunity to ask this question. I want to go a little bit further with Jim Fairlie’s line of questioning. The aspects that we should continue to monitor as we travel on this journey were alluded to earlier. In an earlier session with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Professor Leitch mentioned the extensive data in a paper in The Lancet, which includes global measurements. What should we continue to monitor locally so that we can put our data into a global perspective, perhaps using the World Health Organization’s advice on data gathering?