Chamber and committees

In order to contribute to the reduction of Lyme disease in Scotland, Health Protection Scotland (HPS) recently reviewed the latest trends in respect of confirmed cases. This review identified recommendations for further action, including the need for effective reporting and high quality data, upon which informed decisions and future services and intervention planning for Scotland can be based. HPS is currently considering the conclusions of the review.

As there is no immunisation against Lyme disease, prevention depends upon key messages to the public who frequent rural areas. These key messages are issued via Health Protection Scotland’s Tick Fact Sheet and the Health Protection Agency’s seasonal Tick Awareness Week alert, which highlight the importance of preventative measures against tick bites, for those visiting rural areas.

While no additional resource has currently been committed towards Lyme disease, this is subject to review on an ongoing basis.

The percentage of ticks in Scotland which carry Lyme disease is not known.

There have been, and continue to be, research studies conducted in Scotland that have investigated aspects of tick ecology and Lyme disease epidemiology. However, in part because of the difficulty in defining and ascertaining precisely where an infectious tick bite occurred, a comprehensive picture of the distribution of ticks in Scotland which carry lyme disease remains largely unknown and unquantified.

The Scottish Government does not hold information relating to the rest of the UK.

Also available on the website is a factsheet titled What Do I Need To Know About Ticks and Tick Borne Diseases?. This factsheet includes information on ticks, what diseases they carry, how to prevent being infected and what you should do if you are bitten.

Ministers meet with NHS Chairs regularly to discuss a number of issues including performance against waiting time standards.

Scottish Government officials closely monitor and meet regularly with Boards to discuss and support the delivery of waiting time standards. In relation to NHS Ayrshire and Arran there have been discussions around diagnostic services particularly endoscopy services. A recovery plan has been put in place, this includes the use of a locum to reduce the number of patients waiting longer than the waiting time standard. It is anticipated that the Board’s performance will be improved by end of this September and that the waiting times standards will be sustained thereafter.

The Presiding Officer was approached by the Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association to ask if she would be willing to facilitate a pastoral meeting between representatives of Scotland’s faiths and religious organisations and His Holiness The 14^th Dalai Lama. The Presiding Officer agreed to this request and the meeting was arranged for Friday 22^nd June in Queensberry House. Present at the meeting, in addition to the Presiding Officer and His Holiness The 14^th Dalai Lama, were:

• Imam Mohammad Sajjad Asam - representative of the Muslim Faith;

• Right Reverend Albert Bogle – Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland;

• Most Reverend David Chillingworth – Primus of the Episcopal Church in Scotland;

• Allan Forsyth – Chairperson of the Baha’i Council of Scotland;

• Louisa Gupta – representative of the Brahma Kumaris faith;

• Acharya Medini Pati Mishra Ji – representative of the Hindu faith;

• His Eminence Keith Patrick O’Brien – Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland;

• Reverend Donald Reid – Co-Convener of the Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association and Director of the Scottish Inter-Faith Council;

• Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche – representative of the Buddhist faith;

• Reverend Maud Robinson – representative of the Scottish Unitarian Association;

• Rabbi Avrohom Moshe Rubin – representative of the Jewish faith;

• Mr Wege Singh – representative of the Sikh faith; and

• Brother Stephen Smyth, General-Secretary, Action for Churches Together in Scotland

The Presiding Officer was approached by the Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association to ask if she would be willing to facilitate a pastoral meeting between representatives of Scotland’s faiths and religious organisations and His Holiness The 14^th Dalai Lama. The Presiding Officer agreed to this request and the meeting took place, as scheduled, on Friday 22^nd June in Queensberry House.

Having agreed to this meeting the Presiding Officer invited the People’s Republic of China’s Consul General to Scotland, Mr Li Ruiyou, to meet her on Tuesday 13 March in the Scottish Parliament. At this meeting the Presiding Officer informed the Consul General that she would be facilitating a pastoral meeting in Queensberry House where His Holiness The 14^th Dalai Lama would meet with representatives of Scotland’s faiths and religious organisations.

There have been two other occasions this year when the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China has met representatives of the Scottish Parliament. The Clerk / Chief Executive, Paul Grice, met the Consul General on 21 February and the Deputy Presiding Officer, John Scott MSP, and some Members from the Cross Party Group on China, attended a function hosted by the Consul General on 20 March. The issue of His Holiness The 14^th Dalai Lama’s pastoral meeting at the Scottish Parliament was raised on both occasions.

The Law Society of Scotland is an independent self-regulating professional body for solicitors and conveyancing and executry practitioners. Section 120 of the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 laid down the regulatory framework for the regulation of the Faculty of Advocates by the Court of Session. Sections 25-29 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990 provide for the Lord President of the Court of Session and the Scottish Ministers to approve and regulate professional or other bodies which apply to enable their members to have rights to conduct litigation and rights of audience in the courts.

There are safeguards in place. Complaints about all legal practitioners can be made to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission which is an independent body. Further, allegations of misconduct by solicitors may be heard by the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal, another independent body. In addition, the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010 provided for increased lay involvement in the work of the Law Society, and a lay majority on its regulatory committee. The Scottish Government considers these arrangements appropriate and that there are adequate safeguards. It does not consider further independent regulation of the solicitor profession in Scotland to be necessary.

The Scottish Parliament has recently considered and approved two pieces of legislation which significantly modify the regulatory system in place for the Law Society of Scotland, namely the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 and the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010. The Scottish Government has no further plans to review the regulation of the Law Society of Scotland.

The Scottish Government does not assess the performance of the Law Society of Scotland.

The Law Society of Scotland is an independent professional body. It is not regulated by the Scottish Government nor any other body but is subject to the provisions of the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980 and other enactments.