Chamber and committees

Since the start of the pandemic, the Scottish Government has been working closely with a wide range of businesses, organisations and stakeholders, as well as with relevant trade unions, to identify where support is needed. We will continue with this engagement so that decisions about funding reflect the needs of the sector and the Scottish Government's commitment to fair work.

I am advised that staff at Creative Scotland have met with the trade unions representing workers in the cultural sector regularly since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown.

I have asked the Chief Executive of Creative Scotland to respond to the Member on this question directly as the information requested is not held centrally.

On 18 August, I met with representatives of the STUC, Prospect/Bectu, Equity, the Musicians' Union, the Scottish Artists Union, the National Union of Journalists, the Scottish Society of Playwrights and the Writers' Guild.

Myself and the Minister for Fair Work have met with the STUC on a number of occasions to help manage the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on workers and in workplaces, and affiliate unions representative of the cultural sector have participated in these meetings. From 11 March to 14 August, 20 of 37 meetings were chaired by myself. Over the summer period this engagement has been chaired by the Minister.

The First Minister confirmed on 29 July that the issues raised in the BBC Disclosure programme are important and substantial and require consideration and scrutiny to enable lessons to be learned for the future. Since the start of this pandemic the priority of the Scottish Government has been to protect the people of Scotland and save lives based on the best available scientific information we have had about the virus at the time decisions were made or action was taken. The Scottish Government will continue to take account of scientific advice as efforts continue to focus on dealing with the crisis.

The Scottish Government is committed, at an appropriate time, after the immediacy of the crisis, to consider the future of care home provision. Before the pandemic, working with a range of partners, including care users, local authorities and the social care sector, the Scottish Government had begun work to consider the future of social care provision. This work identified a number of priorities to support change and improvement. These priorities included how social care is understood and valued by individuals and society; how it is funded and paid for into the future; what models of care are needed in Scotland and how they are delivered; and how Fair Work is achieved for all of our vital social care workforce. The pandemic has brought many of these issues in social care into sharper focus, and as the renewal and recovery phase commences, the Scottish Government’s ambition is to reinforce the collaborative work already seen and to accelerate reform.

Time constraints on Ministers in dealing with the pandemic, meant that the First Minister was unable to be interviewed for the Disclosure programme and as I advised you in the Chamber, I was unwell.

There is a range of evidence that the applicant is required to submit to the GMC in order to seek clearance to practice in the UK. Further, the application process also requires confirmation of employment by the Health Board concerned. GMC clearance would therefore be expected to be finalised upon the award of a contract of employment and that is why, during discussions with Dr Veronikis on 3 February, the Chief Medical Officer invited him to make an initial, observational visit to Scotland as set out in answer to question S5W-29934 on 12 August 2020.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

In February the Chief Medical Officer invited Dr Veronikis to make an initial, observational visit to Scotland, and later that month confirmed that NHS Scotland would be able to offer a contract subject to detailed discussions during that visit and agreement on processes and working within the NHS Scotland environment. The international recruitment team at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde also wrote to him in March. As responses were not received, the interim Chief Medical Officer wrote to Dr Veronikis on 24 April to reiterate that the invitation to visit still stood and that we looked forward to welcoming him when restrictions around Covid were lifted.

As the member is aware, Dr Veronikis subsequently withdrew his offer to come here. On 16 July I therefore wrote to him to ask that he reconsiders, and I reiterated the reasons why an initial, observational visit is required, i.e. that we need him to see the clinical arrangements here, meet NHS staff, review our facilities in order to determine if there is more that he needs, consider the cases and patients he would deal with, familiarise himself with our MDT process and from all of that, agree the contractual basis on which he would then come back to Scotland. Despite Dr Veronikis writing again on 22 July stating that he would not reconsider, we do, however, remain committed to welcoming him here should he do so. I wrote to Dr Veronikis on 4 August to that effect.

Separately, we have progressed plans to establish a Complex Pelvic Mesh Removal Service in Scotland. I agreed to this being designated a specialist service on 17 July and it is being introduced on a gradual basis, in line with wider remobilisation plans following the Coronavirus pandemic. The national service will be delivered by a multi-disciplinary team located within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and will be supported by more than £1.3 million of Scottish Government funding for 2020-21. It will provide holistic support and comprehensive assessments and vaginal mesh removal surgery for women over the age of 16 who have mesh complications from mesh insertion (vaginally or abdominally) for urinary incontinence and prolapse.

The introduction of this specialist service follows the establishment of a £1 million fund intended to support women with transvaginal mesh complications, which opened to applications on 1 July.

The Scottish Government remains deeply concerned by the situation in Colombia, including the widespread murder and intimidation of human rights defenders. The perpetrators of human rights abuses are often able to act with impunity and representatives of community-based, indigenous and Afro-Colombian groups are at particular risk. Female human rights defenders have also been increasingly targeted in recent years. We condemn in the strongest terms the murder of community leaders and activists by paramilitaries in the Catatumbo region on 18 July 2020.

The Scottish Government expresses its solidarity with all who work to secure a lasting peace and to uphold human rights in Colombia. Over the last year we have had the opportunity to hear at first hand from two important delegations who have visited Scotland, representing the Guardians of the River Atrato and the Colombian Truth Commission. Whilst the Covid-19 emergency has restricted the opportunity for such contact during the first half of 2020, I am hopeful that Scotland’s engagement with Colombian human rights defenders and peace campaigners can be continued and further developed in coming years.

Colombia is a Scottish and UK Government “Human Rights Priority Country”. We support the British Embassy in Bogota’s efforts in providing significant programming to help at-risk human rights defenders.

We are writing to the UK and Columbian Government to underline our concerns and to encourage continuing UK commitment to the full implementation of the Peace Accords of 2016, and to supporting the Colombian government as they work to ensure a sustainable peace across the country.

The member is referred to the answer given to S5W-30013 on 11 August 2020. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Health Boards may seek out-of-area treatments for patients where considered necessary and appropriate. Precise detail of the process will differ between Health Boards but, typically, a patient would firstly be expected to discuss any such referral with their clinician. If agreed, an individual patient treatment request will then be referred to the Health Board for consideration. The Health Board will review the application and in doing so considering whether the treatment requested can reasonably be provided in Scotland, and in due course will inform the clinician and patient whether the request is accepted.

If a patient makes a personal decision to seek private treatment without liaising with the Health Board, we would not ordinarily expect that patient to be reimbursed. However, it would ultimately be a matter for the Health Board concerned.

The Scottish Government has noted the Quebec report. Whilst some of the recommendations it contains are specific to the circumstances to be found in Quebec, some are more generic in nature, for example in relation to rebuilding trust between patients and the medical profession, the need to collect data, and ending the use of mesh in certain circumstances.

As the member will be aware, the Scottish Government has taken action to address similar reports produced in Scotland and the UK more widely, and it will continue to do so in light of the recent IMMDS report. For example, the Scottish Government implemented a halt in the use of transvaginal mesh in 2018, and this remains in place; it has recently announced the establishment of a new specialist service; and is also working with the other UK administrations to establish a database for mesh and other related procedures.