���˿���

Minister, I go back to Sandesh Gulhane’s question about regulated professional bodies and the inclusion of the General Osteopathic Council and the General Chiropractic Council. My understanding is that neither osteopaths nor chiropractors in this country are medically trained—though they are in some other countries—and I am therefore not aware of their ability to prescribe pharmaceuticals, so their inclusion is unclear. When we asked which procedures they might be covered for, we were not given an answer.

I am really concerned that we have a potential loophole that could cause confusion. People might think that, because someone is regulated by the General Osteopathic Council or the General Chiropractic Council, they can perform the procedures that are outlined in the legislation. There is no reason for people to think that, so I ask you to consider whether those two bodies should be removed from the bill to ensure that it is as clear as possible.

I would appreciate it if you would do that. If someone has cerebral palsy and requires those injections, they should go to a medical practitioner to receive them. I would be concerned if people were routinely receiving medical treatment from people who are not medically trained.

I am not criticising the work that those bodies do, but neither of them have medically trained individuals. If we are inadvertently indicating to the public that they are somehow medical practitioners, I would be concerned about that. I am grateful for your agreement to look at that again and consider whether the two groups should be removed from the bill.

Okay. That is obviously a really important part of any such process. Thanks for that.

Auditor General, your report says that you

“expect to see NHS Tayside implement these actions within the timescales it has committed to”

and that you will

“continue to monitor progress with the issues highlighted in the report and consider further reporting as necessary.”

I know that the First Minister is also actively monitoring the situation and has committed to undertaking a review next month. Can you advise the committee what NHS Tayside has committed to and the options available to you for further monitoring and reporting?

Do Andrew Watson or Gavin Henderson want to add anything around this? There are obviously many shared responsibilities.

Thanks very much for that. That will definitely be appreciated by my constituents.

Thanks for that. That all sounds good. David, do you want to add your comments?

Gosh, I almost want to change my questions after hearing the points that David Anderson made in answer to Colin Beattie’s questions. I will try and shift a little bit, however.

David was mostly talking about the Scottish Government’s responsibilities and how it has interacted. I am keen that we all recognise that the Promise was made by not just the Scottish Government but other public bodies, too. It was a promise from the whole of Scotland that we all need to make sure that we are keeping.

I am keen to hear how we are managing to get the joined-up working that is required. I would be keen to hear from COSLA whether there is the correct engagement across local authorities. If we could hear from COSLA first, then maybe David Anderson could talk about the experience from his perspective on whether local authorities are managing to get the engagement that they require with the Scottish Government and with other significant public authorities, such as local national health services. Would Nicola Dickie or Fiona Whitelock want to come in first?

Sorry, what I mean is, on a local level, are we managing to get the people who are all committed to the Promise to work together? The Promise cannot be delivered in silos. It can only be delivered if we all work effectively as team Scotland to deliver something that we have all promised. We are all committed to this. I have not heard anybody saying that they are not committed to the Promise, so we cannot do it in isolation. Are we managing to break down the barriers that have sometimes made such a joined-up piece of work more difficult? Are local authorities experiencing that change and are they managing to work not just for the Scottish Government and not just across their own portfolios, but with big organisations such as the NHS?

Okay. That is fine, thanks. The challenge is that we have heard so many positive managerial words over the years that more transparency would be really helpful. I will leave that there for now. You may be right that I should perhaps put that question directly to NHS Tayside.

Your report also stated:

“The mental health and learning disabilities Whole System Change Programme (WSCP) in Tayside has made some progress in addressing the issues identified by the subsequent IOAG, but substantial issues and challenges remain.”

Could you advise us of the areas where progress has been made and those where issues and challenges remain?

Is there any suggestion of when that plan would be put in place?