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Good morning and welcome to the 13th meeting in 2024 of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. I have received no apologies.

The first item on our agenda is to decide whether to take items 5, 7 and 8 in private. Do members agree to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

The second item on our agenda is an evidence session on a legislative consent memorandum for the Victims and Prisoners Bill, which is United Kingdom legislation. I welcome to the committee the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Jenni Minto. Her supporting officials are Sam Baker and James How from the Scottish Government’s public health capabilities division and Marie Penman, from the Scottish Government’s legal directorate.

A purpose of the Victims and Prisoners Bill is to require the Secretary of State to establish a body to administer a compensation scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal within three months of passing the bill. Due to time constraints in the passage of the bill at Westminster and the subsequent lodging of the LCM at a late stage, the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee is also considering the LCM at its meeting today, so it will not be possible to include its conclusions in our consideration.

I invite the minister to make a brief opening statement.

The next item on our agenda is consideration of an affirmative instrument. The purpose of the instrument is to amend the Registration of Social Workers and Social Service Workers in Care Services (Scotland) Regulations 2013 to reduce the period of time that workers have to apply for registration with the Scottish Social Services Council, with the requirement now being that they do so within three months of starting a new role. The policy note states that the objective is to encourage social workers and social service workers to apply for registration sooner after starting work, which will allow the assessment of an applicant’s fitness to practise at an earlier stage, providing greater public protection.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the instrument at its meeting on 19 March 2024 and made no recommendations in relation to the instrument.

We will have an evidence session with the Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise and supporting officials on the instrument. Once we have had all our questions answered, we will proceed to a formal debate on the motion.

I welcome to the committee Natalie Don, Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise; Rona Carson, who is a lawyer from the Scottish Government legal directorate; and Jamie McIntyre, who is team lead for the Scottish Social Services Council sponsorship team in the Scottish Government. I invite the minister to make a brief opening statement.

Good morning, and welcome to the 11th meeting in 2024 of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. I have received apologies from Tess White. Sandesh Gulhane and Emma Harper are joining us remotely.

Agenda item 1 is to decide whether to take items 3 and 4 in private. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Agenda item 2 is consideration of one negative instrument. The purpose of the instrument is to allow employers and members of the public to see more information about persons who are on the register that is kept by the Scottish Social Services Council under section 44 of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the instrument at its meeting on 19 March 2024 and made no recommendation in relation to it. No motion to annul has been lodged in relation to the instrument.

Given that no member has indicated that they wish to comment, I propose that the committee make no recommendation in relation to the instrument. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.?

That concludes the public part of our meeting.

Agenda item 2 is consideration of two draft affirmative instruments, the first of which is the draft Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 (Continuation) Order 2024. The purpose of the order is to continue the effect of minimum unit pricing provisions that were inserted into the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 by the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012. In the absence of this order, those provisions would expire.

The policy note states that minimum unit pricing has had a positive impact on tackling alcohol-related harms in Scotland and should be continued, as evidence suggests that, if MUP were no longer in effect, alcohol consumption would increase, contrary to the policy aim of reducing alcohol-related harm.

The second instrument is the draft Alcohol (Minimum Price per Unit) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2024. The purpose of the instrument is to increase the minimum unit price, which is currently set at 50p per unit, to 65p per unit. The policy note states that evidence has found that MUP at 50p per unit has had a positive impact on health outcomes in Scotland and that, in order to derive greater health benefits, the current level should be raised to 65p per unit. I also note that the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the instruments at its meeting on 27 February 2024 and made no recommendations in relation to them.

We will now have an evidence session on the instruments with the Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy and supporting officials. Once our questions have been answered, we will proceed to a formal debate on the motions.

I welcome to the committee Christina McKelvie, Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy and from the Scottish Government: Orlando Heijmer-Mason, drugs policy division; Katherine Myant, health and social care analysis; and James Wilson, population, health strategy and improvement. I invite the minister to make a brief opening statement.

Thank you, minister, for that opening statement. As it has pre-empted what was going to be my first question, I will move on to my next.

You touched on claims from certain stakeholders that the conclusions that Public Health Scotland had reached in its evaluation of MUP were

“selective, biased, misleading or flawed.”

How would you counter that? How would you respond to those claims?

Thank you for that. I should also place on record a reference to my entry in the register of members’ interests as a registered mental health nurse with a current bank contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Briefly, one of the initial aims of MUP was to decrease the sales of high-alcohol-by-volume products, particularly strong ciders and so on. Has the Government done any research on whether there has been an impact on the sales of those products?

Has there been an impact on the sales of other products, such as whisky and other spirits?