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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 24 August 2025
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Displaying 1283 contributions

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Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 21 February 2024

Emma Harper

I am absolutely aware, from my research since coming back to the committee, that we used to use fenbendazole but we now use flubendazole. There are issues and concerns around when and how flubendazole is used, and there are issues around potential resistance. I have learned that the grit is used in a way that supports the welfare of the red grouse to deal with the parasitic strongyle threadworm. I am interested in that, as my background is as a nurse, working in healthcare. I am therefore used to dealing with issues around managing medication. I do not think it is right that Edward Mountain suggests that, because I do not work in a rural area, I might not have knowledge about medicated grit, for instance. We all know how to research.

I am interested in considering how we manage best practice, support the best welfare and monitor how medicated grit is used. I think that it is worth pursuing amendment 83. I spoke to the minister to gather some background information, and I was reassured that the amendment that was lodged by Jim Fairlie is a reasonable one.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 21 February 2024

Emma Harper

Given that, based on what Mr Fairlie has said, the Government would like time to ensure that the amendments are workable and doable within the current resources, I am happy not to press or move them. I am keen for the minister to work with NatureScot and others, to have the appropriate discussions and then potentially to bring back redrafted versions at stage 3.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 21 February 2024

Emma Harper

I am a bit breathless listening to all this. Section 26 of the bill has paragraphs on the code of practice and on what is “sustainable and regenerative agriculture”, as well as on what the Scottish ministers must do to

“review and, if they consider it appropriate, revise and publish the code”.

Scottish ministers must come to Parliament before publishing the code. Also, the

“Scottish Ministers must, in preparing or reviewing the code, consult such persons as they consider likely to be interested in or affected by it.”

After hearing what Rhoda Grant said about the policy memorandum, it seems to me from reading that section that the bill does not suggest that anything is going to be foisted on farmers; rather, this is about engaging with them. Cabinet secretary, you have talked about co-design and about all the people who have been invited to participate and to give input on their role in relation to sustainability and regenerative farming, whether they are wheat producers, big arable barley growers or whatever. I am interested in hearing how we make sure that people understand that nothing will be foisted on them, because this is partnership working, which is what co-design is all about.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 20 February 2024

Emma Harper

Do you think that the lack of uptake of option 1 might be because information on it is not provided? Does wider information need to be put out about the four options and how people can make their personal choice in order to decide for themselves and have more empowerment and control? I will look at the details of the age information. It looks like people between zero and 17 have a higher uptake of option 1 and people between 65 and 75 choose option 3. It might be about how the options are sold to people.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 20 February 2024

Emma Harper

Good morning. From quickly looking at the data on people choosing option 1 to option 4, it looks like option 1, which involves a person being an employer and having someone coming and supporting them with care, is chosen least. Option 3 is basically a mixture of choices from option 1 through to option 4. In our papers, there are issues relating to stress that might be caused by being an employer. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on that. I will go to Julia Smith first. Option 1 seems to be chosen least, and it looks like option 3 involves the local authority choosing. Is there stress associated with having a personal assistant?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 20 February 2024

Emma Harper

This is to get clarity regarding consultation on the instrument. The policy note says that a six-week public consultation was launched on 17 July and closed on 28 August. Food Standards Scotland did not receive any responses to the consultation, but the Food Standards Agency received 13. I would be interested to know why Food Standards Scotland did not receive any responses and why the Food Standards Agency received 13. I know that the agencies work closely together to obtain information, but I would be interested to know how they publicise consultations. Do agencies write to the people whom they expect would respond? I would be interested to get a wee bit of clarity on why zero responses were received to Food Standards Scotland’s call for information.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 20 February 2024

Emma Harper

Michael Collier talked about time and task; I am thinking about rural areas where it might be better for councils to do one one-hour visit rather than driving to four 15-minute visits. I know that Dumfries and Galloway Council did a pilot on that. How would you see that being rolled out more widely to give more choice to people who are receiving SDS?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 20 February 2024

Emma Harper

In May 2023, the Government published its plan, “Self-Directed Support Improvement Plan 2023-27”. One of the chapters is entitled “What is different about this Plan” and another is entitled “How will we know the Plan is working?” I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the Government committing to doing an annual report to look at what has been taken forward, because there are a lot of extremely complex areas when it comes to SDS. An idea that I had was that SDS could be embedded in the education of social care workers.

What are your thoughts on the improvement plan? How can we measure how successful we have been in addressing the complexities of care, whether people are at home, in the community or in a community hospital?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 6 February 2024

Emma Harper

Has the pandemic affected our ability to capture further evidence? It obviously informed the way in which some evidence was gathered. As Justina Murray described, there were higher levels of drinking during the pandemic. Do we need to continue with minimum unit pricing in order to get further robust evidence? I see that Alison Douglas has her hand up.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)

Meeting date: 6 February 2024

Emma Harper

Thank you.