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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 4 May 2021
  6. Current session: 13 May 2021 to 6 February 2026
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Displaying 1206 contributions

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Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 9 October 2025

Elena Whitham

I have a few more questions in that area. The bill says that public bodies “must ... have regard”—or, as it might be, “due regard”—to guidance produced by a future generations commissioner. Do you have any thoughts on how that duty might be exercised and how we ensure consistency in application?

I also have questions about the interaction with local strategy setting. I am thinking of, for example, community planning partnerships, which, although they are not legal entities, set a lot of the strategy locally. How would we ensure that they had due regard to wellbeing and sustainability even though, technically, they lack that legal status?

Professor Reid, do you want to start?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 9 October 2025

Elena Whitham

Professor Jones, how are such things measured with public bodies in Wales? I assume that there must be guidance in Wales. Both of you have talked about an audit report on the matter, and I have concerns about Audit Scotland’s role in assessing whether public bodies have been paying “due regard” to the legislation as set out. Can you give us a wee bit of insight into the Welsh context?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 9 October 2025

Elena Whitham

Professor Reid, do you think that such legislation would help Scotland in our quest to be able to deliver on the UN sustainable development goals?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee [Draft]

Wellbeing and Sustainable Development (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 9 October 2025

Elena Whitham

Good morning. The Scottish Government previously committed to legislating in the area of wellbeing and sustainable development but then chose not to proceed with its legislation despite having consulted on it. Indeed, the Government has also chosen not to support the bill. Do the policy objectives in the bill and the policy memorandum require legislation in the first place?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

ADHD and ASD Pathways and Support

Meeting date: 7 October 2025

Elena Whitham

Good morning, everyone. I want to explore the concept of a multidisciplinary team approach to neurodevelopmental assessments. Mention has already been made of the fact that, at the moment, we have a medical model, which creates bottlenecks everywhere in the system. What are the barriers to implementing multidisciplinary teams to undertake neurodevelopmental assessments and to the creation of pathways in that respect? What is stopping all those who are involved in the care of an individual coming together to do such assessments? What are the big barriers in that respect?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

ADHD and ASD Pathways and Support

Meeting date: 7 October 2025

Elena Whitham

My final question in this area is about the role that the private sector and the third sector play in relation to neurodevelopmental assessment. We know that there are pockets of good practice across the country, where the third sector is heavily involved in the process. We know, too, that some health boards involve the private sector in the assessment process and allow trusted companies to do some of that work for them. Is there a role for those sectors in multidisciplinary teams?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

ADHD and ASD Pathways and Support

Meeting date: 7 October 2025

Elena Whitham

I will be brief. Several times, mention was made of the fact that online assessments are maybe not robust. I just want to explore and challenge that a little bit, considering that a lot of people use Near Me to access psychological support services for addictions, and that some of the trusted partners that the NHS uses do online assessments that take five or six hours at a time or that take place over several periods. I would like to hear your response to that, because I heard that comment several times.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

ADHD and ASD Pathways and Support

Meeting date: 7 October 2025

Elena Whitham

The last part that Louise Bussell mentioned segues into the questions that I have about resources and information when people are awaiting assessment, or even when they are awaiting the triage that might happen at that point. All of us as parliamentarians get a lot of inquiries from constituents who say that they need a co-occurring mental health concern even to get access to some of the lists at the moment. How do we ensure that people can wait well during that period and that they have access to all the information that they need? How do we ensure that, when you are on the waiting pathway, you are informed of what will happen at every single stage of the journey? Sometimes things land out of the blue—we heard that in last week’s session—and you are given a couple of days to fill in massive questionnaires that you need to get back and then you do not hear anything for a year. That can feel quite isolating.

How do we ensure that resources are up to date and that the information is up to date, clear and helpful? If we look at NHS Inform now, we see that ADHD is under mental health and autism is under brain conditions, but you really would not think to look there if you were trying to find information.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

ADHD and ASD Pathways and Support

Meeting date: 7 October 2025

Elena Whitham

How can we build something that takes account of the role that each individual plays in the setting that they work in? We have our allied health professionals and our colleagues in general practice, as well as specialist psychiatrists. How can we ensure that those teams come together in a multidisciplinary way to effect change in this area? It feels as though that is where we need to get to, but it feels as though we are a long way away from realising the potential of such empowered teams. I realise that resource is a huge part of that, but it would be helpful for us to understand how those roles could come together to create meaningful change for people.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

ADHD and ASD Pathways and Support

Meeting date: 7 October 2025

Elena Whitham

I will briefly bring in Louise Bussell from a Highland perspective. Gill Kidd put context around the reality that you are facing and what can be delivered online. Do you have any other thoughts?