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I have been quite taken aback by the testimony today, as I think that we all have. It is obviously disappointing to hear the Government’s position on this. On the suggestion that the Scottish Government might consider addressing future recommendations made by the inquiry to improve legislation, policy and practice, do you think that will be sufficient to address any of the concerns that have been raised in your petition, or do you feel that that would not come close to dealing with the issue? Is there at least some element of what the Government is saying that might be helpful, or do you think that it is not adequate at all?

No—but I could elaborate.

I suggest that we also write to each of the local authorities to get an assessment of what their current provision is. It might be helpful to get an understanding of how each local authority manages the provision of sex education in their schools. Some schools will have teachers who are specially trained, while in some areas, there might be a team that goes round different schools. It would be interesting to find out what each local authority is doing, and that might help to inform the petitioner.

Thanks. I should clarify that the Woodland Trust has identified that most pockets of ancient woodland each cover fewer than 5 hectares; they are isolated fragments and do not cumulatively provide coverage across Scotland.

Our two petitioners talked about enforcement of tree preservation orders, citing a case in Argyll that was particularly problematic. There are penalties for tree felling—I think that they said that the penalty is £5,000 per tree—but in this instance, enforcement was delayed. Argyll and Bute Council did not enforce the tree preservation order in a timely manner, which permitted the landowner to clear the area for grazing. The petitioners have heard that the national authority—I think that it is Scottish Forestry; sorry, I am just trying to find the right page of the Official Report—will not enforce the order and basically just came to a gentlemen’s agreement with the landowner.

That raises a concern about the extent to which there is enforcement when ancient woodland is vandalised, even when protections are in place. Do you agree that such issues need further investigation?

I think that it is also important to raise the fact that people are self-medicating with THCs already, where they have got a supply from unofficial sources. It might be worth engaging with the Minister for Drugs Policy, Angela Constance, about the pattern of illicit access to substances that are cannabis-derived products.

That might also illustrate that, where health and social care partnerships have introduced programmes such as herb-assisted treatment, it is actually seen as a public health benefit that people are medicating themselves in that way, as it is much more satisfactory that people do that in a controlled environment. Perhaps there is an angle that is not simply about the context of prescribing by a general practitioner or a clinician but about instances in which people are already self-medicating, and recognising that there is a public health interest in ensuring that harms are reduced in that situation.

I am not particularly bothered about keeping the petition open; it was merely to mention another angle that might be worth considering. We might write to Historic Environment Scotland to ask it to consider the statutory listing of war memorials, to give them a degree of protection in planning law.

Yes, that is fine.

That was an interesting introduction, minister.

In the previous evidence session, it was identified that the Woodland Trust has already done an exercise to investigate the extent of ancient woodland in Scotland and has identified that it amounts to about 5 hectares in total. Will the Government give a commitment to undertake to protect all of that under an SSSI designation as quickly as possible?

I have a quick point about something that was raised in the previous evidence-taking session. Since 1999, 270 woodlands have been lost or damaged by development, which is significantly more than in other parts of the UK—although, obviously, Scotland has more forestry coverage per hectare. Has a lessons-learned exercise been undertaken to understand why those 270 woodlands were lost and what can be done to arrest the cause?

I understand that one of the biggest threats is coniferous seeding and contamination that leads to conifers impinging on the ancient woodland sites. However, the forestry industry is exempt from the UK forestry standard on monitoring and addressing contamination. Do we need to put obligations on the forestry industry to do more to prevent contamination from conifer plantations?

Welcome to our committee, Callum. It is great to hear from you. I heard that you went to visit the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties—COP26—in Glasgow last year. Did you have a nice time there?