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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 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 20 January 2025
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Displaying 431 contributions

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Meeting of the Parliament

Safe and Fair Sport for Women and Girls

Meeting date: 1 October 2024

Tess White

I have two questions, minister. First, do you believe that we should be able to discuss this openly and calmly, as women and men, without fear of recrimination or condemnation? Secondly, do you agree with the president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, that we must preserve the female category?

Meeting of the Parliament

Health and Social Care Winter Preparedness Plan 2024/25

Meeting date: 24 September 2024

Tess White

When Shona Robison was health secretary, she promised to eradicate delayed discharge, and she reiterated that commitment last year at First Minister’s question time. In the previous financial year, people spent 666,190 days in hospital because of delayed discharge, which is the highest annual figure that has been reported. Today’s statement mentions only reducing delayed discharge. When will this SNP Government stop papering over the cracks and give primary care, and particularly GP practices in relation to the 2018 contract, the support that they need?

Meeting of the Parliament

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 18 September 2024

Tess White

The number of female probationers in Police Scotland has nosedived by almost a third since 2021. A damning independent report into the force’s so-called equality, diversity and inclusion activities was quietly published by Police Scotland last month. It found

“pervasive attitudes of misogyny and sexism across all areas and divisions.”

It also describes

“a hostile environment for women who may choose to leave their careers early.”

The Scottish National Party Government cannot look the other way, and alarm bells are ringing. How will the Scottish Government hold Police Scotland to account, to ensure that it creates a safe space for female employees?

Meeting of the Parliament

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 18 September 2024

Tess White

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of police service strength, in light of the decrease in Police Scotland’s officer numbers. (S6O-03725)

Meeting of the Parliament

First Minister’s Question Time

Meeting date: 12 September 2024

Tess White

The north-east is experiencing a dramatic increase in new transmission infrastructure to serve offshore wind. The affected communities deserve proper consultation, but that has been far from what has happened. For residents who bear the brunt of the new infrastructure, it feels like an unfair and unjust transition. As the Scottish Government looks to improve the planning and consenting regime for renewables—which the First Minister described as “making consenting faster”—is the First Minister willing to meet community representatives and campaigners to listen to their concerns and ensure that they are not left behind?

Meeting of the Parliament

Gender Identity Healthcare for Young People

Meeting date: 3 September 2024

Tess White

The Royal College of General Practitioners is clear that the prescribing of gender-affirming hormones should generally be done only by specialists. However, it is often done by GPs, who have shared with me their concerns about safe prescribing to patients who have gender dysphoria. Can the Scottish Government confirm whether, under the new standards, GPs will be routinely expected to prescribe gender-affirming hormones, and whether shared-care protocols will be put in place?

Meeting of the Parliament

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Question Time

Meeting date: 13 June 2024

Tess White

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will review the process for admitting visitors to the public gallery in the chamber. (S6O-03585)

Meeting of the Parliament

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Question Time

Meeting date: 13 June 2024

Tess White

Members’ business debates are a brilliant opportunity for MSPs to raise issues that matter to their constituents. However, during my debate last month, constituents from Angus and Aberdeenshire were unable to hear my opening remarks because they were still filing in, which was disappointing for them because they had travelled so far.

I have attended other members’ business debates at which visitors were seated at the back of the gallery, as is the case today, with plenty of seats at the front remaining unused, which we can also see today. I welcome the points about experience and safety, but we can clearly see that the situation is not acceptable. Will the corporate body consider reviewing processes in the people’s Parliament to ensure that opening speeches do not begin until all visitors are seated, and that better use is made of the seating arrangements?

Meeting of the Parliament

Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill

Meeting date: 12 June 2024

Tess White

This is a complex topic with varied and sometimes polarising points of view. As we have heard today, however, the bill is not about abortion; it is about women being able to access the healthcare that they need at what can be a vulnerable, isolating and difficult time. Like other members of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, I thank the convener, clerks, witnesses and all those who submitted evidence during the passage of the bill. The Parliament has handled the issue with both sensitivity and security in mind, and I thank everyone who has been involved in this undertaking.

The Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill has achieved cross-party consensus, and I am pleased to support it at stage 3 today. As the Law Society of Scotland emphasises, any restriction on articles 8, 9, 10 or 11 of the European convention on human rights is a “careful balancing exercise”. I am a staunch defender of free speech, but I recognise that that must not come at the expense of women’s health or our right to access medical services free of prejudice. Women have a right to access reproductive healthcare unimpeded by protests. They also have a right to privacy, especially when it comes to their own health.

I was struck by a story that was shared by Back Off Scotland at the start of the bill’s parliamentary passage, which was about a pregnant mum. She received the devastating diagnosis at her 20-week scan that her baby had something seriously wrong with her heart. She said:

“I had to make the decision whether to finish the pregnancy and allow her to die, or to terminate.”

She added that the protesters made her

“feel like a monster for making the decision”

to have an abortion, and that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder—PTSD. She continued:

“Terminations are a much-needed service for many reasons, and no-one should be made to feel like a monster for using the service.”

Her experience is a sobering reminder of why we are here today. We know that at least 12 hospitals and clinics have been targeted across Scotland since 2017, including Aberdeen maternity hospital in my region. It is clear that the existing legislative framework has not prevented such protests. Scotland is the only part of the UK not to have safe access zone legislation in place, with Westminster legislating last year and Stormont back in 2021.

Against that background, it is right that we legislate on the issue and it was right, too, that we strengthened the bill as much as possible so that it will protect women not just when it is enacted but in the years to come. That is why, with my amendments at stages 2 and 3, I focused on post-legislative scrutiny, and I am pleased that the Scottish Government was receptive to those changes. The test will now be in how the bill’s provisions are enforced and in the impact that they will have on women accessing abortion services and on the staff who support them. We will be watching.

Meeting of the Parliament

Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill

Meeting date: 12 June 2024

Tess White

Will the minister take an intervention?