Seòmar agus comataidhean

Some of the questions and answers that we have heard this morning have been quite vague. I acknowledge that you are giving your views about your roles and responsibilities, but we are trying to investigate the petition and to draw out as much information as we can, in order to assist the petitioner. As the convener said, there is no need for a change in the law to allow for the use of imaging.

Previous witnesses have told us about the time saved by the use of imaging. We have heard that scans can be used to establish a cause of death in 94 per cent of cases and that 92 per cent of those post mortems were non-invasive. It is obvious that using that equipment for scans is of real benefit to individuals. The process saves time for professionals and the fact that it is quicker can give some reassurance to the next of kin. You have already told us about the targets that you have set and want to achieve within your service.

Mr Shanks may be the best person to answer this. Do you acknowledge that imaging could have benefits both for the service and for the next of kin? Should you consider procuring imaging services, in order to ensure that we have a better service for clients, for service users and for yourselves?

The memorial is one of your wishes in your petition, but it appears that Transport Scotland has dismissed that because of road safety fears. I commend you for bringing forward the proposal, but what is your view on Transport Scotland’s position and how do you respond to the fact that, from my reading of the papers that it has provided, it is quite dismissive of that proposal?

As I said, I commend you for that proposal, because I think that something of that size and stature is required, if you wish to ensure that those individuals are remembered in the correct manner. You have indicated that you have some ideas about where that might be located. What discussions have you had with communities that might wish to have that memorial in their area?

You acknowledge that we have a role here. If the Parliament wants to change things and make things happen, it is up to individuals such as Monica Lennon MSP, who has supported the petition, to try to do that. We are doing that now by having this discussion and debating the topic. We are putting the topic further up the agenda to try to ascertain what the problem might be and what the solutions should be.

I see that as my role in this committee: to try to tease out some of the evidence and the issues so that we can provide the best service that we can within our capability for individuals in Scotland. As I said, however, I am perplexed when those individuals are not being given a similar quality of service as people south of the border. To me, it is not right, in some respects, that individuals in Scotland are not being provided with the same standard of information and operation that people are getting elsewhere. As I said, that perplexes me, as a member of this committee, and I am trying to tease out the issues to try to iron them out and support people to get a better service.

You have made some very valid points, convener, and Katy Clark and Jackie Baillie, too, have outlined the situation that we find ourselves in. I am happy for us to keep the petition open.

We have a number of options for action. I suggest that we write to the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health to highlight the petitioners’ latest submission and seek information on the outcome of the exercise by the Scottish Association of Medical Directors to explore the availability of non-mesh surgery in individual health boards—that is vital—and on the development of NHS Scotland’s scan for safety programme. Specifically, we should ask when it will begin and how it will be rolled out.

We could also write to the British Hernia Society for its views on the action that is called for in the petition and for information on its work to develop a hernia-specific registry, which is important. Those are my suggestions, convener.

We should keep the petition open. In her submission, the petitioner makes some valid points about where we are in the whole process. I suggest that we write to the Scottish Government to seek an update on the Bute house agreement exploration group’s recommendations, when they become available in autumn of this year. The petitioner talks about COSLA’s involvement, and it would be good to get some clarity on that. That is what I propose at this stage.

As you rightly identify, we could write to the minister to ask what the Scottish Government and local authorities are considering in relation to bringing an end to the practice of removing the compulsory supervision orders, and to seek information on whether the Scottish Government will consider amending the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to ensure that the duty to provide continuing care applies to care-experienced people who need it, even if they have ceased to be looked-after individuals before their 16th birthday. We had very good discussions on that when we took evidence. We could ascertain the Government’s position on those issues prior to the minister attending the committee.

Yes, convener. There is no doubt that there continues to be a loophole in the whole process in relation to the private hire and taxi sector. I suggest that, once again, we seek more clarity by writing to the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland to seek her views on the action that is called for in the petition and to ask how many special restricted licences are currently registered in Scotland. The petitioner makes a valid assertion. Yes, the short-life working group may have concluded, but it has not come back with anything specific for the sector, so it has been left in limbo.

We have probably taken this petition as far as we can take it in some respects. I propose that we close the petition, under rule 15.7 of standing orders, on the basis that the behaviour that the petition references may already be prosecuted under common law and existing statutory offences.

As you identify, convener, this would appear to be a major problem, and women are being let down. Over the past seven years, and even prior to that, I have had many letters in my mailbag on the issue, and it is fairly moving up the women’s health agenda.

In addition to your suggestions, I suggest that we write to NHS Education for Scotland to seek information on the development of the bespoke training that was mentioned, the framework focused on menopause and how the training is being rolled out to GPs and primary healthcare providers. It seems that the biggest problem that we have is that there is no consistency. Seemingly, women are being dismissed and having to endure and suffer for a number of years. Doing both those things will give us an opportunity to see where we are.