Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning. It is very obvious from the discussion already that things are moving forward. You have made some very positive remarks about confidence, ability and ambition, and those are all good to have in the process. It would be useful to unpick more of where we are with the complaints backlog.

You have touched on the backlog and where we found ourselves. There was a massive increase in complaints in 2021-22 in comparison to the previous year. Where are we now with the backlog? How many complaints are you managing at this time, and how well are you reducing that backlog? We have touched on staffing and staff training, and I think it is vitally important to make sure that those things are lined up, so that you can perform and progress. It would be good to get an idea of where we are sitting with that situation now, so that we can compare and contrast with where we were.

You have identified that there is a sea of information coming towards you in the form of a number of complaint capacities. In the past, your organisation has struggled to recruit and retain staff, and funding has been crucial for what you have required. I know that additional funding has been granted by the SPCB. It would be good to get a flavour of whether that is enough to enable you to manage the situation or whether you feel that other pressures will come forward that are financially orientated.

We acknowledge your ambitions, but, if you do not have the capacity and resources behind those, you will not be able to achieve what you want to. We all want to see the process progress to the level where we do not have to wait for nine, eight or seven months for a situation to progress. You should have a much more effective and efficient role. You are going to have these new people and you have had some extra funding, but is that enough to enable you to manage the situation and the crisis that you find yourselves in today?

You touched on performance, and I know that performance indicators have been introduced into the complaint-handling process. It might be useful to tease out how that is progressing, as assessing performance using those indicators will inevitably support you not only to get rid of the backlog but to manage the complaints that come through on a regular basis.

As you identify, managing that communication is vitally important so that there is no misunderstanding of the complexity—it might not be black or white; there are still grey areas in all of this. As members, we acknowledge that and think about how we fit into the process, but we and others must have confidence that your organisation will not only manage and support but investigate and be able to show, at the end, that you have gone through the process fairly and without favour. That is what we need to see in order to have confidence in the organisation. There might have been a slight lack of confidence in the past, but we all want to get to that place—I have no doubt that you do, and your report itemises that very clearly. We need to be sure that the steps that you are taking are making progress and that we are seeing that resolution for the future.

At the previous meeting, I asked for some of that information, which we have now received. In the circumstances that we now find ourselves in, I propose that we close the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders on the basis that the JCVI has no plans to review the need for or value of an HPV vaccination catch-up programme for boys due to the indirect protection offered through herd immunity. We have collated and brought forward information, but I do not believe that it will change the direction of where we are.

The petitioner makes some valid points. It is apparent that things have not really changed in that time. It would be useful to write to SEPA to highlight the issues that have been raised by the petitioner, seek information about the review of the regulation of private sewerage systems and ask whether consideration has been given to alternative approaches for identifying and authorising private sewage discharges. As I said, the petition makes some valid points, and I would keep it open in order to ask SEPA to clarify those issues.

There is no doubt that COSLA has a strong case with reference to the estate, but the Children and Young People’s Commissioner also gave us some suggestions. It might therefore be useful to not close the petition at this stage but seek more information. I suggest that we write to the Scottish Government to ask what consideration has been given to reviewing and updating the learning estate strategy in the light of the comments that the Children and Young People’s Commissioner has made. That might give us further indication. I acknowledge what COSLA says and that the petition may not be able to progress after that, but, at this stage, it might be useful for us to get some of that information.

As you say, this is a very topical issue and members and communities have been sceptical about what is taking place. More requires to be done. We should keep the petition open. It might be useful to find out from the Scottish Government what proportion of Scotland currently has superfast broadband and when it is anticipated that all households will have it. In your comments, you touched on rural locations and geographical challenges. It is vital that we find out whether the Government has evaluated the full fibre broadband charter in Scotland and the efficacy of extending and expanding the build into remote, rural and geographically challenging areas. That is the crux of it. It is those locations that have the problem. Those communities and their representatives are sceptical about where things are going and how they are progressing. If we can get some of that information from the Scottish Government, it will help our deliberation.

I am more than happy to take the views of the committee, convener.

I concur with Mr Torrance’s comments. It is vital that we find out where the defibrillators are and their background. I am aware that charitable organisations also do a lot of work on this; they fundraise for local areas and provide defibrillators. It might be useful to find out whether they are doing anything. I know, for example, that the Order of St John is doing a national campaign across Scotland to introduce defibrillators to churches, golf clubs and other appropriate locations. It would be useful to find out whether anything that they are doing could complement or supplement what will happen through Mr Torrance’s suggestions.