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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 19 December 2024
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Displaying 595 contributions

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Education, Children and Young People Committee

Interests

Meeting date: 25 September 2024

Gillian Mackay

Thanks for having me. I have no relevant interests to declare.

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Education (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 25 September 2024

Gillian Mackay

It answers my question to a certain extent. What I am looking for is similar to what John Mason was asking about earlier with regard to how we drive cultural change. Some of that is structural—who is on the board and so on—but it is also about the approach to engaging with learners and teachers.

I accept that there is provision for a learner interest committee, but that will be quite small compared with the spread of learners across Scotland. How can the board and other bodies within qualifications Scotland be made more accessible and welcoming to learners and teachers to ensure that on-going feedback can be taken forward?

09:45  

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 24 September 2024

Gillian Mackay

That is interesting, thanks.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 24 September 2024

Gillian Mackay

That is useful, thank you. The inconsistent nature of integration across the country of children’s and justice services, as well as the geographical spread, has also been raised.

Pauline Lunn mentioned the different model in Highland earlier. Given what is in the bill, the potential for children’s and justice services to come in and the issue with the lead agency in Highland, how confident are you that the current provisions will deliver what they need to? What else do we need in the bill? Do we need more detail? Do we need to go back and take longer?

Many organisations, including yours, I am sure, have involved themselves in co-design processes, and I am keen that we do not burn all that good will and good engagement. How do we get to a point where people have confidence that the bill will deliver the change that has been needed for the past decade and a half?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 24 September 2024

Gillian Mackay

Pauline Lunn was nodding the most next, so I will go to her next if that is okay.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 24 September 2024

Gillian Mackay

We also have a patchy picture across the country in relation to which services, including children’s services and justice social work services, the local authority delivers or does not deliver. There are concerns from stakeholders—I am sure that some of you share the concerns—about how it works in practice for those who do not currently have all the services being delivered by the local authority. Do you have views on how we square that circle, for a start, and on whether children’s and justice services should be included in the bill?

10:15  

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 24 September 2024

Gillian Mackay

This question is for Colin Poolman and Katie MacGregor, whose organisations are still working to make the bill better. What amendments would you like to see being made to the bill? Obviously, on the union side of things, people are absolutely on board with good stuff such as collective bargaining, but are there things on the workforce side that your workforces are looking for?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 24 September 2024

Gillian Mackay

Good morning. With the previous witnesses, we had a discussion about the good things in the bill that could be separated from other things to allow us to take a longer time to look at the more structural reforms. Anne’s law is one of those things, and there is a lot of focus on people who access services and carers, relating to advocacy, short breaks and so on. Are there other things in the “good stuff” category that the witnesses want to progress? Many people have said that they could be progressed without the bill.

Frank Reilly is nodding the most, so I will come to him first.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 24 September 2024

Gillian Mackay

Good morning. The theme of my questions is everything else that we have not already spoken about, so I apologise if it turns into a random run around the bill.

So far, we have had a chat about the unions now having withdrawn their support for the bill. Some of them are looking for the bill to be withdrawn, although other organisations are still in the works to try to make it better.

There are obviously some good things in the bill in relation to those receiving care, such as Anne’s law, the right to short breaks and advocacy provisions. Do the witnesses believe that we are at the stage at which we need to go back to the drawing board on some of the reorganisation and some of the provisions around fair work, but that we also need to make progress on the good things so that we do not lose any more of the good will that is left around the co-design that has already happened? I absolutely appreciate what people have said so far about the workforce’s input into co-design and how the workforce is feeling. On the other side of that, there are people who receive care and their families who have put their time in and have seen something come from that. Do the witnesses support a position in which we progress the good things where we can and have a wider conversation around what whole-scale reform looks like in more detail?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee [Draft]

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Meeting date: 24 September 2024

Gillian Mackay

We have had conversations with Alison Bavidge previously about how heavily legislated for social work is. Are we getting to the stage where we have reinvented the wheel for social work so many times that it is no longer a wheel? Do we need to look at how much legislation on governance there is and get it an awful lot tighter so that the job and the work can be done on the ground?