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I will speak briefly on amendment 27, and I thank the General Medical Council for its input on this subject.

Amendment 27, in the name of Tess White, would amend section 15, which deals with the confidentiality of information, and permits a disclosure of information to “professional healthcare regulatory bodies”. That would further enhance patient safety, because there might be circumstances in which such information points towards a potential risk but in which it is only through further investigation and/or correlation with other information that is held by the regulator that the scale of the risk becomes apparent.

I note that Carol Mochan’s amendment 26 takes a similar approach to Tess White’s amendment 27 in adding the Health and Safety Executive to the list of bodies. Our amendment 27 uses the term “professional healthcare regulatory bodies”, which is a phrase that includes all regulators that are overseen by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, including the Health and Safety Executive. Our amendment therefore covers the Health and Safety Executive.

I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which states that I am a practising national health service general practitioner.

Amendment 11, in the name of Tess White, is a probing amendment to facilitate debate about the length of time that a commissioner should serve in a single term. The amendment would reduce that period from eight years, which is currently in the bill, to five years. As a point of comparison, the Patient Safety Commissioner for England is appointed for a term of three years, with the possibility of a second term.

I note from the bill’s policy memorandum that the period of appointment was chosen because it is in line with the terms and conditions of other parliamentary commissioners. Those were standardised 13 years ago by the Scottish Parliamentary Commissions and Commissioners etc (Scotland) Act 2010. In the intervening period, the commissioner system has not been substantively evaluated. Meanwhile, as the Finance and Public Administration Committee and the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body have highlighted, the number of commissioners could rise from seven to as many as 14. That would be a significant and expensive extension of the public sector. It should follow that the tenure in office is considered as a question of good governance.

I recognise that the bill includes provision for early termination and gives the SPCB some flexibility in the area. Nevertheless, the period in post that is provided in statute matters, because commissioners need to consistently demonstrate that they are serving the public interest as well as the public purse. I will welcome input from the minister and other members on that point.

I move amendment 11.

Given the minister’s reassurance, I will not move the amendment.

Amendment 17 not moved.

Amendment 18 moved—[Sandesh Gulhane].

I am keen to see whether we can facilitate a discussion between now and stage 3 about where the issue might sit but, for now, I seek to withdraw amendment 11.

Amendment 11, by agreement, withdrawn.

The one thing that I would never be brave enough to do is wheelchair rugby—that is quite scary.

I would like to ask questions around ethnicity in women’s sport. Minister, you have spoken about how participation drops off, but that is even more acute when it comes to ethnicity. You gave a very good badminton example of a way to engage with the community.

However, my first question is about information and data, because every single time that we have had someone in front of the committee, I have asked them what data they have around ethnicity and very few of them have come back and said that they have good data around that. Is that an issue?

I want to ask Calum Campbell about NHS Lothian’s hospital sterilisation and decontamination unit. Everyone has been talking about increasing the work that you do within a theatre complex, but you cannot do anything if you do not have any kit. Your specific sterilisation unit is severely under the required capacity right now. What steps have you taken, and what steps are you taking, to ensure that you can meet not only the demand right now but your ambitions going forward?

Forgive me, but do you plan to expand that?

What steps have you taken already? You need to have done something already. In addition, one of the questions at the very beginning was about a lack of money and how you have a deficit. There is a lack of capital to support new things, especially plans to do that. How will you achieve your plans with that deficit?

Calum Campbell, I want to ask you about audiology. FLAAG—families failed by Lothian audiology action group—has said quite a few things in public that I would like to raise directly with you for a response. It feels as though there is a lack of access to British Sign Language tutors, as well as a lack of access to speech and language therapy and appropriately qualified professional support for deaf children. What support are you putting in place for families who are affected, and what would you say in response to FLAAG?

The development of speech occurs between birth and the age of three, which is when speech becomes fluent. The average age at which issues are identified is about four and a half. My understanding is that 2018 is the cut-off. What is happening to potentially affected families?