Seòmar agus comataidhean

As the MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, I have been out to visit the North Lanarkshire project, which goes wider than just my constituency. Ms Cook, to be blunt, it is a national project, but the cities have been most involved up to now. Are the other local authorities stepping up to the mark and doing as much as they can to deliver?

That is probably a useful and hopeful note on which to end today’s session. I thank you all for your attendance.

We move into private session.

Our second agenda item is to take evidence on Scotland’s humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine. We are joined by Lorraine Cook, policy manager at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; Gavin Sharp, lead officer for the Ukraine refugee response at the City of Edinburgh Council; Pat Togher, assistant chief officer for public protection and complex needs at the Glasgow city health and social care partnership; and Hazel Chisholm, housing policy officer in Highland Council’s resettlement team, who is attending virtually.

I am sure that you have all seen the evidence that we received last week from the Ukrainian consul, who said that there has been a very mixed bag of experience. However, what was said resonated with me in relation to the experiences that not only Ukrainian people but many others bring to my surgeries at the moment.

Fundamental gaps seem to exist in signposting for Ukrainians who are here to be resettled. What information is given in the packs? How do we ensure that there is cultural understanding of the role of elected representatives in supporting people when it comes to signposting Ukrainian people in relation to issues with the Department for Work and Pensions and access to health and dental treatment?

I will bring in Mr Sharp and Ms Chisholm in a moment. Are you aware of a one-stop shop web page or a single point where people can go to get a comprehensive list of the information that they might need, or is each local authority doing its own thing?

Does anyone else want to comment on Dr Allan’s question at this stage?

I should say that the witnesses do not need to answer every question. If you have a particular interest in answering, you can indicate to me and I will bring you in. I should have explained that at the top of the meeting.

I will bring in Jenni Minto next. We touched on rural issues there, so she might want to follow up on that.

Alasdair Allan has a supplementary question. I will then bring in Ms Boyack.

Are there any further questions from committee members?

Is that agreed at local authority level?

Thank you very much for your opening statement.

I would like to say that those problems are unfamiliar and new to us, but a lot of the issues that you have raised are, unfortunately, challenges for many people in Scotland at the moment. We will examine some of them in light of the competency of the Scottish Government. Some of the issues that you raise will be in the gift of the UK Parliament to address. The committee will decide on this later, but one possibility is that we write to the UK Government to raise the specific concerns around car reregistration and the issues that relate to the Department for Work and Pensions.

To speak personally, the displaced Ukrainians in my constituency are my constituents, and my door is open—I am sure that that is also true of my MP colleagues and councillors across Scotland. We are there to represent them as our constituents while they are living in Scotland, and there might be things that we can do individually to address some of those issues. I encourage anyone who lives in Motherwell and Wishaw to come to my door.

It seems that there is a gap with regard to the provision of a basic pack of information or a one-stop shop for people to get advice. I am sure that we will want to explore that with the minister.

I return to unemployment, seeking employment and qualifications issues. Those issues were raised with the minister when he visited my constituency several months ago as the very first families came to live in Motherwell and Wishaw. The specific issue is professional qualifications—in particular, teaching qualifications. I am interested to know what routes are being offered to the people whom you have spoken to. Pointing people to a jobcentre is maybe not appropriate for everyone.

In my work as a constituency MSP, I have successfully put people in touch with Skills Development Scotland. Ukrainian people have the same rights that anyone else in Scotland has to receive such support. Are you aware of that? What more would you like to see from professional organisations with regard to accepting the qualifications of the Ukrainians who are here?

We will have the opportunity next week to discuss all the points that you raise today with the local authorities, because the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities will be at the committee. The minister will attend the following week. We will take the points forward.

We will move to questions from other committee members and start with Donald Cameron, who is the deputy convener.