Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you for clarifying that. You will know that that is not a particularly popular idea in the areas of justice and of children and families—I am talking about those two areas and not about adult social work. People want the Government to take them along.

If the Government and Cabinet have decided that that transfer is a good idea but the consultation gets a load of responses that are not in favour of it, how much will that weigh on the final decision about the legislation?

Thanks, convener. I was not expecting to get back in, so I appreciate that.

How will you capture the lived experience that you have spoken about, minister? I think that the Government is doing a fantastic job with the adult social care part of this. I have seen a lot of the work that you are doing, and lived experience is coming through loud and clear in relation to that. We heard a lot about that at the cross-party group meeting that you referred to earlier.

However, do you have any thoughts—we are coming to the end of this session, so you might have to write to us about this—about how to hear about the lived experience of criminal justice service users and their views on whether they like the services just now or whether they would like the workers who support them to be part of a national care service? I know that you spoke about an individual and the 15 folk who are involved in supporting him. Do you have any ideas about how, on a larger scale with justice service users, you might do what you are doing now with adult social care service users?

That is reassuring.

I had not planned to speak on this item, and I will not speak just for the sake of it but, given the gravity of what we are being asked to decide today, it is important to put my views on the record. I agree completely with what my colleagues Rona Mackay, Collette Stevenson and Pauline McNeill have outlined. I just want to put that on the record.

Good evening. My question is about something that you have already referred to—the report that the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights released last week about her visit to the UK. In that report, she notes:

“trans persons in the UK face increasingly hostile and toxic political and public discourse.”

What is your view on that? Can you comment on the impact that the sort of discourse that we have seen in the course of this debate is having on this or any minority community?

No problem. Do you need me to repeat it right from the start?

Okay. Can you comment on the impact of such discourse on the trans community here in Scotland, and indeed any minority community?

Thank you, convener. I know that time is tight.

We have heard from both sides, if you want to call them sides, about the need for empirical evidence. You describe needing that evidence in the context of safeguarding and risk management protocols. What evidence on that is there from other countries? In your answer to Pam Gosal, you spoke about data not being collected in certain areas. What evidence has informed your views and interventions on the issue?

Good evening, Reem, and thank you for coming to give evidence today, especially given your tight schedule.

I think that you will have heard a wee bit of the previous session, in which we heard from Victor Madrigal-Borloz. He stated in his letter to the Scottish Government that he was

“concerned about misrepresentation of the existing consensus within the bodies and entities of the UN Human Rights System”.

What is your take on that consensus? How confident are you that your views are also those of the bodies and entities of the UN human rights system?

Thank you very much for that clarification. Convener, am I okay to ask another question?