Committee
Public Petitions Committee 24 March 2021
24 Mar 2021 · S5 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
Continued Petitions
Prescribed Drug Dependence and Withdrawal (PE1651)
The next continued petition is PE1651, which was lodged by Marion Brown on behalf of Recovery and Renewal. The petition calls on the Scottish Government to take action to appropriately recognise and effectively support individuals who are affected and harmed by prescribed drug dependence and withdrawal. Since the committee’s most recent consideration of the petition, submissions have been received from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Beverley Thorpe Thomson, Ann Kelly, Barry Haslam and Dr Peter Gordon. Three submissions have also been received from the petitioner. The cabinet secretary advises that a short-life working group on prescription medicine dependence and withdrawal was established to take forward consideration of the petition and to make recommendations, and that draft recommendations were approved by her in December 2020. The Scottish Government intends to publish those draft recommendations as a consultation this month. Further correspondence that the committee has received from the Scottish Government this week confirms that the consultation is now open and that responses will be collected until 4 June. The cabinet secretary advises that she is keen to hear views from a wide range of interested members of the public and officials, and that two virtual sessions will be run during the period for which the consultation is open. I welcome Jackie Baillie, who is attending the meeting for our consideration of the petition. I invite her to comment, after which I will ask committee members to reflect on what I consider to be significant progress by the Scottish Government on the issue.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Lab
The next continued petition is PE1651, which was lodged by Marion Brown on behalf of Recovery and Renewal. The petition calls on the Scottish Government to t...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the convener and the committee for allowing me to speak. As someone who has previously attended meetings of the committee, I was definitely not going...
The Convener
Lab
I thank Jackie Baillie for her kind words. It is always useful to start nicely if you are going to make a case for a petition to be continued. I will be inte...
David Torrance
SNP
I thank the petitioner Marion Brown for bringing the petition to the committee. Progress has been made on it—not everything that the petitioner wants, but th...
Tom Mason
Con
It is a difficult one, but on balance I go with your thoughts, convener. We have achieved quite a bit with the petition. A consultation is going on and the p...
Gail Ross
SNP
I concur with what has been said. The right thing to do is to let the consultation run its course. The petitioners and anyone else who has been following the...
Maurice Corry
Con
I, too, know Marion Brown from my work as a regional MSP—I have had several meetings with her. I understand Jackie Baillie’s point of view, and I know that s...
The Convener
Lab
I am not sure whether Jackie Baillie wants to come back in, but there is a clear consensus on action. Is there anything that you want to flag up to us, Jackie?
Jackie Baillie
Lab
Yes, convener. I know when not to flog a dead horse, but let me make a couple of observations that the committee might want to raise with the Scottish Govern...
The Convener
Lab
We recognise your comment about how long it has taken to get to this point. Clearly, for people who are in the middle of the system and who feel that folk ar...