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Every contribution to the Official Report — chamber and committee — searchable in one place. Pulled from data.parliament.scot, indexed for full-text search, linked through to every MSP.

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1999–2026
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Showing 60 of 2,095,827 contributions. Latest 30 days: 2,655. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 09 Jun 2026.
Gail Ross SNP Committee
24 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
It has been an absolute privilege to serve on the committee. The subjects and information that we have had before us mean that I have learned about many different things that I had never even considered, and I have been so impressed by the determination and commitment with whi...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
24 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
I want to thank our co-opted member, Jackie Baillie, for her kind words. She has contributed so much on many petitions, even in the short time that I have been here, and her advice and guidance have been really valuable. I also thank her for her contribution today. We need to...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
24 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
There has been a certain element of reassurance from various councils. I note that there are two outstanding responses from councils and I believe that one of those is Highland Council, which is not surprising. I might be being cynical, but the issue will probably come up agai...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
24 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
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 petition can feed into the consultation. As I have said before, and as we all know, the issue is extremely important, a...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
24 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
I do not have much to add, and I bow to the knowledge of the local members. I wish that there was an unlimited pot of money that we could use to upgrade all the roads in Scotland that desperately need it. We should keep the petitions open because, as you said in your opening c...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
24 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
On Neil Findlay’s point, I had not really thought about that possibility previously. We would need to get advice but, if the petition goes from here to another committee, does the latter have any ability to pass it back? As Neil Findlay said, can we keep it on our list even th...
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Committee
24 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
I thank our family of campaigners, some of whom have joined us today, for all their work. I include Alex Neil in that as well. In relation to everything that has been said, I totally agree with the convener’s suggestion about passing the petition on to the Health and Sport Co...
Gail Ross SNP Chamber
24 Mar 2021
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill
It would be remiss of me not to personally thank Emma Harper for all the hard work that she has put into the bill. It is a fitting end to our parliamentary session, and I have been privileged to work with her on it. I thank her on behalf of people such as Joyce Campbell, Sally...
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Chamber
24 Mar 2021
Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill
Will the member take an intervention?
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Chamber
17 Mar 2021
Standing Order Rule Changes (Public Petitions System)
On behalf of the Public Petitions Committee, I welcome the proposed standing orders rule changes. As we know, demand for petitioning the Scottish Parliament continues to grow each year, and that is to be celebrated. The committee has been greatly encouraged by that public enga...
Gail Ross SNP Chamber
17 Mar 2021
Portfolio Question Time · Settled Status Scheme (Deadline)
I know that the minister will agree with me that it is essential that we treat EU citizens with dignity and respect, and that we do all that we can in Scotland to educate people and encourage them to apply in time. However, what can be done to assist those who, through no faul...
7. Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Chamber
17 Mar 2021
Portfolio Question Time · Settled Status Scheme (Deadline)
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to raise awareness ahead of the June 2021 deadline of the European Union settled status scheme. (S5O-05128)
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Chamber
17 Mar 2021
Portfolio Question Time · Independence Referendum (Publication of Draft Bill)
I, too, add my thanks and wish the best of luck to Mike Russell, who has been a great support to me over the past five years and before that. I am sure that I will see him before we both go. The report of the Smith commission included a clear commitment that “nothing in this...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
11 Mar 2021
Section 23 Report
Excellent. Thank you.
Gail Ross SNP Committee
11 Mar 2021
Section 23 Report
That is reassuring. Thank you for that clarification. Just in case I do not get to speak to you again, Professor McQueen, I wish you all the best in your future endeavours, and I thank you for all your work. I direct my final question, which is about the manufacture of PPE i...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
11 Mar 2021
Section 23 Report
No, that is okay. I was struggling a wee bit there as well, convener. Thanks for that. I want to ask about PPE. As a constituency MSP, I was contacted quite often about whether staff had what they saw as the correct PPE and about the amount of PPE that was available to them. ...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
11 Mar 2021
Section 23 Report
That is a good point. Thank you. I will move on to a new topic. Interruption.
Gail Ross SNP Committee
11 Mar 2021
Section 23 Report
I put on record my thanks to all the staff in the NHS who have worked so hard and continue to do so. My line of questioning follows neatly on from what has been said. In the Highlands, we are very proud of NHS Near Me, which started up here. I am from Caithness, and the servi...
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Committee
11 Mar 2021
Public Finances (Implications of Covid-19)
Good morning, panel. I want to follow up on Bill Bowman’s line of questioning. Auditor General, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities is not here to speak for itself this morning, but I wanted to quote a short passage from a recent press release that came to us regardin...
Gail Ross SNP Chamber
11 Mar 2021
Portfolio Question Time · Road Network Improvements (Funding)
I have been contacted by a new group that was set up in Caithness to try to address the current state of the roads there. I have also written to the cabinet secretary directly about the matter. Will he commit to engaging with that group to help us find solutions before the roa...
4. Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Chamber
11 Mar 2021
Portfolio Question Time · Road Network Improvements (Funding)
To ask the Scottish Government what funding is being provided to local authorities for improvements to the road network. (S5O-05109)
Gail Ross SNP Committee
10 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
The timescales that you mentioned have made things much clearer for me, so I am happy to close the petition. As someone mentioned, in closing the petition, we should write to the Minister for Public Health and Sport to bring all the points to her attention. I am sure that she ...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
10 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
This was a difficult position to deal with, as I found myself going along one line of thought and then another. I know what the petitioner is saying about snooker being a non-contact sport. However, I suppose that there are concerns about people touching the balls, the chalk, ...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
10 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
This is an important petition and, as I said when we last discussed it, it is something that my proposed member’s bill for remote rural communities would have covered, had it been able to progress. Therefore, I hope that somebody takes that up in the next parliamentary session...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
10 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
I agree with the course of action suggested and that we should write to the cabinet secretary. I have nothing further to add.
Gail Ross SNP Committee
10 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
I do not think that there is anything else that we can do with the petition. As you have said, convener, the commissioner is not subject to the control of any member of the Parliament. There are procedures in place—for example, a report is submitted annually. The corporate bod...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
10 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
It is positive that there is a mechanism for licensing to be introduced in future, and I hope that that is done. Quite a lot of people got a dog during lockdown; they will be going back to work at some point and will possibly engage the services of a dog walker. Therefore, con...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
10 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
I think that the petitioners make a lot of good points in their response. There certainly seems to be a need for change, as a lot of the organisations have stated. I was surprised to find that the people who are involved in child advocacy do not require a protection of vulner...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
10 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
There has been some progress on this in the Scottish biodiversity strategy and other initiatives. However, I agree with my colleagues. The issues in the petition are gaining more and more public interest. I noticed that they were in one of the Sunday papers last weekend. I cer...
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Committee
10 Mar 2021
Continued Petitions
I want to thank Mary Ramsay for her tenacity and determination with the petition. I agree with Rhoda Grant. I do not think that there is any need for us to close the petition now. I believe that more input is required from NHS Scotland and from the Scottish Government. Now th...
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Committee
04 Mar 2021
Section 22 Report
To follow on from Alex Neil’s questions, I have had conversations with people, constituents and schools—one school in particular—on the north coast that are having difficulties recruiting Gaelic teachers. I am talking not about Gaelic-medium education teachers, but about teach...
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Chamber
04 Mar 2021
International Women’s Day 2021
As we have heard, the subject of international women’s day this year is #ChooseToChallenge, and challenge I will. In fact, I have been quite challenging all my life, as I am sure many people who know me would agree. Presiding Officer, as you know, politics is a gey coorse gam...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
I am glad that you have made that suggestion; I was going to make it. As a committee member, and also as a constituency member, I would like to see consideration being continued, because we are certainly not at the end of the matter. We should include it in the legacy paper, a...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Okay—thank you. You will not be surprised that my final question is about Wick airport and the move to the AFISO way of working. How will that work with the current proposal for public service obligation routes? We have oil, wind farm and other traffic going through Wick airp...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Thank you, cabinet secretary. Obviously, for data protection reasons, we are not going to be pinpointing where people live. I wonder about the difference between having an understanding of a remote, rural or island community and actually having lived experience of it. I think ...
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Good morning, minister, and Gary Cox. The convener talked about the board and you rightly said that it is the board that makes the decision, but concerns have been raised with us that the board does not have any representation from people who live in remote, rural or island co...
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
We thank you for coming along. Your input has been very important. We thank the petitioners as well. Based on our discussion, we will continue the petition and include it in the legacy paper for the successor committee, along with the suggestion to seek an update from the Sco...
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Thank you. Alexander Burnett, would you like to come in?
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Thank you, minister. That is the end of our evidence session. I thank the minister, Professor Evans and Dr Hawkins for their thorough evidence. We must decide what we will do with the petition. As Alexander Burnett has already suggested, it would be very difficult for us to c...
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Does Alexander Burnett want to come back in very briefly?
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Thank you. Minister, there were three points for you there.
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Can you ask both questions together in the interests of time, please?
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Thank you. Maurice Corry has a quick supplementary and then I will bring in Alexander Burnett.
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Thank you. Tom Mason had a question about the minister being willing to engage with the petitioners, but we have heard that she has already done that. Would you like to follow up on that, please?
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Professor Evans, you touched on this in one of your previous answers. Would you like to say anything on this question?
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Minister, the petitioners state that chronic Lyme patients who pay for private treatment often recover, but the treatments are not available on the NHS. Why is that the case?
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
Thank you, minister. That is positive news. I will start off by asking about Dr Cruikshank’s submission. She states: “10-20% of Lyme disease infections result in persistent symptoms”. She also states: “Clinicians frequently report a limited understanding of the disease whi...
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Continued Petitions
The second item on our agenda is consideration of continued petitions. The first continued petition, PE1662, which was lodged by Janey Cringean and Lorraine Murray on behalf of Tick-borne Illness Campaign Scotland, calls on the Scottish Parliament to “urge the Scottish Govern...
The Deputy Convener (Gail Ross) SNP Committee
24 Feb 2021
Decision on Taking Business in Private
Good morning. I welcome everyone to the fifth meeting in 2021 of the Public Petitions Committee. The meeting is being held virtually. The convener is unable to attend the first part of the meeting; she will join us when she is able to. The first item on our agenda is a decisi...
Gail Ross SNP Chamber
24 Feb 2021
Portfolio Question Time · Developing the Young Workforce (Impact of Covid-19)
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I will do that. I thank the minister for that answer—I think. Can he tell me whether any of the ways of working that we have become accustomed to throughout the past year will be used for the developing the young workforce programme as we move fo...
4. Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Chamber
24 Feb 2021
Portfolio Question Time · Developing the Young Workforce (Impact of Covid-19)
To ask the Scottish Government what impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the developing the young workforce programme. (S5O-05052)
Gail Ross SNP Committee
18 Feb 2021
Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)
That is welcome, but there are a lot of ring fenced funds within local authorities and I am sure that it would be possible if we wanted it to be. Thank you, convener.
Gail Ross SNP Committee
18 Feb 2021
Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)
Providing extra money to local authorities to employ more dog wardens would certainly help with the issue. Instead of doing a pilot project with one or two local authorities, maybe the Government should just provide that funding to all local authorities now so that we do not h...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
18 Feb 2021
Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 (Post-legislative Scrutiny)
Minister, you said in the evidence session in August that you and COSLA agree that dog wardens need to be in place in order for enforcement to be effective, but the recent data that has been provided to the committee does not suggest that there has been a notable increase in d...
Gail Ross SNP Committee
18 Feb 2021
Section 22 Report
Thank you. I am happy with that, convener.
Gail Ross SNP Committee
18 Feb 2021
Section 22 Report
Grant Archibald, what is your opinion of the skills and diversity of the board? Is it holding you to account?
Gail Ross SNP Committee
18 Feb 2021
Section 22 Report
It covers the skills part. What is the gender balance, or what will it be when you have recruited your new members?
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Committee
18 Feb 2021
Section 22 Report
When the committee reported on the 2016-17 and 2017-18 audits of NHS Tayside, it indicated that it was essential that new board members had the requisite skills and diversity to suitably equip them to challenge and scrutinise the senior management team. Do you feel that your b...
Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) SNP Chamber
18 Feb 2021
Highlands and Islands Medical Service
The debate has certainly been—unintentionally—entertaining, so far. As others have done, I thank my colleague David Stewart for bringing the motion for debate. At a time when the value of our NHS is so dearly felt, it is appropriate that we reflect on the pioneering work that...
Gail Ross SNP Chamber
18 Feb 2021
Portfolio Question Time · Brexit (Impact on European Union Workers)
I thank the minister for that answer, deeply worrying as it is. I am getting reports locally of falling numbers of people working in hotels and other tourism businesses. If we are going to ask people to holiday in Scotland again this summer, what can be done to ensure that our...
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Committee

Public Petitions Committee 24 March 2021

24 Mar 2021 · S5 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
Continued Petitions
Care Homes (Designated Visitors) (PE1841)
Ross, Gail SNP Caithness, Sutherland and Ross Watch on SPTV
It has been an absolute privilege to serve on the committee. The subjects and information that we have had before us mean that I have learned about many different things that I had never even considered, and I have been so impressed by the determination and commitment with which some petitioners raised their issues. I thank each and every one of them. You are absolutely right that, without them, there is no petitions committee. I have always said this behind the scenes and I will now say it in public: we are the best committee in the Parliament. I thoroughly believe that. We have worked so well together. Thank you, convener, for including me in a lot of the background work. I hope that I have been the support that you have needed. On a closing note, I thank all the clerks, broadcasting and everyone else who has made this relatively straightforward—in my eyes, it has been that. Perhaps in the background it has not been so straightforward, but you have made it work very well and we are very grateful. I will miss you all; do not be strangers and good luck for the future. Thank you.

In the same item of business

The Convener Lab
The final continued petition on our agenda is PE1841, which was lodged by Natasha Hamilton on behalf of the Care Home Relatives Scotland group. The petition ...
Jackie Baillie Lab
Thank you, convener, for giving me a second opportunity to speak this morning—I promise that I will not go on too long and test your patience. Having faile...
Gail Ross SNP
I want to thank our co-opted member, Jackie Baillie, for her kind words. She has contributed so much on many petitions, even in the short time that I have be...
Maurice Corry Con
I thank Jackie Baillie for her input—there are always some wise words spoken. It is a very difficult question. I agree with my colleague Gail Ross that we ar...
The Convener Lab
Will the COVID-19 Committee continue to meet?
Maurice Corry Con
Until 5 May, we will meet only in emergency. The committee is still there, but it is slimmed down. It will meet only if emergency regulations and Scottish st...
The Convener Lab
It may be that, if we were agreeing to write to the cabinet secretary, we could write to the COVID-19 Committee and say that this is an urgent issue that the...
David Torrance SNP
As do my colleagues, I think that the issue is very difficult; however, I do not think that the committee can take the petition any further because by the ti...
Tom Mason Con
On balance, I think that we will have to close the petition. The situation is changing month by month as we go forward, and any legislation on the matter wou...
Maurice Corry Con
Further to the point about the COVID-19 Committee, it is very important that you write to the convener, Donald Cameron, on the point that we discussed. That ...
The Convener Lab
Thank you. People have wrestled with this petition. I go back to my earlier point about the frustration that the petitioners expressed. Everybody agreed that...
Maurice Corry Con
I will be very quick. You talk about the cabinet secretary and that is fine, but in the case of the COVID-19 Committee it would also be worth writing to Mich...
The Convener Lab
We can certainly copy him in to the correspondence. That would make sense.
Maurice Corry Con
Yes, exactly, if you would not mind.
Jackie Baillie Lab
Although I am disappointed by the committee’s conclusions on closing the petition, I understand and support the actions that you will take in writing to the ...
The Convener Lab
Thank you. We hope that, because the issue has been aired and commented on in the committee, it has been heard publicly. If there were a request for it, the ...
Tom Mason Con
As you said, convener, I am leaving the committee in a very short time. The success of the committee—it has, undoubtedly, been a success—has been thanks in n...
The Convener Lab
Thank you very much. I have never been accused of being balanced in the past, so that is a great compliment.
Maurice Corry Con
Thank you, convener, for all your work. I reiterate what my colleague Tom Mason said. The two periods that I have been on the committee have been thoroughly ...
The Convener Lab
Thank you very much. I will call David Torrance and then I will give the deputy convener the last word before we move into private session. That is much more...
David Torrance SNP
Thank you very much, convener. It has been a privilege to be on the committee once again in this parliamentary session. The committee has worked really well,...
The Convener Lab
Thank you very much, David. I appreciate your very kind words. We go finally to Gail, our deputy convener.
Gail Ross SNP
It has been an absolute privilege to serve on the committee. The subjects and information that we have had before us mean that I have learned about many diff...
The Convener Lab
Thank you very much, Gail. We look forward to seeing what the new Public Petitions Committee does. If it is as focused on what the petitioners are trying to ...