Meeting of the Parliament 22 March 2016
I am delighted to speak in this important debate on the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Bill, particularly as I am a member of the Health and Sport Committee. I wish Nanette Milne well. It has been an absolute pleasure to have worked with her on the committee. She is actually younger than Nanette Newman—some eight years younger—so I say to Nanette Milne, “Don’t say you’re an oldie—you’re not.”
I take the opportunity to wish my other retiring colleagues on the committee—past and present—all the best in their retirement. It has been a pleasure to work with them over the years of the parliamentary session.
The committee has dealt with a number of bills over the years. The evidence that was taken on this bill was the most heart-rending.
I will focus my remarks on this important bill that is before Parliament today, which will modernise the legislative framework for burials and cremations. Our existing legislation on burials and cremations dates back more than 100 years, and we see each day that it is becoming increasingly unfit for purpose in modern Scotland.
I do not wish to deliver a history lesson to Parliament—Mr Stevenson does that quite ably—but it is important to note that the law on burials was set out in the Burial Grounds (Scotland) Act 1855 and has not been substantially revised since the 19th century. Our laws on cremation were set out in the Cremation Act 1902 and amended and regulated through other pieces of legislation. In short, the picture that I want to paint for the Parliament is that our existing legislation is fragmented, dated and increasingly unable to meet the needs of Scottish society. It is therefore right that we refresh and modernise the existing provisions that are relevant to today’s society and combine those with new provisions, which will create legislation that is fit for our modern, 21st century Scotland.
I do not have a lot of time to speak, so I will reflect on two strands of the bill. First, I will look at the bill’s ability to deliver on many of the recommendations in the infant cremation commission’s report. In April 2013, the Scottish ministers established the commission in response to historical practices at some crematoriums in relation to the cremation of babies and to address serious public concern about that.
The majority of the commission’s recommendations focused on providing a more consistent and robust process for applying for the cremation of pregnancy losses and of babies. The recommendations were made to remove ambiguity about the extent to which the legal process for cremation applies to pregnancy losses. The commission also recommended that the application process should be strengthened so that applicants are given as much opportunity as possible to consider the implications of various methods of disposal before making a final decision. As the minister, Maureen Watt, outlined, the bill has a number of provisions that address the issues that Lord Bonomy identified and it will ensure that we never make the mistakes that were made in the past.
In the time that I have remaining, I would like to look at burials. One of the resounding areas of the bill is that it will support burial authorities in the management of their burial grounds. As we know, all burial authorities already manage and maintain burial grounds, but there is no single source of guidance on that, which causes uncertainty over what actions can be taken in certain circumstances. In particular, there is a lack of clarity on what actions can be taken to make headstones and memorials safe. It was found from the Scottish Government’s consultations with burial authorities that regulations would be beneficial. Therefore, the bill serves to clarify the situation and places a duty on burial authorities to ensure the safety of burial grounds.
I am proud to see another piece of legislation before the Parliament that seeks to deliver for our modern, 21st century Scotland.
12:08