Hansard

Thank you very much for those kind words, Presiding Officer.

Of the seven bills that the Health and Sport Committee dealt with during this session of the Parliament, six have been before us during the past five or six months. This final stage 3 debate brings to a close a particularly busy session that has been quite onerous for committee members, clerks and support staff—no doubt that is the case for ministers and their staff, too. The committee clerks have done a tremendous job and have managed to retain their sense of humour even over the most nitpicking changes to their carefully written draft reports. I greatly admire their tenacity.

The bill is a welcome piece of legislation and is much needed, given that the law around burial is well over a century old and no longer fit for purpose in the modern world. The proposed legislation on cremation should prevent the traumas that were experienced by the many still-grieving parents who have no idea what happened to the ashes of their infants and still-born babies following cremation.

It was the discovery in 2012 that cremation authorities in Scotland had different practices for the recovery of ashes from the cremation of babies, and the severe distress that that caused to bereaved parents, that led to Dame Elish Angiolini’s report on practice at Mortonhall crematorium and the establishment of the infant cremation commission, which Lord Bonomy chaired. The commission examined the policies, practices and legislation relating to the cremation of babies in Scotland, and its recommendations in 2014 led to the publication of a voluntary code of practice on baby and infant cremations, which the bill will make binding on relevant authorities in the funeral industry.

There were significant concerns around the drafting of the bill as introduced. A particular concern was the large amount of detail that was left to regulation rather than being set out in the bill. A deal of work will be required during the next parliamentary session, but significant amendment of the bill at stages 2 and 3 has resulted in a better and stronger piece of legislation.

At the last meeting of the Parliament’s cross-party group on funerals and bereavement, which I have co-convened for a number of years, there was general consensus that the bill as amended at stage 2 was acceptable and indeed welcome, and the group made no suggestions for further amendment ahead of today’s stage 3 proceedings. There was agreement that electronic records are needed in this day and age, although there was less willingness to accept the need to license funeral directors, most of whom already follow the code of practice of the National Association of Funeral Directors. Very few funeral directors give the industry a bad name. I am sure that the group will also welcome the agreement to provide guidance on funeral costs.

It appears that the bill has widespread support, from the bereaved and from people who are responsible for dealing with the burial or cremation of loved ones. There is a great deal of sensitivity surrounding the issues that the bill deals with, and the Parliament’s committees and staff have done their very best to ensure that the bill’s passage has been handled in a mature and sensitive manner.

As I said, the Health and Sport Committee scrutinised several bills during this session, as well as doing a number of other important pieces of work. However, we have had no time at all to look at previous legislation. That lack of post-legislative scrutiny in a unicameral Parliament will have to be considered in future, as critical appraisal of work in a Parliament such as ours is very important, particularly when there is a majority Government.

As I come to the end of my speaking time in the Parliament, I acknowledge with gratitude the help and support of many people who spare no effort in looking after us in this building. That includes all the Parliament support staff—those in security, the postal service, the canteen and Queensberry lounge, the Scottish Parliament information centre, the official report and many others whom I have no time to mention. I also acknowledge the excellent work by the Deputy Presiding Officer, his colleagues, the committee clerks and my party’s hard-working researchers in our press and research unit. In particular, I must mention my own team of Miles Briggs, Dom Heslop and Lindsey Walls, whom most members know. They have been rocks of support and help to me over the years and are now more like family than employees.

I have enjoyed my contact and friendship with fellow MSPs in my party and across the chamber, and I have particularly enjoyed sharing the health brief with Jackson Carlaw, whose astute and witty comments have often enlivened a long Thursday afternoon of debate.