Hansard

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 are not listening to them or recognising the scale of the problems that they face, that is even more of a concern. I suggest that, in closing the petition, we write to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport to say that we recognise the force of the arguments that have been made, that we are encouraging the petitioners and others to engage fully with the consultation, that the issue is a matter of urgency for them and others, and that we certainly hope that the issue will be a focus of work in the future. Clearly, we do not know who the cabinet secretary will be after the election, as that is up in the air—it could be Jackie Baillie. Nevertheless, it would be useful to underline that the committee is not simply saying, “Okay, you have done that work, move on.” It is a work in progress, and the committee’s role is in relation to where that progress appears to be stalled and another petition coming in would be helpful in pushing it on again. 10:30 We are agreeing to close the petition and we recognise that the short-life working group is consulting on its recommendations. We urge the petitioners to engage with that process and we recognise the scepticism about how that will be taken forward. In closing the petition we agree to write to the cabinet secretary to emphasise the concerns that people have highlighted. We thank the petitioners for engaging thus far with the committee and recognising that it may be an issue that we want to come back to at a later stage. Their engagement with the consultation on recommendations is critical and their observations of the effectiveness of that consultation will be important. We thank the petitioners for all that they have done and continue to do to highlight these issues. I also thank Jackie Baillie, who I think will be here for another petition, so I will not say too many fond farewells yet.