Hansard

It cannot be acceptable that, in today’s Scotland, bereaved families should have to fight tooth and nail for justice for their loved ones when the unthinkable has happened. The scales are tipped in favour of the system, the institutions and the faceless public bodies. Further, it is not just that the scales are tipped in their favour, because they hide information, they cover up and they conceal. Regrettably, I have experienced that many times from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in particular. The lack of transparency, openness and honesty is, frankly, appalling, and it cannot be allowed to continue.

It is not right that grieving family members, such as Kimberly Darroch and Louise Slorance, should have to campaign to get to the truth. A duty of candour might exist in principle in Scotland’s NHS, but that is not the experience of those who have tried to get answers when things have gone horribly wrong. It is only because of the dogged determination of those families, often during their darkest hour, that the truth has been revealed. That is simply not right.

The Clostridium difficile outbreak at the Vale of Leven hospital in my constituency left the families of at least 34 victims fighting for an apology for seven long years. Having them fight an uphill battle for justice, when they should have been grieving, was inhumane. Faced with denial, the deliberate withholding of information or whitewashed reports that absolved everyone of any blame for anything, they held out. Their determination delivered a public inquiry, and it delivered change.

For those families, everything was put on pause, simply because they wanted answers that were not forthcoming. When something goes badly wrong in the NHS or in any public institution, the response should be one of listening and learning lessons, not closing ranks and hunkering down. The road to clarity should be easy and direct.

The problem is not exclusive to public health tragedies. The same issues were repeated in relation to the fire at Cameron House at Loch Lomond, which claimed the lives of two young men, Simon Midgley and Richard Dyson. I have been working with Simon’s mum, Jane Midgley. This year marks five years since the fire, and despite the criminal case being concluded, Jane is still waiting for answers. The next stage is a fatal accident inquiry to ensure that lessons are learned from the tragedy—but it drags on. Jane has no legal representation—she cannot get legal aid—so her voice is silenced. Her fight for justice is on-going to this day, and who is on her side?

Victims and their families should not have to pay for legal support while institutions and public bodies spend freely from the public purse. Too often, the bereaved are left with nowhere to turn. There was a fall in legal aid spending from £130 million to £99 million in 2020-21. Years of underfunding has led to a significant decline in the number of people who work in legal aid. The scales tip ever further away from ordinary people. No one should be priced out of seeking justice.

We are calling for Milly’s law in order to put families at the very centre of the process. We need a system that evens up the balance—that is on the side of families, not institutions. We need a system that allows transparency, truth and justice to prevail. We need a system that does not cover up and hide the facts, but allows them to come to the fore so that we can learn from mistakes and so that mistakes are prevented from happening again.

Based on the model that was proposed for the Hillsborough law, Milly’s law would reset that balance between families and powerful public bodies and ensure that bereaved families, collectively, are at the heart of the response to disasters and public scandals.

I think that, if it is agreed to, the SNP amendment will send an unhelpful signal about whose side the party is on. It looks to me like it is on the side of the institutions, and that would be incredibly disappointing. The Hillsborough families had to wait 30 years—30 years—for legislation. I hope that the SNP is not suggesting that Milly’s family, Andrew Slorance’s family, all the families at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital, Jane Midgley’s family, Katie Allan’s family and more besides need to wait any longer.

Members have a choice tonight. Do not just say in the debate that you support the families. Do not just give us warm words about Milly’s law—vote for it. Vote for it at decision time, because it is time to redress the balance and support the motion.