Meeting of the Parliament 09 October 2025
As convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, I welcome the opportunity to speak in this stage 1 debate on the Right to Addiction Recovery (Scotland) Bill. As the Parliament will be aware, the committee published its stage 1 report on the bill on 23 September. The report is the culmination of an extensive and far-reaching programme of scrutiny, and I draw members’ attention to the evidence and the recommendations that it sets out.
Before I speak to the substance of the report, I thank those individuals, organisations and wider stakeholders who engaged with the committee during its scrutiny and, in particular, those who had the courage to share their lived experience of accessing support services for harm from drug and alcohol use. The committee’s informal engagement and call for evidence, the latter of which received 129 responses, were critical in providing an evidence base for the report and they gave committee members a tremendous insight into not just the potential impact of the provisions in the bill, but the wider issues that are involved in tackling alcohol and drug harms across Scotland.
The extent of the committee’s consultation and its lengthy programme of oral evidence reflect how seriously it took its role in scrutinising the bill. As is highlighted in the concluding recommendations on the general principles of the bill, the report acknowledges the overwhelming amount of evidence that we heard of a high level of dissatisfaction with the current availability of, and access to, drug and alcohol support services across the country. I assure the Parliament and all those who engaged with the committee that our members are acutely aware that more needs to be done in that area.
Scotland has long-standing and serious issues associated with drug and alcohol harms. Although I commend the good work that is being done at every level to tackle those issues, it remains the case that every single drug death is a tragedy. It is our duty as representatives to ensure that we explore all avenues that we can to improve the current public health situation in Scotland and, ultimately, save lives.
That said, it is also incumbent on the lead committee in any scrutiny process to be forensic in its analysis of the provisions in the bill that is before it. I believe that I speak for all members of the committee when I say that I commend any policy that is intended to improve public health outcomes for the people of Scotland, but it would be remiss of any committee not to consider whether, in practice, the bill that it is scrutinising is capable of delivering its intended aims. Having considered all the evidence, and noting the member in charge of the bill’s recognition of the need for the bill to be substantially amended were it to progress to stage 2, a majority of the committee members concluded that they are unable to recommend that the general principles of the bill be agreed to. That decision was not taken lightly, but it reflects the many concerns that the committee heard about the bill’s focus and scope during its stage 1 scrutiny.
The report identifies various provisions in the bill that the committee concluded would require significant amendment in order to be workable. I will highlight to the Parliament some of the key practical challenges that are associated with implementation of the bill as drafted. They include the requirement for individuals to have received a diagnosis of addiction to be able to exercise the right to recovery that would be established by the bill, the requirement for individuals to attend in-person appointments, and the proposed maximum timescales for accessing treatment.
Many contributors to our scrutiny of the bill raised concerns about the bill’s lack of recognition of the role of the wider multidisciplinary team and the importance of trauma-informed approaches and a whole-family approach, as well as some of the language and terminology used in the bill. The evidence that was submitted to the committee—