Hansard

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur) LD

The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-20561, in the name of Anas Sarwar, on the role of political decision making in national health service sc...

Anas Sarwar (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab

More than a decade ago, the Queen Elizabeth university hospital opened before it was ready. It opened with contaminated water; that contamination infected pa...

Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD) LD

Anas Sarwar is absolutely right to pay tribute to the hard-working staff at the QEUH. Does he recognise that several staff members have been affected by comp...

Anas Sarwar Lab

I recognise that. I actually want to start by focusing on the staff and recognising the people who are often only described as the whistleblowers. They are, ...

Christine Grahame (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) (SNP) SNP

Will Anas Sarwar take an intervention?

Anas Sarwar Lab

I will not, because if anyone should intervene and answer those direct questions, it should be the health secretary, whose job it is to know the answer to su...

Christine Grahame SNP

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I hesitate to intervene in this way, but I have concerns about the fact that although the inquiry has yet to report, ...

The Deputy Presiding Officer LD

Thank you for your point of order, Ms Grahame. Were I to believe that he was stepping into an area that he should not be stepping into, I would step in. I do...

Anas Sarwar Lab

I have been raising these issues for seven years and, for seven years, I have heard the same nonsense that Christine Grahame has just recounted. I say to Sc...

Anas Sarwar Lab

We must know the truth behind the political decision making. The inquiry is vital and it must run its course, but new information has come to light in the pa...

The Deputy Presiding Officer LD

Speak through the chair.

Anas Sarwar Lab

Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney and Shona Robison have not given testimony at the inquiry and have not been cross-examined. Without that, we will never have th...

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care (Neil Gray) SNP

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the debate. The matters that are before us today go to the heart of public trust and patient safety, and I begi...

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab) Lab

I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for giving way. You were asked a question about validation of every section of the hospital. That is not about the inq...

The Deputy Presiding Officer LD

Please speak through the chair.

Neil Gray SNP

That is a matter for the inquiry. Lord Brodie has instructed independent evidence as to the hospital’s current infrastructure. That evidence was provided by ...

Anas Sarwar Lab

Is it validated—yes or no?

The Deputy Presiding Officer LD

Mr Sarwar, you have had an opportunity to state your case. I would be grateful if you were not making interventions from a sedentary position.

Neil Gray SNP

That is a matter for the inquiry to determine. There are live inquiries under way that must be allowed the respect to conclude their business before we make ...

Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab) Lab

I am grateful, but the cabinet secretary is mistaken. There are questions about what happened, but the question that Ms Baillie put to him is: what is the cu...

Neil Gray SNP

That is a matter for the inquiry. Interruption. I will come to this. It is a matter for Lord Brodie to determine the evidence that he seeks, relevant to the ...

Brian Whittle (South Scotland) (Con) Con

Will the cabinet secretary give way?

Neil Gray SNP

No, I will not. I am sorry, but I have given way for the final time. Lord Brodie has taken independent evidence as to the current situation with the hospit...

The Deputy Presiding Officer LD

I remind members that reacting to what is being said in the chamber is one thing, but I will not accept running commentaries on what is being said. 15:29

Brian Whittle (South Scotland) (Con) Con

I do not want to be speaking in this debate, because it has come about because of failure—a failure that has led to men, women and children dying unnecessari...

Neil Gray SNP

I have no doubt that the hospital is safe. The question that I was asked by Jackie Baillie was on something different, which is subject to the terms of the i...

Jackie Baillie Lab

Would the member take an intervention from me?

Brian Whittle Con

I shall stay seated.

Jackie Baillie Lab

Thank you. What the cabinet secretary described was not my question. I think that he is misinterpreting it. If he had paid attention to what was going on in ...

The Deputy Presiding Officer LD

Again, through the chair. I can give you the time back, Mr Whittle.