Committee
Health and Sport Committee 31 January 2017
31 Jan 2017 · S5 · Health and Sport Committee
Item of business
Transplantation (Authorisation of Removal of Organs etc) (Scotland) Bill
I launched my proposal on 19 December, along with the statement of reasons. I knew that the Government was carrying out a consultation. I hope and believe that the Government will develop legislation on opt-out; it will have my full support in that. I hope that the Government does not decide, after conducting its consultation, not to proceed with legislation. I am going through this process so that if the Government decides that it is not right to develop such legislation, I will be in a position to pick up the ball and move forward with my proposal. In the previous session, I introduced the British Sign Language (Scotland) Bill in my first year after being elected. It took four years from its being introduced to its being passed and becoming legislation. If the Government were to decide not to progress with opt-out legislation, and I were to start afresh with a member’s bill more than a year into the parliamentary session, there might be difficulty in respect of time and its being passed in this session. That is why I decided to run my proposal in tandem. If, when the Government’s consultation concludes, it decides to bring forward its own legislation, that will be fantastic and it will have my full support. I will give the Government the time to come to its own conclusion. However, if it decides not to proceed with legislation, I will, because I have run the process for my proposal in tandem, be ready to take it forward.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Lab
The second item on the agenda is an evidence session on the proposed transplantation (authorisation of removal of organs etc) (Scotland) bill. We will hear f...
Mark Griffin (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Good morning, everyone, and thank you very much for having me along to the committee. You have in front of you my proposal for a members’ bill on a soft opt-...
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
Thank you very much indeed for your presentation. None of us can fail to have been moved by your personal reasons for proposing the bill. You rightly point o...
Mark Griffin
Lab
Anne McTaggart’s consultation had almost 600 responses, and the committee’s consultation had almost 900 individual responses to its survey. Responses came ba...
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
Exactly.
Mark Griffin
Lab
I think that another consultation would be counter-productive.
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
I am certainly of one mind with you on that. You rightly point out—in particular, in respect of the moving case of your father—how important time is in this ...
Colin Smyth
Lab
Good morning. You mentioned three consultations—two that have already been conducted and one that is being done by the Government. Are there any organisation...
Mark Griffin
Lab
No. There have been three extensive consultations. By virtue of this being a member’s bill, if I carry out a consultation it would be with just the resources...
Richard Lyle
SNP
I know your personal reasons behind all this; I was a good friend of your dad’s, as you know, and went through the pain that your family went through at the ...
Mark Griffin
Lab
I launched my proposal on 19 December, along with the statement of reasons. I knew that the Government was carrying out a consultation. I hope and believe t...
Richard Lyle
SNP
I say with the greatest respect to members of the committee now, that I was on the Health and Sport Committee last session, and we basically went through thi...
Mark Griffin
Lab
In the previous session, the Government made a commitment to go out to consultation, which is what it has done. I am not aware that it made a commitment to l...
Richard Lyle
SNP
Thank you, and sorry for putting you through that.
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
On that point, irrespective of whether the Government made a commitment to consult or to legislate, I fully endorse Mark Griffin’s position that his proposed...
Clare Haughey
SNP
Thank you for coming along today, Mark, and thank you for explaining why you are doing this now, which was going to be one of my questions. You say that ther...
Mark Griffin
Lab
Anne McTaggart carried out a consultation, and the previous Health and Sport Committee carried out its own consultation.
Clare Haughey
SNP
From what I understand, the Health and Sport Committee carried out a self-selecting online survey of about 900 people. From the information that I have, that...
Mark Griffin
Lab
Yes.
Clare Haughey
SNP
They included 529 individuals and 30 organisations. From my reading of the consultation, the organisations, which included church organisations, professional...
Mark Griffin
Lab
My proposal is the same as Anne McTaggart’s, so I would be going out to consultation on the same proposal to the same people and would, in all likelihood, ge...
Clare Haughey
SNP
I cannot quite follow the logic in asking the same questions as resulted in a flawed bill. Would you consider exploring other areas? Since 2015, there have b...
Mark Griffin
Lab
I have made a one-line proposal. Its being the same as Anne McTaggart’s proposal does not mean that the bill that would be introduced would be the same as he...
Clare Haughey
SNP
Okay. I apologise. I thought that you said that the information would be the same. We need to ensure that a bill on the matter that is placed before Parliame...
Alison Johnstone
Green
For clarification, if the committee voted against your proposal not to consult, we would ask you to carry out a further consultation. There seems to be some ...
Mark Griffin
Lab
That is correct. Technically, if the committee does not agree with me, I would have two months to go out to consultation and go through the normal member’s b...
Alison Johnstone
Green
There would probably be some repetition and duplication in that, and it is clear that progress would be delayed. I am concerned that the Minister for Public ...
Mark Griffin
Lab
Yes. There is certainly no guarantee with the Government consultation. However, I guarantee that I will introduce a bill at some point if the Government does...
Tom Arthur (Renfrewshire South) (SNP)
SNP
Thank you very much for coming to the meeting. I think that we all sympathise with you and commend your aims in bringing forward your proposal. For the recor...
Mark Griffin
Lab
Yes—I guarantee that 100 per cent. The Government consultation is due to end in March. I expect that it will be a month or two after that when it publishes r...