Carol Mochan: I add my thanks to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee for its report. I also thank the committee for bringing the debate to the chamber to give the subject the prominence that it deserves and provide an opportunity for all members to debate this important issue. It was important that the committee decided to focus the inquiry on participation at not only elite level but community...
Carol Mochan: I thank my friend Martin Whitfield for the motion and for securing the time in the chamber. As he stated, it is great that in March 2021, there was the passing of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill in the Scottish Parliament. That was definitely a significant moment in the Parliament’s history, and we need to move on it. The Promise came...
Carol Mochan: I commend my colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy on her efforts to bring her bill to such an important stage. As my other colleagues did, I encourage the Government to seriously reconsider its position. The debate is about support for the general principles of the bill, and across the chamber, we can see agreement on those principles. Pam Duncan-Glancy has made every effort, and will continue to make...
Carol Mochan: Like other members, I was not on the committee, but I have researched the bill, and I have been in the Parliament for two years now, and I do not think that any legislation would be easily implemented. The bill could place duties in legislation to support and enhance the transitions of children and young people, and, given the willingness of Pam Duncan-Glancy to work with people at stage 1,...
Carol Mochan: The member’s intervention leads me to my next point, which is why—when an ideal opportunity, which would give people a bit of clarity that they desperately seek on legislative changes, has been put on the table—is the Government so reluctant to at least move to stage 2? If I am honest, that is a recurring theme in the Parliament. I have said before that the Government is no stranger to...
Carol Mochan: I have said that stage 1 provides us with an opportunity, and Pam Duncan-Glancy has said that there would be ways in which we could get the legislation to work. Deep down, young people, parents and families have asked us to stop delaying, and we need to try and move things on for people. I wanted to make so many points, but the main one is that young disabled people do not have the right to a...
Carol Mochan: Will the cabinet secretary confirm that all capital spending plans for the financing of the Scottish Government’s programme of national treatment centres will be delivered by the end of the parliamentary session, as committed to in its NHS recovery plan?
Carol Mochan: 2. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that stagnating workforce numbers, amongst other factors, are contributing to increased pressure on midwifery services. (S6T-01639)
Carol Mochan: An article in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper highlighted key extracts from the recently published Royal College of Nursing Scotland’s “State of Maternity Service 2023” report. It states: “we do not see these ever-larger surges in midwives coming out of the universities making a difference to overall numbers.” The report goes on to state: “The big risk is that rather than...
Carol Mochan: I have met midwives from my region and from across the country. Their stories are consistent. They love the job and are passionate about the services, but they know that they are overworked. In my local health board, midwives are currently handling caseloads that are almost 30 per cent bigger than set out in the “Best Start” plan. The reality is that the Scottish Government has not...
Carol Mochan: I am glad that we have this opportunity to properly debate and vote on one of the most critical issues facing the world today—an issue that, for millions of people, is a daily horror that is lived out over and over again. As others have said, it is right that we, as elected members of the Scottish Parliament, add our voices to the overwhelming majority of aid agencies, human rights...
Carol Mochan: I thank the minister for her intervention. Scottish Labour has been very clear that we support an immediate ceasefire. This is one of the darkest and most devastating events in recent history. Children are dying in Gaza—one child every 10 minutes. Mothers are giving birth with no pain relief and families are being torn apart, yet those who might have some influence and some power to...
Carol Mochan: I thank my party colleague Paul O’Kane for bringing this very much overlooked issue to the chamber. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to view the dying in the margins exhibition at the Mitchell library in Glasgow earlier this year. Like others, I found it incredibly moving. Although it is, in many ways, a heartbreaking experience, it is necessary for us to be confronted by those...
Carol Mochan: It is estimated that 50,000 pregnant women are trapped in Gaza, with around 5,000 due to give birth during the next month, and without clean water, medicine and humanitarian aid those women and their babies will be at risk, which is devastating. What discussions have been had with relevant aid organisations regarding the specific challenges that pregnant women face, and in future discussions...
Carol Mochan: I have been advised that reduced access to community health facilities and the increased pressure on and workload for community midwifery teams have led, in relation to in-person appointments in Ayrshire and Arran, to a situation in which “many women do not ‘meet’ their named midwife until 22 weeks of pregnancy”. That wait is far too long and is of significant concern. Will the...
Carol Mochan: It is right that consensus has been found in the chamber today, in so far as it has been recognised that the cashback for communities programme has been beneficial to our communities and that it must be continued in years to come to allow that impact to be felt and seen in our communities. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which was delivered by a Labour Government, paved the way for the...
Carol Mochan: To conclude, I support this reinvestment in our communities.
Carol Mochan: Why is there little detail in the minister’s statement on how we can retain existing staff? Staff turnover is as great a problem as lack of recruitment. Last week, the Royal College of Psychiatrists produced a report that states that 42 per cent of existing consultants are over 50 and that half of them are considering early retirement. Can the minister give details on what strategy is in...
Carol Mochan: Aberlour has called for the cancellation of school meals debt. Through its research, it has identified that “income thresholds for free school meal eligibility have barely risen in the last twenty years.” Delays to the extension of free school meals mean that some parents and families are now feeling the impact of the Government’s inaction. Will the First Minister back calls for the...
Carol Mochan: The dream of a nuclear-free world is one that sustains those who have been committed to peace and justice for decades, yet we still seem very far away from that ideal. To Mr Kerr, I say that reality will change only if we change it, and we must play our part in doing so. Our job is to build peace, not war. I am happy to make any small contribution that I can as part of that effort, and I am...
