7. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will fully implement the recommendations of the Cumberlege review regarding children damaged by sodium valproate and, if so, what the timescale will be. (S5O-04531)

Before I answer Joan McAlpine’s question, I should say that I will provide Murdo Fraser with a written answer to his question. If he has more questions for me, I would be happy to respond to them offline, as it were.

On Joan McAlpine’s question, I have welcomed Baroness Cumberlege’s report, “First Do No Harm: The report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review”. I know that a number of patients in Scotland provided evidence to the review. Although the review related primarily to NHS England and processes in England more generally, there are lessons and implications for us in Scotland. We are carefully considering all the recommendations in the report, and we will shortly respond to all of them.

Our sodium valproate advisory group, which is chaired by our chief pharmaceutical officer, met earlier this month to discuss the review and the next steps to be applied at Scotland level. This week, our officials met with representatives of patient groups to listen to their concerns, in order to inform our future action and response. As we finalise the detail of that response, we will certainly ensure that all members—not only Joan McAlpine—are aware of how we intend to take forward the recommendations, and of the timescale in which we will do so.

My constituents Charlie and Lesley Bethune contacted me for help, because their adopted daughter Autumn, who is aged seven, has foetal valproate syndrome that was caused by her birth mother having taken the drug to control seizures during pregnancy. Mr and Mrs Bethune are members of the newly formed “First do no harm valproate Scotland” campaign group. The Cabinet secretary did not mention in her answer that she had met any patients’ groups. Will parents’ group be represented in any task force that is formed to take forward the Cumberlege report recommendations? The group could then help to shape a package of care and support for children such as Autumn, who have very considerable needs.

I am grateful to Joan McAlpine for her additional question. Whether or not there is a task force as such will be primarily for the United Kingdom Government to decide, as part of its response to the Cumberlege report.

As part of the Scottish Government response, we have, as I said, already been speaking to people to ensure that we hear patients’ voices. The sodium valproate advisory group will ensure that it reaches out so that it can hear about patients’ experiences and engage them in helping to form our recommendations. We will seek to do that across all areas of the Cumberlege report, as we respond to it.

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

I offer my apologies to Murdo Fraser and Mark Ruskell, and to other colleagues who wished to ask supplementary questions. We really are out of time. That concludes portfolio questions on health and sport.

Meeting closed at 15:29.