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Our next item of business is the consideration of a paper on the recommendations of the recent people鈥檚 panel on drug harm and deaths. I refer members to paper 2.
As members will be aware, a people鈥檚 panel is a form of public engagement that brings together a randomly selected and broadly representative sample of the population to consider and discuss an issue and make recommendations. The Scottish Parliament held a people鈥檚 panel on tackling drug deaths and harm over two weekends in October and November 2024. Two additional online sessions were held in November 2024. A summary of the panel process and its outcomes is set out in paper 2.
I invite members to comment on the report that the people鈥檚 panel has produced. On behalf of members of the committee, I extend my thanks to all the participants who took part in the people鈥檚 panel, as well as the parliamentary staff who organised it. I know that it involved a great deal of planning and logistics work. Having attended a couple of the panel鈥檚 sessions, I know that those were great opportunities for the public to come together on an issue that we are well aware of.
Is the committee content to note that the recommendation for an inquiry into drug use in prisons is now being taken forward by us鈥攖he Criminal Justice Committee鈥攁nd that we invite the Parliament鈥檚 participation and communities team to let the panel participants know that the recommendation is now being implemented?
Members indicated agreement.
I appreciate that the recommendation applies to our committee, as you have just set out, and I am glad that we will undertake the inquiry. The people鈥檚 panel as a whole has done a good piece of work that is relevant to my constituency and many others across the country. All the recommendations are of interest and value. As a committee, how will we be kept informed about progress on the other recommendations, given that they are all relevant, either directly or indirectly, to the work of the committee?
Thank you for the question. The cross-committee group on drug deaths and drug harm, which you are obviously aware of, has had oversight of the journey of the people鈥檚 panel, to a certain extent, and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, who currently covers the drug policy brief, has already attended meetings of the cross-committee group and we have taken evidence from him. Likewise, we have invited a group of panel members to contribute their reflections on the panel process to the cross-committee group.
It is certainly the intention of the cross-committee group to continue tracking progress on the recommendations. As you will know from paper 2, the Government has accepted鈥攅ither in principle or fully鈥攎ore or less all the recommendations, with the exception of the recommendation that was made about the point that we are discussing today. Rest assured that there will be continued monitoring on the back of the published report.
It is great to have clarity on that.
The Scottish Government鈥檚 response to the report said:
鈥渢he majority of the recommendations are already being undertaken within our ... National Mission and cross-government programmes of work.鈥
It says that those recommendations that are not already being progressed will be incorporated into considerations for the Scottish Government鈥檚 post-national mission planning.
I wonder what those latter recommendations are and whether there is a list of the action points that are being taken for every recommendation. Some of them are part of the national mission, some are part of cross-Government programmes of work and some are still to be considered. It would be easier for us to see what actions have been taken if we had a list of all actions by recommendation.
Thank you for that suggestion. The cabinet secretary provided the cross-committee group with an initial response, which formed part of our scrutiny at the cross-committee group. However, it is a helpful suggestion that we consolidate the Government鈥檚 position on the recommendations, so I am happy to take that away as an action point. We can come back with a written update on the recommendations, aligned with the work that has already been completed or is already under way鈥攁nd which the Scottish Government has already provided an update on鈥攁long with the outstanding work that you have referenced. I am happy to pull that together for the committee.
Can I just ask for timelines to be included in that, so that we can see progress?
Absolutely鈥攖hank you for that helpful suggestion.
We have covered some action points, but are there any further action points that members wish to suggest, or are we content with where we are? As there are no further comments, we move into private session.
10:10 Meeting continued in private until 10:39.Previous
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