Paul Sweeney
Scottish Labour · Scotland
“The single point of contact pilots that we have embarked on are making a significant difference in ensuring that people get the ability to discuss their treatment anxieties and their support. We have invested £2.5 million to expand the reach of that programme across Scotland.”
“As a member of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee, I welcome the news on the proposed legislation, which is very welcome. Indeed, it is something that has been long hoped for.”
“It is more precise than conventional radiotherapy, and the team behind the trial in England has begun the process of establishing it in Scotland.”
“I thank Mesothelioma UK for continuing to raise awareness each year through action mesothelioma day. On 3 July, the Scottish Government will proudly show our support by lighting up in blue St Andrew’s house and Victoria Quay in Edinburgh to get behind the go blue for meso campaign.”
“There is an awful lot to be recognised in terms of holding people to account, which has been a feature of this campaign over time. The Scottish Government confirms its commitment to continue to stand alongside those who are affected by mesothelioma, to ensure that they receive the compassionate care and treatment that they require at ever…”
“The fact that there are such abandoned factories and that the people who enter them—whether for urban exploration or whatever else—do not understand the risks that they are exposing themselves to is a difficulty that we must overcome.”
The complete record
Every one of 813 lines we hold for Paul Sweeney, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 17.
“I thank the minister for his statement, and I again express my admiration for the brave children and young adults who spoke out about their treatment at Skye house at Stobhill hospital. Their courage has helped to realise the improvements that we have heard about today. I am also relieved to hear that staffing levels are finally approaching an appropriate level for a facility as crucial as Skye house. As adolescent in-patient mental health units are highly challenging workplaces, staffing levels will fluctuate, so it is essential that long-term workforce planning takes place so that, when such rotations happen, staffing levels do not fall back, with the result that the cycle of temporary staffing returns.”
“However, all the issues of the protection of the historic environment that are part of the legal framework in Scotland will be applied in this case, and members will be kept up to date on the developments. Football-related Disorder (Glasgow) 2.”
“The First Minister: I understand Paul Sweeney’s long-standing interest in these issues, and I welcome the comments that he has made. Every effort will be made to progress the site and live up to the aspirations that he has set out. The Government will work with Glasgow City Council in that respect. However, we are at the very early stages of working out what can be undertaken. In the short term, there will be particular challenges in stabilising what is a very vulnerable site to enable access to Central station. If we are to have access to that station at the earliest opportunity, which is certainly my priority, there will be difficult decisions to make in relation to the existing site.”
“The building was one of the most iconic Victorian architectural set pieces in Scotland, and it is truly heartbreaking to see its loss. It stood there for 175 years. Can the First Minister give his assurance that conservation-accredited registered engineers with the right expertise will assess the remaining elevation to Gordon Street for any possibility of the preservation of that frontage and commit to a faithful reinstatement with the building owners, bringing together the ministerial oversight board? The building is critical to Glasgow’s built heritage. In 1987, the Ca d’Oro building right across the road was faithfully reinstated after a major fire, so it can be done. Will there be the political will and commitment at the highest level to do that?”
“All of that is against the backdrop of some 30 per cent of people in Scotland living in fuel poverty and very volatile electricity prices. It is a complex picture, and our registered social landlords are working very closely with the Government on that task. I mentioned the £90 million that we have provided so far and the 13,000 homes that have benefited, and I have said that the social housing net zero heat fund will shortly open to continue that work. The Deputy Presiding Officer : That concludes portfolio questions on social justice and housing. There will be a brief pause before we move on to the next item of business. Digital Assets (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 14:20”
“That is a good news story that everyone can celebrate. However, with 70,000 pre-1919 tenements in Glasgow, there is a huge amount of work to be done. Does the cabinet secretary agree that that development shows the power that social landlords can have in improving their housing stock, and what commitment will the Government make to build on the momentum that is being driven by Reidvale and other community-based housing associations? Màiri McAllan: Like Paul Sweeney, I acknowledge and thank housing associations for the work that they do on retrofitting. I do not for one moment underestimate what a significant task it is, given the associated costs and the disparity in tenure and housing types that we are dealing with across Scotland.”
“In our budget for the coming financial year, we committed to continuing existing capital programmes for the retrofitting of social homes, and I confirm that the social housing net zero heat fund will open to applications shortly. Paul Sweeney: Community-based housing associations in Scotland are leading the way on retrofitting Scotland’s ageing tenement stock. Reidvale Housing Association, of which I am very proud to be a board member, has been leading the charge in retrofitting and making fit for the future Glasgow’s historic sandstone tenements through the extensive renovation of a building at Bellfield Street, in Dennistoun. That is thanks to its securing a £1.2 million grant via the Glasgow local voids programme, which was funded by the Scottish Government’s housing investment budget.”
“To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to support registered social landlords with the costs of retrofitting the building fabric of social homes to make them energy efficient and fit for the future. (S6O-05610) The Cabinet Secretary for Housing (Màiri McAllan): The Scottish Government recognises the importance of improving the energy efficiency of social homes to tackling the twin challenges of environmental degradation and fuel poverty. Since 2021, we have provided almost £90 million of funding to social housing providers via the social housing net zero fund, which has supported the installation of clean heat and energy efficiency measures in more than 13,000 homes.”
“That is not available in England. NHS Agenda for Change Staff (Working Week) 6.”
“Neil Gray: The picture that has been painted of the NHS app in England is not, as far as I have been told, the case universally. Furthermore, here in Scotland we are attempting to create an integrated health and social care app. That app is currently being piloted in Lanarkshire. Its further roll-out across Scotland is scheduled to begin in April. We are seeking to give people digital access to their records and appointments and to be able to utilise the obvious advantages that—I agree with Mr Sweeney on this—will come from a roll-out of the application. However, there is no parochialism involved here. It is different technology with different applications, and here in Scotland we have a different aspiration for what the NHS health and social care app—the MyCare app—is to achieve, which is the integration of health and social care.”
“We support the introduction of NHS-specific barcodes, but it is quite frustrating that we are once again talking about an analogue stop-gap when Scotland is falling ever more behind in the latest digital patient technology. In England, the NHS app has been running for seven years now, with patients able to view and request prescriptions, book GP appointments, view health records and even change GPs from their phone. However, because the Scottish Government is unwilling to tap into the readily available system, Scots will not get to enjoy an NHS app until 2030. That is unacceptable. Will the cabinet secretary agree that it is time to end parochial posturing and work with the United Kingdom Government to roll out the NHS app in Scotland in an integrated way, as a matter of urgency?”
“Corridor care compromises patient privacy and dignity, and it should not be accepted as the norm. Our constituents deserve to receive the best possible care—I know that the cabinet secretary believes that—and our staff deserve to work in an environment that protects their wellbeing and allows them to get on with the job that they are trained to do. Therefore, I ask the cabinet secretary to set out some actions that will be taken so that we can strive to get to where we need to be. 17:39”
“The cabinet secretary will know that, at the start of the year, I asked the First Minister for an update on the progress that has been made on capturing data on corridor care at national and local levels. I was greatly disappointed with his response. He claimed that, despite pressures facing one A and E department, it was operating in a sustainable fashion. I think that we can agree that what is happening is not sustainable. The pressures are there all the time for staff, and being honest about that is probably the first step towards changing it. There is a culture of hoping for the best every winter, and that has meant that our NHS has not made progress. The NHS in Scotland needs a genuine workforce review and a long-term plan to identify areas of greatest strain, so that we can support staff in their roles in those workplaces.”
“As we have heard, it is not just patients who are paying the price. Long waits in A and E and issues such as corridor care not only affect patient safety but have a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of our staff. Working in an overstretched and overcapacity environment can lead to staff burnout, occupational injuries and lower job satisfaction. I know that the cabinet secretary has read the report that reveals that nurses say that they feel ashamed, demoralised and distraught because they cannot care for their patients in the way in which they have been trained to. The Royal College of Nursing has made it clear that corridor care due to overcapacity is not just a winter problem but a year-round crisis in the NHS. However, due to the lack of data, the true scale of the problem is not known.”
“A similar situation prevailed at the Glasgow royal infirmary. Does the member agree that the main issue has been the collapse of social care beds in Scotland over the past decade or so? That means that people are backing up into hospitals and A and Es and causing system failure, and it needs to be addressed at a system level. Carol Mochan: I absolutely agree. Members across the chamber can see the situation that we are describing, but what we do not see is action happening to change that. Constituents have contacted me to say that they have had to spend hours and hours in A and E and that they are suffering as a result. As other members have said, they describe that as being the result of the Government’s incompetence. They have nothing but positive things to say about the staff; they feel that the issue is about Government mismanagement.”
“It is a springboard—it gives the yard work and it means that it has a future, but that is not the full picture. Ultimately, the yard needs to take the opportunity that is provided by the direct award and the capital investment to modernise and secure work and to ensure that its reputation enables it to engage properly with other customers. The Deputy Presiding Officer: That concludes the statement. Contract (Formation and Remedies) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 15:39”
“The four- vessel programme is very welcome news indeed, because demand signal is critical to shipyard viability. However, does the Deputy First Minister agree that it has to be a springboard for the development of commercial shipbuilding in Scotland? Getting the pipeline in place, and getting the facilities up to scratch and world standard, is key. However, if we are going to win contracts on the open market, it is critical that we get shipbuilding finance in place in Scotland, because that is currently the main blocker to winning non-public sector contracts. Can we fix that problem, too? Kate Forbes: Paul Sweeney has been a regular advocate for, and representative of, the yard, and I pay tribute to him, in particular, for his questions around the direct award. He is absolutely right that what I have announced is a means to an end.”
“Does the minister agree that bus franchising in greater Glasgow has been delayed for far too long, and will he promise to commit the full £6.5 million that SPT has said it needs to develop the business case? It should have been happening six years ago. Jim Fairlie: Yet again, what we hear from Mr Sweeney is that everything is bad. No, it is not. We have given powers to local authorities, and we have put in place funding to allow people to make a business case. It is absolutely appalling for a Labour politician to slight people in the Highlands and Islands by suggesting that a bus project in their community is not warranted. SPT and the Scottish Government are working together to develop bus franchising proposals, and we will continue to do so. Energy Infrastructure (Impact on the Natural Environment) 3.”
“It seems incredible that Scotland’s Highlands and Islands region, which has a population of fewer than half a million people, has been awarded £10 million for a flat fare trial, which has already been tested for years in England with great success, while SPT, which covers a population of more than 2 million people, now has to compete with other regional transport authorities for a pot of just £4 million to support the development of a business case for bus franchising. That is despite the fact that SPT has clearly stated that it will need between £6 million and £6.5 million to follow the complex development processes that are set out in the 2019 act. That is not good enough.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the finance available for commercial shipbuilding projects at Scottish shipyards, including how the competitiveness of this compares with that of other European nations with commercial shipbuilding industries. (S6O-05548)”
“Mr Hoy just made more incoherent calls for more spending and a £1 billion cut to benefits. The budget will strengthen our infrastructure, improve our public services and, ultimately, make life better for Scottish families. I hope that members will recognise the benefits that the budget will bring for the people of Scotland and vote in favour of the bill. Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill 17:02”
“The budget process works on the basis of Opposition parties coming forward with proposals, which are then negotiated with the Government. Jamie Greene, Ross Greer and Jeremy Balfour get that, but Michael Marra chooses not to. A minute of the meeting of 2 December that Michael Marra took part in said that further engagement will take place subject to receiving proposals from the Scottish Labour Party that we can consider in more depth. We are still waiting. Throughout this afternoon’s debate, Mr Marra has been asked to provide examples of what he is asking for. All that he asked for was more and more data—he never came forward with any concrete proposals. I will turn briefly to Mr Hoy. At least he made no pretence of seeking to engage. Mr Balfour got more out of the budget than all his ex-colleagues put together.”
“Aside from the support for the priorities of the people of Scotland that the budget delivers, we have shone a light in the budget process on how politicians in the Parliament approach that most important matter—how we raise and allocate the resources that people out there rely on. Jamie Greene put it well when he talked about the “new style of politics” and the contrast between those who work constructively to make a difference and those who carp from the sidelines; the relevant and the irrelevant; and those who choose to tango, as some have put it, and those who choose to sit it out. The people of Scotland will notice that. This Government looks forward to continuing to have constructive engagement with all parties that choose to engage with us. I have news for the “shy” Mr Marra, as he was described by Jamie Hepburn.”
“I would be very happy for him to write to me about that. I have news for Daniel Johnson. Scotland’s economy is growing faster than the UK’s economy is growing under his Labour Government. I am assuming that it is still his Labour Government and that he identifies as a supporter of it. If he does not, he might care to let us know. The budget includes an investment of £5 billion of climate-positive spend in 2026-27. The First Minister’s announcement earlier today that all ScotRail fares will be frozen is just another example of us supporting investment to make our public transport more accessible and to promote sustainable travel choices.”
“Will the member take an intervention? Ivan McKee: Will I get the time back, Presiding Officer? The Deputy Presiding Officer: I can give you the time back. Paul Sweeney: A case in Glasgow has recently been brought to my attention. A major hotel in the Finnieston area has just had a rates revaluation, which resulted in a 250 per cent increase in its rates. As a result, it is pausing a major investment of £25 million, which would create 100 jobs. Clearly, no one wants to see that investment paused. Will the minister look at that case and see whether the business can have a bit more leeway in the adjustments? Ivan McKee: Paul Sweeney will know that the process for assessing rates is carried out independently by the assessors, but I have no doubt that the relief package that we are putting in place will be of benefit to that business.”
“The Scottish Veterans Commissioner has views about that, and Social Security Scotland is alive to those issues, because we want to ensure that everyone who is entitled to a benefit—which very much includes veterans—is encouraged and supported to apply. I would be happy to provide Paul Sweeney with further information about the work that the agency is doing with veterans on exactly that.”
“Social Security Scotland was established to deliver a more holistic approach to social security, including through preventing further decline in wellbeing. What active training do staff receive in order to understand the needs of disabled communities and groups such as veterans? Such training should include awareness of the impact that isolation and reduced physical activity can have on general wellbeing, physical and mental health, and recovery. Shirley-Anne Somerville: The agency, social security officials and ministers have had direct contact about particular aspects of how veterans access the social security system.”
“The guidance will be issued once people have had a chance to look at it properly and comment on it. As I just stated, it will be published in the spring. Aberdeen and North-east Scotland (Economy) 6.”
“Glaswegians are paying the highest bus fares in any British city, at £6.30 for a day ticket and £3.25 for a single. We desperately need bus franchising to be sped up so that it can be implemented in greater Glasgow. Will the minister commit to providing the full £4 million allocation to Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, which is the only regional transport partnership that is pursuing franchising? Will he also commit to urgent publication of the guidance? The reference to publishing that in the spring is too vague—can the process be sped up even more? Jim Fairlie: As the member knows, the franchising system is on-going. The £4 million has been allocated to it, and I am sure that there will be other bodies that would say that the £4 million should not all go to SPT. That is still under discussion.”
“None of the changes that are needed will help the people who have lost loved ones due to the unsafe water and ventilation situation. However, if they are implemented now, we can begin to create a national health service in which such scandals do not happen again. I hope that members will support our motion. 15:32”
“We need them to know that their concerns will be acted on immediately and that accountability will lie with those who hold the relevant responsibilities for ensuring safety. Although many will say that that is already in place, today’s debate shows that we are still not there yet. Today, there are still live risks with the ventilation system in the hospital. The failure to act to validate those critical systems is simply unacceptable and cannot be tolerated. It is time for the leadership of the Government to stop playing games and to work with the national health service to improve its health and safety record. It is time to stop working towards election deadlines and, instead, do the harder job of guiding our public health system to where it needs to be.”
“It is their courage that we should recognise today, more than anything else, because they have acted with public spirit at their heart. They have undoubtedly helped to save lives, but it is too much of a loss for us to bear that people died unnecessarily as a result of negligence, and we must hold people to account for that. Lives are on the line. Some members might be wondering how my point relates to the national health service, but it is clear that we need to improve our culture of management in the national health service. The lives of patients and staff are simply too important—any one of us or any member of our family could be affected—to allow an old- fashioned game of pass the blame to continue. We need staff to feel empowered to raise issues and to stop what is happening.”
“That is what has played out in the Queen Elizabeth university hospital. It does not matter whether someone is an apprentice, an engineer or a senior executive: if something is unsafe, they are supposed to call it out and, often, stop working until the issue is resolved. That is an easy thing to say but, in practice, it takes a great deal of trust, training and courage for that approach to operate as it should. For an apprentice to speak out, they must have confidence that their concerns will be listened to, that action will be taken and that the blame will be on those who caused the issue or failed to act, rather than on those who spotted it and tried to get it resolved. We have seen that those who had the moral courage have been harangued, cajoled and pressured into silence.”
“In the short time that I have to speak this afternoon, I will talk about how we can do things differently and build a culture that identifies good practice, emulates it, manages problems with integrity and starts to change things for the better through a system of moral courage. In the shipbuilding industry that I came from, where health and safety must be kept at high standards because lives are at stake, there is a clear expectation at all levels of the workforce that everyone in a team has the responsibility to stop the job if they perceive that something unsafe is happening. In every major disaster that we have seen in recent years, from the Boeing 737 MAX to Chernobyl, the same pattern applies. People feel that they are unable to speak out or raise concerns and, as a result, lives are lost.”
“It is with reluctance that we are, once again, having to raise the concerns about the safety of the Queen Elizabeth university hospital’s ventilation and water systems in the Parliament. We do so because we feel compelled to, because patient safety in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is still very much in question, and because we are not satisfied that the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care is sufficiently across the issue. When the topic was last raised in the Parliament, I talked about the culture that needed to change in Scotland. That is a much wider and more encompassing issue. I talked about how we must end the situation where loyalty and compliance are rewarded over competency and moral courage and where being in the club is more important than holding institutions of power to account.”
“We are also reviewing the governance to ensure that we can get as many dentists in Scotland as we need and that we can increase the intake of dentistry students in universities. Bed Capacity (Dr Gray’s Hospital Elgin and NHS Grampian) 2.”
“Over the weekend, I was shocked to read that all dental practices in the Outer Hebrides are now shut to new adult patients. It seems to be yet another extreme example of a substantial failure of workforce planning, leading to island residents once again paying the price. It is clear that simply changing incentives is not going to be good enough in some more remote areas. Could the minister consider the expansion of public dental provision so that direct salary dental vacancies are created in the islands? Jenni Minto: I have been clear in my responses to other questions that we are willing to look at whatever solutions there are. Two years ago, we reviewed the fees that dentists receive, which has improved uptake for dentists.”
“Defence and national security are reserved to the UK Government, and Scotland does not commission independent naval vessels. The design of the replacement vessels reflects the operational needs of the marine directorate. It does not include warship specifications or military capability, which could misrepresent the vessels’ authority at sea. MPVs are built and operated to merchant vessel standards, with Crown servant crews accountable to the Scottish ministers. As merchant-class vessels, they fall outside the defence-related exemptions that are referenced in section 45 of the 2022 act.”
“The Scottish Government has not placed a contract for a ship in Scotland in the past decade, and we are facing a significant challenge regarding the future of Ferguson Marine. There is a remedy in the procurement of those vessels, because, although they are not naval vessels, they have an obvious national security application. I know that UK Government ministers are interested in discussions with the Scottish Government about applying section 45 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 in relation to the procurement and would look at options for doing so. Will the minister engage with UK Government officials and ministers on the option of securing a section 45 exemption and a direct award to Ferguson Marine? Mairi Gougeon: Paul Sweeney will be aware that I have answered similar questions previously.”
“However, we recognise that the bill is a useful starting point, and it will be up to the next Parliament to ensure that its promise truly comes to fruition. We need to ensure that councils and public bodies are properly resourced so that community wealth building plans turn into real community wealth building activity. We must also ensure that, when procurement processes are reviewed in relation to how they keep to community wealth building goals, we then act accordingly and make the changes that will be required to use public purchasing power to drive wealth building in Scotland. The prize of a Scotland in which wealth- generating activities circulate within our communities is one that is worth striving towards. I hope that we will be able to consider the bill as the beginning, not the end, of our community wealth building journey. 16:27”
“We have worked to achieve the inclusion of community-owned financial institutions such as credit unions in the Government’s community wealth building strategic statement and as an option in the action plans. The Scottish Government has committed to procurement reform and community empowerment reviews— both of which are sorely needed—in the next session of the Parliament. I would have liked there to be more measures supporting co-operatives and for there to be greater scope in the organisations that will be included under the action plans. I note the concerns that have been raised about the surreptitious rundown of Co-operative Development Scotland, and I was disappointed that the Government resisted the amendments in the name of my colleague Richard Leonard.”
“I admit that, like many of my Labour colleagues, I was sceptical about the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill as introduced—it was a mouse of a bill, as Richard Leonard referred to it. I was worried that it would create lots of paperwork for underresourced local authorities, that it would be about just an empty slogan and that the opportunity to meaningfully create community wealth building would be lost. We are perhaps still sceptical in some respects, but I am pleased that we have been able to work constructively with the Government and colleagues from across the chamber to fashion a stronger bill that will genuinely support community wealth building activities—to give the mouse some teeth, I suppose.”
“It is important to note that that is 5.5 per cent of GDP, which is greater than the average of any World Bank income group, including the world’s least developed and most heavily indebted nations. Only five polities in the World Bank’s GNI database are richer in GNI per capita than Scotland while having a higher rate of outward economic flow: San Marino, Singapore, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands. We need to address that structural problem and properly interrogate the nature of foreign direct investment. That is why we have pushed the Government through amendments to the bill. The Government does not properly scrutinise the nature of foreign direct investment projects to ensure that they actually add net value to the Scottish economy.”
“GNI provides a measure of the country’s total national income, including all the income earned by its residents and businesses both at home and abroad. It contrasts with gross domestic product— GDP—which measures the income of anyone within a country’s boundaries, regardless of who produces it. It is a useful indicator, at a macro level, of community wealth building. GNI tends to be based on ownership, whereas GDP is based simply on location. If we compare GDP with GNI in the latest statistics from 2021, we can see that £36.5 billion was extracted from Scotland in that year, largely in the form of profits and dividends to foreign-owned companies and shareholders, while only £26.4 billion flowed into Scotland, largely as foreign investment income. That represents a net outflow of £10.1 billion.”
“We can go back to the Toothill report of 1962, which determined that Scotland’s heavy industrial base was beyond reform and that, as a nation, we had to depend on external investment, primarily from the United States, into our light industries. We seem not to have shaken that dependence ever since. That has come at tremendous cost to our prosperity. Scotland is one of the most foreign- owned countries in the world and one of only a handful of such countries that are both rich and developed but not microstates or outright tax havens. Gross national income provides a useful indicator for us. The Government has been undertaking experimental statistics, although I note that it has not done so since 2021.”
“Yet, for far too long, our policy in Scotland has relentlessly focused on a laissez-faire dependence on the initiative and enterprise of foreign corporations, and foreign ownership and investment from multinationals, rather than building up our home-grown talent and enterprise potential. That is how Scotland has become one of the most foreign-owned economies in the world. As a result, it has experienced a net outflow of wealth in every year since records began. That is not a trivial sum. We are talking about more than a quarter of a trillion pounds leaving Scotland between 1998 and the latest figures in 2021. That is the result of decades of people actively choosing the multinational rather than the local.”
“The Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill is not just a means of trading a slogan; it represents a recognition that Scotland’s wealth is based in the local communities that we live in. It is often forgotten that 1.2 million jobs in Scotland—more than half of all private sector employment—are created and sustained by small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the foundations on which this country’s prosperity depends. Combined with the powers of the state, both local and national, they shape our lives, building up wealth in our communities and allowing each next new generation to be richer than the last.”
“Those amendments will act to support the valuable contribution that co-operative financial institutions, such as credit unions, make to our local communities and economies. I therefore commend the amendments to the Parliament and invite all members to support them.”
“I will speak to amendments 13 and 17, which are in my name. They would both insert “co-operative financial institutions” into the measures that are associated with the ministerial statement and community wealth building action plans. Amendment 13 would require Scottish ministers to set out how they will promote or support co- operative financial institutions when they set out the measures that they are taking or intend to take to support community wealth building. Amendment 17 would ensure that promoting or supporting co-operative financial institutions is included in the list of measures that community wealth building partnerships may include in their community wealth building action plans.”
“I agree with the committee’s view, which has also been stated in the chamber this afternoon, that public safety must be the primary priority. That will be my main consideration. I am aware that, for understandable reasons, part 2 of the bill has not received as much attention as part 1. Nonetheless, I remain grateful for the interest in that important issue. The provisions in part 2 reaffirm our commitment to ensuring clarity, transparency and public confidence in the death certification system. They will strengthen the safeguards that support families and professionals and ensure that our legislation reflects the robust checks that are already in place. I urge the Parliament to support the general principles of the bill in respect of both parts.”