The First Minister will be aware of the unfolding scandal with the funeral business run by Steven and Ashleigh Milne. Ashes of the deceased have knowingly been given to the wrong relatives, and funeral plans have been mis-sold, defrauding people of thousands of pounds. Just this week, Mrs Barnes, my constituent, was told that the ashes of her mother, who died in 2021, have been found at the funeral parlour. Whose ashes was she given? Whose ashes did she scatter with her father’s?

This Parliament passed legislation in 2016; regulations on a code of practice for funeral directors were passed in January but will not be implemented until March 2025; and we are still waiting for regulations on licensing and inspection, eight years on. Will the First Minister act urgently and accelerate the regulations, so that people can be protected from rogue funeral directors?