Chamber and committees

I would say that our statistics on international students are pretty good at the moment. Ellie Gomersall mentioned earlier—I think that it was in her opening statement—the increase in overall student numbers. At point 22 in its written submission, the SFC accepts that the increase in teaching budgets

“is largely as a result of increases in funded places rather than increases in the average price we pay per funded student.”

However, it also suggests that protecting the price per place would impact the number of funded places. What changes, if any, would you recommend within the current fiscal constraints for the SFC to get the balance right between the price per place and the number of funded places?

I appreciate what you are saying about the cost of living crisis, which has been such a huge issue, too. However, that does not answer the question about what we do to get the balance right between the price per place and the number of funded students we have in the current fiscal constraints.

I have two questions that I will ask together, which will hopefully speed things up a little. Earlier today, Caroline Lamb highlighted the negative impacts of the current cost of living and fuel poverty on wellbeing and on mental health in particular.

My first question is about patients. What increases in demand do you expect to see in relation to mental health support and primary care services over winter, and how does your board plan to manage them?

My second question is about staff. What impact will increases in living costs and fuel have on NHS staff, and what actions is your board considering to support employees over the winter months?

I will start with Dr Armstrong. Jeff Ace and Dr Coldwells are of course welcome to add anything.

I do not have one on that topic.

In relation to the cost of living crisis, the UK Government has made some changes recently, but those do not seem to do much to help the most vulnerable people. I am thinking, for example, about people who have prepayment meters, for whom the lights go off when the money runs out, and people in rural areas who have oil tanks and coal bunkers, which cost big, big sums to refill. What impact do you expect such issues to have on the national health service and social care?

My question is for Donna Bell. Last week, I met the chief executive officer of Enable Scotland and we spoke about the high-quality self-directed health and social care that is provided through Enable Scotland’s successful personal assistant model, which is an example of how focusing on individuals and building the care and support around the person’s own needs and priorities can improve not only outcomes but costs down the line.

Thinking about the ambitions of the new national care service, my question is around doing things differently. First, can you give any examples of positive innovations in social care that are improving people’s lives and, secondly, any examples of how scaling up such innovations could influence sustainability in the social care sector, with the national care service?

What progress has been made on the student experience since regionalisation? How has regionalisation improved the student experience, and what have the challenges been?

I have a wee follow-up to that question. We have heard in previous evidence that independence can be an issue: some students felt that they were at the centre of things and that their voices were being heard, but others felt the opposite and that they could not say what they wanted to say or put forward their views.

Does anyone else want to contribute?

I will touch on the wider issues around completion rates that Michael Marra mentioned. Are actions being taken to address the issue that disabled students and care-experienced students are even less likely to successfully complete and more likely to withdraw?