Chamber and committees

Convener, could I ask a supplementary question?

You talked about assessment. We have heard views from care-experienced young people and some neurodiverse young people who felt that there were some positives from the Covid period. What sorts of things are happening on the ground? What kinds of things are now in place that were not there previously for such young people?

What are the biggest challenges that you come up against?

I thank the panel for being here this morning. As the constituency MSP for Uddingston and Bellshill, I am delighted to hear the positive talk about North Lanarkshire Council. It is great that the council has committed to such challenging targets. A lot of local people might not recognise that names such as Airdrie and Glenboig come from Gaelic—and people in the area predominantly spoke Gaelic in the 11th and 12th centuries. People in the central belt forget that.

I am interested in the commitment in the NLC documents to equal respect—

Just to be specific, do you expect that, once the current plan concludes, the next plan will actually allow parents to have that choice for their children from five years of age? Do you expect things to move that quickly, or will things take a bit longer?

Yes. There is a commitment to equal respect for Gaelic and English. Jim Whannel has said that everyone who wishes to have their children educated in Gaelic can have that and that that is the aim. How far along the road do North Lanarkshire Council’s plan and commitments take us if the council is successful in achieving that? How far does that plan get us towards the aim of parents being able to choose for their children at the age of five?

In response to Dr Gulhane, I want to make a wee comment about vaping. As someone who has given up smoking and currently vapes, I have personal experience. Statistically, you are twice as likely to give up smoking using vaping as you are using nicotine gum. The nicotine is pretty harmless in that form and you do not get the carbon monoxide and so on. Therefore, I think that there is a balance to be struck, as well. We do not have the information and evidence to back it up yet, but the consensus across the NHS and elsewhere seems to be that vaping is much less harmful than smoking cigarettes. On a balanced approach, having more people vaping and more patients who have been long-term smokers switching to vaping could have a really positive impact overall.

Thank you. Convener, it would be great to have some more information, and perhaps some written information, on the Gypsy Traveller work. That would be fantastic.

Thank you very much, convener—we got there. I thank the witnesses for attending.

In evidence, we have heard about the effects of proportionate universalism and about the inverse care law—the fact that the people who are most in need of our services are often the most likely to miss out on them because they do not turn up for tests, X-rays or hospital appointments. Is the minister supportive of the concept of proportionate universalism? How is Professor Sir Michael Marmot’s work influencing her approach to tackling health inequalities?

That is really helpful. Stigma and trauma have a huge impact on the most deprived people. In his evidence, Dr Peter Cawston spoke about safety netting, which was interesting. He also spoke about the chance 2 change project group, which is now working alongside the Scottish Government to help people to help each other to make a difference to their health and wellbeing. Do you have any comments on that? Can you give us a bit more information on it?