Chamber and committees

Thank you; that is very helpful.

I know that a few of my colleagues have questions, so I will leave it there.

It is good to hear you mention multidisciplinary teams, and it is great that they are expanding to include physios, pharmacists, occupational therapists, mental health nurses, dentists, optometrists, psychiatrists and paramedics. The teams are getting bigger and bigger all the time; it is important that they do so.

However, concerns have been raised in previous evidence on workforce planning that we will end up just moving people around instead of creating the new capacity that we need. We have also heard about the importance of investing in and integrating workforce planning across primary care and other services. How will the Scottish Government create new capacity in implementing workforce planning in primary care and services across the board?

I have a final question. It is nice and short, but I am not sure that the answer will be nice and short. What might the implications of the national care service be on capacity and workforce planning?

I thank the witnesses for joining us today. I know that it has been quite a long session, but I have a few questions.

Council leaders and directors of education have been mentioned. Could you say a bit more about how you envisage the role of local authorities fitting with the proposed national agency in order to support and drive improvement at local and regional levels? How important are clusters, collaboration and a sense of shared identity, support and work in schools?

That brings me to my next question. You have spoken about the need for the national agency to be responsive and reactive. Looking again at the role of the regional improvement collaboratives, I am interested in what you see as the priorities for creating that on-going collaborative environment. How can we ensure that the local authorities, the teachers, the parents and, most important, the young people—including our young people with additional support needs, who make up quite a big proportion of pupils—can be involved in that? How can we maximise their influence and ensure that wellbeing and rights are a central focus?

I could not agree more.

I should declare an interest in that I am a councillor on South Lanarkshire Council. You would say that there are good examples of collaboration that we could build on.

That is helpful. I have a short final question for both of you. What is your top ask of us if we are to facilitate the positive changes that our young people want and deserve?

Fantastic. I hope that our committee can get that positive message out there.