Chamber and committees

I thank David Walsh for his contribution. I whole-heartedly agree about austerity, but I want to be clear that it is the current Westminster Government’s position on austerity that has had those effects. We have very different powers in Scotland and we can use them in very different ways, depending on which policies come to us from the UK. If policies across the UK were different from those in Scotland, could that be helpful for us in Scotland, because we could make alternative arrangements?

Good morning, minister. Thank you for the introductory statement. I am keen to push you on timetabling and dates. I have two questions. I would like to hear a clear commitment with some dates for or an idea of when things will progress with the overall change to a national care service through the bill.

On implementation, I listened this morning to the evidence that we took in September, when people said that we need some actions now, which you have talked about. It is great that you have allocated funding and it was good to hear that your department is very busy—that is excellent. However, it is important for people to know what actions will be taken and what the timeframe is for that. What concrete things are you working on that will enable people to see a difference in the next year of the parliamentary session?

We obviously agree that the cost of living crisis is very significant, and we do not disagree about the impact of the Westminster Conservative Government. I thank the cabinet secretary for the commitment that we will use all the powers that we have in Scotland. That is very helpful.

The Auditor General spoke about the progress of Public Health Scotland’s work. Can you give a bit of feedback on how that work is going?

Although the previous couple of themes have covered the issue, I note that the Auditor General was critical of the Government’s overall strategy for addressing health inequalities, particularly around disability and among people from deprived backgrounds. The pandemic is acknowledged but the report also very much acknowledges that those are on-going health inequalities.

Has the Government managed to pull together an overarching strategy to look at health inequalities? If so, what will it measure? On top of that, has the Government considered other measures that it can use—perhaps other powers that it has but is not currently using—to make a difference in an area that is of the highest importance to it?

In the interests of time, I would just like to hear the cabinet secretary make a commitment on the important issue of allied health professional staff. They have a really important role to play in the reform of the NHS, but they face significant recruitment and retention problems. I raise that to ensure that the team sees it as an important part of the overall plan for the NHS.

No. I thank the minister for that answer. I hope that we can come back to it, as it is an issue that we should explore.

Good morning. Has any research been done on reducing the visibility of alcohol in places where people who have problems may impulse buy, such as supermarkets? On the subject of reducing the visibility of alcohol, including for children and young people, I note that other countries have gone down the route of not having alcohol near the doors of shops so that it is not necessarily seen by people who are just popping in for milk. Have you thought about that? Is there any research on it that you are looking at?

As quite a new committee member, I am finding that it is taking a while to process all the information. I am quite interested in issues around health inequalities and life expectancy, but I would say that we have known about all these things for some time now. How often have we tried to pull together this kind of data, and, if we have tried to do that in the past, what barriers have we come up against?

With regard to making this particular transition, we have talked about who is responsible in health and social care services, but do we need leadership at Government level to really push for this to happen?

Do you have a plan within your department for equality proofing policies?