Chamber and committees

I remind colleagues who are joining us online to use the chat function to let me know when they want to comment or add to anything that has been said. As no one wants to do that at the moment, I will ask David Bell a supplementary question.

I will not go too deeply into preventative spend, as colleagues will ask about that during the meeting, but we need to quantify where other interventions and areas of spend in portfolios have impacts on health. If we were to take money away from an education budget in order to put it towards health, that could have the impact of increasing people’s ill health. If we put more money towards, for example, net zero, that will have an impact on health as well. You mentioned data. Are we almost too fixated on the health budget being about health, rather than having a general budget that impacts on the nation’s health? It is also very difficult to quantify that.

That comes back to the issue of short-term spending and short-term outcomes, which quite a lot of people have brought up in their written evidence. Things such as waiting times can be quantified on a quarterly basis, but the health outcomes are more difficult to assess.

Before I move on, I will check in with Professor Wittenberg. You have not said that you want to come in, professor, but social care has been mentioned, and it has particular relevance to Emma Harper’s question about staff. You mentioned issues around staffing. Do you have anything to add on that?

We move on to discussing the national care service, the bill for which we are about to scrutinise at stage 1 in the coming months. I hand over to Sandesh Gulhane.

Emma Harper wants to pick up on something that Leigh Johnston said.

The final item is consideration of a negative instrument. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the instrument at its meeting on 6 September and made no recommendation.

The instrument’s purpose is to allow the appeals and fitness to practise committees of the General Pharmaceutical Council to hold meetings or hearings using audio or videoconferencing facilities on a permanent basis. In-person hearings and meetings will continue to be available.

No motion to annul has been received in relation to the instrument. If members have no comments, do we agree that the committee will make no recommendation in relation to the instrument?

Members indicated agreement.

I do not know whether any of our colleagues who are online want to add anything in response to Tess White’s questions. If so, I can come back to them.

Sandesh Gulhane wants to ask a question, as well. Please direct it to whoever you want to answer it.

I will bring in the other witnesses; we will go to Professor Wittenberg first.

I thank our three witnesses for giving us so much food for thought as we approach our budget scrutiny. Thank you for those helpful pointers, particularly as we also approach scrutiny of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill. That is all that we have time for; thank you all.

David Bell would like to add to that.