Chamber and committees

Again, we are quite tight for time so I will bring in Mike Burns, whom we have not heard from for a while. Will you comment on vacancy turnover rates and the whole staffing picture, Mike?

Thanks—that is helpful.

They do. I will bring them in before you go on to your next question, if that is okay. I am conscious that Unison has a lot of mental health nurses among its membership, so Stephen Low might have a view. I will come to him in a second. However, first—remotely—both Christiana Melam and Mike Burns want to come in on those points.

Chris Williams wants to have a go at answering that question.

The question is on the governance architecture and whether it works and fits together well. Dr Williams is indicating that he wants to come in first and if other people have a view, just let us know. You do not have to have a view, of course.

I will bring in Dr Srireddy, followed by Mike Burns and Christiana Melam.

Thanks. On the point of governance in particular, I turn to Mike Burns for his thoughts, and then I will come to Christiana Melam, and to Stephen Low in the room here.

I thank all our panellists for their contribution and the time that they have given up. It is two hours that they will not get back, I am afraid. I also appreciate the fact that they all prepared before coming along here to give evidence, so I thank them very much on behalf of the committee for the top-quality evidence that they gave us. It has been illuminating, informative and, at times, moving.

I also remind the witnesses that, as Sharon Dowey said, if they want to make any submissions on any areas that we did not get to but on which they would have liked to comment, they should by all means put something down in writing. We will be delighted to accept it.

I now draw the public part of the committee meeting to a close.

I turn to those who are joining us online.

Our main agenda item is further consideration of the report by the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission on adult mental health. The meeting will have a round-table format, which is intended to promote discussion among participants, rather than just having questions from committee members and answers from those taking part. I hope that we can have a fairly free-flowing discussion to elicit the evidence that will be useful to us in forming our recommendations and drawing our conclusions.

The people who are joining us remotely are very welcome. If you want to come in at any point, please put RTS—request to speak—in the chat function or indicate there that you want to come in, and we will try to bring you in. Those who are in the committee room with us should indicate to me or to the clerks that they want to come in, and we will do our best to bring them in.

Those who are in the room and those who are joining us remotely should not feel obliged to answer every question; we will bring in the people who want to make a contribution. Those who are joining us remotely should keep their camera and audio switched on at all times, and we will turn the audio on when someone is about to contribute.

I begin by asking the witnesses who are joining us to introduce themselves, beginning with the people in the room.