Chamber and committees

Thanks very much, Simon.

Last but by no means least, Kirsten, do you want to introduce yourself?

Thank you very much. We are very pleased that you are here.

We want to cover some of the ground that the joint Auditor General and Accounts Commission report covered. As I mentioned, if you want to come in, it would be helpful if you could type RTS or “request to speak” in the chat box. Do not feel that you are all obliged to answer every question that we put. If you have a particular hankering to come in, we will come to you, but there might be some areas on which you do not have a particularly strong view.

First, I want to ask a fundamental question that is posed in the report, which is about what people’s experiences are and what challenges they face when they try to access mental health services. I will go to Jo Anderson first.

One theme that the report highlights is the alarming rise in mental health issues for young people, which is why we were particularly keen to get Young Scot to give evidence this morning. I ask Kirsten Urquhart to give us her perspective and the perspective of young people on accessing the service and the challenges that young people face in relation to that.

Thanks, Kirsten. That is very helpful and it is good to dispel some of the mythology about where digital exclusion lies. We have a whole load of other areas to cover so I will turn now to Sharon Dowey, who is the deputy convener, to put some questions about where the demand is and what response there is from the services to that demand.

Paula, do you want to come in on that question? I apologise, I know that you wanted to come in on the previous passage of discussion that we had, so please reflect on that first.

Jo Anderson mentioned it earlier.

Thank you.

I invite Peter Kelly to come in.

Paula Fraser and Dr McDaid are interested in coming in.

I got a note to say that Peter Kelly wants to come in a final time. We have a couple of minutes left, Peter, if you want to come in. You probably want to speak to some of the broader issues that were raised during that last part of the meeting.