Chamber and committees

Thank you, convener. I was just waiting for my camera to come on.

Cabinet secretary, I will pick up on your comments about working with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Obviously, a lot of work has taken place between the civil servants in both Governments. In your opening statement, you outlined that, originally, the bill was encroaching on devolved areas. Will you tell us a little bit about the work that has taken place between the two Governments to achieve legislative consent, and can you confirm that work will continue to ensure that Scotland’s devolution settlement is always considered in future legislation?

As someone who is interested in child poverty and public health, I wonder whether you can tell us to what extent child poverty is viewed as a public health issue.

I think that Clare Haughey said that 200,000 baby boxes had been given out so far. I know that NHS Dumfries and Galloway has had 1,241 and NHS Borders 1,033, but are you able to say a wee bit about the impact of their introduction and how they have helped to support and protect families and met some of the challenges of the poverty that we are seeing?

I have a quick supplementary. Maree Todd mentioned progress on self-sampling for cervical cancer, in which I am interested because NHS Dumfries and Galloway is part of the research. My understanding is that there were 6,000 women who had defaulted on their smear, of whom 25 per cent have now taken up self-sampling. Therefore, 1,500 women have been screened who would not have attended in the past. That interesting progress shows that self-sampling might be a way forward.

Ultimately, this is about organ accessibility and saving lives.

The 1,140 hours of childcare is delivered by local authorities. What is the Scottish Government doing to help local authorities or other public organisations to deliver a Scotland where our young people flourish?

I am a former liver transplant nurse in Los Angeles and I was always interested in looking at the tracking, the tracing, the safety and where the organs came from. To what extent is the cross-border sharing of tissues, organs and blood an issue for us in Scotland?

It is obvious that everybody needs to collaborate and work together, and the utmost safety of any policy is crucial. I am curious to know whether the Northern Ireland protocol will have an impact. Under the EU-UK withdrawal agreement, Northern Ireland is in the UK customs territory, but it remains aligned with EU regulations. The rules in Northern Ireland could change in order to remain aligned with the EU, and the framework sets out the structures and processes for managing the impact of such changes. Could changes that result in divergence between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK obstruct any sharing of blood, tissues or organs?

Good morning, ministers. I am interested in some of our public health priorities. Priority 2 mentions

“A Scotland where we flourish in our early years”.

My question is for Maree Todd. How do we measure, monitor and evaluate whether we have a Scotland where our young people flourish?

If any change or policy divergence is proposed, it will be important for there to be clear and timely communication so that the Scottish Government is aware of that.