Chamber and committees

I could not agree more.

I thank the witnesses for joining us today. I know that it has been quite a long session, but I have a few questions.

Council leaders and directors of education have been mentioned. Could you say a bit more about how you envisage the role of local authorities fitting with the proposed national agency in order to support and drive improvement at local and regional levels? How important are clusters, collaboration and a sense of shared identity, support and work in schools?

Fantastic. Is it more about having a cloud-based system so that all the different systems that are used by different health professionals—and beyond that, as well, into alternative pathways—can connect into one cloud-based platform, rather than having one system that runs right the way through and is the same everywhere?

I would like to come back on that answer. Dr Perry addressed many of the points that I had written down. It is interesting to hear that work is already being done to look at a central, cloud-based platform.

At last week’s meeting, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society talked about the need to be able both to add information to the patient record and to access information on it. Is the ability to do that included in the pilots that are taking place?

Thank you, convener. I want to pick up on some of what Roseann Logan said and I was going to direct my question to Christiana, although both of you might want to comment. How widely is the ALISS database being used? Is it the right system? Should we be investing in it and ramping it up, or should we look at whether something more local would work a bit better?

Thank you, Presiding Officer. You will not need to worry about interventions, as I am contributing remotely.

I thank Patrick Harvie for bringing the motion to the chamber. Simply put, active travel involves using your body to make the journey. It is an important part of leading a healthier lifestyle, and it will potentially help to decarbonise transport systems in our towns and cities, too. As we recover and build back from Covid-19, implement plans to achieve net zero and face an accelerating cost of living crisis, we are at a critical juncture for transport and travel. There is a great opportunity to reprioritise and put communities and families, health and wellbeing and our environment right at the forefront. With crisis comes opportunity.

Transform Scotland highlighted that walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure across Scotland remains unacceptably poor and often dangerous, which we must turn the tide on. It was great to hear the minister highlighting young people. Earlier this week, I hosted my first sustainability forum with four schools across the Uddingston and Bellshill constituency, to listen to students’ views and priorities. Travel was right at the top of all of their lists. Students wanted to see fewer vehicles in the school car parks and expressed concerns about the negative impact of the school run on the environment and their health. Pupils suggested limiting parking capacity, encouraging drop-off zones and a walk to school week. They were keen to raise awareness about school-run emissions and to encourage both students and their parents to embrace the benefits of active travel.

We must learn from our young people. Their appetite for reducing emissions and living a healthier lifestyle through active travel is clear. It is now our job to deliver by making active travel routes safe, practical and widespread across our towns and cities.

In Scotland, it is paramount that we place communities at the heart of active travel policy. Young people, parents, the elderly, those living in rural Scotland and commuters all have distinct needs and concerns. Although there is much to be learned from cities such as Amsterdam, Seville and Copenhagen, Scotland has its own unique needs. We can use knowledge from elsewhere to build policies that deliver for everyone across Scotland.

Active travel is also a question of equality. If our kids are walking or cycling to school, they need to have the right waterproofs and safety equipment, as well as opportunities to learn to cycle safely. Those things will be needed to ensure a cultural shift in Scotland that has equality at its core. I warmly welcome the 12-month pilot project to deliver free bikes to school-age children who cannot afford them, and I would like to see that rolled out more widely.

As is highlighted in the motion and as has already been said, the commitment to invest at least £320 million—10 per cent of the transport budget—in active travel by 2024-25 will be transformational. Equity must be at the core of distributing that funding. New funding for footpaths, significantly increased funding for local authorities and a doubling of the funding for the national cycle network should all be warmly welcomed in the chamber. The Scottish Government’s funding initiatives are encouraging, and I am keen to see local plans for new cycling facilities at Strathclyde park in my constituency become a reality. North Lanarkshire Council will involve community groups in planning the learn to ride areas, and there will be excellent links to the surrounding area by foot and by wheels. That is a great example of the joined-up and participative community partnerships that we need to see if we are to become a more active nation.

The long-term vision is in place and I am confident that, by focusing on strategic investment, listening to communities and placing equality and accessibility at the core of the policy, we can deliver an active travel commitment, boost health and propel ourselves towards net zero.

Let us all go forward with ambition and determination to level the route map and make a successful journey to Scotland’s active travel destination.

I thank Keith Brown for bringing this important Scottish Government debate to the chamber.

A public health emergency currently ravages Scottish communities. A Police Scotland report shows that there were 1,295 suspected drug deaths in 2021. So many mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, friends, neighbours and colleagues—all gone too soon.

The Scottish Government and everyone in the chamber knows that we can and must do better. Funding is hugely important and we need to better understand where and how that money is spent, and what difference it is making to people’s lives. Audit Scotland recommended greater transparency and the Scottish Government has taken that on board, because we need to understand what is working well and what is not, and the impact that policies have on lived experience.

We all want to see our national mission dramatically cutting drug deaths—and quickly. I am sure that I am not alone in often feeling that we are not going fast enough but, at the same time, I understand that we need all the research, strategic thinking, data collection, targets, and systems for measuring progress—all the number crunching and stats—to help us to save lives.

The role of the justice system is a critical pillar of our mission, and people who face the justice system and have challenges around substance misuse need and deserve access to the treatments that work for them. Our priority must be to divert vulnerable people away from prisons and into treatment, wherever that is possible. Continuing to embed the new medication-assisted treatment standards reinforces a rights-based approach to treatment, and the standards help to frame our entire response, encouraging flexibility and urgency. There is no one size fits all, and equal rights to access treatment are key. High-quality drug treatment, rehabilitation and recovery services must run through our justice system, including prisons and police care, as members have said.

International evidence is clear. Prison damages people: people lose their homes, and imprisonment weakens social ties, limits employment, breaks up families and creates a stigma that can be hard to escape. Ultimately, prison sentences increase the likelihood of continued drug use.

Stigma does not stop with people battling drug misuse—at times, it extends to those working to support and help them. Why? It is because stigma is cumulative and long lasting, and society has treated substance users with disdain and disgust for a very long time, often viewing them as worthless. Although Scottish Government policy now frames drug use as a health issue, many in society too often regard vulnerable people as criminals, rather than people who need help. The time to remove stigma is now, and we in this chamber have an important role to play. We can highlight how providing access to different forms of justice, including non-legal solutions, and following up with personalised drug, alcohol and mental health services really helps to address the underlying causes of offending, which helps to keep our communities safer places.

We must celebrate the success of people who move beyond problem drug use. Just over a week ago, I attended the funeral of an amazing woman—my friend’s mum—who struggled with drugs misuse for decades and later became very involved with church life and helping others. I joined her children, grandchildren and other family and friends to celebrate her life. The eulogy was beautiful. It faced her struggles with drugs head on and pulled no punches around trauma. More than anything, it captured how she made people feel: warm, accepted, supported and valued. She was a real character and free spirit until the end, but she made you feel comfortable in your own skin. She struggled with drugs, but she also had an amazing heart. She was not a bad person.

We need to help people to rebuild their lives. We need to normalise helping people in need. We need to be leaders in policy and break away from convention. We need to do whatever it takes to tackle this public health emergency—for all our sakes.

Thank you—[Inaudible.] That is great. It is helpful to know that those referral pathways work in primary care services and beyond.

I want to dig a wee bit more into the issues that Paul O’Kane has raised. The big picture really matters. The GP relationship is established over many years, and it is important to many patients. GPs know their patients and their circumstances, and that relationship allows GPs to have the sensitive discussions that patients might otherwise be unwilling to have.

We have talked about the fact that there should be no wrong door. This might be a question for Clare Morrison and Jess Sussmann initially. Is it realistic for a variety of organisations to have someone who is the key person—the trusted person—to the individual patient, who offers continuity and helps the patient to get access to all the primary care services?

I am not undermining the GP’s place at all, but we tend to find that individuals will have a particular person whom they connect with, especially as they get older. That will be their go-to person for advice, who could say to them, “You really need to see your GP about that,” or “It would be a really good idea to go to your pharmacist.”

We have talked about link workers. We do not have them everywhere just now, and that is perhaps part of the issue. Realistically, patients will probably choose their own key person or go-to person.