Thank you, convener, and my apologies for being late; there was an additional Parliamentary Bureau meeting that I had to attend. Given the time, I will ask my two questions together.

First, to what extent are health and care services taking a trauma-informed approach, and what improvements need to be made?

Secondly, we have heard this morning about interactions between income and poverty. In other evidence sessions, we have heard about how disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, asylum status, justice experience, being a carer and many other factors interact to present cumulative barriers. To what extent, in each of your areas, are health and care services equipped to take an intersectional person-centred approach?

I welcome the decision to specifically include disparities in how the handling of the pandemic impacted on certain groups, as it has been well documented that Covid-19 has not affected everyone equally. Given the public interest in any outcomes of the Scottish inquiry, how will the Scottish Government ensure that its conclusions—including interim conclusions, if appropriate—are in accessible formats, in order to provide to all families who have lost someone the answers that they deserve?

The RCN survey found that students and support staff are being asked to fill staffing gaps and to undertake the work of registered nurses. How will the Scottish Government work with health boards to ensure that all students and staff are aware of their rights, and that there are clear channels for them to raise concerns if they are being asked to fill in for nurses inappropriately?

Staffing pressure is one of the biggest issues facing hospitals, and Brexit has worsened matters. Dr John-Paul Loughrey, who is vice-chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said yesterday that

“across the whole acute system, [we have] lost staff members who would have come to work in the UK, or who have had to leave the UK, because of the situation with Brexit.”

Does the First Minister agree that this has been a time when the NHS has faced, and continues to face, unprecedented pressure, and that Brexit, which Scotland overwhelmingly rejected, has made the pressures so much worse? Can she outline how the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland are working together to address the situation?

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Funding Council in light of the reported on-going governance concerns at South Lanarkshire College. (S6O-01166)

Minutes from meetings of the college board of management refer to allegations of systematic bullying and intimidation of a number of staff, and potential financial irregularities. They also show that South Lanarkshire College failed to comply with the code of good governance. What steps is the Scottish Government taking to resolve those on-going issues with South Lanarkshire College and to address the issues that the Educational Institute of Scotland—Further Education Lecturers Association has raised around the governance structure?

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the finding of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s report, “Beds in the NHS”, that, since 2010, 4,227 hospital beds have been taken out of active service in the national health service in Scotland. (S6F-01175)

Yes, I will do that—I will try to anyway. Earlier, we touched on the issues of services and intersectionality. Everyone on the panel has expertise in different areas. Perhaps I should direct my question to Claire Sweeney. Given the increasing cost of living, what would you point to as one of the biggest interventions that we could make on health and poverty?

Do witnesses have a view on whether universal basic income or a minimum income guarantee is an effective method of tackling health inequalities?

As I begin this speech, my thoughts are with everyone who has lost a loved one to a drug overdose. I pay tribute to Collette Stevenson for her powerful speech.

When we have these debates, we often focus on policy and reform, but it is important that we also take time to reflect on the lives lost and the terrible pain felt by those who have been bereaved. For too long, our criminal justice system and drug treatment services have robbed people of the dignity that they deserve. Our focus must be on restoring that dignity while preventing further deaths. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is outdated and obsolete, and it further erodes the dignity and safety of people who use drugs. In its 2021 report on drug law reform, the Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce stated that it was

“unequivocal that the Act in its current form creates barriers to the implementation of a public health approach.”

When the case for reform was put to the Minister of State for Crime and Policing at the joint committee meeting, however, it was clear that he did not have a good grasp of either the situation in Scotland or the root causes of drug use. When asked whether he recognised that poverty was an underlying cause of drug use that needed to be tackled, he answered no and said that he believed that drugs and violence drive poverty.

I have spoken before in the chamber about the fact that Scotland’s drug deaths crisis can be traced back to 1980s deindustrialisation and the subsequent economic and social impact. According to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, some of those experiencing the highest levels of drug deaths and drug-related harms grew up in the post-industrial 1980s, when unemployment levels were high and the heroin market expanded into deprived communities. That group suffers multiple, complex disadvantages, including poor physical and mental health, unemployment, unstable housing arrangements, involvement with the criminal justice system and family breakdown.

The UK Government is so far behind in this conversation, it should worry us all. How can we hope to tackle the crisis effectively when UK ministers are espousing such ill-informed views, which further stigmatise people who use drugs? Kit Malthouse refused to entertain the prospect of drug-checking facilities here in Scotland. As we heard in the chamber last week, there are now plans, and a licence issued by the Home Office, to operate a facility in Bristol. Such services can save lives. I wish the Loop, which will operate the facility, the very best. I hope that it will have incredible success and, hopefully, once and for all, provide evidence that the UK Government will listen to. It is nonsensical and hypocritical to rule out drug-checking services in Scotland and allow them in England. We need those powers to save lives.

The varying purity and strength of illicit drugs makes it impossible—