Thank you, Presiding Officer. They are stark reminders of just how interdependent the world has become. By combining the resources of our union, we can respond to those global challenges. Let us work together, not apart.

I recognise, as other members have done, the importance of co-operation between nations to address global challenges. Nothing has underscored that point more than the Covid-19 pandemic.

The SNP would have us believe that post-Brexit Britain is a silo and that we have turned away from the world, but the UK Government has helped to lead international efforts in response to Covid-19, with its pledge to donate 100 million Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine doses overseas by June 2022, 80 million of which will go to COVAX, which guarantees fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccine for people in all countries. The UK Government ensured that funding for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was based on its being affordable around the world. The vaccine has the greatest global reach of all of the vaccines—175 countries and territories use it. That is the United Kingdom being a force for good in the world.

In less than a month, Glasgow will host the COP26 summit as a direct result of the UK’s COP presidency. Together, if we can work as one, we can recover and build back better, and we can save our planet. That is global Britain in action.

At the height of the pandemic, about 1.6 billion children were not able to attend school or access education. Together with other G7 countries, the UK has committed to helping 40 million more girls into school and to getting 20 million more girls reading by the age of 10, in the next five years. It has also pledged £430 million to the global partnership for education in order to fulfil that ambition. That is “championing progressive values”.

Against that background of international engagement, the SNP keeps returning to Brexit. It seems to believe that EU membership is the only form of internationalism. The new trilateral defence partnership between Australia, the UK and the US will help to create hundreds of highly-skilled jobs across the United Kingdom, including in Scotland.

The SNP-led Scottish Government is choosing to ignore the scores of trade deals that have been secured by the UK as an independent trading nation, even though they will help to drive forward an exports-led and jobs-led recovery for Scotland. Instead, the First Minister announced in this year’s programme for government that the Government is planning to open new offices in Copenhagen and Warsaw, in addition to the eight international hubs it already has. They have cost the public purse more than £8 million in just one year. The NHS is in crisis, our schools are underfunded and local authorities are struggling.

I am in my last minute. The public will understandably question the cost of those offices, given that international relations is a reserved matter.

The climate change crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic are stark reminders of just how interdependent—[Interruption.]

The head of health intelligence for NHS Grampian commented last week that there has been a reduction in the use of lateral flow tests, with many people using those tests only once they have become symptomatic. What action is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that the public is aware of the clinical guidance on lateral flow tests and to encourage the uptake of that guidance?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress with the dualling of the A96. (S6O-00229)

Police Scotland data shows that, in the last three years, 195 people in the north-east have been involved in a crash involving a least one fatality. Despite the review and the safety concerns of local communities, and the minister’s comments, Green MSP Maggie Chapman has said that it will not be “viable” to fully dual the A96 route. Does the minister agree with Green MSP Maggie Chapman?

I go back to a point that Monica Lennon made. My concern is that, should we pass the petition to another committee, it is important that we receive that committee’s review and that the petition does not get lost. This is a crisis and we cannot simply kick it into the long grass. It is really important that this committee sets a date on which it will review the petition—if that is members’ joint view. It should not and must not be lost.

When we write to the Scottish Government, convener, could we also clarify whether the remit of the public inquiry into the response to Covid-19 will include the SQA?

I support that suggestion and keeping the petition open. Confidentially, a constituent of mine has said that they are taking CBD for pain relief but, because it is not regulated and not on prescription, they are having to pay extortionate costs. It is much better for a product to be examined and clinical trials to be undertaken. There is also a suggestion that the petitioner’s family member could take part in a clinical trial. Keeping the petition open, having clinical trials and exploring the matter further is a good way forward.

I was deeply moved when I read the petition. The petitioner, Karen McKeown, has been through a deeply distressing experience. I am concerned to hear that her partner repeatedly tried to seek mental health support in the days before his death.

I know that the Public Petitions Committee closed a similar petition from the petitioner in November 2019, I think, on the basis that the Scottish Government was undertaking significant work to address mental health services. However, given that almost two years have passed and that the petition predates Covid-19, as Monica Lennon said, it is important to assess what progress, if any, has been made.

The petitioner also raises the issue of suicide prevention, and, in her submission, the problems around accessing appropriate child and adolescent mental health services for her family following her partner’s death. It is important that we note that, and the committee should consider pursuing those issues further in any correspondence with the Scottish Government.

I propose that we write to the cabinet secretary seeking an update on progress on the suicide prevention action plan and on the expansion of the distress brief intervention programme, including, importantly, whether the Scottish Government is on track to achieve its target of reducing the number of suicide deaths by 20 per cent by 2022.

It may also be worth contacting stakeholders such as the Scottish Association for Mental Health, the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, Samaritans Scotland and others to get their views. I would like to take a wider look. As Monica Lennon said, it is a crisis, it will not go away, it predates Covid-19, and we need to take action.

The petitioner’s submission also refers to delays in relation to access to child and adolescent mental health services for self-harming behaviour, as well as minimal support for her autistic child. It would also be appropriate to follow up on those issues. Those are my recommendations.