To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the open letter signed by over 500 businesses asking for the deposit return scheme to be delayed beyond next summer. (S6O-01697)

The smaller drinks producers are especially worried. Earlier this week, I met Own Label Company Scotland Ltd, which is based in Edinburgh and, incidentally, produces whisky for the Parliament. The company wants the deposit return scheme to succeed but faces costs and administration that threaten its survival.

With only nine months until the supposed launch, small firms are still awaiting key information. Furthermore, the Scottish Government’s review team found that a

“fully functioning and compliant DRS cannot be in operation for the revised August 2023 schedule.”

Does the minister not see that, despite her stating that no change in the launch date is planned, it makes sense to let the large firms, which can manage the launch first, resolve the problems and then launch for smaller firms? Should August 2023 be the timeline to which businesses are working?

Will the member give way?

Will the member take an intervention?

Will the member take an intervention?

Although I was not a member of the Health, Social Care and Sport committee at the conclusion of this inquiry, I am pleased to have the chance to speak in the debate today. I thank the convener, members of the committee and all invited witnesses who came to our meetings.

We have heard extensively from a range of other committee conveners today, who outlined the complex nature of issues and solutions that are needed to tackle health inequalities. According to Public Health Scotland, Scots die younger than our neighbours do in any other western European country, and Scots in our poorest areas die 10 years earlier than those in our wealthier areas do.

The committee report recognises the effect of inequality on individuals, families and communities, and inequality disproportionately affects a number of communities.

The report states:

“it is internationally accepted that the fundamental causes of health inequalities lie largely outside the health system; health inequalities are a symptom rather than the cause of the problem.”

Many members have said that today. The cabinet secretary highlighted some of the scientific legacy issues that we face, which contribute to premature illness and death among our many diverse communities.

Unfortunately, the SNP Government is failing to tackle health inequalities. In 2018 to 2020, males in the most deprived areas were, on average, expected to live 23.7 fewer years in good health than those in the least deprived areas; in 2020-21, the drug-related hospital admissions rate in Scotland’s most deprived areas was more than 21 times greater than the rate in the least deprived areas. Cancer incidence is 33 per cent higher in more deprived populations in Scotland; cancer mortality rates are a staggering 74 per cent higher in the most deprived populations than they are in the least deprived ones.

I could continue, but we have heard contributions about those worrying statistics across the chamber this afternoon. Make no mistake: the Scottish Government has the levers at its disposal to tackle those health inequalities but, instead, it blames the UK Government or, as Rhoda Grant put it, passes the buck.

When the UK Government addresses some of the points that have been made in the report, that is not often acknowledged. Let us recall some of the most recent UK Government announcements from November. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the national living wage would increase to £10.42 for over-23s, which will benefit more than 2 million of the lowest-paid workers across the country; disability and working age benefits will increase in line with inflation; across the UK, people will receive much-needed help next year—for example, a family on universal credit will benefit by around £600; and new workforce legislation will allow people to access flexible working, which will go a long way to tackle economic inequalities.

Decisions that the SNP is taking now will continue to directly impact the level of inequality, such as its recently announced £400 million cut to health and social care and £38 million cut to mental health services will have an impact.

The Scottish Government gets the money from the UK Government to make its decisions, and it has every right to do so—[Interruption.] I would like to carry on, if the cabinet secretary, who is heckling from a sedentary position, does not mind.

Thanks to Audit Scotland, we learned the truth about this cash-strapped Scottish Government—an Administration so short of money that in the past year it could afford not to spend just under £2 billion of its £51.2 billion budget.

Through incompetence or choice, the SNP has wasted millions of pounds—whether on Prestwick airport, Ferguson Marine, BiFab or the Lochaber smelter—and the budget for the constitution remains untouched. Those are its choices and its priorities.

As an ex-smoker—I am changing the tone here—I have always believed passionately in the need to tackle smoking. I applaud many of the universal measures that are in place to help people to stop smoking, but we need to be far more targeted in our interventions. We should remember that, in Scotland’s most deprived communities, one in three people smoke, compared to one in 10 in the least deprived communities. Reaching into and working specifically with marginalised communities can be done. We have shown that to be the case with our targeted community outreach vaccine programmes, so let us learn from that and do more of it.

As the report clearly states, and as we heard from Sandesh Gulhane and Fiona Hyslop, safe, secure and affordable housing is critical to tackling inequalities. Mr Whittle presented a compelling case for investment in more warm and dry homes to tackle costs that ultimately sit with the NHS in dealing with respiratory illnesses. He also referred to the critical role that nutrition and sporting activity play in the prevention agenda.

Craig Hoy accepted that the blame for the failure to combat poverty in Scotland rests with all political parties over decades. However, we cannot escape the simple fact that the SNP has been in government here at Holyrood for the past 15 years and more, and that this is happening on its watch. The blame cannot be laid at the door of anyone other than the SNP. Its lack of a credible strategy does nothing to address the widening health inequalities that our society is facing. As the convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee stated in her opening remarks, it is time for “collective and systemic action”. Inaction is not an option.

I apologise for my late arrival in the chamber.

The minister has rightly said that the work is about saving lives, tackling stigma and giving a voice to those who thought that they had no voice. Angela Constance stated that

“we need more than just these 10 standards. I want to see an expansion of standards for other kinds of drug treatment, as well.”

Will the minister listen to FAVOR—Faces and Voices of Recovery—which has called on the Scottish Government to introduce our proposed right to recovery bill to ensure that MAT standards are properly implemented?

We can all agree that headteachers will play a critical role if we are ever to make progress in closing the attainment gap. The cabinet secretary’s statement claims that nine out of 10 headteachers have responded citing improvements in closing the poverty-related attainment gap and/or in health and wellbeing. To help people in the chamber and those who are watching, perhaps the cabinet secretary could expand on how that was measured, if we are now to focus on outcomes. Nine out of 10 sounds impressive, but how many headteachers responded out of the 2,129 headteachers in Scotland and how many of our local authorities are represented in that data?

The declining number of pupils taking STEM subjects at national 5 and higher appears to have coincided with a drop in applications to study medicine. Figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show that 19 per cent fewer Scots have applied to study medicine in the 2023 academic year than did in the previous two years. Is the cabinet secretary concerned not only by the drop in the number of pupils studying STEM but by the drop in the number of Scots applying to study medicine?