Like the minister, I have been elected to the Scottish Parliament and I will talk about Scottish issues.

As Gillian Mackay said earlier, how can dentists assess their patients’ clinical need if their patients cannot get an appointment to see them?

Brian Whittle highlighted the awful health inequalities faced by young people. There has been a sharp increase in the number of children having full extractions, and it should shock every one of us in the chamber to hear that some children in Scotland today do not even own a toothbrush. Child dental health is going backwards.

The SNP Government must do more to facilitate routine NHS dental care. As my colleague Dr Sandesh Gulhane said, the Scottish Government emergency funding package for NHS dentistry that was introduced at the start of the pandemic was not fit for purpose, but it was better than nothing. However, from 1 April, the SNP Government will cut that emergency funding while leaving all the infection control measures in place.

No, not at this stage, Mr Doris.

Dentists are usually paid based on each individual item of treatment that they provide but, during the pandemic, that funding mechanism has been superseded by top-up financial support that recognises that the additional infection control measures severely reduce the number of patients who can be seen. The SNP Government is not planning to reduce or remove those measures, even though it is withdrawing financial support.

We believe that the emergency Covid support cannot be withdrawn while strict infection control guidance remains in place. Top-up funding must be maintained for the upcoming financial year, while the Government decides on its long-term plan for the future. The British Dental Association has warned that the Government’s plan to end Covid support payments from April will devastate dental services across the country.

My colleague Finlay Carson highlighted the stark inequalities that are faced by families across rural Scotland and rightly reinforced the negative impact that the removal of funding on 1 April will have. That move means that the income of NHS dentists will be decimated, and many have stressed that it will make their position financially unviable.

Let us not forget that NHS dentistry in Scotland was in crisis before Covid hit. For too long now, people have gone without access to full NHS dental services. To tackle the unprecedented challenge, dental practices need support from the Scottish Government. We are calling on the SNP Government to work with dentists to prevent the collapse of NHS dentistry. It does not matter that treatment or enhanced examinations are free at the point of need, if people cannot get an appointment.

The cabinet secretary must get a grip of the situation and bring forward a credible plan to restore routine dental care and tackle the enormous backlog. The SNP will always put its independence obsession ahead of the national interest. The Scottish Conservatives—Scotland’s real alternative—are pushing for the full return of routine services and putting the people of Scotland first.

Annie Gunner Logan talked about how some senior leaders are out of the loop and are not part of the leadership effort, which might contribute to a lack of trust and a lack of understanding of one another’s working practices and business pressures. We have a lot of short-term posts and an ageing workforce. All those things affect people’s leadership capacity. What can be done to improve understanding? What role does the Scottish National Party Government have in building trust between the various sectors and leaderships?

I ask Annie Gunner Logan and Donald Macaskill to answer.

Judith Proctor mentioned the outcome of the Scottish Government work and some of the issues around the turnover of senior staff in councils, the NHS and the integration authorities. How do the working conditions of more senior staff compare with those of the broader workforce in the social care sectors?

I suppose that that is possible because you have a small team of 12, as I think you said, so you get to know and trust everybody quite well.

You will be glad to know that I am a red type.

I am trying to drill down into whether there is a safe space—an anonymous internal whistleblowing process—for reporting concerns. There is quite a lot of change and upheaval going on in your office, so I am wondering whether there is a secure place for that.

Thank you very much for all those answers, Mr Bruce. We have heard a lot about training and induction, and you have reintroduced the review system. You have also mentioned recognising sexual harassment and engaging with survivors. I want to ascertain what systems you have put in place to allow members of your staff to feel confident about raising issues of concern regarding current working practices, governance and issues that they may be uncomfortable with in their working practice.

Not me then.

There are many stakeholders on your list. How do you foresee managing that? The group crosses all of society.

At the moment, local authorities are having to close many of their public toilets as a result of cost challenges. Indeed, that is a significant issue in the city of Edinburgh. Would that also be covered under the group’s remit?