I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of interests—I am a councillor on the City of Edinburgh Council and a member of the Edinburgh alcohol and drug partnership.

I welcome the chance to speak in such an important debate. I want to do all that I can to look for the positives and to reflect on the cross-party ambition and willingness to work together to tackle and reduce our country’s shocking and shameful drug-related deaths. Today, we are asked to consider the first year and next steps. I know that we all want to see evidence of real improvements in services and support for those who desperately need help, and we want to save people from dying needlessly.

However, in Scotland today, people are still being denied access to the addiction treatment that they need, while the drug death rate has almost tripled on the Scottish National Party’s watch. The SNP’s devastating handling of the crisis has been thrown into further chaos by the recent resignation of members of its Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce. I acknowledge and welcome the appointment of Mr David Strang.

Annemarie Ward, who is the chief executive officer of Favor UK—Faces & Voices of Recovery UK—has said:

“We have stood by helplessly while friends become more traumatised by the day. We have witnessed friends and family die, watching the slow car crash as each reached out for help that more often than not wasn’t there.”

The absence of hope in our treatment systems is damaging not only to service users but to those working in services. As I asked yesterday in the debate on mental health—and it is just as valid today—

“how can a workforce that has reached burn-out deliver compassionate care when they face periods of stress and anxiety?”—[Official Report, 12 January 2022; c 41.]

How can they do so when they watch people’s lives destroyed by substance misuse daily?

As my amendment states, the next phase of action must also include preventative measures and policies that ensure that, as Mr Whittle said, those who are helped with their recovery are not replaced by more people who fall into the cycle of addiction. To do that, we must understand why Scotland has the crisis that it has. What is unique to Scotland that causes so many drug-related deaths? Only when we understand that can we create a preventative agenda that will work to save lives in Scotland.

That is one of the reasons why the Scottish Conservatives have launched our right to recovery bill, which will ensure that those with addiction issues are able to access the necessary treatment that they require. I have had the invaluable opportunity to speak to stakeholders and those with lived experience, who will have submitted responses to the call for consultation. I thank them all for taking the time to engage with the bill and for sharing the issues that they still face, 12 months on.

Right now, the treatment system in Scotland lacks the quality, the diversity and the capacity to fulfil its potential in protecting people from harms related to substance use, including drug-related deaths.

Stephen Wishart said:

“the proposed Bill does address this. It ensures equal funding must be provided to allow local authorities/NHS health boards to perform its duties. It also”—

importantly—

“shifts the balance of power from the opinion of individual decision makers and to the right of the person to choose what their plan is.”

Yes, we welcome the £250 million to tackle drug deaths. It should not have taken 14 years to finally realise that the drug policies had failed, that families had been failed and that entire communities had been let down and broken. That is why the Scottish Conservatives are pushing forward with our proposals for a right to recovery bill. With the consultation now closed, it was astounding to see the level of interaction and submissions from across the country. We have received overwhelming support and, again, I acknowledge and thank everyone who took the time to submit their views on the right to recovery bill.

As I said, the £250 million of funding is welcome but, sadly, the SNP Government has refused to sign up to the United Kingdom-wide scheme to help tackle drug dealing. Project ADDER—addiction, diversion, disruption, enforcement and recovery—would have provided investment designed to tackle addiction and the supply of illegal substances.

Primary care services are often the first point of contact for people who are experiencing mental health problems, but, as we have heard today, improving mental health and wellbeing is a major public health challenge. That is partly because the underlying issues are complex and people’s needs are different. All public services have an important role to play in supporting wellbeing and tackling the social and economic factors that contribute to mental health problems.

In 2021, mental health issues were the primary reason for time off work, outstripping Covid. Poor mental health accounted for 19 per cent of all lost working time across the country, while confirmed cases of Covid represented 16 per cent. In addition, mental health troubles were the most common cause of lost working time in nearly every industry in the UK, with the length of absences averaging at least three times longer than that of Covid-related ones.

Evidence suggests that mental health problems in childhood and adolescence have a significant impact on people’s physical health and education and on their ability to find and sustain employment. The Covid pandemic has had a detrimental effect on children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, with some evidence showing that it will also affect their attainment.

Thirty-six per cent of children and young people with learning disabilities have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder; 40 per cent of looked-after children in Scotland who are aged between five and 17 have been assessed as having at least one mental disorder; and 95 per cent of 16 to 20-year-olds in custody have at least one mental health problem. As we have heard, children who live in low-income households are three times more likely to suffer mental health problems than their more affluent peers are. Despite those alarming statistics, more children and young people are waiting more than 18 weeks to start treatment in specialist CAMHS—up from 26 per cent in 2017-18 to 33 per cent in 2020-21—while the number of those waiting more than a year for treatment trebled between March 2020 and March 2021.

The national improvement framework is the Scottish Government’s key plan and it sets out four priorities for education, which include children and young people’s health and wellbeing. However, data is lacking to assess the wellbeing of children and young people who are learners at school. If we cannot assess whether a national priority is achieved, it is impossible to know what is working and what needs to change.

We heard from Mary Glasgow, the chief executive of Children 1st, at the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee yesterday. She spoke at length about the challenges that families face when their children need support, and we heard about the importance of having good person-centred services, which the Scottish Government frequently mentions but rarely delivers. Good person-centred services should provide a space in which to really listen and understand the needs of the family and the young person; they should not be about what the agency can spare to offer.

Mary Glasgow told us of family wellbeing teams and of the success that those services have had when social and family relationships are fractured and young people suffer anxiety, self-harm tendencies and eating disorders. Young people who get their GP appointment are often told that CAMHS services are the only option, but those family wellbeing teams offer quick and early help, often remove the requirement for CAMHS assessment and provide a safe space in which families and young people can be heard. Those teams are effective and allow the time that is needed to build relationships between the professionals and the families. Unfortunately, funding issues often make it difficult to, in Mary Glasgow’s words,

“replicate the family wellbeing teams across the country”.

As we heard from Ms Mochan, the language that our professionals use often contributes to the stigma. We must start using human language. Often, those who need assistance feel shame and guilt, and the use of the term “being referred” to a service contributes to that feeling. Shame, stigma and guilt must be removed. Those who need assistance have done nothing wrong. They are entitled to support and help, and that must be delivered with respect, kindness and compassion. However, how can a workforce that has reached burn-out deliver compassionate care when they face periods of stress and anxiety? Patients and carers are at the end of their tether.

I want the SNP Government to accept, for once, that things were bad long before Covid. We must stop using Covid to justify our poorly performing services. We need to start making changes now. Our parents and young people deserve better mental health support. There is so much good practice going on across the country; let us find it, fund it and replicate it.

Are you suggesting that, if a patient has significant issues resulting from their original surgery, the treatment would be carried out under the new Scottish mesh service?

Yes.

Okay—I think that I have got that now. The language is very subtle, is it not?

Is it acceptable that long-term care is not reimbursable under the scheme if such care was required because of the original mesh surgery? I am talking about the implantation surgery, not the removal.

Yes, please. It is directed to Jacquie Pepper. You spoke at length about how some of the drug and alcohol issues that parents may have impact directly on the children. To what extent are you getting a sense that young people are, or have been, more at risk of adverse childhood experiences, whether that be physical abuse or any other sort of ACE?

That is great; thank you.

Thank you, convener.

We have heard a lot today about the whole-family approach that is needed. In our previous session with Audit Scotland, NHS Ayrshire and Arran was held up as a beacon of good practice, so I will ask Professor Borland to respond first. How could services be organised to provide a more joined-up experience for children and young people, and can you give examples? I suppose that the question is relevant to any of our witnesses today, but could we start with Professor Borland?

Yes, thank you. I do not know whether anyone else wants to add to that.