Chamber and committees

Paul Johnston and I spoke at a previous meeting about the issues that working-class men face. They are far more likely to be hospitalised from or die from alcohol-related conditions, with those in deprived communities almost three times more likely to die from such conditions. When is the alcohol harm prevention plan likely to be published, and will that specific inequality be part of that work?

Returning to the conversation we had about drug policy, minister, I put it to you that the need for the Thistle centre is a result of decades of failed drug policy. Speaking as someone who has experience of addiction and, sadly, death in their family, I feel that pushing people with addictions further into the shadows and out of sight of the general public only exacerbates those issues and leads to an increased likelihood of death.

I welcome the fact that we are moving to create more facilities for people with drug addictions in Edinburgh, but there are clear limitations. As a Government minister, you will know that more than anyone.

Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, has challenged the devolved Governments to put forward a list of laws that they would like to be devolved to their Parliaments. I ask for an assurance from the Scottish Government that the devolution of drug policy, which used to have cross-party support—I am not sure whether it still does—will be at the top of its list.

I will quickly circle back to the financial landscape that is being faced just now in social care and ask about national insurance contributions, an issue that was reflected in virtually every submission to the committee. Ms Cackett, for our benefit, will you expand on the impact that the rise in national insurance contributions is having on workforce numbers and those who receive care, as well as on not-for-profits, which are perhaps needing to dip into charitable reserves?

Roughly. It is mostly directed to Ms Cackett, but it is open for anyone to answer. You have said in your submission that you are looking for parity of esteem in relation to pay and conditions between social care and public sector workers. Will the NHS taking the lead and absorbing some accountability help in that regard, and how do you hope that the NHS will action that?

I have a specific question for Mr Traynor. I cannot find the submission in front of me, but section 8 covers the impact on unpaid carers who are looking after those with alcohol and drug issues. I tried to unpack that at last week’s evidence session. Will you expand on that and explain which communities and areas of Scotland are most affected? In relation to the Scottish Government’s alcohol and drug strategy, what are your asks in relation to giving the issue greater recognition, and what more can the Government do?

I appreciate that this is a difficult question, and probably one that the Scottish Government is facing itself, but how do we best identify those unpaid carers? If they are not engaging with existing organisations and services, how do we identify them so that we can get their views and feed them into the strategy?

If we do not move in that direction and double down on efforts to counter the toxicity that you have talked about, what will be the impact on the social care sector, maybe not tomorrow, but five, 10 or 15 years down the line?

10:15

I will direct it to Professor Macaskill. To build on the last part of your answer, your submission noted a survey showing that about 26 per cent of the workforce was made up of international workers. It is clear that the current system makes growing that almost impossible. What do you think needs to happen in order to offer tailored routes for immigration to encourage more people to come to Scotland? We have an ageing population and will rely more heavily on international workers to support the Scottish social care system.

I will come back to those points in a minute, but I am after a specific point of clarity for the committee, given that this is our initial scoping session. The statistics I referred to were specifically on alcohol, but in your contributions you have referred to alcohol and drug deaths, and so did your submission and the Scottish Government’s strategic plan. Why is that? Has it always been the case that they are referred to together? Would it be helpful to separate alcohol deaths and drugs deaths and communicate on them as two separate issues?

09:45

I read in the alcohol and drugs strategic plan that a specific alcohol harm prevention plan was on its way. It was not in the programme for government that was published yesterday, but I am sure that details will be forthcoming—the committee might want to ask the minister about it when she meets us. Do we need to look specifically at the points that I have raised about inequality in relation to the impact that alcohol has on working-class men? Does part of the prevention plan that you talked about involve a grown-up conversation about trusting people to take responsible choices in everyday settings rather than leaning specifically on alcohol minimum unit pricing alone?