So things such as cigarettes, tobacco and newspapers are included.

I am sorry, but we will have to move on. You have had 12 minutes of questions and answers, and we have lots to get through. We will move on to questions from Tess White.

Thank you. Sandesh Gulhane has a declaration of interest.

The Health, Social Care and Sport Committee recently concluded its pre-budget scrutiny for 2024-25. The exercise highlighted several important themes as key areas for the Scottish Government to work on over the coming years.

The first of those themes relates to multiyear budgeting. Many respondents to the committee’s call for written views highlighted that the current model of single-year budgeting hampers the delivery of services and stands in the way of the transformative change that is required in the sector.

Following calls from our committee for the Scottish Government to bring forward its refreshed medium-term financial framework for health and social care, I note the cabinet secretary’s commitment that it will be published in the spring. I reiterate the committee’s request that the framework provides more detailed analysis than was previously set out in the medium-term financial strategy and the resource spending review.

In previous years, the committee has highlighted concerns about the availability and accessibility of data related to health and social care spending, and the Scottish Government subsequently gave a commitment to make progress in that area. However, the committee has heard evidence of on-going issues with data and the challenges that that creates in measuring and reporting on progress towards meeting defined budget and policy goals.

I welcome the cabinet secretary’s response to the committee’s pre-budget scrutiny letter, which sets out the range of data that is currently available to support decision making, analysis and scrutiny and indicates that there is

“ongoing work to improve availability and accessibility, and to improve transparency.”

The committee’s pre-budget scrutiny highlighted the importance of the NHS Scotland resource allocation committee formula in determining levels of funding to be allocated to individual health boards in Scotland. In his response to the committee, the cabinet secretary confirmed that

“Work to review the formula is underway”,

but that it “will take time” to complete.

We also heard concerns from Audit Scotland that a number of Scotland’s 14 territorial NHS boards might not be able to break even by the end of the latest three-year financial planning period, as they are currently required to do. It would be helpful to receive reassurance from the Scottish Government today that robust contingency plans are in place to deal with such an eventuality.

The cabinet secretary also told the committee that the level of co-operation between boards in reducing costs, particularly through shared services and functions, is “variable”. The committee would be grateful if the Scottish Government could keep it updated, as data becomes available, on how it is encouraging further co-operation between boards and on how effective that has been.

The committee heard evidence that workforce capacity remains the biggest risk to the recovery of NHS services after the pandemic. Equally, there is concern that any increases that have been committed to in the health and social care budget might be consumed by recent—welcome—pay settlements, which avoided strike action by healthcare staff in Scotland, and by the impact of inflation.

In that context, I welcome the cabinet secretary’s update that progress has been made towards reducing NHS Scotland’s reliance on agency staff. As the workforce is the sector’s most important asset, it is vital to retain a focus on getting the best out of the workforce, which includes using innovation to free up capacity while ensuring that the workforce’s health and wellbeing are consistently and proactively supported.

Issues that relate to preventative spend have been a recurring theme in the committee’s financial scrutiny this session. Evidence that was submitted to the committee highlighted the significant challenges of moving towards a preventative approach to health and social care spending in the context of acute short-term demand for services.

During the committee’s budget scrutiny session, the cabinet secretary made the point that performance on two key measures has been moving in the wrong direction—mortality rates are increasing and health inequalities are widening. A reinforced focus on preventative spending could have a real impact on reversing those negative trends.

We acknowledge that, in the face of the current severe budgetary pressures, maintaining a focus on prevention will be a huge challenge. However, for the long-term sustainability of health and social care services, we should not let that weaken our determination to keep that focus.

Many who submitted evidence to the committee argued for initiating a national conversation to involve the public in discussions about the future of health and social care in the context of increasing demand, demographic change and finite budgetary resources. I welcome the cabinet secretary’s acknowledgement in responding to our pre-budget scrutiny letter that, although the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the fundamentals of Scotland’s NHS do not change, reform is required.

Furthermore, the committee received oral and written evidence that highlighted significant shortcomings in linking health and social care spend to specific outcomes. On the basis of that evidence, the committee asked the Scottish Government how it intends to shift away from a focus on short-term targets towards a long-term outcomes-based approach.

In response, the Scottish Government highlighted that its care and wellbeing dashboard provides a framework to drive progress towards a common set of long-term outcomes. In its updated format, that is a welcome innovation. As part of the annual budget process, it would be helpful to map progress towards the long-term outcomes against health and social care spending.

As part of the forthcoming five-year review, the committee would welcome a debate about how the national performance framework can be reformed to become a more effective tool to support strategic outcomes-based policy making and spending in health, social care and sport.

The committee’s scrutiny of the budget for 2024-25 highlighted key challenges that we need to confront to place health and social care spending on a more sustainable footing for the long term. I and my fellow committee members look forward to continuing to scrutinise the extent to which the coming year’s budget is meeting those challenges in the months ahead.

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, as I hold a bank nurse contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. With reference to section 3 of the “Code of Conduct for Members of the Scottish Parliament”, I raise a concern that proper procedure was not followed at First Minister’s question time on 25 January last week. In a supplementary question, Pam Gosal made a number of claims about the rent cap that was implemented under the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022. However, she failed to declare her interest—in the form of shares that are worth more than £1 million in three letting companies—as listed in her entry in the register of members’ interests.

It is vital that the public who view business in the chamber or who consult the Official Report are fully informed of potential conflicts of interest, particularly during business that is as closely followed as First Minister’s question time is. Before making the point of order, I waited one parliamentary sitting day to allow the member to correct the record. As far as I can ascertain, that has not been done. Will the Presiding Officer give guidance on how the Official Report can be amended to maintain this Parliament’s high standard of scrutiny in the area of members’ financial interests?

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support survivors of domestic abuse while they are engaged in the justice system. (S6O-03034)

I thank the minister for meeting me earlier this month, when we discussed a number of issues that have been raised with me by constituents about their experiences with the justice system. Those issues included domestic abusers using civil courts to continue to exert power over the survivor, potential limitations to the disclosure scheme for domestic abuse Scotland and, among other things, the cost of taking out non-harassment orders. How is the Scottish Government listening to the views and experiences of domestic abuse survivors in order to inform future policy and legislative plans?

I congratulate Richard Leonard on bringing to the chamber this members’ business debate on Mick McGahey, on the 25th anniversary of his death.

As a proud trade unionist for the whole of my working life, I am delighted to speak today—all the more so given that my Rutherglen constituency is so steeped in mining history. I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, as I am a member of Unison.

As in much of Lanarkshire, the pits in Rutherglen, Cambuslang and Blantyre were key sources of employment, but sadly they were blighted by a history of disaster and loss of life, which has been forgotten to many over the years. Scotland’s worst mining disaster took place in Blantyre in 1877 and claimed the lives of almost 6 per cent of the total population of the town.

That catastrophe for the town and its surrounding area is commemorated by a memorial and an obelisk and by a new memorial that was unveiled on 4 February last year. In September, I was pleased to attend the unveiling of a new miners’ memorial on Rutherglen Main Street, which stands as a fitting reminder to all who worked in Rutherglen’s coal mines from the 1500s through to the 1930s.

Although my constituency has had a proud mining history over the centuries, one of the key local figures over the past 100 years was undoubtedly Mick McGahey. The Cambuslang miners’ memorial wheel bears an inscription that is dedicated to the man himself. As we heard in Richard Leonard’s speech, Mick McGahey was born in Shotts and then moved to England with his family before settling in Cambuslang, in my constituency, where he spent his formative years. He attended a local school; I understand that he left school on a Friday at the age of 14 and that, by the time that Monday morning came round, he was working at Cambuslang’s Gateside colliery—at the same pit as his father.

Just four years on from Mick McGahey’s starting work at Gateshead colliery, he became a union branch secretary at the age of just 18. Growing up in a family of miners shaped his outlook in his life and his politics. His work, his trade unionism and his political beliefs went hand in hand.

Mick McGahey was a giant in the trade union movement, serving as vice-president of the NUM for a period, and, as we have heard, a lifelong member of the Communist Party. He was a man who dedicated his life to improving the working conditions for his membership, and he played a key role in the formation of this Parliament. At the 1968 Scottish Trades Union Congress, he moved a motion to try to shift the labour movement’s constitutional position to one in support of devolution. Although it was not immediately successful, he played his part in changing minds and policy.

Although Mick McGahey was not alive to see our Scottish Parliament reconvened, I share the views of Richard Leonard and the NUM that there should be a permanent memorial installed here in his memory. In addition to the plaque on the Cambuslang miners’ wheel, as I mentioned, there is a street in the Whitlawburn area in my constituency, McGahey Drive, which, I understand, is named after him.

Mick McGahey must count as one of the most influential people to have come from my constituency in recent times. A lot has changed in the 25 years since he passed away, not least the formation of the Scottish Parliament and the closure of the last deep coal mine in Longannet. What have not changed are the attacks on workers’ rights and their terms and conditions, and tragically, as we remember every year on international workers memorial day, people being killed in accidents at work. The need for strong trade union voices and representation is just important today as it was in the past.

On this anniversary of Mick McGahey’s death, I can see that there is no more fitting tribute than the creation of a memorial to him here, in Parliament, and I am proud to add my name in support of such calls.

I thank the minister for her answer. No other members have indicated that they wish to ask a question, so we will move to agenda item 2, which is the formal debate on the document on which we have just taken evidence.

I ask the minister to speak to and move motion S6M-11905.

Good morning, and welcome to the second meeting in 2024 of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. I have received no apologies for today’s meeting.

Our first agenda item is consideration of the draft Funeral Director Code of Practice, which is a document that is subject to parliamentary control. The purpose of the code is to set minimum standards for funeral director businesses in their care of the deceased, and related procedures and behaviours. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the document at its meeting on 9 January 2024 and made no recommendations in relation to it.

We will have an evidence session on the document with the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Jenni Minto, and her supporting Scottish Government officials. Once all our questions have been answered, we will proceed to a formal debate on the motion.

I welcome to the committee Jenni Minto; Elizabeth Sadler, deputy director of public health capabilities, Jo-anne Tinto, lawyer; and Alexandra Wright, burial and cremation team leader.

We will move straight to questions.