Chamber and committees

Does that affect the labelling of products as well? Health-harming products might contain certain chemicals that are used in food production. I note that NFU Scotland is calling for clear country-of-origin labelling. Do the provisions in the bill bleed into those issues?

I will be quick. What are the cabinet secretary’s concerns about professional regulation? Our briefing paper says that the UK Government recognises that it might want to reform

“the overarching system of healthcare professional regulation.”

Are there concerns about that? Obviously, we have our own healthcare workforce that we need to support, look after and protect.

This is on the back of Tess White’s question. Around one in three people with Covid-19 does not have symptoms but can still infect others. As we head into winter and face the likelihood of people gathering indoors, I am sure that the First Minister will want to reiterate how important it is that people take rapid lateral flow tests every three or four days to check for Covid-19 even if they do not have symptoms. Can she confirm that those tests will still remain free of charge in Scotland?

Step-down care home beds have been used in previous winters to improve the flow of patients through hospitals and to get people the care that they need in the right place. Will the cabinet secretary outline how today’s announcement will help people whose discharge has been delayed into a more appropriate care setting?

Will the cabinet secretary provide an update on how Scots who have been vaccinated outside Scotland—including my constituent who lives in Ecclefechan but who works for the NHS in England, where they were first vaccinated—can obtain proof of vaccination status?

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate and congratulate Fulton MacGregor on securing it. I congratulate cool school uniforms for ensuring that children and young people in Coatbridge can obtain clean and comfortable school uniforms. I welcome the commitment in the Scottish Government-Green party agreement to introduce statutory guidance for schools to increase the use of generic items of school uniform. I agree that the use of exclusive supplier arrangements between schools and businesses can be extremely expensive—the cost is prohibitive for many families.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a direct and negative impact on family budgets across Scotland, including in my South Scotland region, while costs have increased significantly. Too often, school uniforms are an additional expense that families on low incomes struggle to meet.

During the pandemic, the London School of Economics carried out research into the effect of the cost of school uniforms on low-income families across the four UK nations. Case studies in the report showed that families in all parts of the UK were being driven to choose between heating or eating and that they also had to make such choices about school uniforms. The report also found that the root cause of those inequalities was the UK Government’s welfare system.

There are regional variations in support in England. I welcome the steps that the Scottish Government is taking, such as the school clothing grant of £120 for primary school pupils and £150 for secondary school pupils. Those grants are a lifeline for many families.

One participant in the LSE study, Tahlia from the Scottish Borders, articulated the challenges being faced by families as regards uniforms. Tahlia once relied on charity shops and pre-loved clothing from friends and people in the community for school uniforms. The inaccessibility of those sources during lockdown triggered a spiral of bills, debt and hunger.

Tahlia said:

“Because of covid … I’ve not received any hand me down clothes for my sons this whole year … In September had to buy 3 children all brand new uniform … I’m £2000 in debt, I ran out of money a week last Thursday … I’ve only eaten a diet based on bread and potatoes this last month as I wanted to ensure my kids had food.”

She said that just as the UK Government is proposing to take away the £20 per week universal credit uplift from the most vulnerable families in the UK. It is completely unacceptable. Once again, I call on the UK Government to reverse that callous, cruel cut.

I want to highlight some of the important work that is being carried out by dedicated people across Dumfries and Galloway to ensure that young people have access to school uniforms, such as the Dumfries uniform bank, run by Dr Amy Vetters, which I visited in 2018. The uniform bank has been operational since 2017, and is available to any family in Dumfries and the surrounding area who are struggling with the costs of school uniforms. The uniform bank has collection points at various supermarkets, where those who are able to do so can donate items of uniform. The uniform bank has helped more than 380 families so far with uniform costs. I thank Amy and the volunteers for their work.

Another organisation that works across Dumfries and Galloway is Aberlour. I visited the Aberlour Dumfries north-west resource centre campus on Monday and met Amanda McAllister, the manager. Aberlour has a range of support options available to families for school uniforms and its recent one shirt one month challenge to help with the cost of school uniforms for local families has had great support.

I welcome the debate and I support the measures that the Scottish Government has put in place to assist families with the cost of school uniforms. Again, I call on the UK Government to reverse the callous and cruel cut to the £20 per week uplift to universal credit.

Thanks, Gillian, but I do not actually have a supplementary question—I was just correcting a spelling mistake in the chat box. [Laughter.]

In the Health and Sport Committee, we took evidence on shifting the balance of care and moving finances into a social prescribing model. One of the things that I am interested in is the prevention of type 2 diabetes complications. We spend lots of money mitigating or treating complications—£800 million is a lot of money—when those complications are preventable.

What is the value of social prescribing? Should it really be invested in more in order to help to improve health and tackle inequalities? I am interested in that because of the previous committee work on social prescribing. Maybe we should start with David Walsh.

I am interested in issues and ideas around fair work, recruitment and retention. My first job, before I started my nurse training, was in a care home, although that was a long time ago. What should we do to support recruitment and retention, aside from considering wages? A band 5 staff nurse gets about £15 an hour, and they train for three years, with knowledge and skills development, competency demonstration and assessment. Does there need to be more structure in education in order to encourage recruitment and retention and so that people’s roles are perceived as skilled jobs, whether they work in home care, in a residential home or in a nursing home?

A recent Royal Society for the Protection of Birds report put the UK at the bottom of the G7 league table for how much biodiversity it has left, although it noted that Scotland had the highest level of biodiversity intactness of all UK nations. Does the minister agree that the Scottish Government can be rightly proud of its comprehensive efforts since 2007 to protect Scotland’s wildlife?