I am grateful for the opportunity to bring this debate to the chamber this evening. I also thank members who supported today’s motion, which highlights the Healthy Ageing in Scotland study. It was led by the University of Stirling and focuses on the real-life day-to-day experiences of older people in Scotland.

Healthy ageing is an important issue for many people across the chamber, and I have no doubt that we will hear some thoughtful contributions. It is clear that the issue will become only more important to Scotland in the years to come. As we know, there are already more than 2 million people aged over 50 in Scotland, which equates to around 38 per cent of the population. We also know that Scotland’s population has been steadily ageing for the past 40 years—a trend that will continue. Indeed, the study highlights that there will be an 85 per cent increase in people aged over 75 by 2039, which is a higher increase than is expected in any other part of the United Kingdom.

The study provides first-hand details and insight into the lives of over-50s in Scotland, and aims to look at older people’s health, their economic circumstances and their social wellbeing. It is also Scotland’s entry into the Gateway to Global Aging Data platform, which provides data on over two thirds of the world’s over-50s population. A number of helpful reports have already come out of the study, including one that had a specific focus on how the pandemic affected the wellbeing of older people. That study highlighted the fact that the pandemic affected older people’s wellbeing at the time, and we know that older people depend on services that are recovering even today.

The truth is that the wellbeing of older people in Scotland was a problem well before the pandemic arrived. Data from National Records of Scotland show that Scotland still has a lower life expectancy when compared not just with the rest of the UK but with countries across western Europe. That is quite damning, so I look forward to hearing what the minister says on that in her summing-up speech.

Although overall life expectancy remains low, there is also a huge gap in life expectancy between the most deprived and the least deprived areas of the country. For men, that gap is about 13 years, and for women it is 10 and a half years. Those are worrying trends, and the gaps continues to widen.

There are also public health issues in relation to smoking, alcohol and cancer rates. Those all play a part in the situation. Mental health and loneliness are also significant problems in Scotland, with more than half of older people saying that they sometimes feel lonely. It is also estimated that there is at least one chronically lonely person on every street in Scotland. That represents a crisis.

Given that more than 50,000 Scottish pensioners live in relative poverty, it is important that the Scottish Government considers what older people are dealing with when it comes to expansion of its social security programme. Older people are more likely to have higher levels of disability, but a significant percentage are not claiming the disability benefits that they might be entitled to. We cannot allow older people to be left behind because they are not receiving the support, including financial support, that they require.

The Scottish Government needs to do more to address the matter. The Scottish Government must also engage with older people and stakeholders, including Age Scotland, as it develops its benefits take-up strategy.

The waiting lists that older people now face in the national health service are at tipping point, and the situation is spiralling out of control across many health board areas. The new health secretary should scrap his predecessor’s failed recovery plan and bring in measures to get waiting times back on track. That is vitally important.

Given all the problems that we have, the Scottish Government must send a clear message that it needs older people, and they should be seen as a key priority, going forward. The First Minister set out many priorities yesterday, but he did not specifically mention anything about our ageing population and older people. We used to have a dedicated minister for older people. That role has been incorporated into other remits, which is something that I feel should not have happened and is a fault and flaw within the new Government set-up.

That is not to mention the fact that comments have previously been made by a member of the Government suggesting that the number of older people who have passed away since 2014 would lead to a “gain” for independence. That is an astonishing comment for anyone to make about older individuals in our community. After such comments, it is perhaps not surprising that research by Age Scotland has found that only 21 per cent of over-50s in Scotland feel valued by society.

Although the study is a work in progress, it is already clear that its findings will be increasingly important in the years to come. The University of Stirling and its partners, including the universities of Edinburgh and Strathclyde, should be commended for the work that they have done so far. Scotland could truly be a great country in which to grow old and the findings of the study could be key to making that vision a reality, but there must be support and understanding from the Government. It is clear that further action from the Scottish Government is needed in this area and I hope that members from across the chamber will join me in pushing for that.

Older people are important and valued, and the Scottish Government must support older people and treat them with the respect that they deserve. They are an asset to our communities and constituencies, not a liability to Scotland and its future.

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has for the Covid recovery and parliamentary business portfolio. (S6O-02068)

The mismanagement of public infrastructure projects has real consequences for communities on the ground. The Scottish Government’s incompetence is leaving islanders without working ferries and highlanders with a lethal, undualled A9. Infrastructure is not a priority for this Green-SNP Government. When will it start taking seriously the waste in Government and the desperation of the people of Scotland, who have been so badly let down by it?

The Covid recovery portfolio has had its difficulties during its short existence, ranging from the Covid passport scheme, which punished businesses, confused the public and cost taxpayers dearly, to the power grab bill that granted the Scottish Government permanent emergency powers. Can the minister say how he expects the Covid-19 inquiry to evaluate the performance of the portfolio over the past two years?

You have just identified that, if you had a wish list, you would do certain things. At the same time, you do not want to be curtailed in what you are trying to achieve as an organisation, which is ensuring that information is transmitted.

I still think that there might well be a requirement for you to seek support to achieve some of the goals that you have set yourself. Otherwise, you might be setting yourself up to fail. I appreciate that you want to make progress, but, at the same time, we do not want you to come back in a year and say, “Okay, we tried, but it didn’t quite work, and we’ve now found ourselves in a slightly bigger situation.” It would be good to get a flavour of how you will try to manage that, because that could—potentially but not necessarily—happen, depending on where you find yourselves.

In your opening statement, you talked about capacity. I think that we all acknowledge the capacity issue that you have had to endure. However, managing that capacity involves dealing with the staffing and resources that you have. You have identified that, to do the job, you will try to manage within those resources. Do you have an objective of looking at whether more are required? You are aware of where you have been, but achieving where you want to be might not be possible without more staff and resource. Your casework and the backlog have been identified, and you are managing that, but you are probably being asked to do more with less, and you might need a little more to achieve what you want to achieve. Is that where you think you will go?

You have identified the pinch points, which is good, because that will give you a flavour as to where you might be.

The other issue that I want to touch on is awareness—that is, your ability to make sure that people are aware of what services you offer and how you will deal with matters. The situation with regard to information is more acute than ever, so it would be interesting to get a flavour of what your approach to awareness is and whether you have plans for communication. You have mentioned your website, but are there other aspects that you can encapsulate that will support you to increase awareness of what you do, which will make it much easier for the public to understand FOI and also make it easier for you, as a management organisation, to cope with the work?

I am delighted to close the debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives and to speak in support of the amendment in the name of Edward Mountain.

I welcome the fact that time has been set aside to debate how best we can support veterans as they transition into civilian life. It is right that we also acknowledge the important role that veterans’ families can and do play throughout that process, and that we discuss how we can best support them to do so.

We owe our veterans a debt of sincere gratitude for their service to our country. Many of us, from all parties, have acknowledged that debt today. As well as our gratitude, we owe veterans a commitment to do all that we can to support them to contribute to society. That is vital.

Veterans are often spoken about as one group, but the truth is that veterans come from various backgrounds, with different skill sets, talents and needs. However, the common feature among veterans is that they all have something to offer society after leaving the armed forces.

Around 1,800 of those who leave the armed forces each year come to live in Scotland. It is estimated that, by 2028, nearly half of veterans will be of working age. It is therefore important that we acknowledge how much they have done and that we help them to transfer their skills to civilian life effectively.

As the Scottish veterans commissioner has set out, the aim for veterans when transitioning is to find the correct job rather than just any job. It is a common trend among individuals leaving the services that they sell themselves short when trying to find employment. It is vital that we ensure that they do not sell themselves short.

The support and advice that are offered to service leavers is also vital. The Careers Transition Partnership and Skills Development Scotland play their part, but we also need to play ours.

As it stands, and as the veterans commissioner has acknowledged, a number of veterans and their families are unaware of the services that are available to them. She says that the available support needs to be flagged up so that those leaving the armed forces can consider all the services that they are entitled to and all the potential careers that they might wish to pursue.

Career pathways include self-employment. Many veterans do not consider that pathway, but there are lots of opportunities in it. As we have heard, there are businesses—big and small—that are happy to support veterans. That support could act as a stepping stone for veterans to set up their own businesses. It is vital that we support all those possibilities to ensure that they get additional help—including, sometimes, added financial support—so that that career pathway can become a reality.

It is also important that access to social security is discussed when we consider how systems work for veterans. We know that the Scottish Government’s benefit take-up strategy rightly aims at addressing some of the concerns in that area, but it also acknowledges that veterans as a group are less likely to access all the benefits that they are entitled to. The strategy fails to tailor its approach to veterans, and that has been acknowledged. I hope that the cabinet secretary will speak about that issue during his summing up.

It is clear that Scotland has a real role to play in that regard, and it is good to see that the UK Government has been working with the Scottish Government to manage some of those matters. The reviews that have come out show the very important work that has taken place.

I would like to mention some of the contributions that we have heard this afternoon. The cabinet secretary talked about maximising opportunities. It is vital that we maximise the opportunities for each and every service leaver and that nobody is forgotten about. As the cabinet secretary said, the Scottish Government has a “No one left behind” approach.

General practitioner services and childcare have been mentioned. Those are all part of the jigsaw as we try to ensure that veterans have the support that they need.

My colleague Edward Mountain talked about the support that individuals from the armed forces have and the joint strategy that is in place. However, there are issues when it comes to education, childcare, GPs, housing and homelessness. I echo the sentiment that the armed forces covenant should be enshrined. Those are important issues to take on board.

I was at the event in Parliament that Paul Sweeney hosted on Tuesday, and I acknowledge the fantastic support that Glasgow’s Helping Heroes is providing in the Glasgow area. The event was an eye-opener that showed us parliamentarians what is happening on the ground and what we can do to support that.

In his speech today, Paul Sweeney talked about the good practice that takes place to support veterans. He said that individuals from the veterans community can be “worth their weight in gold” to employers, and it is vital that we get that message across. They are not individuals who are sitting back, not doing things, or sitting on the street, or having issues. They only need opportunities to work for something and achieve it.

My colleague Russell Findlay spoke about the employment issues for veterans who have physical and mental issues to manage. Some come home with trauma, but many do not come home with any of the traumas that have been discussed this afternoon. It is very important to make progress on how we manage benefits, the isolation and the physical and mental healthcare needs of all of them.

Jamie Greene spoke about what is required when it comes to healthcare, which is a vitally important issue. He also spoke about issues that I, too, heard about when I went to Lossiemouth, when families mentioned how hard it is to find employment and to follow up on a job as they had childcare issues and there was not enough support around to allow them to make that transition.

It is important that we try to marry those things together. I know that the cabinet secretary has spoken about that, but I have been to two or three events, during this session of Parliament and the previous one, when I have visited families who have talked about that issue. They continue to talk about it, so there is still a gap there that needs to be looked at.

Homelessness and suicide are also massive issues when it comes to how we manage and support our veterans.

Throughout the debate, we have talked about the importance of veterans within our society, about the unique skill set that many of those individuals have to offer and about their great potential in helping us to have a flourishing labour market.

We have also heard about some of the specific challenges that our veterans still face when transitioning into civilian life. Martin Whitfield spoke about the Forces Life board game and comic book. I have had the privilege of being involved in that process from its inception, when youngsters came and spoke about it. We then went to a university art class, which decided to do the designs. I hope that, later this year, we will have the opportunity to launch the board game and comic book. It did not happen as planned due to a delay by us, in Parliament, one night, resulting in the youngsters not being able to come, but I am sure that it will take place in the future.

Without question, there is a lot of consensus around what is taking place. We all want to support as many individuals as we can through the transition into civilian life, so that veterans can enjoy the productive life that they deserve, given the contributions and the sacrifices that they have made. We owe it to them to ensure that they get the best start, which we all enjoy, when they leave service and join society.

The cabinet secretary has acknowledged that we need a joined-up structure. One of the areas that has been identified is the benefits system. His benefit take-up strategy acknowledged that veterans are less likely to access the benefits that they are entitled to. How is that being managed?

As you identified, convener, at this stage in the proceedings, we do not have many options, so I suggest that, under rule 15.7 of standing orders, we close the petition.

As you identified, clinical trials will be carried out with a view to building an evidence base that is connected with CBPMs. Unlicensed products are not routinely available on the NHS, and licensing is the only way to ensure safety, quality and efficacy. Pending results from the clinical trials, there is no further action that the committee can take.

In closing the petition, the committee could write to the petitioner to highlight the eligibility of Scottish patients for the upcoming clinical trials and the information provided by the interim chief pharmaceutical officer about the process. That would be useful. However, there is not much further action that we, as a committee, can take at this stage. As you identified, the petition could come back in some other format.