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There are no more questions from me, convener, but I would just go back to the point that Mr Balfour made earlier. When it comes to our deciding on best policy, what do you think are the benefits that are working most effectively to deliver on the ambition that you have set out?
I am sorry to read this one out, but we have to fully understand the agony that some people are going through: “Every conversation mum tells me how she wants to die.” We know that visits can be done safely and I know that the First Minister cares, but the families just want action.
I will take a bit of time to give as much detail as possible. When we talk about “vulnerable people”, first and foremost we are talking about the group that we refer to as “shielded”.
Once we get into the process—Bob Doris talked about this—of thinking about what cross-party groups are for and whether they meet the criteria, and if we use them in the best way that we can, we may start to see MSP take-up rise in the future.
When I talked to Argyll and Bute Council about that, a point was made that planning permission might be granted to a developer, but there is nothing in the system that requires the developer to move forward.
Again, the statistics will not necessarily reveal the difference and unfairness in the current system. My last point, which picks up on Annabelle Ewing’s comment, is: what is the point of this?
Deprivation has a clear influence on the numbers of drug and alcohol deaths, with people in our most deprived areas being 15 times more likely to die from drug misuse than people in the least deprived areas and four and a half times more likely to die from alcohol misuse.
I have a brief supplementary on that point. Is there any sharing of best practice across the higher and further education institutions about the best way to go about widening access and encouraging more people to apply?