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Good afternoon, minister. You indicated that we must all do what we can to work together to save lives, and you said that you are focusing hard on health interventions in the drug deaths crisis. Do you think that, in order to bring the situation under control, global mortality experts are needed to assist the Drug Deaths Taskforce in dealing with what many people consider to be a public health disaster in Scotland?

You emphasised that, although investment in health and rehabilitation is critical, it is not the only action that can be taken. I realise that I am covering ground that other members have explored, but I want to ask about the importance of tackling poverty and deprivation in the health and rehabilitation strategy. Can you expand on your thoughts on that?

It has been an interesting discussion so far. In his response to Karen Adam, Pete Ritchie has started to answer the question that I was going to ask about the right to food. Could I get the panellists’ views about the merits or weaknesses of incorporating the right to food in the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill? If it is not incorporated, could the bill be strengthened in other ways to address the issues around access to food?

I will ask the same question on the right to food that I asked the previous panel. We heard about a whole-systems approach and policy cohesion, but we have people going hungry and who are in food poverty, as Jonnie Hall has just mentioned. Should the right to food be incorporated in the bill? Do you have thoughts on the merits or weaknesses of doing so, or can you see any other ways that the bill can be strengthened on the issues of access to food?

I thank the witnesses for the really interesting discussion so far. I will ask a bit more about the right to food. What do you think about including the right to food in the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill, as opposed to including it in a human rights bill? Do you consider them to be mutually exclusive; are there particular strengths in having the right to food in one bill, as opposed to the other? If the right to food is not formally incorporated through the bill, should the bill be strengthened to be more supportive of the right to food and, if so, how? I realise that there is quite a lot in there; I am conscious of the time.

Absolutely. We are just getting going, and, if more people want to be involved, the door is open. Everybody’s lived experience and, as you have said, smaller groups in communities all help, because the issue affects everybody across Scotland. That would be absolutely essential.

Thank you, convener. Good morning to you and the committee members.

The cross-party group on poverty aims to act as a forum for exploring the drivers of and solutions to poverty in Scotland. It would act to connect MSPs with organisations that are working to tackle poverty, as well with people who are living on low incomes across Scotland, in order to better inform anti-poverty policy making and contribute to the ending of poverty in Scotland, which I think everybody in the Parliament wants to see.

The group intends to explore the drivers of poverty and the different experiences of it across Scotland, covering issues such as stigma, rurality, race and disability as well as looking at the particular risk of poverty that is experienced by certain groups such as lone parents. We are keen to explore how we can gain greater consensus on the need to tackle poverty across political parties and Scottish society at large. Given that more than a million people in Scotland live in the grip of poverty, we believe that the group is hugely necessary and can make a real contribution towards on-going efforts to prevent and reduce poverty in Scotland’s communities.

Already, we have been hugely encouraged by the enormous interest that we have seen in the group’s work. Both the inaugural meeting and a subsequent informal meeting of the group attracted a large and diverse group of organisations and individuals. Many of those organisations are smaller, community-based organisations, which often struggle to have their voices heard in policy-making processes or in the Parliament, and we hope that the group will act as a forum for them to help to shape and influence discussions around poverty in Scotland.

Subject to the committee’s decision, the group’s convener will be Neil Gray and the deputy conveners will be Pam Duncan-Glancy, Jeremy Balfour and me. The secretariat for the group will be provided by the Poverty Alliance, Scotland’s national anti-poverty network. We believe that it is the first-ever cross-party group on poverty, and we consider that it is in the public interest that MSPs of all parties, alongside expert stakeholders, work together to tackle poverty in Scotland.

Thank you, convener.

I am trying to get at whether HIE has the same as it had last year, whereas other enterprise agencies have had an increase. I am trying to establish what the difference is between HIE and the other agencies.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. You will not be surprised to hear that my questions are on islands issues.

Looking at the budget for Highlands and Islands Enterprise, it seems as though there has been a reduction for HIE where the South of Scotland Enterprise Agency and Scottish Enterprise have both had an increase. I think that we can all agree that business development is very important in supporting rural and island areas. Can you explain the reduction in HIE’s budget, please?