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Holistic support is really important as well.

My question is on a similar theme, which has been with us for the past few weeks: concerns about the funding that is available to the wider services that are involved in suicide prevention, wider mental health work and physical health services.

Some amazing work is happening with small pockets of money at the heart of communities. We all know of community-based groups in our areas that are making a real difference, providing a lifeline to many people and helping to empower and encourage individuals to develop the skills that they need to manage their own mental and physical health. It is not even possible to put a figure on the difference that those groups have made.

Will you commit additional funding? Those groups are asking for their funding to be sustained. They are asking for a small pocket of money and to be left to get on with their work.

Do you realise the importance of those services and how they can support the strategy’s implementation? We are talking about really small pockets of money. I know that we are all skint, but we are working together.

Councillor Kelly, is there anything that you or your colleagues from COSLA want to add?

We have heard about the increased risk to people who are in prison and about the issues with getting adequate support when they move on from prison. Could you give a bit of detail on that from COSLA’s point of view?

Do you know of any charities that work specifically with people who are leaving prison? Sorry to put you on the spot. If you do not have the information, I think that the committee would be quite interested to find that out.

That would be really helpful. Thank you.

Finally, you will be aware that, in Scotland, we are trying to mitigate the benefit cap through discretionary housing payments. Have you taken an interest in that intervention and its impact alongside the Scottish child payment?

Good morning, panel. Thanks for your time this morning. Dr Stone, will you tell the committee your views on what the ways are to help to ensure that all children who are living in poverty are eligible for the Scottish child payment?

I am interested in your written submission, in which you say:

“The Scottish Child Payment ... is for many families simply acting to offset the consequences of UK-level policies that restrict their incomes—most importantly, the two-child limit and the benefit cap. Fully addressing child poverty in Scotland therefore requires action at a UK level as well as at a national level.”

Are you aware of many families who are receiving the Scottish child payment and are also impacted by the two-child policy and the benefit cap?

I am interested to hear more about that. If you have anything else on that, could you send it in to the committee? I am sure that other members would be interested, too.