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In its submission, the Royal College of Psychiatrists said that there is

“a wide variation by health board in how even CAMHS set its expectation for who would likely need care in its services”

and that that is dependent on particular geographies and availability of resource. To what extent does regional variation impact rejected referrals? That question is for Joanne Smith.

I have heard from the social care sector that increasing workloads and reduced—[Inaudible.]—have undermined its ability to build relationships with the young people, families and carers who it works with and to make early interventions. How has that affected the wellbeing of care-experienced young people? I put that to Lucy Hughes.

The other issue that I want to touch on is data. The lack of data on rejected referrals has been highlighted to the committee. Do we have a sense of whether children and young people from certain backgrounds with certain conditions, or from marginalised groups, are more likely to be rejected for support? I will go to Dr Stark on that.

Given that many of the women who travelled did not expect to be reimbursed, do you believe that there is sufficient flexibility to address the many different situations that may arise, to ensure that anyone who claims under the scheme will be covered?

That is great—thank you.

Can the witnesses provide more detail on the exceptional circumstances provision at paragraph 16? Can you provide an example of circumstances that may require that provision to be used?

Given the emergence of the omicron variant, the impact that it will have on the recovery of the health service and the uncertainty around that, how do you see that spending around recovery being allocated?

Thank you.

Thank you, convener. The consultation on the framework has taken place. What issues did parties raise during the consultation, and have they been addressed?

Given the new variant, have estimates and identified funding allocations changed in the 2022-23 budget?