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I have looked through the details of the money that has been provided to boards, and it appears that the amount spent on distinction awards has come down. Are we still giving out new distinction awards or have they been phased out?

Would you be looking to write off a proportion of the debt that the health boards have accrued?

Kim Atkinson of the Scottish Sports Association said in her evidence to us,

“Given that culture is free, why is sport not free?”—[Official Report, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, 30 November 2021; c 32.]

Do you accept that the cost of facilities can be a major barrier to participation? In hoping that you do accept that, I also ask what measures could be put in place to address it.

There are many research, cancer and other databases that Scotland does not have but that England does. If we were to combine and work together, we would have a much larger and much improved pool of data. For example, there is the fracture liaison service database, which we do not have in Scotland. It makes sense to me to join these things together and have a big database. Will that approach encourage more shared databases and more shared work between our nations?

We know that mental health deteriorated across the United Kingdom during the pandemic, and especially during the lockdown. We also know that perinatal mental health issues have been presenting difficulties for women in Scotland and that they were doing so even before the pandemic. Those issues range from stigma to women not having a dedicated mother and baby ward that they can go to.

My questions are focused on women from ethnic backgrounds. What impact has Covid had expressly on those from ethnic backgrounds? Given that further restrictions are possibly on the horizon, what learning have we done to prevent the same issues from arising again?

The important point is that, as we have heard, black women are twice as likely to die during pregnancy and those from ethnic minorities are less likely to get the Covid vaccine and so are at greater risk. Those things combined give cause for concern.

Specifically on perinatal mental health, stigma is a big problem, especially in minority ethnic groups. I am keen to hear that we will be able to take forward the learning from the NMPA report and put it into effect. I appreciate that the numbers are not large, but the issue really matters. We need to get our approach to ethnicity right. We have had a period of some stability, so why were measures not put in place? My question is to Kirstie Campbell. You have talked about capacity, but when do you expect to be able to start helping people from ethnic minorities?

Emma Harper has just asked about training; on that, my question is about ethnicity. What training is being given to ensure that differences in ethnicity are being picked up, assessed and treated? Speaking as a doctor who was trained in the 2000s, I certainly did not receive such training. I direct that question to Dr Chopra and to Dr Ross-Davie.

I did my training at Glasgow royal infirmary, and I know from my time in the maternity and obstetrics unit that there is a separate area—a sort of closed unit—for mothers who experience stillbirth, to ensure that they do not see other people’s happiness. Would it be appropriate to roll out that kind of separate unit that sits a bit further away from the main ward?

That works quite well for me, convener, because my question is for Cat Berry. You have talked about birth trauma. We went through a very difficult birth with my first child and the support really was not there. Although we all recognise that it is the woman who goes through birth trauma, the men and partners also suffer—I suffered—trauma through difficult births. What support is in place not only from your organisation, but from other health boards for the partners of women going through birth trauma?

I want to come in on the level of adults’ activity and participation in sport that David Ferguson spoke about. I also want to expand on Stephanie Callaghan’s question and what the convener said.

I love sport. I played competitive sport all the way through university, but in adulthood that activity is gone. Weather and access to facilities are key factors when we leave school. Norway, which has worse weather than we have, deals with that situation well, so how can we improve it?