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The systemic racism in the Scottish health service, which you have said does exist, is a problem for not only the staff but the patients. I will set aside the staff issue for now. One of the big issues that patients have is accessing healthcare because they do not feel that it is for them. How can we address that issue and improve the situation?

You are right in what you say, because black and minority ethnic women are more likely to die when they are pregnant.

I will illustrate my final question with two examples, the first of which seems very simple and small: it involves sticking plasters and Band-aids. When I had a cut, I would put on a sticking plaster and a Band-aid. I did not realise that they were supposed to be skin coloured. When they were produced in different colours, it made a world of difference. When you put on a sticking plaster, it is not big and obvious; it does not show that something has happened. It is things like that that really matter. It is only when I saw that that I noticed how awful it was.

My other example relates to the Indian community, which includes Sikhs and Hindus. There are no information leaflets available in Hindi in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area. Public Health Scotland produced a report that talked about the Muslim community, the Polish community and the black community, but there was nothing in it about the Indian community or Hindus and Sikhs. Why was that the case? Why has that rather large community been excluded?

I am sorry, but I have a final question about vaping, minister. I agree that vaping can be quite an effective tool to help the cessation of cigarette smoking, and it probably has a significantly lower risk than smoking. However, when I walk into anywhere, to be honest, but especially a hospital, I do not particularly want to be faced with a cherry-smelling—or whatever-smelling—cloud. That is what happens with a vape. Even though there might not be evidence about second-hand harm, I urge you to look at vaping and include it in the legislation so that we have absolute clarity that people cannot smoke at all around a hospital.

Professor Marmot, I remember reading about everything that you were doing when I was at medical school, so it is great to be able to see you and speak to you.

I have a question for Professor Meier. I believe that you founded the Sheffield alcohol research group. Through all the work that you have done and what we have seen, we know that alcohol most impacts people who are more deprived. Two reports have come out on alcohol and minimum unit pricing in Scotland, including one that came out today. Both reports present evidence that minimum unit pricing is not working and that the most vulnerable people, especially those who drink spirits, are cutting back on buying food. What is your response to that? How can we ensure that the impact of alcohol is not felt so greatly in the areas of most deprivation?

With respect, alcohol consumption fell among those who were not deprived, but we saw alcohol consumption rise among people who have an alcohol problem and among the most vulnerable people. A report by Public Health Scotland found no clear evidence of a reduction in alcohol consumption among people drinking at harmful levels following the implementation of minimum unit pricing. However, you are absolutely right to say that there has been a collapse of recovery services, which is key. We have also found that those who are drinking have just switched what they drink, as I said in my first question.

The United Kingdom Government has increased tax on the basis of the alcohol level, so tax is increased on spirits and there are lower tax rates for drinks that are weaker in their alcohol content—those that are 3.5 per cent alcohol, for example—and for low and no-alcohol drinks. Should we be promoting low and no-alcohol drinks? Should we introduce a system that looks not just at pricing? In terms of health inequalities, our approach to alcohol is a huge area that does not seem to be quite working.

Dr Cawston, you said earlier that there is a standard amount of money going into general practice. Was I mistaken in thinking that, initially, GPs who worked in areas of high deprivation actually got more funding but that, following the introduction of the new GP contract, although there is an element of the funding allocation that concerns deprivation, more money is going to the care of those who are elderly and living with complex needs, which has reduced the money that is going into areas of deprivation?

My question relates to the one that Tess White asked. I want to focus on the inverse care law, which says that people who need help most often have the least access to it. As Toni Groundwater will know, that can be seen in the fact that there is a lack of prison medics. There are also areas with high levels of poverty that have the lowest number of available GPs and dentists for people living in them to access. Focusing on healthcare, are there any good schemes, and can they be scaled up to allow people to have more access to healthcare?

Existing issues have been highlighted by Covid, and we can now see the big fault lines throughout Scotland quite clearly. In the light of what Covid has shown us, what should be our number 1 priority to tackle, and how could we go about doing that?

You mentioned that you want an IT system for prescribing. As a general practitioner, I see people who come out of prison because they need healthcare, but I do not know what diagnoses have been made in prison. You spoke in your opening statement about mental health issues. A lot of that comes to the fore in prison, where people are seen and their mental health condition is diagnosed. I do not know what that diagnosis is or what drugs they have been prescribed. Some people come to me asking for drugs that I do not ordinarily prescribe—a specialist usually prescribes them. We are in a completely unsatisfactory situation for the patient, as well as for me, because I simply do not know what to do.

We want an IT system that works and talks to other systems, and we want digital prescribing. What are your needs and asks to make the process of a prisoner coming out of prison and accessing healthcare better not only for the patient but for the healthcare professional? Invariably, that is the same thing.

On vocational training and the fact that it will now be NES that pays rather than individual employers, does that mean that NES will also pay pension contributions? I assume that it does. Will the regulations also allow dentists who are on vocational training to access NHS benefits, including the cycle-to-work scheme?