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Good morning, cabinet secretary. When I see a patient in general practice and, for example, organise an X-ray or put them on to a waiting list to see a hospital consultant, the first question that they always ask me is how long the wait will be.

I know that, along with Audit Scotland, the Public Audit Committee has highlighted that, stating—I paraphrase—that NHS boards should publish data on performance to enable transparency on how NHS boards are managing their waiting lists.

Patients and doctors want to know how long patients have to wait. Why can we not have in the future—in the plan—indicative waiting times that are relatively live, so that we can all go on a website and see how long we need to wait?

When the Auditor General came before the committee, he said that it will be difficult to evaluate long Covid patients’ outcomes and how they get on through the services. Therefore, with the money that is being spent, will you ensure that we embed a way to see how long Covid patients get on with their journey and also to evaluate the outcomes with those published beforehand?

When do you expect that to be online?

Minister, you spoke earlier about the WHO recommendations. Price and availability are another key part of the issue. We have heard about, and some of us have experienced, the problems with granting licences. A lot of councils feel that, when they are presented with applications for alcohol licences, they cannot say no because of the worry of going to court and losing. I know that Glasgow City Council is doing particularly well in trying to look at the issue, but is there anything that the Scottish Government can do to strengthen the hand of councils around the country so that they can say no to people who present for licences?

It is very important that we let councils make those decisions, but my real concern is the fact that they cannot say no. They should not be in that position. Councils should be able to make a decision without worrying that they will have to go to court and end up spending a vast amount of money on trying to defend their decision, and that they might lose.

Before I ask the question that I was going to ask, I want to come in on the back of Sue Webber’s question.

Minister, you talked about other studies at a population level, but is it not true to say that those studies also show that problem drinkers are drinking more through the pandemic, and that the number of people who are drinking more moderately has significantly decreased? I do not think that what Sue Webber was asking about and what you were talking about in your answer quite match up.

In February, you spoke about how you were keen to remain aligned with EU law where such an alignment was appropriate and in Scotland’s best interests. Will you give any examples of where the Government might choose to diverge from EU law?

It is important that the minister said that drug and alcohol services are often co-located, because that is almost always the case. The survey work that we did showed that some patients who go to residential rehab drop out because they are unwilling to wait any longer. As I am sure the minister knows, when patients present and want help, they often have a small window to get that help. Often, they have chaotic lives and can lose stability, and the desire to achieve abstinence can wane over time.

I am sure that the minister has also seen that the Scottish Conservatives have published the consultation responses on the proposed right to recovery bill, with 77 per cent of respondents being supportive of the proposals. Will the minister agree to seriously look at and support our proposals?

Absolutely. However, minimum alcohol pricing was brought in to address problem drinkers because, as you said, someone could go over 14 units for £2.50. It is the problem drinkers who we are really trying to target with minimum alcohol pricing, because those who spend significantly more on their alcohol are not affected by minimum alcohol pricing whether they have a problem with drinking or not. Minimum alcohol pricing tried to target the group of people who drink very cheaply, but it seems that they have drunk more.

Given everything that you have just said, minister, it seems reasonable that councils should be able to say no and justify that decision. However, if we look up and down the country, we see that that is not happening, because councillors are worried that they are going to be taken to court and lose the court case, which would cost their council a lot of money. Councils cannot be in that position—councillors need to be in a position in which they can say no.