Seòmar agus comataidhean

I would be interested to know how much money has been claimed back through the scheme, versus the cost of the administrative work that is involved, so that we can see what difference the increase will make.

There are a couple of things that are really concerning when it comes to alcohol harms in Scotland. We need to be absolutely clear that the average is not the average, because those people who are harmful drinking will skew the average. Also, I found it really concerning that, even though we have that overall reduction in the amount of alcohol that has been sold, the average is 18 units per person per week. That is huge; that is over the recommended maximum amount that we should be drinking, which is 14 units.

What assessment can you give us on the effectiveness of the steps that we have taken?

It is not a comment on the uplift.

I am perfectly happy with what is proposed.

Absolutely. My question is really about the fact that the most deprived parts of Scotland have alcohol-related death rates that are eight times the rates in other areas. Are we doing enough targeted support in those areas? I would like to hear from Lucie Giles on that.

My question is for Judith Proctor. If problems occur, will integration authorities blame health boards, or vice versa? Bearing in mind the changes that are proposed for the future, will that situation lead to a vacuum of accountability?

Judith Proctor spoke about the need to consider how we inspire people to get into care. Donald Macaskill correctly described the skilled and challenging work that is involved in meeting people’s care needs. Annie Gunner Logan said that only base pay has been uplifted.

Why should a teenager or a young person get into care, if it is as challenging as Donald Macaskill said it is? They could earn £10.10 an hour at Aldi or they could earn far less to do a more challenging job. They could work at Asda, where they would get similar starting pay but they would have the opportunity to get a degree and to work their way up through a career-focused strategy. Lots of people have done that. They could start off stacking shelves and end up as a senior manager who earns hundreds of thousands of pounds. Given such an environment, how can we get people into the care sector?

That is the crux of the problem—as you said, once you have got people in the door, keeping them is difficult because, as we have seen through the pandemic, maintaining wellbeing is difficult. The work that people have been doing is extremely challenging; even without the pandemic, it is extremely challenging. You are right that it is rewarding—I am a doctor because the job is rewarding—but I am not sure that that is enough when you are talking about people who are going into the care sector, because we need to not only keep them but give them some form of career.

Everyone starts off on lower pay, and people accept that if they can see that there is career progression—again, without wanting to promote Asda, I note that it pays for staff to get a degree while they are working. We need such clear career progression to happen in care. How can we encourage that to happen?

Cabinet secretary, do you feel that a unified UK approach to the advertising of unhealthy food and drink would be better than individual approaches?

Mary Glasgow told the committee:

“There are babies and toddlers who are reluctant to go to nursery or to begin to move through important social stages”

and

“We will be seeing the impact of”

Covid

“for a long time to come”.—[Official Report, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, 11 January 2022; c 31.]

The University of Glasgow has found that, in 10 to 13 per cent of children, there was concern about an area of development, including gross motor skills, speech and language development, and emotional and behavioural development. Cabinet secretary, what impact assessment did the Scottish Government carry out on later restrictions with regard to the development of children?