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On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I have connection problems with my app. I voted yes. Can I check that that has been recorded?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting national health service boards, including NHS Ayrshire and Arran, that have outsourced child and adolescent mental health services in order to reduce waiting times, to bring such services back in house. (S6O-02114)

We are well aware of the pressures that health boards and CAMHS face, but the issues with long waiting lists are long-standing, and that is due to Scottish National Party inaction. Health boards are now having to outsource CAMHS to reduce waiting times. I would have expected the minister to commit Government to returning services in house.

Is the Government committed to supporting health boards to return those services in house? If so, what is the timetable for that?

I, too, thank Alexander Stewart for bringing this important debate to the chamber. I also thank all the members who have spoken in it for highlighting how important it is that we have debates to address issues relating to the older population.

On behalf of Scottish Labour, I welcome the Healthy Ageing in Scotland study, led by the University of Stirling, and I put on the record my thanks to the team who will start this extremely important work. The study is the first of its kind and, although it will look at many different factors, including health, social and economic circumstances, the main aim of the team of researchers is a simple but critical one: to improve the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s older people by fully understanding their lives.

The health of our population must be the priority for any Parliament and any Government. After the past few years, that is clearer than ever before. However, as other members have stated, being healthy does not just mean being physically healthy; it means being mentally, socially and economically healthy, too. Each of those crucial aspects of life plays a role in determining the health and outcomes of an individual, a family or a population.

The motion correctly notes that our older population is growing and that people are living longer, but it is also right to state that significant and divisive income inequality exists in our society today. I absolutely agree with much of the content of Alexander Stewart’s motion and speech. I know that he has been a champion of older people. However, I have to say—because it is important—that his party’s policies are responsible for much of that division. We need a whole change in approach with regard to improving pay, closing pay gaps and supporting the lowest paid in order to improve health and wellbeing outcomes later in life. It starts early in life and it continues; people start an unhealthy life and then live an unhealthy life. A lot of that is linked to the austerity that we see in this country.

It is important that we touch on health inequalities right now. Health inequalities are one of the greatest strains in our society—members will not be surprised to hear me say that, as I say it often. We need far greater action than we have had. The First Minister was right to focus on tackling poverty yesterday. However, people from deprived areas in our country are less likely to attend screening appointments. That remains a stark gap and an avoidable one. It is not always about income; it is about how we ensure that those people can attend vital screening appointments.

We know that health inequality exists from birth, but we also know that it continues to negatively impact people throughout their lives and can determine outcomes in later life. As the project embarks on the study, it will be interesting to see whether we, as parliamentarians, can act more decisively and effectively to address the issues that have led to the study being undertaken.

A staple of any healthy, progressive, modern nation should be the ability of its citizens to age healthily and to grow old with dignity. I hope that the study will allow improvements to be made that will positively impact the health and wellbeing of the older population.

Many of the challenges that are faced by our older people in Scotland today have been exacerbated by poor Government decisions. In some cases, there has been Government inaction. We know that we need to improve the health and wellbeing of our elderly population—we need to do so urgently and to be quite radical about it.

Healthy ageing should be a priority. Once again, I thank Alexander Stewart for lodging the motion, and I thank all members who have contributed to the debate.

I welcome the pay offer that has been made, in particular the £15 per hour minimum wage that the PCS union and others have campaigned so hard for and won. The Scottish Parliament is setting a really good example to other employers in providing a £15 per hour minimum wage.

However, the reality is that not all staff who work on the parliamentary estate will receive £15 per hour. As Jackson Carlaw will be aware, MSP staff whose jobs are in the administration and office management job family can have a minimum annual salary of £20,855, which equates to £11.46 an hour. Case workers are paid the equivalent of £14.03 an hour, and jobs in the communications job family are paid £26,717 a year, which equates to £14.68 an hour. Given the £15 an hour minimum wage for Scottish Parliament staff, will the corporate body now consider amending the job families for MSP staff and uplifting the staff cost provision to ensure that MSP staff, too, receive a minimum wage of £15 an hour?

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on investment in research and co-ordinated care services to support those living with long Covid. (S6O-02092)

I recently visited the Lister centre in Kilmarnock, where, among other pieces of extremely important work that are linked to heart, health and physiotherapy, the team will look at providing NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s dedicated long Covid support. The work that the team does is incredible and should be commended, but the reality is that having access to co-ordinated long Covid care services is not guaranteed. It is a postcode lottery, and people from the most deprived areas are most likely to report symptoms of long Covid. Therefore, will the minister commit to making it a priority to ensure that further resource is provided for long Covid, so that there is adequate research into its lasting impacts and that there are clinics available across the country to help people who are suffering—

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will provide an update on pay negotiations with trade unions representing Scottish Parliament staff. (S6O-02099)

I thank the cabinet secretary for his words on that important point, which is close to my heart, about inequalities in society.

With regard to the Labour amendment, would the cabinet secretary consider some sort of statement of intent? We are not asking him to do those things specifically; we are just asking for some kind of national standards to which the organisations out there could work.

Yes, it was very clear—and it was powerfully demonstrated in one of the short videos that were shown at the event that I attended—that people’s ability to support one another once they are out in civilian life is invaluable.

I was pleased to attend a local Ayrshire British Legion group breakfast recently. I attended with local Labour councillor colleagues, and I was grateful to members of the British Legion group for explaining to me the transition needs of those returning from active service to civilian life, particularly in a more rural area such as East Ayrshire and South Scotland. I found the stories from family members very revealing, and the work with the individual and their wider support circle struck me as extremely important.

Like other MSPs, I have worked alongside members of our armed forces community during campaigns and outreach down the years. In that time, I have been struck by the deep sense of commitment and dedication that they have, not only to their own home but to the wider community that they live in. We need to capture that.

Many of the charities and community groups that we all work with on a daily basis have people with a forces background at their heart, using the skills that they have learned to better improve the place that they call home. That includes groups such as Veterans First Point Ayrshire and Arran, which provides first-class employment and housing support services, as well as a comfortable environment where those with military backgrounds can share their experiences, which is a very important aspect.

If we can reflect a sense of that commitment today and help to deliver veterans the level of service that they deserve—and I think that the motion and our amendment can achieve that—we will put ourselves on a path towards paying our veterans back, at least in some form, for the service that they have given to our country.