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Minister, Audit Scotland highlighted the 5.1 per cent vacancy rate in the sector. How difficult has Brexit, along with United Kingdom immigration policy, made it for employers to recruit staff in this area?

You mentioned that there are nearly 1,200 employers, which must be difficult to control. However, Audit Scotland highlighted that 20 per cent of workers are not on permanent contracts, 11 per cent are on zero-hours contracts and 13 per cent work more than 50 hours a week. What is your view on establishing national minimum standards of pay and conditions for all social care workers, regardless of what sector they work in?

Good morning, minister. What evaluation has the Scottish Government made of the impact of the current commissioning arrangements on the social care workforce, and how could and should those be addressed?

You apply selection criteria, such as weight loss, before admitting patients to Shouldice hospital. What is the rationale behind that? Are those selection criteria really important to your success rate?

Good afternoon from Scotland, Dr Spencer Netto. You have impressive results with regard to low recurrence of hernias. However, systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials, which are the gold standard for robust health intervention evidence, show that hernia recurrence rates are lower for mesh repairs than they are for non-mesh repairs. I know that that does not apply to you, so what are you doing that is different from what other hospitals are doing?

Thank you very much for that. I have no more questions, convener.

Thank you very much for that, but what I am trying to get on the record is whether you think that, if those criteria are not in place in a general hospital setting where repairs are being carried out, the procedure will not be as successful. Are you saying that mesh repairs would not be suitable for the patients who do not meet the criteria?

Good morning. The sections of Audit Scotland’s report on staffing and recruitment state that it would be “challenging to achieve” the plans to recruit and retain staff due to the historical difficulties that have been faced by the NHS in the past. Is the cabinet secretary confident that the national workforce strategy will be able to meet the workforce availability and workforce wellbeing needs of the NHS?

I was just coming to that. How will the implementation of the strategy be monitored, evaluated and reported?

How have Brexit and the United Kingdom immigration policy affected the ability of the NHS to recruit additional staff? The cabinet secretary mentioned that the NHS has recruited 200 nurses internationally. Has the NHS faced any difficulties in being able to do that?