Seòmar agus comataidhean

We are rapidly running out of time and I know that some witnesses still want to come in. If I do not have time to come to them, they might want to follow up by email anything that is pressing, because we still have to talk about procurement and the aftermath of Covid-19. I will bring in Gillian Mackay very quickly on the issue of unpaid carers.

We move to Sue Webber for some questions on procurement and commissioning.

Sandesh Gulhane has a question on procurement.

I will let Sandesh Gulhane back in, but this has to be his last question, because we have to move on to our final theme, which is Covid-19.

Emma Harper has a quick supplementary question before we move on.

When you talk about the consultation, are you asking about social care?

I invite Sue Webber to come back in on the financial sustainability of NHS boards. It would be helpful if we could focus on that theme.

[Inaudible.]—the first item is to decide whether to take in private items 4 and 5, which will be to consider the evidence that will be heard during the stakeholder session and to consider the committee’s approach to pre-budget scrutiny. Do members agree?

Members indicated agreement.

Henry Simmons seems the obvious person to start on that question.

I will point to another couple of things that resonated. A lot of people said that the threshold for accessing support is too high. I really liked the quotation that says that a care system

“should be a springboard not a safety net”.

That absolutely encapsulates the issue. Will you give us a little more information on what you heard on that and put in the report?