Seòmar agus comataidhean

The second item on our agenda is the consideration of evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care, Michael Matheson, as part of the committee’s scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s 2024-25 budget. I welcome to the meeting Michael Matheson and Richard McCallum, who is the director of health and social care finance, digital and governance at the Scottish Government. I invite the cabinet secretary to make a brief opening statement.

Sandesh Gulhane touched on VAR. How many female VAR officials are there?

We will come on to some of that later on as we develop themes.

In April 2017, during the previous parliamentary session, the then Health and Sport Committee undertook an inquiry into child protection in sport, during which it heard evidence from the SFA and the Scottish Youth Football Association. The committee’s report was critical of the SFA. It said:

“We consider the SFA has been asleep on the job and continuingly complacent in this area”

of child protection and looking after children’s welfare. How has the relationship between the SFA and the SYFA progressed since 2017, when dealing with children’s wellbeing and protection? Has the SFA adopted a more hands-on approach?

Have all SFA board members completed child protection training?

Does that also apply to the Scottish Youth Football Association? Previously, those board members had not, which came up as an issue.

There certainly was communication between us, and there was certainly a lot of disquiet from the fans, as Gillian Mackay was referencing. Are you saying that income from broadcasters was an element influencing that decision?

I certainly appreciate that you are doing that with regard to playing, but officiating seems to be for men only. Even when you click on to the Referees Association, which there is a link to on your website, you see that it is all men. I actively encourage you to go and have a look at your website, if, indeed, the SFA is trying to recruit more female officials.

Sandesh Gulhane, did you have a further supplementary on this?

The second item on our agenda is our fifth oral evidence session as part of the committee’s inquiry into healthcare in remote and rural areas. Today, we will hear from representatives of healthcare professional associations. I welcome to the meeting Dr Iain Kennedy, chair of the British Medical Association Scottish council; Julie Mosgrove, chair of Optometry Scotland, who joins us remotely; Mhairi Templeton, who is from the Society of British Dental Nurses; and Laura Wilson, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s director for Scotland.

We will move straight to questions. Sandesh Gulhane will ask the first questions.

Can I come back to Dr Kennedy on one point? I might have misheard you when you were talking about electronic patient records, but what about the EMIS system?