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In the Health and Sport Committee, we took evidence on shifting the balance of care and moving finances into a social prescribing model. One of the things that I am interested in is the prevention of type 2 diabetes complications. We spend lots of money mitigating or treating complications—£800 million is a lot of money—when those complications are preventable.

What is the value of social prescribing? Should it really be invested in more in order to help to improve health and tackle inequalities? I am interested in that because of the previous committee work on social prescribing. Maybe we should start with David Walsh.

Thanks, Gillian, but I do not actually have a supplementary question—I was just correcting a spelling mistake in the chat box. [Laughter.]

I will try and be quick. In the last session of Parliament, we did a report on social prescribing. We can keep people out of hospital in the first place by engaging them in practices that support health, wellbeing and physical activity, thereby preventing complications of type 2 diabetes, because 10 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on mitigating those complications. I am interested in what the witnesses think and I suppose that the convener can choose someone to answer the question.

I am thinking about low-hanging fruit. Healthcare providers are starting to get more education about adverse childhood experiences. Police officers in South Ayrshire are now going through training to recognise ACEs, which is really important. When I started my vaccination programme training, there was nothing in the e-learning modules about tackling stigma related to alcohol and drugs for healthcare professionals who work outside alcohol and drug services. If we are thinking about low-hanging fruit and on-the-ground delivery of education, do you think that we need to consider ensuring that healthcare professionals know about adverse childhood experiences as well as things such as the stigma that is related to alcohol and drugs?

Thanks, convener, and good morning to our panel of experts.

The Scottish Government has published its public health priorities, with a number of items that need to be addressed. Among the priorities are:

“A Scotland where we flourish in our early years ... A Scotland where we have good mental wellbeing ... A Scotland where we reduce the use of and harm from alcohol, tobacco and other drugs”.

Six priorities are listed. This is the first time that Scotland has had a simple, overarching public health strategy, and it is the first time that the national public health priorities have been aimed at wider determinants of health.

I am now co-convener of the cross-party groups on health inequalities, on improving Scotland’s health and on diabetes. I am trying to bring them all together so that we can have everybody round the table having the same conversation, instead of having different conversations in silos.

I am interested to hear whether the expert panellists agree with the Scottish Government’s public health priorities. Do you think that something needs to be added?

Over the past few weeks since the recovery plan was published, we have heard that there will be a need to address backlogs in the diagnosis of cancer—including breast and bowel cancer diagnostic processes and cervical smear tests—ophthalmic surgery and cataract treatments and hip and knee replacements. How will we address that demand? During the pandemic, elective work basically stopped. Even now, the intensive care units are filled with Covid patients rather than, for example, elective bowel surgery patients. Where do you think that the backlog of surgery requirements and diagnostic testing needs to be tackled?

Dr Sue Robertson.

What value do we need to place on social prescribing, in order to stop folk people getting poor health in the first place, as well as support work such as pulmonary rehab and mitigation of type 2 diabetes complications? That question goes to Dr Robertson again.

I have a quick question for Calum Duncan about marine litter. You made a presentation to the cross-party group on recreational boating and marine tourism, of which I am a member, towards the end of the previous parliamentary session, when you spoke about work that was being done to deal with marine litter. Is work being done to connect and collaborate with inshore fishermen on how to deal with marine litter? One fisherman in Kirkcudbright, for example, has been doing a good job of securing what needs to be secured on his boat so that things do not fly over the side. I am just seeking a wee update on that.

I realise that we are challenged for time, so your responses can perhaps be given down the line, either in written form or at future sessions.

My question, which is for Elaine Whyte, is about the local management and governance of inshore fisheries. There are a lot of smaller boats on the west coast. People need to be more connected with communities. As you mentioned, in the south-west—in the Irish Sea—there are Isle of Man waters, English waters, the Solway Firth and Irish Sea waters. All of that is in the mix, and it must be quite challenging to manage inshore fishery aspects of those waters. We now have a border in the Irish Sea. It would be interesting to hear about what should and could be done and about what items we should be thinking about in the future.