 I remind members of the Covid-related measures that are in place and that face covering should be worn when moving around the chamber and across the Holywood campus. The first item of business is general questions. In order to get in as many people as possible, I would be grateful for short and succinct questions and responses. At question number one, I call Alasdair Allan. I refer members to my register of interests, which mentions my involvement with Western Isles cancer care. That's the Scottish Government what financial support is offered to patients and authorised escorts who need to travel significant distances for medical appointments. Cabinet Secretary, how's the youth? A financial support for travel is available for patients and authorised escorts in line with eligibility criteria and medical requirements. We continue to work with boards to build on the significant innovation seen throughout the pandemic in order to reduce and limit the need for travel where possible. Of course, we're clinically appropriate. For example, through increased use of digital and technological solutions such as near me. Where travel is necessary, boards are expected to support patients to identify and access support available, taking account individual circumstances and ensuring that patient care is always at the centre of those decisions. The charity Western Isles cancer care initiative recently recorded its fastest ever approval for financial assistance for a cancer patient who had a patient escort request for a friend to company and refused by the health board. For people who live on the mainland, it must be strange to imagine having to undergo something as worrying as cancer treatment without the support of a loved one. However, in the past few years, that has become an all-too-common scenario in the Western Isles since the handling of patient escort applications changed. Does the cabinet secretary agree that patients shouldn't be disadvantaged in terms of the emotional support that they can draw on just because they live on an island? I wholeheartedly agree with that point. I think that Alistair Allen articulates it very well that, for people on the mainland, you wouldn't expect to go through that situation, through that worry, through that anxiety on your own. He makes a point that is very well made and very sympathetic to the point that he makes in relation to not just cancer diagnosis but any diagnosis that could potentially be life-altering. I will take this issue away and look at it in more detail. It would come with a financial impact, but he is absolutely right to put patient care and patient safety at the heart of it. I am sympathetic to it and I will keep the member updated. Rhoda Grant, if I could ask you to pause for a moment as we can't hear you. Can you hear me now? We can indeed. Do continue. I have previously written to the cabinet secretary about that and I have not received a reply. There was a review of patient travel in the Highlands and Islands take place, but it was delayed since August last year because of the pandemic. Can I ask when that review will take place? It is urgently required that the criteria and reimbursement date back to 1996 and do not account for inflation. Does he confirm that the review will be subject to an island impact assessment? I apologise if Ms Grant has not had a response to correspondence recently. I will check that out as soon as we are out of the chamber. On the wider point that she makes, she is right. A review was due to be undertaken, but of course the pandemic has meant that that has been delayed. We will look to bring forward that review as soon as it is possible. I hope that she will understand and I am sure that she does understand that our boards and our civil service team in health and social care are still under immense and intense pressure. On the latter point that she raises about any review undergoing an island impact assessment, I will ensure that that is the case. Brian Whittle To ask the Scottish Government when action is taken to mitigate the effect that reduced access to physical activity during lockdown has had on the health of young people. Rory Todd Our approach during the pandemic has been to permit as much sport and physical activity as possible, and in particular prioritising under 18 sport, recognising the importance to both physical and mental health. When schools were closed during the pandemic, active school staff were deployed flexibly into childcare hubs to deliver sport and physical activity interventions and delivered online physical activity sessions for those learning from home. The Scottish Government has committed to doubling the budget for sport and active living over the lifetime of this Parliament, which will make access to sport and physical activity more inclusive, reduce barriers to participation and play an important role in supporting long-term recovery from the pandemic. Brian Whittle I thank that minister for her answer. For 60 to 17-year-olds, the recommended daily exercise requirement is 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity. However, pre-lockdown, less than one quarter of children of that age group participated in that 60 minutes. Without questioning, and as I say this as a coach as well, that percentage has seriously declined in the last two years as access to activity has been significantly curtailed, especially in deprived areas. That will not be resolved without direct targeted action and intervention from the Scottish Government. I ask the minister what the Scottish Government will do to tackle this ticking health time bomb. I thank the member for his continued interest in that area. We absolutely recognise the need to prioritise participation across all groups, but also to tackle inequalities. We are working with Sport Scotland, with organisations and individuals right across Scotland to break down barriers that are financial and otherwise, but to keep too many people from leading active lives. We have ideas about how to increase participation from women and girls. We are looking at tackling the exclusion of people with disabilities. We are very determined to increase the level of activity right across the board, but particularly focused on tackling inequalities in children and young people. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I preface this by saying that I am not promoting generational wars, but older people and I declare an interest. Not only have I missed exercise, but many are still understandably cautious about being out and about in public, and they are losing confidence in becoming isolated. Can I ask the minister also to give this consideration? I am talking about exercise, not sport, to which I am a stranger. I acknowledge your on-going interest in the area. Over 50s are a priority group for Sport Scotland's 21 to 25 equality outcomes, and there are a number of changes that we are hoping to achieve in that particular area. We want people to participate in sport. We want them to see and hear people participating in sport. We want to use their long experience and have them involved in organising sports in communities. One thing that I will highlight in terms of activity is that the past for all programme has the most amazing programmes. One of them is called health walks. It is exactly about increasing the confidence of people who might have got out of the habit of exercising, who may have health worries that make them fear exercising and offer a social opportunity. I would heartily recommend to all my colleagues, direct folk, to go and have a look at sport for all and at past for all, and there are fabulous opportunities for every age range to participate. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Stirling Council and what was discussed. Ministers and officials have regular meetings with representatives of all Scottish local authorities, including Stirling Council, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland. I thank the cabinet secretary for her reply. Community projects, high streets and tourist venues across the Stirling local government area have been severely impacted by the most recent and unnecessary restrictions imposed by the SNP. The vast majority are still waiting for assistance that has been promised by the Scottish Government. When will that be received and why the delay? A great deal of assistance has been set out during the course of the pandemic to support organisations that Dean Lockhart has outlined. The Scottish Government has worked with partners to try to ensure that that money and support goes to local projects as quickly as possible. I know from my engagement from the third sector organisations that I have engaged with, that has been warmly welcomed and has enabled them to support people in our communities, particularly the most vulnerable. To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are for service continuity for breast cancer oncology services in NHS Tayside in light of reports of further resignations within the service. On 20 January, this year, NHS Tayside announced that, due to a staffing gap that will arise at the end of January, a mutual aid agreement has been agreed between NHS Tayside and three other health boards. The agreement outlines that some patients living in Tayside and receiving radiotherapy for breast cancer will be required to travel for the treatment to the nearest cancer centre in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen. All other radiotherapy services in Dundee cancer centre will carry on locally. Meanwhile, recruitment for any vacant post within the service is on going. I can inform Parliament and the Minister that, over recent days, there have been two further resignations of consultant oncologists. This will leave NHS Tayside with no breast cancer oncology specialists and serious shortfalls in oncology consultant cover for other tumour sites. To decide the government and health plan goes in competence that got us here, I implore, on behalf of the women of Dundee and Tayside, that the minister at long last treat this as the crisis it is. Will the minister immediately intervene to guarantee the full service recovery of breast cancer services in Dundee? I will not rise to the political attack because it is important to engage in this issue in a non-partisan way. It is important that we put the women and the patients who are affected by this very much at the heart of this. When he asks that if I will intervene, I can give him an absolute assurance that I and the other ministerial colleagues have been deeply involved in this issue. What I would say is that there is no question that NHS Tayside has not been taking action. They have been taking action. I will just give him some examples. NHS Tayside undertook three rounds of recruitment last year with one successful applicant. They have been in regular contact with all UK agencies, in fact more than 120 in total for both contracted and non-contracted posts. Medical directors have been in contact with several of the larger cancer centres in England who are reporting similar challenges. Yes, we will absolutely work closely with Tayside. It is, of course, a deeply regrettable situation that they are in. We will do everything that we can to ensure that NHS Tayside breast cancer service is staffed in the best possible way. However, I should say that the issue of the shortage of medical oncologists, particularly for breast cancer, is not unique to Tayside. It has felt in this case acutely felt in Tayside, but it is an issue that is wider than simply Tayside. Of course, I am happy to meet members on the issue, because we will take a collective effort by the Government and the health board to ensure that we have a full service resumed in Tayside. NHS Tayside's inability to recruit replacement breast therapy therapy and clinicians is putting a huge strain on individuals, especially when they have early stage breast cancer. You have identified, cabinet secretary, that people are going to Glasgow, Aberdeen and even Forth Valley, and all of those are staffing issues. What additional measures can be put in place to ensure that the disruption to those patients is kept to a minimum? Alexander Stewart is absolutely right that the focus is to try to ensure that the disruption is kept to an absolute minimum. Tayside has made it very clear that where there is the need to travel and to be accommodated, NHS Tayside will seek to make sure that those costs are covered. We are working intensively with the board to support all further solutions. That includes international recruitment and regional roles that support several centres such as Lothian and Tayside. It looks at local capacity being reexamined, including international local agencies that are dealing with role redesign, including research opportunities with Dundee medical school, and exploring an enhanced marketing campaign for Tayside to attract more cancer oncologists in particular to Tayside. Although we are rightfully focusing on Tayside and understandably so, it is felt by not just other health boards in Scotland, but by other health boards in the UNHHS, trusts in England and other parts of the UK. We will do everything that we possibly can to ensure that our breast cancer services across Scotland are fully staffed. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans for a national care service. The consultation on the national care service received over 1,300 responses. Analysis of the responses is currently under way and we expect to be able to publish a report on the findings as soon as possible. I am sure that you will appreciate that the final timetable will be driven by the ability to prepare easily accessible versions, both written and audible versions. Given the breadth of the consultation, ministers across government will want time to reflect on the analysis. As such, there is no plan for a concurrent Government response. Can the minister confirm whether good food nation plans would be relevant to the formation of the national care service? We want Scotland to be a good food nation where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in and benefit from the food that they produce, buy, cook, serve and eat each day. We will consider how to take account of the good food nation principles in the national care service as we develop our proposals. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Cabinet Secretary, Humza Yousaf. I have been contacted by a registered blind constituent who is asking what lateral flow test help is available for visually impaired people. Is the health board in the Scottish Government aware of the difficulties encountered by people with this disability and what help is available to them? I am aware of those issues and I know that a number of members have raised them, and Rona Mackay raises a really important point. Indeed, the UK Health and Security Agency, who primarily delivered the national testing programme, is continually exploring ways and we are working with them to explore ways to enable testing to be more accessible. For people with access to a smartphone, the UK Covid-19 testing programme launched the BMII support service in early 2021 to improve accessibility for at-home PCR testing. In response to calls for the same support for LFD at-home testing, an expansion to the existing 119 BMII service was launched today on 27 January to assist asymptomatic visually impaired people and anyone else who needs support to conduct a rapid flow self-test independently. If you have severe site loss, you might find it easier to get help to do that test from a friend or family. Of course, not everybody is in that position. In addition, instructions for the use of LFD's self-tests used in the national testing programme are available in large print and easy read, and they can be accessed at the appropriate manufacturer's links. I think that our communication around that is on our NHS reform websites, but it will also work with those third sector partners to make sure that the new expansion to the BMII service is widely available. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of its endoscopy and neurology diagnostic recovery and renewal plan. Doscopy and neurology diagnostic recovery and renewal plan was published in the 30th of November. Actions in the plan are on track. We have committed to annual updates from progress against commitments in the NHS recovery plan, the first of which will be later this year. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. The plan contains a commitment to set up several diagnostic urology hubs and a one-stop clinic across Scotland to reduce waiting times for cancer and routine diagnosis. One such hub was set up in NHS Highland in June last year. What arrangements are being made to ensure that people in Ayrshire have access to a diagnostic urology hub or a one-stop clinic within NHS Ayrsharnan and when will such a unit open? Cabinet secretary, Ayrsharnan currently has a urology hub and cancer performance for the urology 62. 62-day pathway is 96.9 per cent and for the 31-day pathway is 100 per cent. Through time as we further develop the urology diagnostic hubs, we hope that the full benefits of the hubs will be realised and will reduce waiting times for cancer patients. As I say, we intend to give annual updates on that. I will ensure that local members want local information about the support and the actions that we are taking in their local health board area.