 Rwy'n cael ei wneud i'r next item of business. Can I remind members of the Covid-related measures that are in place and that face coverings should be worn when moving around the chamber and across the Holyrood campus? The next item of business is a debate on motion 1761 in the name of Angela Constance on a person-centred approach to mental health and substance abuse. I would invite those members who wish to speak in the debate to press the request to speak buttons now and I call on Angela Constance, minister, to speak to and to move the motion up to 10 minutes, please. I'm not sure your microphone is on, Ms Constance. Could we see what we could do about Ms Constance's microphone, please, if her card is in? Ah, please resume, Ms Constance. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I very much welcome the opportunity to open this debate on ensuring a person-centred approach to supporting people with both substance use and mental health needs. The link between poor mental health and drug problems is clear. Research demonstrates that more than 90 per cent of those who are most at risk of dying from a drug-related death will experience anxiety and or depression. That is one stark reminder and indeed there are many as to why mental health and drug and alcohol services need to be joined at the hip and why we must be guided by the principles of a person-centred approach. Taking a person-centred approach means that we must ensure that there is no wrong door for people as they seek help and that services are inclusive, easy to navigate and are based on the views of lived experience. As well as listening and learning from the voices of people with lived and living experience, we must also make good use of their skills and their talents to improve the way that services are delivered. Both Mr Stewart and I are more convinced than ever that change needs to be informed and driven by those who understand the system most. In March of this year, I made a commitment to Parliament that people, families, networks and communities will be more involved in local and national decision making. That is why we are investing in local experience panels and a national collaborative of those with lived and living experience. Mr Stewart is also committed to establishing a similar national panel, which will advise and inform across all areas of mental health policy. I have often heard about the challenges that people experience in accessing the services that they need. They regularly describe a system that is overly complex, difficult to navigate and being passed from pillar to post. That is why Healthcare Improvement Scotland is already helping to develop in Dundee an integrated model of care across mental health and substance use services. That new approach has been firmly based on the views of people with lived experience and those people with real-life experience. Plans are in place to extend that work across four more health board areas, backed by a cross-government investment of £2.2 million. I am pleased to announce that that will cover Lanarkshire, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Grampian and Lothian health board areas. In January, the First Minister recognized that it is over two years since the publication of the Dundee Drugs Commission report, which called specifically for far more integration between mental health and addiction services. That kind of delay when people are continuing to die is a significant issue for people in the city. I recognise the value of the work that is led by the Dundee Drugs Commission. I am determined to ensure, along with Mr Stewart, that we now motor on ahead to a phase of work that is far more about implementation and change on the ground. Therefore, I hope that Parliament will welcome the extension of some of the good work that is going on in Dundee across the country, as I have announced already. In January, the First Minister launched a national mission to reduce drug deaths and improve lives. At the heart of that £250 million mission, it is a clear focus on supporting people to access treatment—the treatment or recovery, which is right for each individual and at the right time. We need services to offer same-day treatment, a wider range of treatment and recovery options, more overdose prevention measures and related interventions such as naloxone kits, but also increased capacity and residential rehabilitation and more assertive outreach to get people the treatment where they are and to bring them into the protection of treatment and to make recovery a real option. People already have a right to healthcare that meets their needs. We need to make sure that we are taking every possible action to deliver on their rights, and we need to implement those rights for everybody, including those who live in our poorest communities. We know that people who are at risk as a result of their drug use often experience a range of health and social care issues. That has been set out for us in the Hard Edges report published in 2019. Everything that we are doing to develop a person-centred approach is designed to meet those issues head-on, and our national mission sets out a whole Government approach. During the pandemic, we saw rapid changes to the ways that people access help and support, particularly for people who experience homelessness and drug problems. In many instances, that has led to people receiving more person-centred care. We have recognised the importance of those changes and invested over £900,000 in healthcare improvement Scotland to support four local authority areas to make those changes permanent and improve the pathways of care for people supporting them out of homelessness and into appropriate treatment and care, including mental health and other supports. Further work is under way to ensure that this learning is shared across Scotland. The medication assisted treatment or MATS standards were published in May this year. Implementation of the standards is one part of an overall approach to turning words into action. I reiterate the commitment that I made to Parliament that those should be implemented across the country by April 2022. Those standards for treatment and care are one of the key priorities for changing and improving services, meaning that no matter where someone lives, the right treatment will be available to them when they need it. MATS standard 9 sets out our commitment that people with co-occurring drug use and mental health difficulties receive mental health care. I have been pleased to say that many ADP areas in Scotland have already begun to embed the standard within their models for delivery. The work of the MATS standards implementation team will be important over the coming months in embedding the standard across Scotland, and I will return to Parliament before Christmas to provide an update. I am very aware of the responsibility that we all have in upholding and enhancing people's rights to health and the important role that services play in that regard. For people with alcohol and drug problems, the right to health care needs to go well beyond the right to drug treatment and support, and people will need support from a range of services to support their recovery. That is why I am announcing today that building on our existing work is a rapid review of the services that are required to support people who experience mental health and substance use problems. It will enable us to set very clear expectations for what services should be available and openly accessible to support people with mental health and substance use problems. Those services need to range from life-saving interventions through to psychosocial and wellbeing support for people as they find their own recovery. The expectations that we set will reach beyond alcohol and drug treatment and mental health services and include services for people who have, for example, experienced homelessness, violence and trauma, including women who have experienced domestic violence, as well as more mainstream services such as primary care and not forgetting the important role of the voluntary sector. A person-centred approach must also ensure that support is available for the mental health and wellbeing of family members. That is why we will be publishing a framework to improve holistic support for families later this year. That framework will support local partnerships and workforce and family members to work together in developing local family support services, making them more approachable and accessible for all those who need help and support. That is backed by direct funding of £3.5 million per annum to alcohol and drug partnerships, alongside a further £3 million allocated through CORA to support the implementation of that framework. We know that people who experience mental health and drug problems often experience stigma and discrimination. Stigma can have a devastating impact on people's lives and can be a barrier for people to access services and prevent them from reaching out for help and support. We are committed to removing that barrier and tackling the stigma associated with problematic drug use wherever it is found. A national campaign to help tackle stigma is being developed with the input of people with lived and living experience and their family members. The campaign will be launched by the end of this year and will start a national conversation on how we can all play a part in reducing the discrimination against people and supporting people to reduce drug-related harm and to improve their lives. To save and improve lives, we urgently need a person-centred approach, one that does not make assumptions either about people or their journeys, but instead one that is about actions that need to be based on listening and then on delivering on the views and the needs of people with lived and living experience and their families. I move the motion in my name. I now call on Sue Weber to speak to a move amendment 1761.2, up to seven minutes please, Ms Weber. Yes, thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The motion today goes some way to indicate the complex factors that need to be addressed if we are indeed sincere in our commitment to tackling this problem. The Labour amendment also reinforces how difficult it is to access services and the subsequent pressures that this causes on our healthcare. While the amendment in my name also seeks to acknowledge the long-standing challenges that we face, it also shows our commitment to working with the Scottish Government on this. Let's not forget that long before Covid, the SNP was presiding over the mental health crisis and a drug death crisis in Scotland, and the drug death rate has almost tripled whilst the SNP has been in charge. In 2020, we heard of 1,339 drug-related deaths registered, the largest number since records began in 1996, and the SNP's recruitment drive for mental health workers has fallen short of what was expected. In 2019, the Royal College of Psychiatrists warned that the psychiatric services in Scotland were facing a workforce crisis. It was so very encouraging to see mention of a person-centred care again, but remember that in 2017 the SNP's mental health strategy mentioned person-centred care. In 2018, the SNP's alcohol and drug treatment strategy stated that services need to be person-centred, trauma-informed and better integrated, so this ambition, although extremely welcome, is not new to this chamber. Under the SNP, people still cannot easily access the vital mental health or addiction treatment that they need when they need it, and that is why we have launched our consultation for a right to recovery bill, which would enshrine in law the right to necessary addiction treatment, and which the minister indicated when her contributions today that it appears that there is some sort of movement towards and coalescing on that. Scotland has the highest drug death figures in Europe, and I thought that every member in this Parliament agreed that tackling this was a priority. Last week, Lorna Slater, a Government minister, said that taking drugs is not inherently dangerous, and for a minister in this Government that claims that tackling the drug deaths crisis is a priority, I found this extremely disappointing. Nicholas Sturgeon has vowed to address her shameful record on drug deaths, so she must condemn the irresponsible remarks made by her minister. A person-centred approach to mental health and substance misuse is essential, and we commend that approach. You cannot treat substance misuse in isolation, you must also treat the mental health issues that are so often at the root cause, and despite previous announcements and big promises made in this chamber, the reality on the ground is very different. We need to look at things that are working and also accept the things that are not. The reality of what people must endure when pleasing for access to services should shame us all. Last week, I visited Leip, the Lothians and Edinburgh Absence programme, who follow a truly person-centred approach to recovery. It is a service that is set up and working within NHS Lothian, and due to its success, other health boards, including Forth Valley, Fife and the Borders, have been in touch with them to learn more. One of the very different things here is that patients live off-site and travel to the Leip facility. During my visit, I was told that nobody has ever been late to one of their sessions. That demonstrates the motivation that people have to get better and establishes an environment of mutual trust. In addition, many of the people who have been through the programme come back to support the next intake of patients, and that peer support is critical to giving those new to the programme the belief that they too can recover from their addiction. Every member of staff that is working there is working to establish and create a unique person-centred approach to their recovery from the clinical lead to the chef, and they work with patients and, importantly, their families. Ultimately, our treatment of addiction and substance misuse needs to evolve and move quickly towards that preventative agenda. While we welcome the inclusion in the motion that a trauma-informed approach is needed, more still needs to be done, and I think that we all accept that. My conversations with the WAV trust make it clear that this must be embedded across organisations, not just select few managers or senior leaders. In January, the SNP announced £250 million of funding to tackle the drug deaths, which the Scottish Conservatives welcome, but that only distills down to £50 million a year. After suffering years of successive cuts, it is simply not enough money to tackle the issues that people face. We, the Scottish Conservatives, have launched a consultation for a right to recovery bill. The principle that underlies the proposed bill is to ensure that people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol can access the necessary addiction treatment when they require it and when they want it. To do that, the proposed bill will enshrine the right to necessary addiction treatment in Scots law. Experts, I have met with welcome this and are contributing to the consultation, and Favour Scotland's CEO Anne-Marie Ward has said that Nicola Sturgeon keeps playing political football and kicking this bill into the long grass. If the First Minister wants to bring this bill in, she could start the process tomorrow. This is a human rights issue that goes beyond politics. Drug deaths are our national shame. We lose far too many people each year. The system is broken. It is leaving people on the streets to die. It must be overhauled by enshrining rights such as our right to recovery in law as soon as possible. I move the amendment in my name. I now call on Clare Baker to speak to amendment 1, 7, 6, 1.3, up to five minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome this afternoon's debate and the understanding and acknowledgement that we are giving to the strong connection between mental health and substance abuse, focusing on how this is recognised and embedded in treatment programmes and pathways, as well as how society's understanding of people who are in the grip of addiction is improved by understanding the mental health challenges that they face and how addictive behaviour can provide an escape from distress and, too often, trauma that has been experienced. In September this year, a memorial service was held outside Parliament for National Overdose Awareness Day to remember the 1,339 people who died this year from a drugs overdose, the highest number that we as a country have recorded. This is unacceptable and it is a failure of government. The immediate challenge that we face is to reverse this record, to stop people dying from a preventative cause, to press ahead with the harm reduction measures that can respond to chaotic lives and introduce some stability. The math standards that the minister talked about are vital and ambitious. I want to see them delivered and I accept assurances from the minister that Parliament will receive a progress report soon, which Labour asked for in the debate in June. Math standards 9 and 10 are critical to delivery on mental health support by recognising the right of people to ask for support with co-occurring drug use and mental health difficulties and recognising the trauma that continues to impact on their lives and often fuels their substance misuse. The commitment to addressing stigma are also important. The context in which treatment is assessed and delivered is critical. I do not have time today to talk about the national trauma training programme workforce survey that was published today, but it provides important insights that require a response. Scottish Labour's amendment recognises that, while the public debate focuses on drug fatality figures, there is a broader crisis driven by the interconnectedness of drug abuse and mental health. In 2019-20, there were almost 15,000 people who had drug-related hospital stays, and 92 per cent of those people had drug-related mental and behavioural diagnosis. That has tripled in just over 10 years. Mental health services have been under significant pressures for years. It has been continually undervalued and underfunded for too long. Following the pandemic, we are facing a situation in which further demand on those services is predicted. The correlation between drug and or alcohol misuse and poor mental health is strong. The residential rehab working group report in December states that studies have consistently shown a high prevalence of comorbidity of mental disorders in people who have problems with alcohol and drugs. Recent research on residential treatment suggests that better outcomes are experienced when mental health treatment is integrated into residential treatment. Integration of services is crucial. Our amendment uses the example of A&E and ambulance staff co-ordinating with drug support services, something that I know is happening in five. The amendment also highlights the work of Dapol and Fife, who are exemplars of holistic approach to recovery, offering counselling services for people in treatment and recovery, as well as services for families and those targeted at young people in schools and in centres. I remember when Dapol was first established and there was some local resistance to the centre, which sits in the heart of the leave-in community. However, it did gain community support, because people recognised that it was our folk who were needing help, it was their neighbours, it was their families, it was our colleagues. That this debate addresses substance misuse more broadly is to be welcomed and I thank Alcohol Focus Scotland, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems and others for the briefings that they have provided. While we rightly focus on addressing drug deaths, wider issues of substance abuse, including alcohol abuse, also need investment in support and recovery services. Last year saw a 17 per cent increase in alcohol-specific deaths, following a number of years of reduction that we did see a spike last year. However, the proportion of those with alcohol dependency accessing specialist treatment is low and more needs to be done to offer person-centred and responsive services and treatments. The Dundee Drugs Commission 2019 report is one of many that highlighted barriers and access to services with people with co-occurring conditions. Michael Marra has already talked about his concerns about the lack of progress on that. Every contact must count and ensure providers of drug, alcohol, mental health and other services are supporting individuals in an integrated and accessible way. The Labour amendment today proposes a change to the Government motion. I am not clear if it is the Government's intention to claim that outreach services are available to support people in recovery at this point in time. I believe that support is not yet universally available and I would argue that our amendment is a more accurate description of the current service provision. The Conservative amendment rightly underlines the delays in mental health support and the need to improve access, but it calls for a legal right to recovery, I believe, as a matter for further scrutiny. We need to question whether legislating for a right to treatment is the best way to improve services to ensure consistency of care provision and better delivery of services. We will fully consider the related member's bill if and when it progresses from consultation to interaction in Parliament, and I move the amendment in my name. I welcome the Government making time for this important debate this afternoon, particularly in the cross-departmental way that it has done. I would like to see more of that because this is absolutely an issue that walks hand in hand, both in terms of our response to the drug death emergency but also in recognition of its link to mental ill health. Dutch psychiatrist Bessel Van der Cork once wrote that trauma ties people feel unsafe inside their bodies. The past is alive in the form of annoying interior discomfort. Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs. It is well documented that people who seek to mask unresolved trauma do so with drug use. The Scottish Liberal Democrats have a long and proud history of putting people at the heart of the discussions around the issue. We have long recognised the link between the social problem and unresolved trauma, so I welcome again the inclusion of the £120 million mental health recovery and renewal fund that my party helped to secure during last year's budget negotiations. The drug death crisis that Scotland faces is not just a national scandal on global proportions but a tragedy because every statistic is someone who has lost their lives and more often than not, his life has been blighted by a set of circumstances outwith their control, a set of circumstances that has led to a level of suffering that most of us cannot even begin to comprehend. I have said before that again that drug deaths are a symptom of trauma and not simply a cause of it. In 2017, 74 per cent of drug death casualties in Tayside were known to have a coexisting mental health condition and statistics show that of those sent to prison for drug use, 11 per cent of them will die within the first month of having been released. Assistant chief constable Stephen Jobson told the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster of the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that his officers feel. The drug death catastrophe is one of the worst health inequalities in our society. 96 per cent of drug deaths in Scotland last year occurred outside of the most affluent areas. My office is also conducting research into the connection between drug death and care experience because we know anecdotally that it is disproportionately large. While in some areas of deprivation, drug use has become an almost generational right of passage, nobody ever chooses to become addicted to drugs just in the same way that nobody chooses to develop a mental illness. Those who suffer from addiction deserve the same level of care and compassion as those who do not. People are most at risk of death from drug use when they are at their most vulnerable after being released from prison, after a bereavement, after a relationship breakdown, when in poor mental and physical health or being without a home. Earlier this year, I was disgusted when I heard reports from Shelter Scotland that several drug-abusing patients are unable to claim housing benefit while in residential rehab. That is a scandal and we cannot brush over people becoming homeless because they need access to rehab. That is a real and present problem in our system. The Conservatives and Westminster may oversee housing benefits, but our access to benefits should not be so limited that people must make a choice between obtaining the treatment that they need for potentially deadly illness. I appreciate the issue that he highlights, but I wonder if he is aware that I made an investment to address that issue, not at Source at Westminster, but to ensure that, in Scotland, no-one had to make that choice between keeping their tenancy or going into rehab. I was just about to recognise that commitment in my next remarks. The cabinet secretary has done it for me. I am glad of the focus and resources that the Government is directing towards addressing the crisis, but I have serious concerns that they are sometimes directed to the wrong place. Had my amendment been selected, it would have noted the concern that we have, the current attempts by the Scottish Government to centralise drug and alcohol rehabilitation through the creation of the national care service. My opposition to this is long-standing and is a matter of public record. We have seen time and time again that the centralisation of public services by this Government leads to tragedy, so I urge the Government to think again and to listen to its own words. Centralising something as fragile and as complex as drug rehabilitation is the very opposite of a person-centred approach and risks making this tragedy even more awful than it is already. I want to use the short time that I have today to relay some of the points that I have put to me by my colleagues in Aberdeenshire alcohol and drugs action, best in the area. Some of the issues that are faced by people in rural areas that they support can be quite a bit different to those in the urban areas and the figures around problematic substance use and the drivers of that use can be difficult to assess. We are all acutely aware of the figures of the national drugs fatalities and their geographical concentration. Certain Scottish cities have acute problems that show up in the devastating concentration of those figures. Often, those concentrations mirror SEMD areas and we know that poverty and multiple deprivation is so often a root cause of poor mental health and substance use. However, those measurements can often miss rural poverty, social isolation and compounded by geographical isolation and the difficulties that rurality can present in accessing services that can often be located far away from those who need them. The chief executive of alcohol and drugs action, Fraser Hogan, told me that there were opportunities to better joining up of the work of drug and alcohol services with mental health support services and many of the most effective services for support for those with problematic use are in the third sector. I welcome, I will do. Ms Martin, for giving way, Presiding Officer. Much of what we are going to discuss in this debate today, particularly in my closing speech, is suggestions that have come from Aberdeenshire. We have spoken to folks on the front line in Aberdeenshire and recognised that there is a difference in rural places. Some of the top tips that we are acting upon come from Ms Martin's neck of the woods. Pay tribute to them for that. There is a wee bit of time in hand, so I will give you the time back, Ms Martin. I want to thank the minister for saying that, because they have reflected their very supportive of the person-centred approach. It is great to see the increased funding for the third sector and to hear that some of the things that they have told me that the minister is also very aware of as well. They have said that a better alignment of mental health services with the third sector may ensure better outcomes for people and a more streamlined approach to reaching a dual diagnosis. We are very rightly scrutinising the reasons behind and the response to increases in problematic drug use. I have no doubt that many of the contributions today will centre on those issues. However, in my area, my local drug action group that has been referenced has told me that one of the things that they are most worried about during the pandemic and the lockdowns is a very big increase in referrals due to problematic consumption of alcohol. I note that Clare Baker mentioned that as well. They said that they have seen this particularly amongst men and women in their 40s, 50s and early 60s. Every person working in drugs and alcohol services that I have spoken to over the years has highlighted how important family support is. Since details of my meeting last month with Aberdeenshire Drugs Action were publicised on various social media platforms, I have been approached by constituents and family members who are desperate for support. Can there be anything more terrifying than finding yourself alone and without advice and support as you discover your son, daughter, partner or parent has a problem with alcohol or drugs? We need to empower families more to aid the recovery of their loved ones, and those pathways exist so that they may need to be better communicated. Drugs Action commended the person-centred approaches outlined by the minister, but they call for less bureaucratic barriers to make it easier for third sector organisations to fund what they call the trying of new things. Programmes based on their knowledge of and relationships to their service users and communities, and crucially more support for peer-led programmes with those who have suffered from addiction in the past, can often be very inspiring to those who have gone through the trauma of it in the present. I want to leave you with the direct quote from Fraser Hogan. He says, there are a lot of great ideas out there and we need to find a way to put them into action. We need a flexible and innovative local tailored strategies as they are key to earlier intervention and the success of preventative measures, and it sounds to me from what Kevin Stewart says that that has been heard very loud and clear. I now call Miles Briggs to be followed by James Dornan. May I take this opportunity again to put on record my thoughts and sympathies to all those who have lost their lives to drug and alcohol addiction in Scotland? Equally important is for Parliament to also acknowledge the strength and the campaigning of so many families and friends who have been left behind. For years, I have been calling on ministers to support those families, so I very much welcome what has been announced today with regard to the family network funding. It is long overdue and I think will make a difference in supporting people and for their families and friends to be able to do that. Now, as has been outlined already today, access to rehab and treatments is absolutely critical and I welcome some of the positive steps taken and look forward as we look towards those reforms actually being put in place. I hope that what will be the establishment of a right to rehab, including the bill which has already been outlined, which my party leader Douglas Ross is bringing forward. In the time that I had today, I wanted to touch upon one of the key issues that I believe is missing from today's debate, but what is absolutely critical if we are going to develop a policy solution to genuinely reduce drug deaths and drug harms is housing. Housing is at the heart of stability for each and every one of us across Scotland. For many people living with addiction or for those individuals who are homeless, a lack of housing often results in substance misuse escalating or issues developing or resulting in them returning and not to mention the negative impact that this will have on an individual's mental health. The housing first model is a good one but it has not been delivered and the outcomes that we all want to see by councils around this needs to be redoubled in terms of the funding for housing. The councils report that they simply do not have the resources to deliver the accommodation needed, especially here in the capital. I strongly believe that housing must be at the heart of this drug deaths strategy. It can and it does provide the stability needed by vulnerable individuals, from people who are homeless to rough sleeping to individuals leaving prison. If I can get some time back, I will. I think that everyone knows my interest in housing over the past number of years and that housing first has been a real good success, with tenancy retention rates of over 90 per cent dealing with some of the most vulnerable people. Councils have been pump-prined to bring those services into play. It is the right thing to do. It will save them money and beyond that it lessens the human cost by getting that right for people. It is the right approach and I would encourage every council to continue that investment while it will save them in the long run. I agree with those points, but it is not addressing what I have said, which is for people to get into different models of housing. For example, homeless people who want to get into a supported model where they are looking towards rehab to be part of that as well. The drugs minister has been reaching out to a number of rehab and housing providers across Scotland, including the hugely impressive safest houses that are run by alternatives in western bartonshire community drug services. I think that that is a great model that could be extended across Scotland. We have not heard any of that today, but I want to see that as part of any future strategy. It is so important. I would be grateful to hear from the minister in closing how housing is going to be an integral part of that response. That is just one example of where it is working in a different part of the country. In Edinburgh, we do not have that sort of model. I would like to see that. The amendment put forward by Alex Cole-Hamilton, but not selected for today's debate, I think makes a very important point. I have already raised concerns around drug and alcohol partnerships and the potential for them to be destabilised by the impact of being brought into a national care service at the very point that they are fragile. I note from the response that I received from the mental health minister today that they are not included in his response to my question, which was specifically to ask what powers and responsibilities it plans to remove from local authorities under its proposed national care service. I would be interested in seeing if there has been already a rethinking by ministers on that issue. I hope that ministers will listen to those concerns, and we are not going to see a top-down reform of drug and alcohol services that will destabilise them. To conclude, we are genuinely, I hope, going to look towards the development of a person-centred approach to mental health and substance abuse. If we are going to do that, then housing must be at the heart of delivering that stability and safe space for people who are desperately in need of that stability in their lives. For too long, individuals and their families have complained that trying to access support and drug and alcohol services has been complicated and, in some cases, support networks have been cut out and they have been disrespected in their decision making for themselves or their family member. People often do not feel they are in control of their decisions around their care or recovery programmes or accessing services. We need to see that reformed and I genuinely hope that we will see that delivered going forward. We are only at the start of this journey to deliver those reforms, but I hope that what has been outlined today can make a difference. I now call James Dornan, who will be joining us remotely, to be followed by Michael Marra. This is certainly a difficult topic to talk about, especially given the last 18 months or so when we have all been affected by low-gnownist depression and anxiety as a result of the pandemic. I would like to start by saying that there has been great progress here in Scotland towards creating an environment or maybe a society that can talk about mental health openly and honestly. We have come a long way from chastising those suffering with depression or borderline personality disorder, telling them to keep a stiff upper lip or blaming them for their own misery. However, there is still quite a bit more for us to do. We hear a lot about Scotland's drug deaths problem as being a result of poverty, crime or a lack of education. Those social inequities cannot lead to drug use, but I will not bet that, more often than not, those issues stem from the same thing that they are being blamed for causing, i.e., it is a mental health issue that pushes you into crime, poverty or failing in education. Poverty, crime and literacy are descriptors for people, Scots, the pride of health, safety and knowledge. I believe that the language of placing blame on the surrounding conditions can have a dehumanising effect on those that are meant to be helping. Addiction is a mental illness in and of itself, and it does not care if you are rich or poor, if you are black or white or if you are young or old. Everyone knows someone who has been struggling with addiction, if not for you. I was looking at the national records of Scotland's drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2020 report that was published this past July, and something that stood out to me was that the largest increase of drug-related deaths per age group in the past 20 years is for those aged between 35 and 44, closely followed by those aged between 45 and 54. Shouldn't this tell us that substance abuse is more than just the result of juvenile delinquency and destitution, but that perhaps those that are most vulnerable, those Scots with invisible illnesses, are turning to substance like heroin, alcohol and cocaine as a way to self-medicate? For that reason, I welcome the Scottish Government's policy shift in allowing police officers to hand out warnings to those in possession of class A drugs, such as opiates and stimulants. Although it may be convenient for the opposition to claim that the Scottish Government is in effect decriminalising illicit drugs, I would like to suggest that what we are attempting to do is decriminalise mental illness. Addiction is often co-occurring with mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder, and that is just to name a few. However, we can no longer ask those suffering from poor mental health to stand and face prosecution for a disease they did not ask for and have little control over if left untreated. Sign officer, the war on drugs was never really that. It was always a war on the poor and the sick, but whatever they thought it was, it is a war that was lost a long time ago. It is time for a new direction and I sincerely hope and expect, under the leadership of the relevant ministers, Angela Constance, Kevin Stewart and the First Minister, of course, that this is the start of a new beginning for Scottish society, that we start to look at those suffering from mental illness, including addiction with compassion and understanding, that we begin to offer medical treatments for what is, without a doubt, a medical issue rather than throwing those who are suffering into the criminal justice system, further isolating them and adding to their despair. I very encouraged what I have heard from the Government over the last few months and I look forward to them taking those issues forward in the person-centred manner that they are talking about. It is not a claim to be on well and it is not a claim to ask for help. It is now time that we offer that help rather than pass judgment and rushing to penalise those who need our support most. I begin by placing on record my sympathies for the families of fellow Dondonians across the north-east and the whole of Scotland who have lost loved ones to drug death and suicide. Much of my speech focuses on the hard and sometimes technical side of service redesign in the way that that works, but the heart of all this and the victims of those processes are human souls who have our sympathies. The debate is about the intersection of two of the most acute issues impacting our communities and the state of our mental health services in Scotland by every reasonable metric collected as perilous. That was the case before the pandemic and the scale of the challenge, as many members have pointed out, is all the greater now. I would say that it is 14 years of failure in service design, workforce planning, strategic oversight, resourcing and acute service delivery. Any success in tackling Scotland's drug deaths epidemic will depend critically on tackling the wider seminal issue of drug addiction, because progress relies on the successful interaction of those two services, mental health and addiction. As with far too much in our social and health policy, that is dangerously far from reality. As colleagues have already pointed out, the rhetoric of personal-centred care is well worn, but it will remain rhetoric alone while the waiting lists for services and caseloads of workers render case current services effectively non-existent. The great work of the Dundee Drugs Commission referenced by various members was a thorough examination of the state of drugs and associated health services in Dundee. It was published in 2019 and it states that the most common and consistent message that the commission heard across its evidence gathering was a lack of mental health support for those who experience problems with drugs. The commission concluded that the message was expressed as either statutory drug services being reluctant to work with mental health services refusing to work with individuals who had not yet dealt with drug use. The report noted that there were no wholly integrated statutory services in Scotland that responded to the needs of people with mental health and substance misuse issues. Those conclusions were of no real surprise. Mental health services in NHS Tayside have been subject to multiple internal and independent reviews due to on-going failures. The Dundee Poverty Commission concluded back in November 2018 that the firewall erected between a mental health and addiction services was costing lives. That Drugs Commission recommended a framework from which to move forward—integrated services, a dual route into treatment and evidence-based commissioning. Audit Scotland in 2019 also discussed the benefits of increasing preventative spending in this area, but it is now over two years since the publication of that report for the Dundee Drugs Commission. A landmark report for my city, but for much of Scotland, set out the challenges to which the Government had to rise. I can tell you from the people of Dundee that it is very, very hard to see what has changed. We have balkanised services, exclusion of primary care, we have a punitive culture in services that still persists and we have leadership who have told me personally that they do not recognise the characterisation of the problem, as stated in the Dundee Drugs Commission report. The scale of the challenge that still remains for my city of Dundee is absolutely huge. There is a progress report being produced at the moment, but it is difficult at the moment to see where the progress has been. There has to be a change in culture of management, but that must happen now. I hear the minister's comments on tests of change on small projects looking at some of those issues, but I have to say that real change will be culture change in management and it has to be led by the minister. I know that she is committed to those issues, but frankly delay, denial and endless discussion is still costing lives in Dundee. I am pleased to support this motion today. I am a member of the Aberdein City alcohol drug partnership. At the outset, I wished to acknowledge the work that has been done to reduce alcohol harm in Scotland. Too often, in my former professional role, I removed children from their mother who had a history of depression and overdosed on release from prison. She wasn't a bad mother, she was a failed mother. Too often, I searched a suicidal young woman suspected of concealing drugs and custody. She wasn't a criminal, she was criminalised. That must change. The correlation between problem drug use and poor mental health is well documented. The Scottish drug forum highlights the complex but not the result of poor decision making or lifestyle choices. The European monitoring centre for drugs and drugs addiction highlights the complexities in treating drug use and mental health. Noting barriers include accessing and being co-ordinated within services and treatment networks being separated, risking service users falling through the gaps. In her announcement on the national drugs mission fund, the First Minister acknowledged more should have been done earlier. That motion reflects the commitment to implement approaches that reduce harm and save lives. Alcohol drugs action in Aberdeen are developing outreach and custody and engaged in non-fatal overdose follow-up. Improvement funding has been sought to scale up sharp response to a mainstream provision, and funding for pre-rehabilitation provision and post-care pathways will assist those engaging in residential provision. Despite the challenges that are faced by the Scottish Ambulance Service, their harm reduction team is doing fantastic work to develop non-fatal overdose pathways, and their take-home naloxone programme has seen nearly 600 take-home kits given to individuals at risk of overdose. There is much going on and much to do, and in this regard I make two brief but, in my view, important points. Firstly, workforce development is key to delivering a truly integrated person-centred approach. The mental health nursing programme at the Robert Gordon University in my constituency puts compassionate and pence person-centred care at the heart of students' learning. The master's addiction and substance misuse module is open to practitioners working in the field, co-ordinated by mental health nurse lecturers and delivered by alcohol and drug services practitioners, a truly collaborative offering. Secondly, later this week, the criminal justice committee will hold a round table on drugs and the criminal justice system. A range of evidence has already been submitted, and in the context of this debate I note the submission from Dr Liz Astin of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research, which highlights the misuse of drugs act of 1971, shapes the environment in which people use drugs, the way in which environments are policed and may impede the introduction or delivery of public health interventions, such as the establishment of safer consumption rooms, despite a wealth of evidence on their effectiveness as a drug's death prevention intervention. I urge the Scottish Government to do all it can to mitigate the impact of this damaging and antiquated UK legislation. In conclusion, the public health emergency that we face in Scotland demands an ambitious and wide-ranging response, in which Government stakeholders, educators and those with living and lived experience, work to ensure that people get the right support at the right time, ultimately saving lives. Mental health is intertwined with drug use, with trauma and adverse childhood experiences leading people to use drugs to stigma and shame from drug use, preventing them from seeking treatment and help. For me, we have to tackle this from both ends. I am very pleased that today's debate crosses portfolios and that the motion recognises that we need to do more to support those who use drugs. For me, this covers housing and income and how those join up with support coming from the NHS. Ensuring that, for example, people who require residential treatment can keep their tenancies and their homes will help to reduce anxiety for what happens after their treatment. Making sure that we provide person-centred wraparound care is essential, and I am sure that we all agree that, when it comes to tackling the drug death crisis, services cannot work in silos. We need joined up whole system thinking that addresses the many ways in which people use drugs are marginalised. We need to promote good mental health by providing support to families to reduce adverse childhood experiences. We also need to see better mental health support for care experience children and young people, and I thank all those who spoke to the minister for children and young people, Anasarwar and I, about their experiences at the Who Care Scotland event yesterday. I extend my particular thanks to Nicole, who spoke to me about her experience with drugs and her own mental health. When I asked her about what she would like to say to the chamber, she said to me that she wanted politicians to listen to what they needed and act on that. Traum informed care and clinicians being aware of care experience was also something that all participants were very keen to see. Stigma kills. For those who currently use drugs, stigma is one of the biggest factors in not only seeking help for their substance use, but also for seeking any health support, including for their mental health. If people feel that they are going to be judged for accessing healthcare for their drug use or have their health conditions blamed on their substance use, they are less likely to seek help. According to the Mental Health Foundation, some people with a dual diagnosis of both a mental health problem and drug use find it hard to get the help that they need. Some are turned away from mental health services because they use drugs. That clearly shows the cultural and institutional change that needs to happen before people who use drugs can access mental health services without the fear of stigma. We need a system of harm reduction, including safe consumption rooms and testing of drugs. It is awful that we cannot currently test drugs to ensure that they are not cut with poisons, cement dust and many other things and that people are informed of the strength of drugs that they are taking. That will undoubtedly save lives, but we cannot do that under current powers and we need those powers to prevent deaths. That is a public health measure and, as such, I strongly feel that that power should be devolved as soon as possible. That first contact would also allow us to build trust and potentially help people into treatment, whether that be mental health support or drug treatment. One of the most powerful things that we can do is to change the way that substance abuse is spoken about. Both here in the chamber and more widely when we are providing commentary to the media whether we agree with each other's points of view or not. Taking drugs is currently very risky because of the lack of safe consumption facilities. It is risky because we cannot test drugs because we have entrenched stigma within our media, because of dangers with illicit supply and because people feel that they cannot come forward to receive treatment because they feel that they will be judged. Drug use is not a moral failing, but so much of the language we use expresses judgment. By examining the language that we use in the chamber and the media with regards to drug use, we can help to set the tone and I hope that we all feel the weight of that responsibility. I now call Stephanie Callaghan to be followed by Jeremy Balfour. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I fully support today's motion and welcome the minister's earlier announcement of our Arapah's Review of Services. While some areas of disagreement remain, today's debate demonstrates a collective determination across this chamber to save lives by addressing the tragic and unacceptable level of preventable and avoidable drug deaths in Scotland. Quite rightly, given the urgency of the situation, much of the response to Scotland's drug stress crisis must be focused on medically-assisted treatments, but that is only part of the wider story and we must focus on the importance of taking a person-centred approach. One size does not fit all, and a personal approach makes successful recovery much more likely. One-to-one support from the outset is imperative and current work that focuses on building better links between mental health and substance use services is absolutely vital. As others have mentioned, the Scottish Government has 120 million investment in the Mental Health Recovery Fund to strengthen those links, which is very welcome, alongside the 250 million investment in the national drugs mission. I am aware of the impact substance use has on our communities and the awful stigma that is still embedded in our society around addiction and mental health. Along with the media and others, we here have a responsibility to help to reduce the stigma and be a positive influence in public opinion. In reality, providing the right help at the right time, free from discrimination and stigma, will improve and save lives and make our communities safer places to live, work and play. Listening is key, and today's motion rightly commits to listening to those with loved experience, those currently living with addiction and listening to family members too. Listening and respecting each individual paves the way for delivering the faster, more flexible treatment that people need and deserve. Today's motion also supports the need for treatment and assistance to be offered at the first point of contact and consistently throughout the person's journey. By delivering services from a clinical setting into the community, we can provide vital wraparound care for those who need it most. Public compassion and understanding will give people the confidence to speak openly and discuss the root causes of their addiction. Tackling the underlying issues and inequalities that lead to substance abuse issues is where we must begin, and have worked in some of the most deprived areas across Lanarkshire and Glasgow. I have seen first hand the impact of drugs in communities and how the cycle continues over and over. It is time to stop that cycle, taking a human rights approach, and tackling inequality and poverty will be absolutely key. Transforming how people access care, delivering immediate support and following up the sticky support for as long as each individual needs already works in other countries, and it will work in Scotland too. As James Dornan said earlier, it really has time to put the war on drugs behind us, because wars put people on opposite sides to their neighbours, wars create anger and fear and hatred, wars have no winners, only losers. So let's move on and start building new expectations and heal the trauma of substance abuse person by person. Thank you, support the motion. Jeremy Balford, to be followed by Paul McLennan. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. 1,339 deaths in 2020. A 5% rise from the previous year and the highest since records began in 1996. There is no doubt that we are in a crisis in this country. If nothing constructive and effective is done, there is no telling how many worse, how worse things will get. During a crisis, it is necessary that both of us in positions of leadership be very careful in what we say or do so not to make the situation worse or make the problem more extreme. Lorna Slater's comments last week were astonishingly irresponsible and completely counterproductive in our current efforts to mitigate the horrendous effects of this public crisis. In a time where we should be trying to display the public from abusing dangerous substances, it is frankly unbelievable that she would think that those comments are in any way appropriate. I would invite her to get out of her ministerial car and come and join some of the areas in our region and see the devastating effects that drugs have had both on individuals and communities here in Malawian. Of course, there is a robust and on-going debate over the level of criminalisation of some drugs and the fact that that would have on a number of deaths occurring. However, that does not give licence for a Government minister to make flippant statements of this nature. It is the same as saying that there is nothing inherently dangerous about fireworks in the run-up-to-guide forks night. It is counterproductive, and I would ask the minister in her summing up to distance herself from those remarks. Today's motion goes only partway to addressing the deep-seated problems related to drugs in Scotland. The amendment in my colleagues' nameshoe webster outlines the fact that the SNP cannot hide behind Covid on this issue, as it does in so many. It must confront the fact that I have been building for years, and nothing constructive has been done about it. The 2019 drug task force failed with the CEO's favour, saying that it was, instead, unquote, pursuing the same field options that got us into this mess. I am asked justice, Deputy Presiding Officer. After 14 years in power, the SNP has run out of ideas. We are relegated to rehearsing old ideas that have not worked in the past and rebranding it to look fresh and new. The drug consultants are taking seriously the issues surrounding drug deaths, and that is why we have launched the consultation for a right to recovery bill. It aims to enshrine in Scots law the legal right to necessary treatment for addition to drugs and alcohol. It would place an obligation on NHS health boards, Scottish ministers and others as appropriate to provide treatment and set up reporting arrangements so that the quality and access of treatment that is provided can be monitored and reported to this Parliament. This crisis requires bold new initiatives that truly tackle the issues of drug deaths, while acknowledging initiatives that have failed in the past. Values by the amendment in my colleague's name does, and I fully support it. Thank you. I now call Paul MacLennan, who will be the last speaker in the open debate. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Just over two weeks ago, I was honored to lead a member's debate debating discussing World Mental Health Day 2021, and it has chosen theme mental health in an equal world. World Mental Health Day this year provided us, as elected representatives, the opportunity to highlight the importance of and need for mental health education and provision, as well as raising awareness of the inequalities in our society and our implications for our mental health and wellbeing. Significant inequalities that extend to those with mental health are mirrored in the mental health outcomes of disadvantaged groups. It is not surprising that adults living in the most deprived areas in Scotland are twice as likely to have common mental health problems as those in the least deprived areas. We know that those in the most deprived poorer areas are 18 times more likely to suffer from substance misuse. That is why the importance of ensuring a person-centred approach to supporting those with substance use and mental health needs is key in how we tackle this issue. It is key that we support the development of better working links between mental health and substance use services. Getting more people into treatment at the earlier stage, of course, is key in our national mission to tackle drug deaths. The additional £250 million allocated over the next five years to improve and increase access to services for people affected will, of course, be of benefit. That investment will help to support community-based interventions, including prevention and an expansion of residential rehabilitation. Of course, improving mental health is also a priority for the Scottish Government. The additional £120 million investment will ensure the delivery of the mental health transition and recovery plan. The additional 800 additional mental health workers will also be recruited this year is also very welcome. Everybody's journey to substance misuse is different. Their support mechanism is different, and, of course, their circumstances are often complex. We all need to listen to those people who have real-life experience of drug addiction, to those who live with it and to their loved ones. Additional funding is welcome, and it will support further outreach services in every local authority and crucially implement the new medication-assisted treatment standards, MAT, in the first year of the Parliament, ensuring the same-day treatment or same-day prescribing for those who need it. That will allow us to deal with issues immediately and place them with community or clinical services. We must ensure that people must be able to start receiving support on the day that they ask for it, allowing them to make informed decisions about their own treatment. The uplift in funding for alcohol and drug partnerships that has been provided is another key component in tackling the issue. A local point is possible, as well as additional funding for third sector organisations. That is an important point to mention. The drug's death task forces delivered has developed a stigma strategy that identifies actions that will help to reduce stigma. A few people have mentioned that in the chamber this afternoon. Stigma can act as a significant barrier to people engaging with treatment. There continues to be considerable stigma associated with people who use drugs, and that must be challenged in services among the media and public. We play a key part in that mission. In conclusion, how we tackle substance misuse and mental health provision goes hand in hand. I have welcomed the opportunity to speak in this debate, and the key thing is let's work together in supporting families who are impacted by substance misuse. Please support the motion. We now move to the winding up speeches. I call on Carol Mocken to wind up for Labour. In closing for Scottish Labour, I thank my parliamentary colleagues, all of whom have made significant and interesting contributions to this debate. It is always useful to hear about successful projects across Scotland. I thank members for sharing those, but we also need to face up to the reality of what is happening for many in my colleague Michael Marr. I described that. I think that people would agree very well from Dundee. When we talk about problems with substance misuse and related mental health problems, we are really talking about people who have, for one reason or another, slipped through the net. Where there should be adequate support to get them back on their feet, there has been little more than a promised appointment that never comes. Only recently we heard that 31 per cent of NHS 24 mental health hub calls go unanswered. We cannot only imagine how many of those people will immediately give up and seek other ways of coping. This is the story that I hear time and time again all over my region, and I know that many other colleagues have heard the same. I want help, but I can't get it. I have been waiting for months just to see someone or even to speak to someone. We can do better than that, and I think that there is broad agreement here in the Parliament from the ministers and others that we must now do whatever is necessary to pull Scotland out of this notes dive. Let's not talk about this in abstract. We need to be honest with the public and say that that will require greater investment and a much longer-term approach. Two things the world of politics is often poorly prepared to deal with. I welcome the investment mentioned by the cabinet secretary. Let's be honest and accept that it is not enough. We know that the problem is simply not being able to get the help that you require is widespread in Scotland. As I and others have noted in the chamber today and in previous debates, the number of children and young people waiting a year or more for mental health appointments is at record high. We should not then be surprised that, for those living with substance misuse, that problem is just as prevalent. We need to find more sustainable ways to get people the care that they require in the community and directly connect the problems of poverty and substance misuse through meaningful policy. Poverty and homelessness are included in the motion as a consideration, but for me it should be the core of the debate. If we do not seriously tackle the low pay, high debt and exorbitant housing cost society that we have built, then reliance on substances to deal with that pressure will only get worse. The minute someone is made homeless or put in the cusp of homelessness through unaffordable rents, then their health, mental and physical will rapidly deteriorate. If that person has already been exposed to a damaging relationship with dangerous substance, then it is obvious that they will be at risk of going further down that road. Yet little is done to immediately support such people and offer them the counselling and respite that they require to follow a different path. Any expense that we incur by increasing counselling and outreach services will be saved many times over by ensuring that people's health is protected. Their homes are secure long before the problems arise. Scottish Labour believes that we must begin to look at this now. Drug misuse and associated mental health difficulties have spiralled out of control, as again described by Michael. The conclusion has to be that this should be a top priority for every Government, not just here in Edinburgh but in London too. It needs to remain a priority for a long time to come. There will be no overnight fix and if we can shift the narrative towards treating this as a health crisis focused on solutions that are centred around supportive prevention, that will change the lives of thousands in Scotland for many decades to come. In closing, I refer to the necessary Scottish Labour amendment in Claire Baker's name, which I hope will be supported this evening. That rightly highlights the number of people staying in hospital due to drug-related mental health problems is on their eyes. Further points out that we are not doing enough to make sure those who need it are being referred to community-based services so that we can address the root causes of the problems. In order to do that, we must more cohesively link together each service and considerably expand the number of outlets that are for people to seek that support. The root of all of that is the continuous poor funding of mental health services in Scotland. They remain under-resourced and blighted by unacceptable waiting times. If we are to change approaches towards community support and change the disparity in funding for those services, we can shift the trajectory of that debate. Without doing both of those things, headlines may change but lives will not. This has been a very short but a very full debate and also a very good debate. It has shone a light on two of the most complex and interconnected public policy problems confronting modern Scotland, as Michael Marra rightly pointed out. It comes as no surprise that this debate has touched on three key points. Firstly, that Scotland has a problem with drugs misuse, that Scotland has a problem with alcohol misuse and that Scotland has an escalating mental health problem. As Claire Baker said, a problem made worse by the combined forces of drink and drugs, stigma, trauma, poverty and, as Miles Briggs said, poor housing. Three key themes have also emerged during the debate. Scotland needs to embrace person-centred care. I agree with Angela Constance on that and we will be voting with the Government tonight. That means that we need to build a system where integrated health and social care professionals across the public and the third sectors work collaboratively with those who use and need those services. Despite that need, under the SNP today, people across Scotland cannot get access to the vital mental health treatments that they need or they cannot easily access treatment for dependency on drugs or alcohol. Thirdly, people must be able to access the support that they require in a timely and accessible way. That is why my party is pressing for a right to recovery bill, which enshrines the right to the necessary addiction treatment into Scots law, for example by passing match standards into law so that national guidance is clear and enforceable. Others have spoken today of the need and urgency of a wide range of measures. My colleague Sue Webber gave insight from the front line and she highlighted the stark and shocking levels of drug deaths in Scotland today. Looking beyond the numbers, depressing as they are, Ms Webber pointed out quite correctly that the concept of person-centred care is nothing new. Indeed, in 2017 and again in 2018, the Scottish Government talked of a person-centred approach. While the Government is repeating the same language, I sincerely hope that it does not repeat the same mistakes of the past. Sue Webber also talked about her real sense of disappointment at Lorna Slater's recent remarks in relation to the dangers posed by drug misuse. For Lorna Slater, to say that drugs are not inherently dangerous is, in my view, an inherently dangerous position to adopt. I implore her to go and speak to those who knew and loved the 1,339 Scots who died of a drugs-related death last year. Lorna Slater needs to learn that being a minister carries a sense of care and a sense of responsibility. She should choose her words in a second and she should choose her words with more consideration of future. I will give way. If I can just make members aware that there is time in hand and I will give Mr Hoy the time back. I thank the member for taking that intervention. Will the member recognise that it was actually his party's position that was criticised by the prominent drug campaigner Peter Kraikin for the language that was used over the weekend and not Lorna Slater's position as your characterising? That is his view to be completely frank. My view is looking at the words that are on the record from a minister of the Crown. They are irresponsible and she should apologise for them. We also heard today of the need for services not just to be person-centred but community-focused, delivered close to those who need them, often by skill professionals in the third sector. That is why I share the concern of Miles Briggs and Alex Cole-Hamilton about the potential impact of the creation of a national care service. While we have focused quite rightly on drugs in this debate, we cannot overlook the mounting harm caused by alcohol across Scottish society. As the Scottish health action on alcohol problems has rightly identified, the real number of drink-related deaths is deeply concerning, possibly as much as three or four times as those reported. Shap agrees that alcohol services need to be person-centred and holistic, but they add that those services should, in my quote, ensure equity of access by taking into account the specific needs and experiences of the range of groups and communities throughout the country. Surely ministers must realise that rolling alcohol and drugs partnerships into a cumbersome national care service is likely to go against this grain. It will combine centralisation and ministerial control, and as such it is unlikely to be anything but person-centred. Finally, this debate has also highlighted the breadth of opinion that exists on such an emotive issue as drugs. We have heard today about the decriminalisation of class A drugs and safe consumption rooms, but whatever your views on those interventions are, and I am sceptical on both, surely there is still a more pressing need. The need to make people safe and to free them and their families by the misery and danger of drugs, and surely the safest way to approach the issues confronted by vulnerable Scots is not for them to be given places in which safe or otherwise to consume heroin, but to be given a right to the treatment so that they no longer take heroin at all. As Stephanie Callaghan said, and as Paul MacRennan echoed, we should strive for cross-party support to ensure that this Parliament delivers policies that deliver the care and the treatment that people so clearly need. Whether they are struggling with alcohol addiction or drug addiction, or are suffering a mental health crisis, they have a right to faster, better and more targeted care than many presently receive. Better, faster mental health services, CAMHS that work for our children, a tougher, more effective suicide prevention strategy, person-focused locally run alcohol services, and a simple, basic, immediate, country-wide, legally enforceable right to recovery. That is what my party is pressing for today. I welcome the opportunity to close this debate and commend all that is currently being done to support those who are most vulnerable as well as their families and carers, while also recognising the hard work and commitment of those who work within services, particularly during these difficult times. Much has been said today about person-centred approaches. The person-centred approach is happening in many places and is working for people. We need to ensure that that person-centred approach happens everywhere and exports the best practice to every part of our country. I want to thank everyone across the chamber for their input and their reflections during the course of today's debate on what can often be a challenging and emotive issue. In the main, there is a lot that we can all agree upon, so let us build on that agreement. Mental health and substance use often come hand in hand, so it is crucial that we ensure that our services reflect that. I want to assure you all today that we are striving towards a cross-government approach, which Alex Cole-Hamilton commended on in having this joint debate today. However, it is just more than Ms Constance and I in all of that. We will continue to ensure better working links between services, a culture of inclusivity, and we will put the needs of individuals at the heart of everything that we do. I appreciate the minister giving way. I commend him the work of the Breakin health care group in the north-east region, which hosts just the kind of services that he is talking about—mental health services alongside addiction services, volunteer run. Is it possible for the minister to accept my invitation to come and visit that group or to have discussions with them about their plans for the months ahead? I am sure that either Ms Constance or I or both can meet the group possibly virtually at this moment, but I am more than happy to do so. There is nothing that Ms Constance and I like more than listening to the voices of lived experience. I thought that Mr Marra was going to ask the question that I think he has got tabled for Thursday there. I am glad that I did not have to spoil the answer that he will get on Thursday. As the chamber knows, I was previously the minister for local government housing and planning, and Miles Briggs has mentioned housing today. In my former role, I regularly encountered many of the issues that we have spoken about today. In particular, I am very conscious that unmet mental health needs can perpetuate homelessness and that some of those folk may use substances to cope with their distress and trauma. For that reason, I am delighted to announce that we are investing almost half a million pounds over the next three years in a new, intensive, assertive outreach service for people experiencing homelessness and complex mental health needs in Edinburgh. Some of those people are entrenched rough sleepers. Others are locked in a cycle of repeated episodes of rough sleeping, institutional provision and temporary accommodation. For those folks, many of whom have a long history of trauma and a lack of trust in statutory services, a much more intensive and assertive approach to meeting their mental health needs is required. I will take an intervention if he just lets me finish the next part. I want to say that this new programme will be delivered by the Simon community alongside City of Edinburgh Council and Castle Rock, Edinburgh Housing Association. I will take Miles Briggs, if that is okay with you. Absolutely, there is time in hand. Miles Briggs. I very much welcome that announcement. Alex Cole-Hamilton and I have visited services over the past five years, which, quite frankly, are in crisis here in the capital for adults. It is a two-year wait sometimes to see a mental health specialist, so you can imagine for people in crisis in mental health services who are homeless or rough sleeping. They have been the bottom of that list, so I welcome that fact. However, for other residents across the capital, a two-year wait is still completely unacceptable. In terms of the professionals who are going to be involved delivering that service, who will be recruited to that minister? At the minute, we do not have those professionals working and we need to see them put in place if we are going to meet any service expectation. That was a very long intervention. What I would say to Miles Briggs is that workforce planning is absolutely essential. Ms Webber, earlier on, talked about the lack of mental health professionals. Can I say that the psychology workforce here in Scotland has increased by 110 per cent since 2006? We have more folks working in mental health services in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK. 56 whole-time equivalent per 100,000 working in Scotland compared to the UK average of 40 whole-time equivalent per 100,000, but that does not mean to say that we do not need to do more and we will do more on that front. I regularly hear stories from individuals and their families who have struggled to navigate their way through what is for them a complex and complicated system. That can lead to further disenchantment and, in some cases, can exacerbate pre-existing trauma. Healthcare Improvement Scotland is currently taking forward work to develop a more integrated approach between mental health and drug services. We have committed an additional £2.2 million to support the expansion of that work over the next three years. That work is now underway and seeks to develop a new model and pathway of care with a view to creating a national network to spread good practice, innovation and learning about best practice Scotland-wide. Our ambition is that it will drive improvement and change and ensure that people receive the best care, developing and delivering integrated and inclusive mental health and alcohol and drug services based on what service users have told us they need and expect. That approach will improve opportunities for people with lived and living experience, as well as others involved in the system, to have an active role in the planning, design and delivery of what is their services. We have committed to setting a set of national standards for secondary mental health services with a key aim of supporting transitions between services, while also reducing inequalities in the system, which will also complement this work. The support available should be consistent, regardless of where you live in Scotland, taking account of both urban and rural areas, as Gillian Martin pointed out earlier. Early intervention is key to many of the instances of substance use and mental health. Whether that is through primary care services or school mental health counselling services, mental health assessment services and the distress brief interventions that have been put in place can often be a lifeline for those seeking help. I want to ensure that those services are working effectively to deliver support from day 1. We committed to undertake a review of primary care services. That new approach focuses on multidisciplinary team-working, which will reduce pressures on services and ensure improved outcomes for patients with access to the right professional at the right time as near to home as possible. Later this year and on the basis of local plans that are submitted by integration authorities, we will start providing funding to begin national implementation of a new model for mental health and primary care. Let me turn to culture change, because there is still much to be done on that front. I have already mentioned empathy. Empathy must be at the heart of the services that we deliver, whether that is for patients, their families or for those working within services. I was shocked and disturbed recently to be told by somebody working in substance use services with a mental health ward that they themselves feel stigmatised by colleagues. Both staff and patients should feel empowered, not afraid to seek help and not concerned that their voices will not be heard. Gillian Mackay says that stigma kills and I think that she is absolutely right. We must ensure that we rid ourselves of that stigma not only in terms of service users but also front-line staff who also feel stigmatised as well because of the job that they do. In order to raise awareness of the potential impact of psychological trauma on a wide range of outcomes, including substance use and mental health. Since 2018, we have invested more than £4 million in our national training trauma programme, led by NHS Scotland, and we must continue to invest on that front. My officials are also supporting a short-life working group for substance use on in-patient wards. That group was created following David Strang's recommendation within his report on Tayside and will aim to create an approach to substance use on in-patient wards that ensures both staff and patient safety within wards. In conclusion, the Government will be working with all partners to deliver a service that treats individuals as individuals and not as a diagnosis. By ensuring early intervention and supporting those who are using services better and caring for those who drop out of services, we can make a significant difference to the outcomes for some of Scotland's most disadvantaged and vulnerable people. I urge Parliament to support the motion this evening. That concludes the debate on a person-centred approach to mental health and substance abuse, and it is now time to move on to the next item of business, which is two committee announcements. I call Clare Adamson, convener of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee, to make an announcement on climate justice. As part of its external affairs remit, the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee took a decision to look at climate impact on the Scottish Government's partner countries for international development and, specifically, the climate justice fund impact in the run-up to COP26 in Glasgow. The committee held a one-off round-table discussion, taking evidence from a number of stakeholders, including Oxfam Scotland, the Cora Foundation. We were delighted to be joined by Baseflow, a Malawi organisation that is working to improve the sustainability of groundwater sources in rural communities. I am speaking today on behalf of the committee to inform the chamber of a number of important themes that emerge from these evidence sessions. We looked at the matter in five ways. The part Scotland complained promoting global climate governance, where climate justice fits in the context of our international development commitments, how we measure up against the principles of climate justice and the impact of the pandemic and the post-Covid recovery on our report, and what does climate justice look like locally and globally? The witnesses who spoke to us were insightful and incisive in their contributions. Oxfam's of COP26 is an opportunity to inspire global climate action, and the charity called for the Scottish Government to use its role in the under-two coalition and the wellbeing economy governance forums to demonstrate credible climate justice examples. Professor Shane Jaffrey of Caledonian University Centre for Climate Justice told us dialogue was taking place far and wide from islands of the South Pacific to Inuit communities in Canada. He suggested that we must now move from discussing the idea of climate justice to tangible, meaningful and measurable work. Christianaid Scotland believes that climate justice is the best way to implement international development in a way to meet the objectives that are set put in Scotland. Muti Shema from Baseflow, as our only witness from the global south, gave very practical examples of outcomes. It may seem that we can only do a drop in the ocean to tackle those issues, but he said that a drop in the ocean can start a tidal wave. He detailed how a small additional investment from the Scottish Government and the US Government had leveraged an existing project that the Scottish Government had developed in partnership with Malawi. Following the catastrophic floods in Malawi in 2019, it was able to use its database to identify the water points that are at risk for the population following the floods, and 150,000 people were at risk of contacting waterboard disease, which was prevented as the result was using the database. He said that Scotland had played its part in supporting generation of assets and that it was now up to Malawi to increase the impact. The Cora Foundation called for focus on inclusion, sustainability and partnership. It was locally led by organisations and all of our witnesses urged that we amplify the voices of the global south during COP26. That was a very important piece of work, a very short piece of work from the committee, but I do think that it is important to have highlighted it today in the context of COP26, and I commend the evidence session to the chamber today. Thank you, Ms Adamson. I now call Claire Baker, convener of the Economy and Fair Work Committee, to make an announcement on a call for views. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As convener of the Economy and Fair Work Committee, I wish to highlight the committee's recently launched inquiry into Scotland's supply chains. We are all acutely aware of the current supply change challenges being faced by businesses and industry impacting on communities and consumers, from short-term issues such as access to fuel and raw materials for production to longer-term considerations such as labour and skill shortages. Through the inquiry, the committee is looking to explore the short and medium-term structural challenges facing Scotland's supply chain. We will examine shifts in supply chains that are impacting on the economy, look at how to build future resilience and explore the opportunities for Scottish firms to develop domestic supply chains. I encourage members to share details of the inquiry with interested stakeholders, including businesses and networks in their constituencies and regions, whose input will be important and to encourage them to respond to the call for evidence. The inquiry seeks to address how we develop a more resilient supply chain while supporting efforts towards net zero and embedding fair work principles, and I trust as if interest to members and other relevant committees. Thank you, Ms Baker. It is now time to move on to the next item of business, which is consideration of business motion 1785, in the name of George Adam, on behalf of the parliamentary bureau, setting out changes to this week's business. Any member who wishes to speak against the motion should press their request to speak button now. I call on George Adam to move the motion. Thank you, minister. No member has asked to speak against the motion, therefore the question is that motion 1785 be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed. There are three questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first is that amendment 1761.2, in the name of Sue Weber, which seeks to amend motion 1761 in the name of Angela Constance on a person-centred approach to mental health and substance abuse, be agreed. Are we all agreed? The Parliament is not agreed, therefore we will move to a vote and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.