 The next item of business is a statement by Angela Constance on actions being taken to reduce drug deaths in Scotland. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions and I call on Angela Constance. Minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The loss of life in Scotland from drug-related deaths is heartbreaking as it is unacceptable. It is our national shame and I offer my condolences to all those who have lost a loved one and my continuing commitment to do everything possible in our new national mission to turn the tide on rising drug-related deaths. On Friday I attended a vigil in Glasgow, I talked to and heard from many people who have been directly affected by drug deaths, the very people who have been let down. Now more than ever we need to make sure that the experience of those living with problematic drug use are at the very heart of solutions going forward. That is why we are investing in local experience panels and a national collaborative of those with lived and living experience. We know that drug deaths are preventable and avoidable. The publication of the 2020 drug death report on Friday was another stark reminder that the poorest communities suffer the most. That is why our national mission to save lives is linked to other work across the Government to improve lives and mental health, to address poverty and inequality, to prevent adverse childhood experiences, to build resilience through education and prevention and to bring a public health approach to our justice system. The 2020 annual report for the first time was the terrible scale of inequality between our most and least deprived communities. The power of this analysis underlines the need for better information about the problems people face and we are making progress on this. Public Health Scotland is using a groundbreaking programme of data linkage, which will help to identify where actions are most needed. The report shows a wide geographic variation in drug deaths. Areas such as Glasgow, Dundee and Inverclyde are the worst affected. However, even the least affected areas in Scotland still have a greater problem in comparison to anywhere else in England. What we do know is that people in services have better protection from drug deaths. We are focused on getting more people into protective treatment on the back of our long-term commitment to additional investment of £250 million, including £100 million for residential rehabilitation. In May, I announced £18 million would be allocated through dedicated funds for providers, including third sector and grassroots organisations, to improve services, to increase capacity and to improve access to residential rehabilitation and to support children and families impacted by problematic drug use. These are five-year funds and organisations can apply for multi-year grants. Since March, we have provided £3.5 million in new funding for around 80 projects. This new approach is already helping to make grassroots and third sector organisations more sustainable. We published the medication assisted treatment standards at the end of May. Those standards set out for the first time what people should expect and demand of services, in particular same-day treatment and access to a wider range of options, including residential rehabilitation. I have given services a target this year to have the standards implemented by April 2022, although I expect many areas to have the first standard, including same-day prescribing, in place before then. I am meeting with health board chief executives on 18 August to drive home the importance of the standards as a national priority in response to Scotland's other public health emergency. To support implementation, we have provided an uplift in funding to alcohol and drug partnerships, and we have provided £4 million over and above for the specific improvements to meet the standards this year. The 2020 statistics show another rise in benzodiazepine-related cases. The drugs death task force and the Scottish Government have consulted on changes to prescribing practice and guidance. An expert group meets next month to build consensus on that, and the role of prescribers, including GPs, will be crucial in helping to stop the number rising further in the future. We also need to know more about who is using illicit benzodiazepines or street valium, where they are using this and how they are using this. That is why I am commissioning a rapid evidence review on the use of benzos so that we can take all necessary action to address that. I will continue to push the UK Government on allowing drug-checking testing in Scotland and on the regulation on the possession of pill presses as well. The 2020 report also shows that methadone was implicated in more cases than before. I am also commissioning urgent research on the role and risks of methadone in drug-related deaths, albeit in the context of polydrug use. We need to understand more about the drivers behind the trend, including prescribing practice and the risks and needs of the most vulnerable. I also want to see alternatives to methadone and long-acting buprenorphine made more available to people too. We know that the release from custody can be a vulnerable time for many individuals with increased risk of drug-related harms and deaths. The Government will continue as a priority to mitigate any risks and consider ways to improve the circumstances and support available for individuals leaving custody. We will commit to reviewing the conditions around release from custody, including the issue of Friday Liberations, as well as the wider issues of through-care support, release from remand and access to services. We will work with stakeholders to consider the options that are available to us, including new models of care, as well as procedural or legislative change that may be necessary. While men are more likely to use and experience harms from drugs, there has been a recent disproportionate increase in drug deaths among women. We know that there is a strong link between women having children removed from their care and the risk of drug-related death. I have committed to getting more women into treatment and recovery, to tackle the issue around barriers to women accessing services and keeping families together. One of the priorities will be to develop and upscale women's specific services, in particular for residential rehab, where there are currently only limited options available. I am therefore pleased to announce that Phoenix Futures has been successful in principle in their bid to the recovery fund to establish a new national specialist family service. The service that will be located in North Ayrshire will be based on an existing facility run by the organisation in Sheffield and will offer a family-focused programme of interventions for up to 20 families at one time. I have also worked with Police Scotland, Public Health Scotland and National Records of Scotland to reach agreement on providing more regular reporting on suspected drug deaths in our pursuit of getting more people into treatment quickly. In September and for the first time in Scotland, quarterly reports on suspected drug deaths will be published. That will allow us all to respond to what is needed more quickly and will of course help Parliament to monitor progress. Better information will allow us to set a treatment target for 2022. This year is about making sure that same-day treatment is available and that the range of treatment options available is wider. As part of implementing the Medication Assisted Treatment Standards. We have seen many actions being taken for the first time during 2020 and this includes the pilot project where police officers have been carrying and administering naloxone. That will already have saved lives and builds on the way in which emergency services can contribute to our mission, with the ambulance service having led the way in naloxone carriage thus far. I am keen to see more at all police officers carrying naloxone kits as quickly as possible. I have previously referred to media campaigns that the Scottish Government will be running in today. I can announce that those campaigns will focus on the use of naloxone and on tackling stigma, still a barrier to accessing life-saving services. The creation of a national care service will be the biggest reform in health and care since the creation of a national health service in 1948. Ministers have agreed to consult on the remit of the national care service and whether to include alcohol and drug services in the systematic changes to the way in which people access services. In particular, we are asking for the residential rehabilitation should be commissioned on a national basis. Consultation, which opens next week, is an opportunity to consider how we can better support Scotland's most vulnerable and marginalised people, and we are committed to listening to the feedback, including those in the alcohol and drug sector. No one should underestimate the scale of the challenge that we face. I certainly do not. We have made progress with other preventable deaths from alcohol, violence and some cancers, and so change is possible. But change will not always be comfortable, and I make no apologies for that. Through the changes and the actions that I am setting out today, we can improve and save lives as part of the national mission by getting more people into the protection of treatment and recovery, and that will help to reduce drug deaths in Scotland. We have had the humility to accept what has been wrong and, going forward, we will have the courage to do what is right. Sir, we will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement, and I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions. It would be helpful if members who wish to ask a question put R in the chat function now. Douglas Ross Thank you, Presiding Officer. It was vital that our Parliament heard the statement today as thousands of Scots continue to die from drug abuse. But this crisis requires decisive action from the top. It demands leadership. So where is the First Minister? She was not at the memorial in Glasgow on Friday and she has point blank refused to stand up and speak for her government today. It is not enough for the First Minister to admit that she took her eye off the ball. Words are not going to solve this crisis. People need action and they expect to hear from the First Minister. For the seventh year in a row, drug deaths have peaked. Our drug death rate is close to four times higher than any other country in Europe. In Scotland, if you live in a poorer area, you are 18 times more likely to die from drugs. Behind all those shocking statistics are lost loved ones and broken families. When is the First Minister in this Government going to wake up? When will she stop abandoning our communities? When is she going to listen to those on the phone? Like the Minister, I attended the memorial in Glasgow on Friday but, while she wanted to quote some lyrics, I explained what Scottish Conservatives will do. We published our proposal for a right to recovery bill and it is with Parliament's team being prepared for its launch. It has been developed by front-line experts to guarantee everyone gets the treatment that they need. It is backed by seven recovery organisations and, apparently, SNP MSPs. It would cut through the broken system and save lives. People who have lost family members and close friends to drugs deserve a straight answer. If the First Minister will not come to Parliament today to give a commitment, will the minister point simply? Will the Scottish Government be bold, back our bill? I was appointed by the First Minister, an appointment approved by this Parliament to meet the new national mission to tackle our drug deaths crisis. I report directly to the First Minister and, of course, I am accountable to Parliament for the work that I have done day and day out since I was appointed seven months ago. It is only right that I have been appointed by the First Minister. I am very glad of the opportunity to do so. I have written to the Presiding Officer before recess and last week to make sure that I convey my willingness and availability to respond to any parliamentary request from me. I was also very glad to have the opportunity to attend the vigil on Friday to pay my tributes and to offer my condolences to those who had lost a loved one in person. I know that Mr Ross has not been in this Parliament as long as I have been, and I appreciate that he may not know me very well, but I do not play games and I am not remotely interested in playground politics. With respect to his proposal to enshrine the right to treatment, let me be clear once again. I will, of course, as will the First Minister, give serious consideration to any proposition, serious and fair consideration. I have never ruled out the need for further legislation, as I hope was demonstrated in my statement today with my comments around the national care service. With respect, I have to say to Mr Ross that I have still to see the bill, so I will not give him a blind or blanket commitment. It is my job to look at the detail, because scrutiny works both ways. And bearing in mind, I have made a number of detailed commitments around investment and delivery to this Parliament and, of course, of the Government's manifesto to implement. Mr Ross wants me to implement his ideas and his manifesto commitments. It is imperative that I see the detail of that work. I know that some stakeholders are very supportive of the proposal. Some of those stakeholders I have worked very closely with, for example, around how we address the anomalies caused by housing benefit, where, if it was not for the action taken by this Government, people would still have to be making harsh choices between accessing residential rehab and keeping their tenancy. I am determined that we will implement as much action as possible and we will always give a fair and serious consideration to detailed and serious work when it comes forward. Nicola Sturgeon Thank you, Presiding Officer. This is no reflection of the minister, but I am extremely disappointed that this statement is not being delivered by the First Minister today. Nicola Sturgeon cannot escape the fact that she and her party in the Government for almost 15 years cut the budgets for drug and alcohol services and that, under her watch, our drugs in Scotland are almost five times that of the rest of the UK despite having the same laws. The minister is right to say that this is Scotland's national shame, but she must recognise that it is the Scottish national party's shame, too. We need urgent action to save lives. We cannot ignore the link between Scotland's higher drugs death rate and our suicide rates. We need a coherent strategy and a plan from this Government. More funding is, of course, welcome, but it must do more than fill the holes in funding that their cuts already created. Although, yes, we need to look at the drugs laws, that cannot be a cover for this Government's failure. That must be declared as a public health emergency. For some age groups, they were more likely to die from drugs over the last year than Covid at the height of the pandemic. We need a major effort off that scale to confront this crisis. Will the minister commit to regular updates on the actual progress that has been made to reform services and guarantee the availability of residential rehab, integrate substance use and mental health services, increase levels of same-day prescribing and back all up with the funding that it needs? If that really is a national mission, let's have that demonstrated by the Government's actions. Minister, I say to Mr Sarwar that, since my appointment, this is the fourth time that I have appeared in front of Parliament, and at the last event where we had a very good cross-party debate, I indeed gave that commitment to make regular updates to Parliament on the detail of how we connect our emergency-saving work with the longer-term work to improve life. All the work that he mentioned around how we increase capacity and access to residential care, how we support our workforce, how we implement our obligations in terms of human rights, how we turn our fine words into actions, how we will see the impact on the ground from the considerable increase in funding that we have seen this year. All of that and more, I have already given a commitment to give proactive updates to Parliament. I would like to reassure Mr Sarwar that we indeed have a plan in terms of his remarks on funding. Yes, it is factually correct to say that in the financial year 2016-17 there was indeed a financial reduction. I would point to the fact that that was compensated for in future years. There is a big issue here that, since 2008, we have invested more than £1 billion in drug and alcohol services. It is clear that inputs do not always equal outputs. As well as additional targeted long-term investment, it is also crucial that we follow the evidence that this is about what we do, this is about leadership and it is also about culture and how we get that culture of compassion and change. I am sure that Mr Sarwar will have welcomed the announcements that I have made this year about widening treatment, £3 million for outreach services and our determination to implement the new medication assisted treatment standards. For the first time, we have published new standards, clear expectations but with an implementation plan and resource to back that up. I hope that he has seen significant announcements today, particularly in terms of meeting the needs of families and children, and that the work that we will do for the rest of the year is moving from annual reporting to quarterly reporting. We will announce the new treatment target. We will be focused on our work in terms of the national collaborative under work in and around the national care service but also those important campaigns around tackling stigma and maloxone. The last point that I make is a former criminal justice and mental health social worker. The point that Mr Sarwar makes about the far better integration of addiction services and mental health services, I can assure him, is not lost in me. I would like to extend my condolences to everyone who has tragically lost a loved one to drug overdose. As others have said, we need to see action now to prevent further loss of life. In June, a majority of MSPs supported my amendment to the Government's motion on drug-related deaths. It is called for the Scottish Government to investigate, as a matter of urgency, what options it had within the current legal framework to establish safe consumption rooms. Can the cabinet secretary provide an update on what progress has been made on establishing safe consumption rooms as part of wider harm reduction strategy and treatment options? I will be aware that this Government is firmly in support of the implementation of safe consumption rooms. Based on 30 years of evidence, there are 100 drug consumption rooms in 66 cities and 10 countries around the work. We know that they are not the only solution, but they help to save lives. We are committed to implementing those, irrespective of the constitutional opportunities or the constitutional constraints that we face. I assure Ms Mackay that there is very detailed work going on within Government right now. I am cautiously encouraged by that work. Although I do not yet have a solution or proposition to put in front of Parliament today, I want to assure Parliament that when it comes to implementing evidence-based interventions that will save lives, I will leave absolutely no stone unturned. Alex Cole-Hamilton, to be followed by Emma Harper. We learned last week that nearly 1,400 people in a single year had their lives cut short, their potential extinguished, many of whom were decades before their time. Apologies are hard to accept because please were dismissed for years, and I will never understand that this has surrounded both services and expertise by cutting ADP budgets so much in 2015 and 2016. The drug deaths crisis will be ended through compassionate treatment, but people gripped by drug misuse are still regularly directed into the criminal justice system. 200 people a year are being imprisoned for possession. That has not changed in a decade, and the police rightly say that it is both pointless and it damages lives. In March, at the second time of our asking, the Scottish Government finally agreed to the principle of diversion and stopping imprisoning vulnerable people. Now that decriminalisation is under consideration by the task force, how will ministers take that forward? I've always been clear, and I hope that Mr Cole-Hamilton will recognise this, that this is a public health emergency and that we can't arrest a way out of a drug deaths crisis and that we need to be reducing demand for drugs as well as the supply. He is absolutely correct that we need to be preventing people going in to the criminal justice system in the first place. It is important to recognise that diversion has existed in Scotland for over 40 years. The work done by community justice Scotland has been very important and helping to roll out more consistent practice with this regard. It is also important that every twist and turn of our justice system that we are increasing opportunities for people to get into treatment because it is treatment that will provide a protective factor and help people to turn their lives around. On decriminalisation, I hope that he knows that this Government has an open mind. We will be led by the evidence. We have made commitments in and around citizens assemblies. It is imperative that we take our communities with us in the direction of travel, but we need to be challenging ourselves and each other to be bold. He is right to point to the fact that the drug deaths task force is undertaking some work on drug law reform and I can assure him that they will make recommendations that will apply to the Scottish Government and to the UK Government because there is no doubt about it that some of the UK-wide legislation puts limits on our public health approach and that is what we are determined to overcome. Emma Harper is to be followed by Annie Wells. I also would like to offer condolences to all those who have lost their lives and the families involved. The Scottish Government has rightly identified tackling drug-related stigma as a priority in our national mission in reducing drug deaths and harm. Can the minister outline what education is intended or is being provided to healthcare professionals who do not work directly in drug and alcohol services, such as hospital and community staff, as well as a wider public, to tackle drug-related stigma? There is a wide range of work going on. Ms Harper will have heard me speak about the importance of our national media campaigns that will be enrolled later this year. That is important to raise awareness across society, including those who work in either the drugs field or wider health and social care. In terms of a stigma charter, there is work that is being led by the lived experience community with regard to that. The point that she makes about workforce development, I believe, is crucially important for the wider public service workforce as well as those who are currently engaged in drug and alcohol service work. In terms of the work that is led by the Deputy First Minister and NHS education, she will be aware of the work that has brought trauma informed nation, which is essentially about asking what has happened to you as opposed to asking people what is wrong with them. All of that is very important work to tackling stigma, because we know that stigma is an absolute barrier to people accessing treatment. We have got to remove it and we have got to have a far better discussion about why language matters. Annie Wells, to be followed by Willie Coffey. I, too, was at the memorial in Glasgow last Friday, and I, too, could see the hurt anger and frustration that was on display from those who tragically lost loved ones. I, too, would like to send my condolences to those affected. As the minister has noted, the widest bed availability of fake or street volume continues to have a devastating effect on victims of drugs, with benzodiazepines involved in a staggering 73 per cent of all-strotties drug deaths in 2020. Now there is a warning suggestion of a correlation between street volume-related drug deaths and the introduction of minimum unit pricing on alcohol. Will the minister commit to a review to discover if there is a clear link? Ms Wells might not be aware of that, but there is a regular review of the impact of minimum unit pricing on alcohol, and that evidence thus far shows that there is no relationship between minimum unit pricing and an increase in the use of benzodiazepines. I have, nonetheless, and my statement have commissioned a rapid review of current use of benzodiazepines because we need to know what is driving that, or have better information about what is driving that. Is it because people can't access the treatment that they need quickly enough, or is it because the treatment that they are in receipt of is not right for them? I also hope that, in terms of our work going forward to tackle the street volume crisis, Ms Wells will also support my calls to the UK Government to introduce pill-press regulation. It is not right that people can access pill-presses and produce vast quantities of street volume and sell it for pennies in our streets of Scotland. The production of street volume is not happening elsewhere, it is happening in Scotland, so her support in seeking regulation of pill-presses would be very helpful. Also, the importance of drug checking facilities. Again, I need a licence from the UK Government around that, and I am in discussions with them. They have been fairly constructive to date, I have to say, but there is this myth that drug checking facilities encourages or increases drug use, and that is not the case around the world. Things like drug checking facilities help to save lives, and this is an example of where they must be bold and follow the evidence. I call Willie Coffey to be followed by Michael Marra. Minister's announcement that there will be a specialist residential family service in Ayrshire is really welcome. Can she explain, as she sees this family approach being one that could be rolled out across Scotland to support families and especially women? Will she give further consideration to supporting other recovery settings and facilities as best we can so that people can have genuine hope that they can find a better future for themselves after recovery? I am absolutely delighted to make the announcement today of the national project that Phoenix Futures Trust has been successful in bidding for additional resources from our recovery fund. That is a national project. I can say to Mr Coffey that we are expecting bids from other providers, both in terms of filling that gap for women and women with children, but also in terms of our work to take a more regional approach to improving capacity and access to residential rehab in every part of Scotland. I want to highlight the £5 million recovery fund that is available for providers to access. There is also the £5 million service improvement fund that is available for service providers. An important part of the project that we have announced today is about keeping families together. That is part of our promise to children who have been care experienced but also in terms of tackling the rising drug-related deaths that are experienced among women. I am very proud to make this announcement today. It is an important step forward, this national service, in ensuring that we break down some of the intergenerational problems with poverty to improve life chances and also to help families and parents on that road to recovery. Michael Marat, to be followed by Gillian Martin. After years of failure and so many lost lives, this Government's rhetoric must at last be consistent with the decisions that the minister takes. Does the minister agree with me that the work of 12 staff providing wraparound intensive support cannot be replicated by four staff taking on that work on top of their existing jobs? That is what is happening in the housing first scheme in Dundee. It is a proven record of helping those with addiction to maintain stable lives and has been praised by the First Minister. Will she, the minister, be led by the evidence and immediately refund the housing first project? Let me give Mr Marat an assurance that I am more than happy to look in detail at this issue. I would really appreciate if he would write to me and fill with the details. I, like him, am a big supporter of the housing first approach. I know my colleague Kevin Stewart, who is now the mental health minister in his time. As the housing minister was pivotal in driving this forward, the housing first approach is crucial in meeting the needs of people with multiple and complex needs. People who have mental health problems, drug and alcohol issues as well as experiencing homelessness. I can assure him that, if he writes to me in detail, I will look at it with some urgency and will seek to address matters vis-a-vis him, but also with colleagues locally and across Government. Julian Martin, to be followed by Sue Webber. I have listened to the minister as she has outlined the welcome uplift in rehabilitation treatment availability. David Liddle, the CEO of Scottish Drugs Forum, said yesterday that there is a huge support within the drug treatment services for policy makers moves to ensure more people get into treatment. That strategy will be undermined if the needs of people using high doses of benzodiazepines are not adequately addressed. The minister has touched on this in her answer to Annie Wells and I welcome the proposed review. I would like to ask the minister how the use of street benzos has led to the tragic outcomes of the people behind the figures released and what has been done to tackle the availability and supply of these unprescribed substances in our communities and help those who may be harmed by them. I am grateful to Ms Martin. She has quite correct to point to the evidence that we need to have a far better treatment offer for those who are using benzodiazepines and street valium. Of course, people are using benzodiazepines in the context of polydrug misuse. The use of that makes treatment somewhat more complex and the weighing up of the risks needs to be done with care. Nonetheless, I am committed to galvanising the clinical community in Scotland because we have to find a way to make people safer. I think that there is no ideal solution necessarily in terms of how we do treat benzodiazepine dependency, but we need to have a treatment offer. One that is far more person-centred, where people can have a wide range of options, is empowered to make an informed choice and, crucially, are able to access treatment quickly at a time of asking. In terms of the work to address supply, notwithstanding my earlier comments that we have to be focused on reducing the demand for illicit drugs as well as reducing the supply of drugs, I engage with the Justice Secretary and Police Scotland, who are very focused on serious and organised crime in this country. I will refer back to my quest for pill-press regulation, as I know that this is something that not just the Royal College of Psychiatrists would like to see but also Police Scotland are very much in favour of pill-press regulation too. As part of my discussions with the UK in and around this, I know that the UK Government is seeking advice from the National Crime Agency and is expecting no further information this autumn. Do weber to be followed by Jackie Dunbar? I thank the minister for taking the time to make such an extensive statement today. Building on the answer that she has just provided, Ms Martin, the SNP has said that they will do everything they can to tackle Scotland's drugs death crisis. However, the UK Government has invited the Scottish Government to work with them on project adder three times, and three times the SNP has snubbed them. The persistent refusal to work with the UK Government is costing lives. The First Minister admitted that she has let Scotland's drug death crisis spiral out of control, and the SNP's obsession with independence has come at a high cost. The Scottish Government must focus on the devolved public health and justice systems that they control. When will you accept the invitation from the UK Government and start working constructively with them to solve this national crisis? I assure Ms Weber that I work constructively with everyone. It is unfortunate that it is not always reciprocated. The Scottish Government has indeed had a close look at project adder, and the drug death task force participates in the project adder learning network so that we are keeping our ear to the ground in terms of any learning from that. The harsh reality is that the Scottish Government wants to implement a public health approach to the drug death crisis. I suggest to Ms Weber that project adder is not entirely replicable of a good public health approach. It is not that we do not look at the evidence or what is happening elsewhere. It is just that project adder does not fit our needs. We have a particularly acute problem in Scotland, and we need to fully implement a public health approach. I cannot emphasise that enough, Presiding Officer. I would also point Ms Weber to the direction of other work that was commissioned by the UK Government in respect of the second report from Dame Carol Black, which has much more synergy with the work that we are doing in Scotland. It is about changing culture. It is about investing in treatment services. It is about promoting recovery. It is about making those links with housing and tackling poverty. It is about real culture and systems change. It is also about having joined up Government. We look and learn from wherever. I am just sad that that is not always reciprocated with some of the requests that I am making to the UK Government. It is a very reasonable request that it is now high time that we had a review of the misuse of drugs act, for example. I call Jackie Dunbart to be followed by Sandish Gohani. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Minister, every drug's death is a complete tragedy, so it is critical that the Scottish Government continue to invest to tackle this epidemic, ensuring quick access to treatment and community interventions. Can you provide me today with assurances that the Scottish Government is doing all that they can to improve the situation while working within the limitations of devolved powers? Minister. Let me assure Jackie Dunbart that, as a pragmatist, my focus is always in doing as much as I can, as fast as I can, with the powers and resources that I have at my disposal, notwithstanding that I will continue to work with others and persuade others to do what they can do to help us too. The core aim of our national mission is to get more people into treatment, because, to be frank, we do not have enough of our people in treatment. We need to, when people ask for help, respond to that request quickly. We should not miss those golden opportunities when people seek help and support. Some of the examples of where we are connecting our emergency and life-saving work with that broader work to get people into treatment and the work to help improve their life chances would be our work around what is called non-fatal overdose care pathways. That work recognises that, for people who tragically die, more than half of them often have a history of overdose, and notwithstanding that they need to prevent people from having an overdose in the first place. However, when people reach such a crisis point, it is imperative that we offer them help as quickly as possible. There are a number of mechanisms and services that we are now funding to improve that. We are using peer navigators in hospitals. For example, people with lived experience to reach out. The Scottish Ambulance Service, who have been pivotal in developing non-fatal overdose pathways and the roll-out of naloxone, are part of that emergency response but are doing sterling work in connecting people to local services. Our investment in outreach services, because we need to be far better and proactively identifying those people most at risk. We need to provide services that provide wraparound care that are less judgmental and increases the chances of people remaining in treatment. When people fall out of treatment or relapse, we need to be following them up. I call Sandesh Gulhani to be followed by Collette Stevenson. Looking at the roll-out of naloxone with police, if anyone injects a substance into someone else's body against their wishes, they are subject to being charged with assault. How will the Scottish Government ensure that police officers are not sued for ministering naloxone? I assure Mr Gulhani that the Lord Advocate has given very robust assurances on that matter. The evidence from across the world will show that naloxone can save lives. I know that Mr Gulhani, as a serving clinician, will be very focused on evidence-based interventions and evidence-based treatment. If we look at areas such as British Columbia and Canada, there were three things that they did. They introduced same-day prescribing, safe consumption road rooms and widened the distribution and roll-out of naloxone. There is a very important four nations consultation that has been launched today. That is about widening the distribution of naloxone. Our previous Lord Advocate was able to, in response to the pandemic, make some exceptions so that we could widen the distribution of naloxone to non-drug services, safely, medically and legally. We need to continue with that work. The consultation, I hope, will lead to permanent changes in the regulation and legislation across the UK. I believe that it is beholdant on all public servants to do everything that we can to help with this emergency response. I am a former social worker. I was never a clinician, but hand on heart, if I had had the opportunity when I worked in prisons or in the communities to carry naloxone, I would have been more than happy to do so. I thank the minister for everything that she has said today. Can the minister outline what assessment has been made of the success of overdose prevention facilities elsewhere in the world? Can she help play a part in reducing deaths from drug use? Does the minister agree with me that it is vital that family members are also able to access the support that they need? As I said earlier to another member, there are 100 safe consumption rooms around the world. There is a massive evidence base that they work and help to save lives. They also help people with their onward road, their onward journey into recovery, their opportunity to connect with people where they are. At a moment in time, they provide opportunities and other information and support to address some of the other issues that are perhaps underlying their use of drugs in the first place. As I hope that Collette Stevenson will know, I am absolutely committed to the plight of families. We fund the Scottish families affected by drug and alcohol. There is a £3 million family and child fund for local organisations, grassroots organisations, the third sector to apply for. We have also provided additional money and uplift to alcohol and drug partnerships, and it has been very clear that a proportion of that must be invested in whole-family approaches and family-inclusive practice. Paul Sweetie Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to thank the minister for her statement today and some constructive measures that were announced, particularly around benzodiazepines, which has been open to the key driver and the tragic increase in deaths. I would like to ask the minister what approaches she is considering, particularly around policing. There have been some particularly good innovations in different parts of the UK. I note Thames Valley and West Midlands, in particular, led by the policing crime commissioners to approach a more enlightened methods of policing. That is something that we should be forcing Police Scotland to look at more seriously, with political leadership from the Justice Secretary and others in government, where policing crime commissioners are shown the way in England, including, as the minister mentioned, drug testing, which we have seen progress in Bristol with the loot project, which has been really successful on the ground. Will the minister consider looking at those benchmarking opportunities and perhaps leading reactive delegations, including MSPs, to those places of innovation where we can learn from them? I think that there is now less travel restrictions. I think that there will be more opportunities for myself, other ministers and, indeed, in partnership with MSPs to go and see for ourselves innovation that currently exists in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK. I want to reassure Mr Sweeney that I have engaged with police and crime commissioners. It strikes me that they are wrestling with many of the same issues and some of the same frustrations that I experience with the UK Government, but they, like me, want to work in partnership and constructively with all tiers of government to implement evidence-based solutions. I will certainly look at the loot project. I understand that, in terms of drug checking facilities, there was one licence a few years ago for a particular event in England, but there is a reticence within the UK Government to issue those licences. Although what they have said to me is that, if I provide information and evidence for areas of particular need in Scotland, they would look at that, so I will press the UK Government at every twist and turn. I think that, in the same way that police and crime commissioners have different powers and responsibilities from the situation in Scotland, they look at how they can use their powers and their resources and the opportunities that they have at their disposal. Likewise, we must, at every aspect of our criminal justice system, look at the opportunities that we have to make our criminal justice system more evidence-led and more humane. That concludes the statement by Angela Constance on actions being taken to reduce drug deaths in Scotland. I close this meeting.