 The next item of business is a debate on motion 8995, in the name of Jackie Baillie on tackling Scotland's mental health crisis. I would invite members wishing to participate in the debate, to press the request to speak buttons now or as soon as possible. I advise colleagues that this debate is as tightly constrained time-wise as the previous debates, so I would encourage all members to stick to their time allocation and with that, and leading by example, Jackie Baillie to speak to remove the motion up to six minutes, Ms Baillie. That, of course, is mental health awareness week, and while much progress has been made with how mental health is treated and regarded, in recent years there is still so much more that needs to be done. We all know someone affected by mental health difficulties, and the events of recent years such as lockdowns have led to a rise in the number of people experiencing mental health problems. The need for action to protect the mental health of the people of Scotland is self-evident, but sadly this Government has failed to do so. Today some 30,000 children, young people and adults are languishing on mental health waiting lists in Scotland, and this is nothing short of shocking, but while it has been exacerbated by the pandemic, this crisis did not develop overnight. Despite the SNP Government introducing a national standard in 2014 that 90 per cent of referrals for CAMHS should start treatment within 18 weeks, that target has not been met once. Around a third of young people referred to CAMHS services wait over 18 weeks for treatment, and statistics obtained by Scottish Labour have shown that mental health calls to NHS 24 have risen sevenfold since 2019, and horrifyingly 7,576 Scots are predicted to have died by suicide in the last decade. Those are not just statistics. Those are the lives cut brutally and tragically short, and it is incumbent on every single one of us in this chamber to ensure that more lives are not avoidably lost. So what must be done to protect the mental health of our nation? We must always remember that mental health issues, like physical health issues, do not drop from the sky. Often they are the product of people's circumstances and surroundings, and that is why tackling poverty, unemployment and low-paid insecure work must be part of a holistic approach of improving mental and physical health for all of Scotland. But without targeted action to tackle mental health crisis, more lives will be lost. Despite promise after promise from this SNP Government, staff shortages are continuing to undermine the heroic efforts of our NHS to tackle the mental health crisis. Despite an SNP promise to recruit 1,000 additional community mental health roles, the minister has herself admitted in response to me that not one has yet been recruited. By the way, the budget has been slashed. There is nothing short of a catastrophic dereliction of duty on the part of the Government. Michael Matheson, who I see has now joined us, and Marie Todd, may be new in those roles, but they have been in government for a long time, and they inherit the mess left to them by Humza Yousaf. It is vital that they acknowledge the SNP's failings, that they listen to NHS workers and that they act now. To start, the SNP can end the short changing of mental health funding in Scotland. In Labour-controlled Wales, and I know that they are keen to quote Labour-controlled Wales, mental health funding is 11 per cent. In England, it is 10 per cent. In Scotland, it is just below 9 per cent. With the scale of the mental health crisis facing Scotland, this makes absolutely no sense and may even be putting lives at risk. That is why the SNP must urgently consider increasing mental health funding to at least 11 per cent of the NHS budget to bring it into line with Wales and, indeed, England to bolster front-line services. I know in my area that crisis services, for example, are extremely patchy. After 8 o'clock at night, you might not be able to access a local service. We know that the number of calls to mental health health lines is skyrocketing and people in crisis are being left hanging on the telephone far too often. So it is time for further investment in NHS 24 to ensure that no call goes unanswered. With 30,000 Scots, including children, languishing on NHS waiting lists, we need a new referral system and investment in front-line services to support NHS staff. We also need a dedicated mental health worker in every single GP practice and specialist mental health services in every health board. To do nothing to tackle this crisis would be nothing short of a dereliction of duty and an abandonment of the people of Scotland. It is time to draw a line under the inaction and to get to grips with this crisis. SNP neglect has consequences and SNP neglect of mental health services has to end. In the name of co-operation and for the benefit of the people of Scotland, I move the motion in my name and call on everyone in this chamber who understands the scale of the mental health crisis to support our motion today. To speak to and move amendment 8995.3, minister, up to five minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I want to thank Jackie Baillie for bringing this debate to the chamber today around mental health awareness week. Mental health is such a fundamentally important topic for all parties. This year's theme, anxiety, is an important one. It's something that many of us will have had direct experience of over the past few years. Everything that I will briefly touch on during my opening remarks comes back to one core message related to the theme of this week. If you need help for your mental health, please ask for it. Presiding Officer, nobody is saying that we already have a perfect system. The motion from Jackie Baillie highlights some legitimate concerns that the Government shares. We hear from individuals, from families and from our workforce that there can be issues and frustrations with finding and receiving the right help. We know that we need a power of additional work if we are to see the right services and support consistently in place for the people of Scotland. Our forthcoming mental health and wellbeing strategy, which will publish in the coming weeks, will describe that work. Daniel Johnson briefly. I'm grateful to the Minister for Giving Way. She recognises that it goes far beyond just mere frustration that sometimes access to these services is impossible and that diagnosis for the most critical conditions is taking years. It's more than frustration. It's a complete absence of any practical offer whatsoever. I don't agree with that characterisation of the situation that we are in. I absolutely acknowledge that some children in particular have been waiting for too long in camps, but I am absolutely certain that what we are saying is an improving trajectory and that we have built the right foundations to improve that situation. I really must make some progress because I only have a short opening speech. We will publish the accompanying delivery plan and workforce plan after summer recess, giving us time to work with stakeholders and partners on the detail of implementation. Improving mental health goes even wider than the Labour motion suggests and, among other things, it requires us to address wider social factors as Jackie Baillie acknowledged in our opening speech to challenge stigma and to promote good mental wellbeing for everyone. Doing more of the same, I agree, will not deliver the transformative change that we need. This will be a key principle of the strategy and I am sure that this is something on which we have cross-party agreement. Notwithstanding this, my amendment to the motion seeks to restore some balance to the debate. Yes, there are issues, but we are also seeing real progress and it is important that that is recognised. Sue Webber. Thank you, minister, for taking intervention. Audit Scotland is publishing its report on adult mental health services next month. Is the minister confident that the report will be positive for the Government? Minister, I can give you a bit of time. Thank you very much. I am confident that, as always with Audit Scotland reports, the Government will read with interest and take on board the comments that are made. We have seen historic increases in spending. It is a fact that the Scottish Government's core mental health budget has more than doubled since 2021. There has been extraordinary work, some of it behind the scenes, by boards to clear long waits. In the last quarter alone, the number of children waiting over 52 weeks for CAMHS decreased by 42 per cent and the number waiting over 18 weeks decreased by 32 per cent. This unseen work has set the conditions for the most sustained positive changes in CAMHS waiting lists for over half a decade. The number of children starting treatment from CAMHS in the most recent quarter is comfortably the highest figure on record. As I mentioned, our focus cannot just be on specialist services. Over the last two years, we have invested £30 million to establish community-based mental health and wellbeing services for children, young people and their families. Over 45,000 people accessed those services between July and December last year, reducing inappropriate referrals to specialist services. We have also invested £36 million in our community's mental health and wellbeing fund for adults over the last two years, with a further £15 million announced for 2324. I want to touch briefly on one specific part of the original motion, and Jackie Baillie again raised it in our opening speech. It refers to an increase in NHS 24 call volumes. Yes, calls are consistently up. That is for a whole range of reasons. We have moved the mental health hub to a 24-7 service. More people know the service exists because we have signposted to it and a range of other support through our Mind to Mind website. It is also not just about the volume of calls, it is about how we respond to the calls. We have backed NHS 24 with over £9 million of funding since 2021 to ensure a quality service for everyone. I would gently say that all of us need to take care to avoid language that could potentially stigmatise those people who are asking for help. Are there areas that we need to make progress more quickly? Yes, absolutely. We have exceeded our commitment to fund over 800 additional mental health workers, many of whom are working in primary care and community settings, but we know that we need to further enhance the support available in primary care. We have had to make difficult decisions based on our current financial situation. That does not mean that this is not still a priority. More generally, we have signalled that 10 per cent of NHS expenditure should be on mental health. 1 per cent should be on CAMHS by the end of this Parliament. We know that boards face a range of pressures, but equally spending needs to ensure parity between physical and mental health. Our workforce across services... Minister, you must conclude and move your amendment. In the spirit of realistic but ambitious improvement, I move the amendment to the motion in my name. Thank you. There really is very little time in hand. Members will have to stick to their speaking allocation. I call Sue Webber to speak to a move amendment 8995.1 up to four minutes, Ms Webber. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I move the motion in my name. This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the official theme of this week. This year is anxiety. Over half of Scots surveys have said that anxiety interferes in their daily lives and, while it is natural to be anxious for some people, those feelings might not go away. They might get worse or not have a particular cause and then become a problem, especially if you do not know what or why it is happening. Everyone's experience of anxiety is different and not everyone who has anxiety will experience the same symptoms. Anxiety can become debilitating and affect your performance at work and your personal life. In 2008, that happened to me. There was not one cause, but several challenges that I faced from physical pain, from an injury, pressure at work and the death of a close friend. I needed time of work. I was lucky. I received support from my employer through their employee assistance programme and, after six weeks, I was on a phased return to work. As I said, I was fortunate. The counselling arranged was quick and the sessions were in regular succession. Under the SNP's watch, Scots across the country are waiting far too long for mental health treatment. CAMHS are the main route to treatment for young children and young people seeking help for their mental health, but the SNP, remember, have never met their CAMHS target and adult waiting times are still nowhere near good enough. In 2022, almost 9,000 children refused mental health treatment and between January and June this year, 4,640 referrals to CAMHS were rejected. Long delays in accessing treatment can lead to more entrenched difficulties by the time a child or young person is able to access a service. Failing to solve the CAMHS crisis today will lead to poor mental health outcomes for future generations, further compounding the issue. However, it is not just CAMHS that are in crisis under the SNP. The SNP Government froze the mental health budget for 2023-24. The Outgoing Children's Commissioner, Bruce Adamson, only at the weekend, said that Nicola Sturgeon had failed to address the issue of children's mental health. The First Minister, Humza Yousaf, pledged to recruit additional 1,000 mental health specialists when he was Cabinet Secretary for Health, has been delayed. There is a shortage of mental health beds across Scotland and there are 190 child and adult mental health services vacancies in Scotland. Let's not forget our existing staff are absolutely critical to delivering these services and they are clearly working at the extreme end of their professional capacity. So we must be hyper-aware of their own mental wellbeing and knowing the health professionals as I do, I'm very well aware of how low down the priority list is that they put their own health and wellbeing and this is evident in the data that was presented in the press over the weekend. Between 2018 and 2022, almost 75,000 NHS staff members miswork due to anxiety, stress, depression or other mental health issues. As the largest staffing group in the NHS mental health workforce, nursing staff play a key role in delivering of services. However, current levels of staff absence due to anxiety and depression and other mental health-related illnesses is extremely worrying. Nursing staff across the NHS Scotland are telling us that staff shortages are impacting on their ability to provide safe care for patients and on their colleagues and on their own wellbeing. After 16 years in government, the SNP seemed to be out of ideas when it comes to tackling mental health. We must look after our workforce, our existing workforce and help them to keep well to look after the wellness of our population. We need a fresh approach which incorporates modern, efficient and local solutions. Ms Webber, you need to... I conclude. Apologies, I know there's a lot of interest and a willingness to engage in debate but these short debates do not allow for that and I need to protect the time for business later on this afternoon. With that, I call Alex Cole-Hamilton up to four minutes. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I will be brief. I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate and thank Jackie Baillie for bringing it to the chamber. Before I start, I must say it is the cruelest irony of the minister in charge of this portfolio to entreat people with mental ill health issues to come forward only to join the longest queue in the national health service. That is the cruel irony and frustration they feel, not just them but the doctors and nurses around them and their families too, is a mark of shame. As we mark this mental health awareness week, it is important to acknowledge that scale, the scale of the challenge I've just identified. Of course it's been added to by the pandemic. It was a time of extraordinary trauma but a lot of that trauma existed already and was not being addressed already. The toll that has taken has increased stress, depression and anxiety still further and waiting less, yes, them too. We've heard about the focus of this year's mental health awareness week, which is anxiety. We know that 58 per cent of adults in Scotland have experienced anxiety that interfered with their daily lives just in the past two weeks. In the past two weeks we are a nation on edge. Presiding Officer, when left untreated all too often, that can become chronic, leading to acute mental and physical health issues. People need support and treatment but they are just not getting it. With almost 30,000 Scots currently languishing on waiting lists for mental health treatment. Presiding Officer, 2014, as we've heard, the SNP Government set a new national standard that 90 per cent of people referred for psychological therapy would start that treatment in 19 weeks. That target was set just as Nicola Sturgeon herself became First Minister of Scotland. It was a dreadful indictment of her time in office that that standard has never been met, not ever. Not once in the nine years that she sat in house while two out of the three worst years came when Humza Yousaf was Health Secretary himself. Presiding Officer, mental health nursing staff play a key role in the delivery of services in Scotland. It is troubling then that we're facing such a significant staff shortage with over 700 vacant posts. There's also a shortfall in nursing students as well. It's no wonder then that services are struggling to meet the demand. The strain staff are under is now, unsurprisingly, having an effect on their wellbeing as well. Over 70 per cent of RCN members have reported working over their contracted hours at least once a week, and 60 per cent said they were under far too much pressure at work. Presiding Officer, the NHS is buckling. All of these figures should provide a wake-up call to this administration about how completely, utterly disappointing it is, that this SNP and Green Government has in fact cut the mental health budget in real terms by a staggering £50 million since last November. That's outrageous. Back in 21, this Parliament voted to declare a mental health crisis. An emotion in my name. Just two years on and the situation is even worse. This Government is just not sticking its head in the sand. It's actively making things worse with these cuts on mental health. As with so many other issues it is abundantly clear that this continuity Government is living up to its name with its abject failure to improve things for the people we are all sent here to serve. They lack the will, the determination and imagination necessary to turn this around. Humza Yousaf's NHS recovery plan committed to clear waiting lists in both calms and psychological therapies by March 23. It's May. It's May now and we are nowhere. The First Minister and his Government are nowhere. People are stuck on waiting lists and are crying out for something to change. They need new hope now more than ever. Scottish Liberal Democrats and Government would replace and increase funding for mental health services. We'd reduce waiting times and roll out mental health professionals to work alongside GPs, police officers and in A&E departments and we would establish a single point of contact for those on calms waiting lists so that our young people are no longer forced to tell their story over and over again. We have to act. We have to act now. Thank you, Mr Cole-Hamilton. We now move to the open debate. I call First Michael Marra to be followed by Claire Hockey up to four minutes. Mr Marra. Thank you, Presiding Officer. On 12 May 2022, I raised the plight of my constituent Ryan Caswell at First Minister's questions. At that point, Ryan had been a delayed discharge patient resident in Corsview mental unit in Dundee for two years and three months. Ryan has complex care needs, including autism spectrum disorder and learning disabilities. Corsview is a deeply inappropriate setting for Ryan. The First Minister described my constituent's case as unacceptable. She said that she would look into it. 370 days have passed. Ryan remains an impatient at Corsview. These are the words of Ryan's mother, Irene. It has been three years, three months and 16 days. We are still waiting for the care and treatment to start. We have no idea how this will pan out, but Ryan cannot remain at risk where he is. No end in sight. No solution offered and no hope given. Ryan has become another example of what the Children's Commissioner rightly identified as young people absolutely failed by Nicola Sturgeon. She did nothing. Her health secretary, Humza Yousaf, did nothing. Just another year of suffering and pain for Ryan, another year of anxiety and distress for his parents, Irene and Paul, lives drifting on so much less than they should and could be. The reality of mental health care in Tayside today is worlds apart than the description that the Minister gave in her opening speech and from the amendment she presents today. 345 lives lost to suicide in Tayside in the last five years. 345. It was relentless campaigning from bereaved and desperate local people that resulted in the strong report of 2020 heavy with urgent recommendations. The update report by Mr Strang, Dr Strang of 2021 has been described to me as the worst report in Scottish public life because responsible local bodies comprehensively misrepresented what was happening. That debacle resulted in the appointment of the independent oversight and assurance group. They reported at the start of this year report after report after report. Endless paper but scant change for those who need it. In the absence of any ministerial action I led a member's debate on 8 February of this year during which the then minister for mental wellbeing and social care promised an improvement plan on 60 side mental health services by the end of March. That plan is now the latest on the groaning shelves of Ninewell hospital. There has been no response from the Government to that report so far. Has the minister read it? Crucially, what will she do to ensure that the latest targets it sets out are finally delivered? Will she accept responsibility accountability given that the Government is commissioned by this Government after labour pressure? Or will Ryan's plight fall foul of the incompetence of this Government once again? Those chronic issues with mental health services in NHS Tayside have been described to me by most the most senior clinicians in Scotland as the canary in the coal mine of overstretched mental health services across this country. Every member should be concerned at the situation faced by the people of Dundee in Tayside. The minister said, if you need help, you should ask. Will the people of Dundee have been asking for years, minister? Will you actually do something about it? Thank you, Mr Matt. I now call Claire Hawke to be followed by tests wide up to four minutes, Ms Hawke. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I remind members that I am a registered mental health nurse with current NMC registration. Having been a mental health nurse for over 30 years I firmly believe that mental health is one of the most important public health issues in Scotland today. We know that the pandemic had a significant impact on people's mental health and wellbeing with necessary restrictions exacerbating some people's existing mental health problems. On top of that, the cost of living is having a further detrimental impact on people. Poverty in childhood and amongst adults can cause poor mental health through social stresses, stigma and trauma. With the debate today taking place in mental health awareness week it affords us all the opportunity to restate our shared commitment to improving the mental health and wellbeing of the nation. In comparison to when I started out my career as a mental health nurse people are speaking far more openly now about their mental health challenges and greater numbers of people are ultimately seeking help. Of course, the challenge lies in ensuring that people can access the mental health support where and when they need it. I believe that we have taken great strides into two particular examples of that. Only last month, Scottish Government investment through the recovery and renewal fund supported the creation of a new CAMHS outpatient facility at Udston hospital in Hamilton serving NHS Lanarkshire. This new facility will support children and young people from my constituency in accessing high quality mental health care. Again, looking at mental health support for children and young people one of the policies I'm most proud of driving when I was Minister for Mental Health was ensuring every secondary school has access to counselling services. Counselling can help children and young people explore, understand overcome issues in their lives whether it's exam stress, trauma or bereavement and improve their resilience. The benefit of such a service is that it meets the needs of the individual at an earlier stage and compliments the range of approaches already available in schools to help support the mental, emotional social and physical wellbeing of children and young people. I know from my constituency case work that while services may be available to individuals some people are experiencing unacceptable waits for mental health treatment. We also continue to hear of the tragedy of people dying by suicide and while the numbers of deaths have fallen in recent years the Scottish Government must continue to use every lever at their disposal to drive this down further. The Scottish Government is investing and taking action to help to ensure that people can access a range of different types of help to match their needs at the earliest stage possible. Direct investment in mental health has more than doubled since 2021 with the published budget of mental health services increasing 139 per cent over this Parliament and the Scottish Government is continuing to seek further improvements and invest in growing the workforce. Cam staffing in particular has more than doubled under this Government to a current all-time high. Indeed, with regard to NHS Lanarkshire which serves my constituency there have been over a 400 per cent increase in cam staffing since September 2006. As a result of these actions and continued investment we are now seeing evidence of significant and sustained progress in many areas across Scotland including continuing record levels of activity and some of the most positive changes in weight unless we have seen for over half a decade. To conclude, the Scottish Government is committed to improving mental health whether it is from the creation and reform of services to investing in the workforce and we will continue to take actions to ensure that the people of Scotland have access to the mental health care and support that they need to navigate the challenges that they face. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Poor mental health is a serious public health challenge and most of all it can be very frightening and isolating for those who experience it. The reality is that Scottish mental health services simply aren't meeting existing levels of demand. Thousands of children and adults on weighting lists. Thousands more rejected for mental health treatment after initial referral. Not to mention that on the SNP's watch 1.5 million working days have been lost in the NHS itself due to mental health illness since 2018. There is a mental health crisis in Scotland and after 16 years at the helm this SNP green government must take full responsibility for the mismanagement of our mental health services. Presiding Officer I've been supporting a constituent in the north-east and her family over the past year whose horrendous story brings into sharp relief why the system must change. After successful treatment in a central mother and baby unit for postpartum psychosis she was sectioned in Carsview hospital in Tayside where mental health services were so poor they were subject to an independent inquiry by Dr David Strang. The transition from perinatal mental health services to general adult services was abrupt and distressing. My constituent was separated from her children and her support system. She was very, very scared. She described the experience as like a living nightmare. The whole experience just didn't seem real. My constituent sister has been advocating on a behalf and has lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament to improve maternal mental health services. The Scottish Government must do better for women as they navigate motherhood and it's shocking that the mental health strategy only mentions women four times and one of those is in a footnote. The strategy is gender blind even though women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety as men. Presiding Officer, the Scottish Conservatives believe that we need modern efficient and local solutions to mental health care for communities across Scotland and in the north east we want to see local delivery. I've raised the closure of the Mulberry unit for acute mental health care at Stracathrow hospital numerous times with the Scottish Government. It closed because of insufficient staffing. A problem we keep seeing in healthcare delivery in the north east. Distressed and vulnerable patients in Angus must now travel many miles for mental health treatment. How can that be right? I urge the Scottish Government to stop the platitudes and recycled policy pledges. It must get a grip on a crisis that is affecting thousands of people now. That will haunt thousands in the future if they do not get the care and treatment they need. Thank you. Thank you, Ms White. I now call Faisal Choudhury to be followed by Christine Grahame up to four minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Scotland's mental health crisis has reached breaking point. Over 30,000 people in Scotland are currently on a waiting list for mental health support. Mental health-related calls to NHS 24 are seven times higher than in 2019. In the last two years, over 4,000 patients have waited over a year before they have even been allocated their first appointment. That is unacceptable. COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis have placed mental health at the forefront of the political agenda as the Scottish population experience amplified feeling of anxiety. This year, mental health awareness week theme is anxiety. Children and young people studying at universities and colleges can often feel very overwhelmed by stress and anxiety. Mental health foundation research last year found that 64 per cent of college students in Scotland had low mental health wellbeing and 55 per cent had head problems with mental health due to shame. Students in Scotland are not being able to access the help and support that they desperately need. If they are not able to rely on NHS, young people must have alternate route to seek counseling and advice for mental health issues. Universities and colleges are one of the places that young people can seek help and advice. Counseling service at universities and colleges provides students with some extra support at a time of their lives where stress and anxiety can seriously impact their mental health. Counselors at our universities do a tremendous and essential job supporting staff and students in finding solution to their problems. Yet many are now facing uncertainty about their jobs and the future of counseling services at universities and colleges because funding from the Scottish Government will end in July. Up to 80 counselling jobs across in higher and further education across Scotland are set to be cut if additional funding isn't allocated. University and colleges can be stressful and challenging environment for many young adults. The Covid-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this. Counselors at the universities and colleges do vital work to reduce stress and anxiety and improve mental health. This also massively reduces the pressure on NHS service who are already outsourcing children's mental health service to reduce waiting times. The Scottish Government must allocate continued funding now to save 80 counselling jobs across Scottish universities and colleges. This vital service must continue to be available to all students who need that little bit of extra support. During the Mental Health Awareness Week the Scottish Government should make a commitment to students across Scotland that there will continue to be support there for those who need it. Thank you. I call Christine Grahame to be followed by Gillian Mackay. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I know simply from my case work the pressures on mental health services and it's a pressure in my 24 years as an MSP I've not seen before. So while I would wish referrals could be accelerated I recognise that the volume of referrals has risen. Several factors are causing unforeseen pressures and services. These are Covid, the cost of living and inflationary energy and food bills with food at almost 19 per cent inflation and people more likely and this is a good thing to identify that they have a mental health problem. Both the Labour motion and the Tory amendment would have more credibility if they even referenced these factors. Let me start with the devastating fall out from Covid. In Midlothian south Tweedale and Lauderdale I had the following response to executive of NHS Borders quote, regrettably the community mental health team were experiencing pressure from the Covid-19 backlog and the demand for neurodevelopmental disorder assessments. As a result, NHS Borders are implementing the existing secondary care referral criteria. Therefore only patients assessed as meeting level 4 brackets, complex closed brackets will progress for assessment by the CMHT. This is in line with the national autism implementation team recommendations closed quote. I quote from the mental health foundation, national and localised lockdowns removed the social connections and day-to-day support that significantly contribute to positive mental health and happiness. Closed quotes. Linking to inequality of course takes me to inflation currently over 10 per cent generally, with food inflation still running at over 19 per cent these are office of national statistics figures. Add in the cost of heating, credit cards let alone mortgages. Of course this cost of living crisis of the Tories means the poorest and most vulnerable in our society are more likely to experience poorer mental and physical well-being. Lower life satisfaction and feelings of loneliness. This is supported by new research by the Joseph Rowntree foundation and I quote more than a quarter of adults in Scotland have accessed the NHS due to the impact of the cost of living crisis on their mental or physical health closed quotes. This is further confirmed by the findings of CME. In February it found that 59 per cent of people in Scotland say the cost of living crisis on their mental health. A poll carried out by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland found that 52 per cent of Scots are concerned about the impact rising prices are having on their mental health. No mention of this from any of the Conservative contributors. As if the impact of the pandemic was not bad enough, especially for those already vulnerable this has been compounded by the highest inflation rates in Scotland. What is welcome but challenging is the gradual erosion of the stigmatisation of mental health issues. More people are therefore coming forward to assessment in the first instance and this is excellent. But no wonder in this context demands are high, pressures unparalleled, something the opposition parties should at the very least acknowledge and in the case of the Tories on the crisis at least have modicum of responsibility. Thank you. I call Gillian Mackay to be followed by Rachael Hamilton. I want to focus my remarks on two issues. One, I believe we should do more of to protect mental wellbeing and one measure I hope we can explore to prevent suicide in young people. In highlighting, improving and protecting young people's mental wellbeing I want to first acknowledge that there will always be people who will need support from in-patient or out-patient mental health support. But I believe there are strategies that we can take to ensure that we improve and protect mental wellbeing. I recently visited Larbert High School in my region and met a number of the wonderful school nurses who support children in primary and secondary schools across Falkirk. They told me of all the projects that they are delivering for everyone and how to recognise when something they are feeling has become a wider mental health issue. They run sessions for first years who may feel anxious coming to high school for the first time. For S4, 5 and 6, for whom exam time can be a particularly pressured time. They teach them how to find things that bring them relief and comfort. That they can speak about them with their peers or with the school nurses and find a resolution. They have been working with young people to return to in-person schooling after the pandemic tough as well. In primary schools, it is giving children the tools to be able to put a name to what they are feeling and describe what made them feel that way. Being able to communicate how they need help and what would either help them to feel better or indeed what made them feel happy if that is what they are experiencing. They are a hugely passionate team dedicated to improving the lives of the children in these schools and in the country, like their own burns. I certainly did not have anything close to that at school, and I believe that in building resilience, healthy coping strategies and changing attitudes towards speaking about mental health, the programmes that these school nurses are running could help young people as they transition to adulthood. For those who need CAMHS referrals, we need to make sure that young people are getting the help in the way they need it. Talking therapies and social prescribing may suit young people better, but I currently have a concern about how we support children and young people who have suicidal intent or suicidal ideation. Rightly, young people should be able to say who has access to their information, who it is shared with and whether parents or guardians should be told when someone could come to harm. I have had one constituent share with me the story of her son, Scott Martin, who was 16 and who was treated under the CAMHS service. Scott had been experiencing suicidal thoughts during an acutely bad period of mental health. His parents hadn't been told of the severity of his mental health symptoms and he tragically completed suicide. I met his mum at the start of this session who spoke with so much love about her son, but she regretted that the thoughts her son was having hadn't been shared with her so that she could have supported him. I would encourage everyone to have a look at the Scott Martin Foundation page if they can. I believe that we need to address this issue and find a balance to both protect the confidentiality of young people but also make sure that whether they live at home or not, someone who loves and supports them knows the severity of their condition. That shouldn't be about breaching confidences but about how we make sure that young people are safe. While we seek to improve mental wellbeing, we have to be aware that there are always people who will need mental health support. We need to make sure that this has the workforce that needs and that it is accessible and that we have the correct treatment and support mix for everyone. In concluding, Presiding Officer, I wanted to encourage everyone who is listening today and felt that this debate has resonated with them to reach out for support. For anyone who needs it, the helpline number for Samaritans is 116123. Their Twitter is also staffed 24 hours a day. We all need support from time to time and if you need that help, please don't struggle alone. I absolutely agree with the sentiment behind Labour's decision to bring this matter to the chamber today. The unique problems facing people who live outside of Scotland's major cities in smaller towns, villages and rural communities are so often overlooked in these debates. Today, at an event in Parliament, I spoke to a mother who told me that it was the most important thing that she could do because she was a mother who told me that it took two and a half years for her son to be diagnosed with autism. Her son is now 10 and is waiting for occupational health support. He cannot read or write. This young man is being left behind excluded from his right to education because of a lack of support caused by 16 years of an SNP Government failing generations of people a Government that have failed to deliver on their promises that were made through the NHS recovery plan to reduce waiting times and begin the recruitment of 1,000 mental health staff promised in the 2021-22 programme and also, of course, a frozen mental health budget that we have heard about today. On top of the mental health challenges facing people in Scotland today, remoteness, isolation and small town stigma can exacerbate those problems for people living in rural areas. Yesterday I attended a countryside day attended by 1,200 P5 students and I also spoke to many of the volunteers, the rural workers who were there who told me about the challenges, the daily challenges that they face, the stigma the rising input costs that farmers are facing, the safety concerns the uncertain policy landscape they spend long times not seeing anybody and suffering from social isolation but also being subjected to abuse for simply doing the job that they do in managing our land and these pressures have added a serious detrimental impact to their mental health in the UK four in five farmers under 40 site poor mental health as the biggest problem they face we have a plan to tackle this by creating a network of trained mental health advisers across Scotland's rural communities and these advisers as discussed in my debate six days ago would be recruited from the community from local rugby clubs from advisers that go down the farm gates such as vets, feed merchants local shopkeepers people living in small towns, villages and more remote areas could engage and be comfortable with those individuals and they would also be able to identify the signs of poor mental health this would allow them to check in provide mental health first aid during moments of distress and encourage people to learn how to identify the signs of poor mental health and how to engage with the resources that are available to them they will also be able to refer to more formal care such as the raspies counselling service when appropriate and this would ensure the right care is received we need to put in place action and the Scottish Conservatives have a solution which I'm hoping that the minister and the cabinet secretary will engage the cabinet secretary for rural affairs attended around table with me last week to debate and discuss these proposals with stakeholders and her willingness was refreshing we also want to replicate some of the fantastic work done by the third sector and groups like farm strong and I understand that the individual policies will not be a silver bullet but we are putting forward ideas that can make a difference we want to work with the Government to see these plans come to fruition we want to help people struggling with mental health and we want to drive the CAMHS waiting times down so that people that spoke to me today like the mother with a 10 year old son can help get her son engaged in education and her family can function properly once again I too welcome the opportunity to debate the issue of mental health during this mental health awareness week this year focusing on anxiety all Governments are facing multiple and wide-ranging challenges to ensure good mental health and wellbeing these challenges are cross cutting complex and everyone's business a public health issue that we will grapple with for some time to come the Scottish Government's mental health strategy sets out the action required to prevent and respond to poor mental health including increasing the mental health workforce in A&E settings GP practices police custody settings and prisons and not in our wildest dreams did we predict the significant mental health impact of the Covid-19 pandemic any reference to which is disappointingly absent from the Labour motion and the Tory and Liberal Democrats amendments this afternoon furthermore whilst they do include a range of challenges and points the motion and amendments to one degree or another in my view lack context and focus the proverbial lego pieces thrown in the air no reference to the cost of living crisis the impact of Brexit Britain and limited fiscal levers and many other highly relevant factors that significantly compromise mental health we know the linkages that exist between poverty poor mental health offending and other vulnerability factors and I want to focus this afternoon on those individuals who are in poor mental health and who come into contact with the police this is an issue we have been grappling with for many years normally involving individuals who are distressed often intoxicated and who contact the police seeking help it is also an issue that the criminal justice committee has been considering according to Police Scotland demand in relation to mental health increases between the hours of 7pm and 3am when services are often no longer available mental health incidents routinely take up around 8 hours with a recent evaluation of the cost to policing estimated at £14.6 million per annum and each visit to A&E estimated to cost the NHS around £5,000 section 297 of the mental health care and treatment act makes provision for officers to remove a person to a place of safety where they are found in a public place who is suspected of having a mental disorder however most people are in a private place their home and officers are not trained to recognise mental disorder and neither should they be this piece of legislation does not work leaving officers using their initiative with limited or no practical options available to them effectively making the system work the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring the mental health strategy going forward is data and intelligence driven and I very much welcome the work of Police Scotland to quantify the number of mental health related incidents that Police attend and of course a cohort of people found in these circumstances do enter Police custody and I welcome the Scottish Government's commitment to increase healthcare staff in custody settings and a range of models are indeed already in place across Scotland including on-site 24-7 healthcare practitioners other models involving a hub model and some with an on-call GP model and I also welcome the HMICS I will have to ask you to conclude your remarks at that point thank you we now move to winding up speeches and I call on Sandesh Gohani thank you the Scottish Conservatives welcomed this debate on mental health awareness week and I wear this green ribbon from the Scottish mental health foundation to show my support and as Sue Weber was right in highlighting the debilitating issues of anxiety and was so brave to give us her personal story we are indeed at a critical moment for mental health in Scotland which Tess White explained why the SNP strategy is gender blind as a GP I'm seeing more people with mental health issues ranging from children to the elderly and with the SNP cutting funding we have no link workers there is an urgent need for radical change to how mental health support and services are developed, resourced and delivered the SNP green government are still almost 20% of meeting their child adolescent health services and Sue Weber points out this will cause a problem for the adults of tomorrow between 2018 and 2022 almost 9,000 children were refused mental health treatment outgoing children's commissioner Bruce Adamson said Nicola Sturgeon failed to address the issue of children's mental health and as for adults mental health in 22 over 3,000 adults were refused mental health treatment between 2018 and 22 75,000 NHS staff members miss work due to anxiety, stress, depression and other mental health issues and this exacerbates staffing issues that Tess White told us was the cause of closure of the mulberry unit resulting in long travel times for vulnerable people and there's more Whom's a use has pledged to recruit an additional 1,000 mental health specialist has been delayed Jillian Mackay, Alex Hall-Hamilton and Claire Hawthie spoke of one of the most devastating consequences of poor mental health which is suicide and this affects people from across society each suicide is a tragedy which could have been prevented with the right help at the right time suicide doesn't only affect the person who died but it's their loved ones who suffer greatly and there is simply not enough help despite the efforts of charities such as SamH I would like to commend the British Transport Police who I met this morning for their approach to finding people in crisis and getting them the help they need Under the SNP's watch Scots across the country are waiting far too long for mental health treatment The Scottish Government's own child and adolescent mental health target has never been met and adults waiting time are now nowhere near good enough From one devolved policy area to another the SNP green government comes to this chamber with big announcements but their record on delivery is abysmal On mental health we've seen no evidence yet that this SNP green government have the wherewithal when it comes to tackling mental health they lack ideas they need a fresh approach which incorporates modern efficient local solutions into healthcare Let's see mental health ambulances and crisis cafes as the Scottish Conservatives have called out for to roll across Scotland on mental health and get the support they need and we call on the SNP green government to implement bespoke solutions for our rural communities such as establishing networks of trained mental health advisers as thoroughly explained by Rachel Hamilton Finally we call on the SNP green government to wake up and realise it has a duty of care to its NHS workforce Over 700 registered mental health nurse posts are vacant We call on the Scottish Government to get a grip of reality stop their self congratulation nonsense as we saw in yesterday's Covid vaccination debate and focus on delivering solution My final remark is to encourage everyone out there to talk and most importantly listen and create a safe space for those who are struggling with mental health I wish to draw members to my attention as my registered of interest I call on Marie Todd up to 4 minutes I want to thank all members for their contributions today and as always I am convinced that speakers from all benches ultimately want the same thing a high functioning mental health system that provides the right help at the right time at all levels of need It doesn't matter when or where anyone asks for help for their mental health and wellbeing the system should then respond to make sure that they get that help quickly I want to further unpick one of the points I made during my opening remarks on stigma I think that reducing stigma is foundational It takes courage to ask for help and we know that a barrier to doing so can be the fear of being judged There is so much good work happening every day by services, by communities and by the third sector to tackle stigma we can lead by example in this chamber too I want to pick up here on the issue of rejected referrals CAMHS is a very specialist service and we know that it will only be the right service for a small proportion of children and young people We want all children and young people to get the right support at the right time that we have invested in our CAMHS system which is currently seeing the most positive changes in the waiting list that we have seen in the last decade we have also invested 30 million in the last two years to provide alternative community-based health supports for children and young people 45,000 people have accessed those services between July and December last year we introduced a national CAMHS specification that includes a clear expectation that children and young people whose referral is not accepted for CAMHS are sensitively and appropriately signposted to a more suitable service Presiding Officer I am confident that our forthcoming mental health and wellbeing strategy is based on a thorough understanding of the issues that have been raised today Those issues have been accurately and fairly articulated during this debate The strategy will also be based on what we have seen done well, fantastic work across Scotland that provides a blueprint for what good looks like Certainly Jackie Baillie I am grateful to the minister I would also be grateful to know if the percentage of the health budget that is spent on mental health will increase because actually if you look at the SNP's experience over the past decade the percentage of the budget spent on mental health in the NHS has decreased Minister Indeed the member is well aware that part of the Bute House agreement between ourselves and the Green Party is that we are aiming for 10% of the health budget to be spent on mental health and we are on track to reach that aim The services that are working to meet their waiting time targets and also do many other things such as the on-going expansion of our digital offer or a further £15 million investment in our community's mental health and wellbeing fund for adults are the things that we are seeing that are working around Scotland at the moment That fund will provide continued support to grassroots community groups playing a vital role in building resilience tackling social isolation addressing mental health inequalities In fact, I visited a service in Dundee on Monday which was providing support for families who are awaiting a CAMHS assessment for neurodiversity There are so many examples of good practice across the system for us to build on as well as continuously improving elements of the current offer that we know are lacking I'm determined to strike that balance so we move forward to achieve the vision of our forthcoming strategy which is of a Scotland free from stigma and inequality where everyone fulfills their right to achieve the best mental health and wellbeing possible Thank you I call on Carol Mockin to hand up the debate Despite the harrowing stories from today I am pleased to be closing this debate today on behalf of Scottish Labour Why? Because this Government needs held to account Given the minister's contribution it is absolutely right that in Labour's time to lead debates in this chamber that we focus on the crisis in mental health and putting so many across our country and putting significant pressure on NHS and community services The minister is new to post and confident and I do hope that the minister does deliver However people could be forgiven for thinking all was well with our mental health service provision in Scotland after reading the SNP amendment to our motion and the minister's contributions today There is a failing in the Government and we need to be honest about that and I ask the members behind the front bench to also be honest part of your role is to hold your front bench to account Yet again they pat themselves on the back they blame every factor other than the obvious one their governance and still refuse to see the urgent need for systemic change in this area We do all agree across the benches there is nothing more important than the wellbeing of our population and this includes physical, economic and social wellbeing but critically mental wellbeing As we have heard from other members today and as set out in Labour's motion there are almost 30,000 children young people and adults on waiting lists 30,000 Adults in Scotland from our most deprived areas are more likely to experience anxiety and depressing and tragically they are more likely to die from suicide With all of the above mentioned the key commitment to hire a thousand mental health specialists to help improve community mental health services has not even started I am going to say that again has not even started This is not representative of a Government that prioritises mental health treatment It is representative of a Government that's inability to address staff shortages undermines efforts to improve care a Government that is no stranger to a strategy but has a poor relationship with delivery As mentioned by my colleague Jackie Baillie and within the Labour motion today we know mental health related calls to NHS 24 in times higher in 22 than 2019 and we all accept that the pandemic has a significant role to play in this however it would be disingenuous to suggest this is where the problem started The challenge that we face today in the delivery of mental health services in Scotland are a result of long term inaction by this Scottish Government and the reality is our communities our mental health workforce and our patients deserve so much more We must all echo the calls of my colleague Jackie Baillie and calling for at least 11% of the overall NHS budget to be directed towards mental health services. I urge the Government to look at that again I also asked the minister to address the question that my colleague asked around the research and analysis from the Royal College of Psychiatrists Scotland's mental health budget is proportionately less now than it was a decade ago Will the SNP Government address that? Indeed we must also look at the budget and see how it can be targeted in our investment focusing on community based services with a focus on early intervention areas such as CAMS services for our young people but also addressing loneliness and isolation for our elderly population at the root cause The targeted spending error has to be underpinned by a willingness to support those in our most deprived areas to tackle the prominent and divisive health inequalities in Scotland Minister, calling on the provision of a dedicated mental health worker in every GP practice and a mental health A&E department in every health board so that patients can be fast tracks should not be seen as controversial you should be getting behind some of the suggestions that have been made In concluding the crisis in mental health treatment is concerning and a damaging one and it is our most vulnerable who are let down time and time again by this Government The Scottish Government and I'm sure the SNP backbenchers know that the performance in this area has been unacceptable and we must be honest we must now look to shift in the right direction more words and self-congratulatory comments will not cut it this crisis demands action and the SNP Government are not going to deliver then please step aside someone has to