 the first item of business this afternoon is portfolio questions and the first portfolio is rural affairs land reform and islands as ever any member wishing to ask a supplementary question should press the request speak button during the relevant questions the usual appeal for brevity in questions and answers applies and I call question number one Audrey Nichol. Thank you Presiding Officer to ask the Scottish Government for its most recentoding assessment of the impact of the Australia UK free agreement on Scotland's agricultural sector. Research undertaken by the Anders staff's centre assessing the long-term impact of the UK-Australian trade agreements on the Scottish agricultural sector outlined that both the easterlyuation between Australia and the New ZealandENAIL will exert significant pressure on sectors, particularly leotip and sheep, which are important to our dural budget. Felly, we have always been concerned about the precedent that the negotiation of those initial deals would set, and yet further pressure could also be placed on the agricultural sectors if other deals are poorly negotiated by the UK Government, with Canada, for example, who explore over a third of their beef produce. While it is too early yet to determine the full impact of the UK-Australia trade deal, all indications are that it will be negative for Scottish farming. Unless the UK Government listens and takes seriously the concerns that I have raised repeatedly and which have been echoed by our farmers and crofters, the sector will continue to suffer from bad deals with bad outcomes for Scotland, foisted upon us by Westminster. I thank the cabinet secretary for her response. Earlier this month, the price of Australian lamb reportedly sat at around less than half the price in Scotland. Australian lamb exports to the UK reportedly almost trebled in August to 1,028 tonnes. Now, the Australian red-meat sector looks poised to make further inroads, having launched the Aussie beef and lamb brand. What would the cabinet secretary say to those farmers who work tirelessly to provide food of unparalleled quality, maybe fearful about what the consequences of this Brexit-based Tory betrayal could mean for the future of their livelihoods? Ultimately, that is why I had argued strongly during the negotiation of that deal, urging the UK Government not to give away those enormous free tariff, free quotas, needlessly. We have seen that they have even changed their mind. When you look at the comments of the former DEFRA Secretary of State George Eustice, who was in post during the negotiation of that deal, giving farmers and crofters assurances what they needed and what they were looking for would be protected and their interests would be protected, he then criticised it after he left post, saying that the Australia trade deal is not actually a very good deal for the UK and that we gave far too much away for far too little in return. The Scottish agri-food sector deserves so much better than that, especially when you look at the deals that the EU has managed to negotiate with Australia and with New Zealand. They have negotiated a far better deal for their members, and it is frustrating—well, not only frustrating—that it is an absolute disgrace that the UK Government did not see fit to do the same for our— The ability of Scottish farmers to trade competitively with the rest of the UK is vital to Scotland's agricultural sector. Can the cabinet secretary give clarity on the percentage of direct support that will be attributed to replace funding for farmers and crofters? I do not think that that is related to the initial question in terms of trade deals. Is there anything that you can add to what you have already said? First of all, I completely agree with the first element of Rachael Hamilton's point that she was making in her question. I think that the point that she is referring to is about the future budget and what that might be. We have committed to maintaining direct payments in Scotland, but, of course, we do not have any clarity on future budget from the UK Government, and they have refused to date so far to engage in any meaningful conversations on that. In question 2, Emma Harper. Ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to encourage people to support their local food and drink producers. We want everyone to have the opportunity to enjoy food and drink produced locally and for producers of all sizes to access the markets that are on their doorsteps. We will shortly be publishing local food for everyone, which sets out our local food strategy, really about connecting people with food, connecting Scottish producers with buyers and really harnessing the power of public sector procurement too. We have provided more than £700,000 between 2020 and over this financial year to the Scottish Grocer's Federation for their Go Local programme, which is helping to transform convenience stores with dedicated display space for Scottish produce. Emma Harper. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. I attended the Stranraer Oyster Festival, as the cabinet secretary did as well, where some of the fantastic D&G producers like Stacey Hannah chocolates, Moffat Distillery, Sulworth Brewery, they were selling their products. In addition, over the course of the summer, we saw many people supporting our local food and drink producers at the various agricultural shows. The cabinet secretary said what further practical steps the Scottish Government can take to support the public to choose local, particularly with Food Standards Scotland, pointing out that the Tory-made cost-of-living crisis is impacting on people's ability to shop locally. First of all, just to welcome Emma Harper's points about the Stranraer Oyster Festival, it really was such a fantastic event. Great to hear that they had about 25,000 people in attendance as well. I just want to take this opportunity to extend my thanks and gratitude to Romano Petrucci, as well as all the other volunteers who helped to make that event such a success. In relation to Emma Harper's question, we continue to support Scotland's town partnership. We have provided them with a grant of £400,000 over the course of this year to develop the Scotland Loves Local programme as part of their overall work programme of activities, and it really is a means to put localism at the heart of a stronger greener in fairer Scotland. An additional £250,000 of funding was agreed earlier this year, which is going to enable significant development of the Scotland Loves Local gift card programme over the course of this year, including further promotional activities, digitisation and further expansion and reach of the programme. Thank you. A couple of supplementaries, first. Brian Whittle. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary and I have rehearsed this topic many times around local public procurement, and I know that she agrees with me that local public procurement is a really significant way in which we can support our food producers on a rural economy. Does she agree with me that bean counters using cheap imported food is a false economy and that we must ensure that as many councils as possible use local food procurement, and if so, what is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that that is expanded? I welcome the member's question, and I know that this is a point that I think not just ourselves, but across the chamber we all agree on the power of local public procurement and how that can strengthen not just our local economy but our economy more widely. We heard that in the recent food and drink debate that we had as well. We know that this is a complex area, but that is why we have a number of different initiatives to help us try and get around some of those issues and to support our local producers as much as possible. One of those is the Food for Life scheme that I know the member will be aware of, which we funded, provided with £490,000 of funding over the course of this financial year to expand and to look at a wider pilot project taking place in Glasgow to look at how we can not just look at how we can strengthen local public procurement in schools but across the wider public sector, too. We will continue to monitor that and look to do it all we can, particularly through the Good Food Nation plan and the draft of that, which will be coming forward shortly. I look forward to engaging with discussions with Brian Whittle and other members on how we can look to improve what we are doing already. On the issue of local procurement, especially for schools and other Government organisations, the issue is that most of the procurement is done centrally. What steps will the Cabinet Secretary take to work with those who procure and, indeed, wherewith all that they use to procure, to make sure that local people have within their hands the ability to procure small amounts locally? The member raises an important point. We know that there is a complex legislative framework around procurement, but that is why, as I outlined in my previous response, we are undertaking a number of different initiatives in ways that we can look to strengthen that. There is one thing that we are taking forward. We have the supplier development programme. That delivers free training and guidance on how to submit and win public procurement bids. Our legislation and through the sustainable procurement duty requires public sector contracting authorities to consider and act on opportunities to facilitate the involvement of SMEs, third-sector bodies and supported businesses through public procurement. Again, just as I made the offer to Brian Whittle, I am more than happy to continue to engage with Rhoda Grant and other members to see what other improvements we could potentially make in that area. We want to make sure that we have strong local supply chains that really do benefit our producers, as well as our local economies. To ask the Scottish Government what role it will play in supporting the fishing industry over the next 10 years. The Scottish Government already plays an active role in supporting and managing Scotland's vital fishing industry, and we will continue to do so in the future. Through our delivery of the actions in our 10-year fisheries management strategy, the funding that we provide in the operational functions that we deliver, we are focused on ensuring that both Scotland's fishing industry and our marine environment can thrive sustainably and that our seafood sector can continue to support jobs and provide a high protein source of food for our communities. I am grateful to the Minister for that answer. Our north-east fishing communities expressed cautious delight in June when, in response to warnings that HPMAs would close 47 per cent of our waters to fishing and decimate the industry, the Cabinet Secretary for Halted Implementation. However, almost immediately, Government Minister Lorna Slater and Ariana Burgess MSP said that the Scottish Government will still bring in HPMAs, as there is a red line in the Butehouse agreement. Can this minister clear up the Scottish Government position? Have the hated HPMAs been ditched, or was the pre-recess announcement simply a cynical delaying tactic? What I would say to Mr Kerr is, first of all—this is probably a question for the Cabinet Secretary, Mariam Cullen, but I can hope to clear things up from the support that we are giving to fishing. We want to make sure that communities across Scotland are central to any process in which we involve them. I will say that one of the things that, since I took on the responsibility for inshore fisheries, what we are doing is consulting on inshore tracking and monitoring, and that consultation is open to the 7 November, which will allow people to look at what more data we can get in terms of what is out there, in terms of species and where that is in our seas, and that is for vessels under 12 metres. However, given that he has mentioned north-east fisheries, I can let him know that I am actually speaking to them in about an hour's time. We have a number of supplementaries. We will try to get through all of them, but the questions will need to be brief as well as the responses. First, Kate Forbes. Thank you. A fisherman has described the recent experience of the industry as the hardest three years. That same fisherman described how the industry was sold a lie over Brexit. Can I ask the cabinet secretary how the Government's long-term support plans will seek to protect the Scottish fishing industry from the disaster politics of the Tories and Labour, neither of whom offer support to the Scottish fishing industry? Kate Forbes outlines what she has heard from her local fishermen. That is certainly me and, indeed, my colleagues in Morban from Buckingham Coast, such as Karen Adam, have heard as well. We warned of the effects of Brexit on the Scottish fishing industry, and those were exacerbated by the Tories' hard Brexit. They did not have been a hard Brexit, which was imposed on Scotland. Higher export costs, barriers to trade, loss of access to labour and broken promises about lost EU funding being replaced in full. This Government will always champion Scotland's fishing industry and do all we can to support them, adapt and innovate to ensure a just transition to sustainable and resilient fishing fleet. That includes annual negotiations where we work to secure the best outcomes that we can for Scottish fishing businesses. However, as long as we are part of the UK, whether it is a Labour or a Tory Westminster Government, we, as Scotland, do not have a direct seat at the table. Colin Smyth has a legal duty to support and incentivise fishing methods that have a lower environmental impact and that are selective. What specific measures has the Government taken and planned to take to deliver what is a legal responsibility? I refer Colin Smyth to part of my original answer to Liam Kerr in terms of what we are doing about the inshore tracking and monitoring consultation. What we are proposing is to be putting monitoring cameras on vessels under 12 metres. That has already been piloted in the Hebrides. What will that allow? I will be able to give us a picture and give us more robust data about where the species are and where we can fish sustainably. That will be a game changer in terms of what we see in the marine environment. We know what is where and when. Can the minister outline what the benefits would be from applying a future cap to current high-impact fishing activity in Scotland's inshore waters? We are not proposing any cap as such. What we are looking to do is to use science and the available data that could be from our fishing fleet to have a better idea of what species are where in Scotland's inshore waters. That is going to be the absolute bedrock of any decisions that we make in the future. It is not a case of applying caps as such. It is a case of knowing what is where and where we need to have more sustainable methods of fishing and what species we are going to be protecting and allowing to thrive more by the decisions that we make. It has all got to be based on scientific data. Have the hated HBMAs been ditched? Yes or no? I will refer you to the statement that Mary McCallan gave to the chamber. Everything that Douglas Lums needs to know is in that statement. Question 4, Alexander Burnett. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to improve the durability of Scottish crops over the coming years, and I note members to my register of interests regarding farming. Minister Gillian Morn. The Scottish Government invests nearly £50 million a year into a portfolio of strategic research to ensure that Scotland maintains its position at the forefront of research into advances in sustainable crop production, natural resources and the environment. That includes research aimed at improving crop resilience. We have also made capital investments in new technology, including a new educational vertical farming facility, SRUC, which will provide a fully controllable facility for research in crop growth. Provision of high-quality advice for growers is supported by the Government via the farm advisory service and the SRUC crop monitoring grant, ensuring that producers can make the best decisions for their current crops and future planning. Further to that, we have promised up to £6 million for their fruit and vegetable producers to allow them to continue work together to invest in ensuring the viability of fruit and vegetable production. Alexander Burnett. I thank the minister for that answer. Recent work by the James Hutton Institute has shown that advances in gene sequencing can help to protect stable Scottish crops, such as potatoes, barley and raspberries, from a changing climate. Will the minister accept that those technological advances are essential for Scotland's food security? What I will accept is that, before we make any decisions, anything to do with gene sequencing or gene editing is that we must be listening to organisations like the James Hutton Institute and many, many more. For example, our partners in safari, for example. As I said in response to the fishing questions, this is all about the data, it is all about the research and listening to those advisers of which we have many in Scotland to be informing our policy decisions. The climate crisis and change in weather partners will undoubtedly affect the durability of Scottish crops. Does the minister agree that there is an astonishing level of hypocrisy in the Tories posing such a question when the Government's plans seeking to mitigate climate change and its impact on society, including arable farming, is utterly undermined by its own watering down of climate commitments? Jackie Dunbar is right, because climate change is not just the biggest threat to farming, but to human, plant and animal health. The Prime Minister's watering down of climate policy is an unforgivable betrayal of current and future generations in all those respects. Here in Scotland, many of our farmers and crofters are already taking extremely positive action to produce food sustainably in ways that actively benefit both climate and nature, and we are supporting them through our agriculture reform programme. The vision for agriculture outlines our transformation of how we support farming and food production in the future in Scotland, so we become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture, and this approach will allow agriculture to be more resilient to changes in the climate, building on existing grants and advice. Jackie Dunbar is right, because we can do what we can to mitigate the effects of climate change, but the best way to deal with it is to halt climate change. The overuse of fertiliser on our cereal crops can result in excess fertiliser run-off and the release of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, more than three times more potent for global warming than carbon dioxide. Understanding the soil micro genome will lead to significant changes in our agricultural practice in proving crop yields while reducing dependency on synthetic nitrogen and the damage that it causes to our environment. One solution is to get microorganisms to fix more nitrogen for crop use. We can do that now by using genetically engineered bacteria. So, when will the Scottish Government consider starting the process that would allow world-renowned scientific institutions that we have in Scotland to carry out work, to exploit the soil micro genome to solve the problem? What I would do is point Mr Carson to the strategic research programme, which is already looking into quite a lot of the idea. If I could just outline some of the things that the SRP are doing just now. They are looking at disease resistance and pathodin biology, they are looking at the various tools and technology development of new populations, genotyping tools and methods for trade dissection to support horticultural crop improvement and they are also looking about crop improvement for sustainable production in a changing environment as well as exploring barley diversity for resilience and sustainability. So, when will the Scottish Government start? Our funded organisations are well underway in looking at all those issues. To ask the Scottish Government how it is helping to provide capacity for community groups to buy any neglected land in their local communities. The Scottish Government is committed to supporting community ownership across Scotland through our Scottish land fund and our asset transfer and community right to buy policies. The community right to buy abandoned neglected or detrimental land came into force in 2018. It gives community bodies a right to compulsory purchase land, which is wholly or mainly abandoned or neglected or causing harm to the environmental wellbeing of the community. Through the Scottish land fund, community groups can access grants of up to £1 million or more, potentially in exceptional circumstances, to help them to take ownership of land and buildings. Could you confirm whether you agree with me that capacity building in areas of multiple deprivation is indeed a key component of the land reform agenda? The member raises an important point. I reiterate what I said in my initial response. Community ownership is an absolutely vital component of our land reform programme, and it presents huge opportunities for communities in deprived areas to acquire land and buildings. We are well aware of the transformational impact of improving derelict and vacant land in deprived communities. It benefits the people who live there economically, socially and environmentally too. It is vital that those projects not only put communities at the heart of that activity, but that they are also empowered to take on ownership and management of such projects and spaces. In terms of that capacity building point in particular, we provide support to community groups in a variety of means. Some advice and guidance are available from Community Land Scotland, the Community Ownership Support Service and the Development Trust Association Scotland. They work with community groups across a range of support and capacity building activities, some of which are supported by grants from the Scottish Government too. Only two communities have applied for the right to buy neglected land since 2018, and both were unsuccessful. Proving neglect is very difficult. Communities are being blocked by overly bureaucratic processes. What changes will the Scottish Government make to right to buy in their upcoming land reform bill? The member raises a really important point. We have had three applications through that that were not successful, although one of those transfers did eventually go through a negotiated sale. The other two did not go through because there were improvements that were made to the land and work had been done on that land by the person who owned it. I gave evidence to the net zero committee a few weeks ago where we discussed this exact issue and I'm more than happy to look at this and to see what potential barriers are in the way for people there and to see what we can do to try to resolve some of the challenges that communities can find themselves coming up against when they're looking to take ownership of vacant or derelict land and generally just some of the other barriers that they're up against too. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding support for businesses in the rural economy that provide team accommodation for employees due to a lack of affordable rural and island housing. I know that the cabinet secretary for rural affairs land reform and islands frequently has discussions with ministerial colleagues on a range of matters including housing. My ministerial colleagues and I recognise the importance of housing to a rural economy and that's why our commitment to a rural delivery plan explicitly includes housing. We have also committed to develop a rural and islands house in action plan that will be published shortly. This will set out who we are supporting delivery of housing in our rural and island communities including through the £25 million demand led rural and island homes for key workers fund as well as proposals to give local authorities new powers to apply higher council tax rates for second homes. Kenneth Gibson I thank the minister for that response. The Ocrani resort in Arran is employee owned, independent and locally run. Staffing is an issue due to the lack of affordable housing and around 110 staff live on site without their own homes to rent their own turnover is high. Does the minister accept that the exclusion of staff who are effectively homeless from the figures presents a false picture of the real need for more affordable island housing and will staff and team accommodation therefore be included going forward? I welcome the action that businesses such as Ocrani are taking to meet the accommodation needs of their staff. I accept the point that Mr Gibson as a long-standing local MSP makes about the permanency of that accommodation. Everyone wants not just somewhere to live but somewhere they can make their own home, and that is a particular issue in rural and island communities. I understand that work is actively being taken forward in Arran to consider island housing needs and that local let-ins and initiative, giving additional priority for housing on the basis of being a worker or a resident on Arran, has been introduced. I am happy again to meet Mr Gibson on that matter. I spoke with employers from across the Highlands and Islands who have recruited the right people for their organisation and have been left struggling to secure accommodation for them. The SNP Green Government has made big and bold statements on rural and island housing, but the simple fact is that, even when the dedicated rural and island housing funds are not fully utilised, despite extensions to the scheme, what has the Scottish Government learnt from those failures and what will they do differently going forward? I referred to the rural and island house and action plan that is coming out. I have also undertaken a summer tour, where I made a number of stakeholders, including the NFUs, the Scottish Crofting Federation, the Scottish Islands Federation, the Scottish Land and States and the Canadian States. That informed what the rural and island house and action plan will include going forward, but I am happy to meet Mr Halcro Johnston on that matter. Question 7 and 8 were both withdrawn, so that concludes the portfolio questions on rural and island housing. There will be a brief pause to allow the front benches to change before we move to the next portfolio. The next portfolio is NHS recovery, health and social care. As ever, any member wishing to ask a supplementary question should press the request of sweet buttons during the relevant question. Again, brevity in questions and responses would be appreciated. I call question 1 Maggie Chapman, who joins us remotely. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what support is provided to trans people and their companions when accessing healthcare, including gender reassignment surgery. Minister Jenny Minto, can we have the minister's microphone? Since December 2022, we have invested over £2.8 million to support improvement in the access to and delivery of NHS gender identity healthcare in Scotland. Over £2 million has been allocated directly to health boards providing gender identity clinics to expand staffing, reduce waiting times and put in place increased support for people on waiting lists. As with any healthcare, the patients charter of rights and responsibilities sets out that patients have the right to be treated with respect, fairly and equally whatever their health needs. The charter also states that another person can accompany them to an appointment to provide support. I thank the minister for that response. I have had constituents contact me about their difficulties in accessing services in terms of geography and insufficient support where there is clinical recommendation that patients are accompanied for treatment. Can the minister outline how the NHS gender identity services Scotland strategic action framework will ensure that all health boards, not just those that currently have GICs, will take a more proactive role to ensure the wellbeing of trans people living in their area and can she confirm that where clinically recommended, health boards should provide travel reimbursements for companions? I thank Ms Chapman for the question. As the member will understand, I am unable to comment on what may be individual decisions made by a health board. However, financial support for travel is available for patients and authorised companions according to eligibility criteria and medical requirements. Health boards are responsible for reimbursing patient travel expenses in line with Scottish Government guidance. This is expected to consider individual circumstances and ensure that patient care is at the centre of all decisions. Our framework outlines a range of national work already positively impacting service provision across NHS Scotland. Perhaps the most relevant to Ms Chapman's question includes the on-going development of Healthcare Improvement Scotland's standards for gender identity healthcare applicable to all health boards. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps are being taken to reopen the independent living fund. Our approach to reopening the independent living fund will be centred around co-design with disabled people and their representative organisations, as well as with other stakeholder groups. We have already started the process of setting up a working group with ILF Scotland that will co-design the re-opened fund, including developing eligibility criteria that will ensure funding is targeted at those who will benefit the most. Bill Kidd. I thank the minister for that reply. I understand that Glasgow disability aligns have welcomed the announcement that the Scottish Government will reopen the independent living fund and saying that it plays a vital role in Scottish social care to support disabled people to live the lives that they want to live. Can the cabinet secretary say any more about how this fund can support disabled people, including those living in my constituency, to live independently and participate in the community? I must say that the announcement of reopening has been universally welcomed. I welcome the question in order to put on the record that the ILF Scotland fund currently supports nearly 1,900 disabled people. Recipients can use their award to employ personal assistants or regulated support workers to meet their individual care requirements. The support supports them to live in their own homes and to play a part in the community through work, learning, training or hobbies. The fund makes it easier for them to look after their physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing and to maintain relationships with family, friends and wider networks. Recipients are supported to have the choice and control to live their lives as they choose. By reopening the fund, we will expand those benefits to more disabled people, starting with up to 1,000 new recipients in 24-25. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it has taken to support community pharmacies. This year, we have increased community pharmacy funding by 6 per cent and increased the guaranteed minimum income by 15.95 per cent, taking the total minimum funding package to £299 million. We have also invested in a programme to support community pharmacists across Scotland to become independent prescribers. As of December 2022, there were a total of 1,852 pharmacists who qualified prescribers or are currently undertaking an independent prescribing qualification. 474 of those were working in a community pharmacy. We also continue to invest in technology to support community pharmacy teams in delivering their services. We are currently investing in a digital prescribing and dispensing programme that will replace the current paper prescriptions and associated electronic prescription messages with digital paperless approach by the end of this parliamentary term. I thank the minister for that answer. I met with Mary Curie and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society a few weeks ago when they were here in Parliament. They discussed the daffodil standards with me and felt that having those standards could not only help the community pharmacies, but also the patients and their families. Would the daffodil standards be something that the Scottish Government would welcome? Will the Scottish Government commit to helping the community pharmacies to meet those asks? We welcome the development of the daffodil standards by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Mary Curie UK. Those standards were adapted for community pharmacy teams and are based on the work that is completed by the Royal College of General Practitioners. They align with the eight standards that are used in general practice but reflect the way that pharmacies work. We would encourage community pharmacists to sign up to the daffodil standards to help pharmacy teams to build on their existing palliative care provision and to improve the quality of care that is provided to both patients and their carers. In order to increase sign-up, I am very happy to raise that at my next meeting with community pharmacy Scotland. I have a couple of supplementaries. First, Tess White. Minister, earlier this year, community pharmacy Scotland warned that the SNP Government's funding arrangements for 2324 will not support the pace of service development and that the year ahead will be one of recuperation and consolidation. Given the important role of pharmacy first scheme in reducing pressures on the NHS, how will the Scottish Government support community pharmacies to provide clinical services when they continue to face significant financial and workload pressures of their own? I thank the member for that question. As I outlined in my first answer, we have been working very close with community pharmacy Scotland to ensure that we are providing them with the correct funding package to ensure that they continue the incredibly important work that they do within our communities to support our NHS. Can the minister provide an update on the progress of the joint programme with Nes and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, aimed at encouraging more students to consider careers in pharmacy? Indeed, specifically given the challenges facing rural pharmacy, can I ask what cross-portfolio discussions she has had within Government to ensure the appropriate choices that are in place for young people in education in rural regions, such as my own, to embark on a path towards pharmacy from school age? I thank the member for that question and recognise the issues that she raises, given that I also represent a rural constituency. The two schools that she highlighted and working with Nes, we are encouraging participants from parts of Scotland where there are gaps in the pharmacy workforce and working with schools, because I think that that is an important thing, as well as working with local schools to encourage people into the pharmacy. There was a pharmacy that I visited in Ellen in the summer and that was something that we talked about there, so I think that it is important. The chief pharmaceutical officer has established a national pharmacy workforce forum to provide strategic influence and national co-ordinated actions to support short, medium and long-term evidence-based pharmacy workforce planning. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether there are enough Stoma care nurses to care for the around 20,000 Stoma patients in Scotland. We recognise the valued contribution that clinical nurse specialists make to individual patients, their families and the wider delivery of specialist services. Their role is vital to supporting patients and families who require specialist care. To support that, the Scottish Government has invested more than £2.4 million annually in the specialist nursing and care fund. However, although the Scottish Government has overall responsibility for health and social care policy in Scotland, the statutory responsibility for delivery and commission of services lies at a local level with local authorities, NHS boards and integrated health and social care partnerships. Operational decisions, including whether there is a need for Stoma specialist nurses, are there for matters for those bodies to make and should take into account the numbers of patients in their local area. I am not sure that I heard an answer on the specifics of it, but I think that we need a workforce planning for the future and that needs to be done across Scotland and not to allow the Stoma nurses to be provisioned to be under the threat from retarils, which I fear it is at the moment. My question therefore is, will the Government commit also to instigating an annual review for all Stoma patients? I thank the member for his question and would be happy to look at that and discuss it with my officials and perhaps Mr Mountain and I can meet again to talk about this further. Question 5, Bob Doris. Thank you, Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government what works on going to support the development of new treatments for those living with epidermolysis by a loss or commonly known as EB. The Scottish Government wants people in Scotland with rare diseases like EB to be able to access the best possible care and support. We support research through the chief scientist office, providing funding opportunities for research on a wide range of conditions that could include EB treatments with open competitive grant schemes and Scottish access to national institute of health and care research programmes. CSO also invests through NHS Research Scotland in infrastructure to support health boards, host and participate in clinical trials, including support for studies on rare diseases and skin conditions. I thank the minister for that answer and for attendance at the Deborah event that I hosted recently in the Scottish Parliament. The minister will know that we hear that advances in treatment for EB over the years have been painfully slow, but that there is currently a real opportunity to repurpose up to 10 drugs used to treat other conditions. I ask the minister how the Scottish Government can work in partnership with other UK healthcare systems to identify the required funds estimated at £10 million to allow clinical trials to proceed and hopefully provide improved treatments for this dreadfully painful condition. I thank Bob Doris for hosting the Deborah event that was in Parliament a few weeks ago. From my perspective to hearing the very personal experiences of what it is like to live with EB, but also from the clinicians and the work, the potential of drug repurposing research to identify treatments that might improve the quality of life of those with EB. It was a very powerful event. We recognised the potential of drug repurposing research to find new safe and effective treatments for health conditions. We participate in NHS England's Medicines Repurposing programme, which looks to identify and progress opportunities to use existing medicines in new ways. The chief scientist office works in partnership with other health research funders, including the National Institute for Health and Care Research and Medical Research Charities, to support research. CSO's partnership with NHIR opens its large programmes to researchers in Scotland, providing funding opportunities for large studies and trials of treatment across the range of health conditions. Applications are subject to independent expert peer review with funding recommendations made by independent expert committee. To ask the Scottish Government when it last engaged with the Scottish General Practitioners Committee and what was discussed. Scottish Government officials regularly meet with the Scottish General Practitioners Committee of the BMA and last held a bilateral meeting on 14 September, where contractual and funding issues were discussed as part of our joint endeavour to ensure the sustainability of general practice. I understand that officials are holding an all-day discussion with the committee today to discuss the future development of the GP contract. I thank the cabinet secretary for his response. My constituents have raised concerns that they are not receiving up-to-date information around the changes happening at their local GP surgeries. It is my understanding that the Scottish General Practitioners Committee previously identified that as an issue and called on the Scottish Government to educate the public on changes in GP practices. Can the minister comment on any steps that the Scottish Government can take to support GPs to amplify their right care, right place message and provide their patients with impactful communications that explain what to expect from the GP primary care team, how to access the right health professionals direct and any changes to their day-to-day operations? The member raises an important point that is incorrectly referred to the right care, right place campaign. This is a programme that has been running since 2021, which is specifically about targeting information to the general public about making sure that they consider the right route to access healthcare services. The next phase of that campaign is due to run for this autumn and winter to help to ensure that the public have a broad range of information available to them. I can assure the member that it is our intention to continue to look at a phase programme of investment over the course of the next 18 months to continue to support education around making sure that patients access the right service in the right place. Thank you. I have a couple of supplementaries. First, Sandish Gulhane, who joins us remotely. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The Scottish Government failed to deliver the original GP contract negotiated in 2018. It created a second memorandum of understanding in 2021, making further promises on primary care and pharmacy. The Scottish Government are failing deprived communities, failing rural communities and failing island communities. Does the Cabinet Secretary consider that the Scottish Government are on track to deliver on their contractual promises, including community links workers and community pharmacy, as promised in the second memorandum for rural and island areas? I declare my interest as a practicing NHS GP. We would encourage members to have their cameras on at all times wherever possible. I will continue to make progress with phase 2 of the contract as well. I have been contacted by numerous GPs in Glasgow who face the prospect of losing their vital community link workers based on their practices from next April. Last week, official figures confirmed that Glasgow has the lowest life expectancy in Scotland. Despite that, the link worker posts in some of the most deprived communities are going to be reduced from 70 posts to 42. Does the Cabinet Secretary accept that any cut is odds with the programme for government commitment to ensure that link worker services can respond to local needs and can he confirm what has been done to save those jobs in the poorest communities in Glasgow? I recognise the important value that community link workers play within our GP practices. As I have repeatedly said, I want to see the existing number of community link workers being maintained going forward. My officials have been engaging for a number of weeks now with the IJB in Glasgow in order to try to address their concerns around the way in which the primary care improvement fund is operating. The funding from the Scottish Government has not changed. This is a change of approach that has been taken by the IJB and we are engaging with it in order to try to address this particular issue. I hope that we can continue to make progress with it on this matter. My intention through the Scottish Government's investment in the programme is for that to continue in the future. I want the IJB to be open to making sure that it will look at every possible avenue for them to continue to invest in community link workers within GP practices in Glasgow. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the provision of health services across the Highlands and Islands region meets the needs of local communities. Everyone should receive the best possible care and treatment from our health and care services. Service delivery is the responsibility of individual health boards but we set out the wider policy in which NHS boards are expected to deliver high quality care that is safe, effective and person-centred to meet the needs of local communities. I recognise that rural and island NHS boards experience their own particular challenges which is why we work on an ongoing basis to ensure that services are delivered in a flexible way, responding to local population need and geographical challenges. An example of that is the national centre for remote and rural health care, which will be launched later this month. The transfer of vaccinations from GPs to NHS Highland has been fraught with difficulty. The NHS vaccinators and travel travelling upwards of 100 miles to carry out vaccinations, which local GPs are perfectly capable of doing. As winter approaches and a new vaccination schemes are rolling out, what steps is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that the efficacy of vaccinations in Scotland's remote, rural and island communities is significantly improved? I recognise that there are some specific challenges around vaccination programmes within rural areas. However, the member will be aware that the change that was instigated in NHS Highland was a result of the VMA's negotiations through the GP contract, where they wanted to have it removed from GP practice to the NHS, which is the approach that was taken and was agreed. Clearly, there has been a process around which has created some challenges around that. I know that we are continuing to engage with NHS Highland to try to address those issues and to make sure that a proper vaccination programme is delivered as locally as possible to constituents across the Highlands. I am interested in that answer from the cabinet secretary. The 2018 contract reveal, which was carried out by the BMA, was not supported by GPs across the Highlands, who want to carry out vaccinations themselves. On the basis that that is the case, will you renegotiate that to allow rural areas to get the vaccination cover that we deserve and that we are not getting? I recognise that there are on-going concerns around that, but you will be to appreciate that the GP contract applies across all GP practices in the whole of Scotland, and that is how the approach was taken. I recognise the concerns that the member is raising about the matter. I am not dismissing it, but there is a GP contract that applies across the whole of GP practice in Scotland. It is difficult to provide carved routes for specific areas because of the difficulties that it creates. However, notwithstanding that, we are continuing to engage with the health board and they are continuing to engage to look at how they can address some of the localised concerns. To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish winter updates to its NHS recovery plan and winter resilience overview. Our NHS recovery plan 2021-26 was published on August 2021 and sets out our key ambitions and actions to deliver over the next five years in order to address the backlog in care and to deliver the recovery and renewal of NHS services. We are investing £1 billion over the lifespan of the plan to support and increase NHS capacity, deliver reform and ensure that everyone has the treatment that they need at the right time, in the right place and as quickly as possible. In addition, a separate winter plan, which is being developed jointly with COSLA, will be published later this month. That sets out the actions being taken across the whole health and social care system to alleviate the inevitable and considerable pressures that we will see across NHS Scotland this winter preparedness. Work for this in the coming winter began earlier this year than before and builds on the lessons learned from previous winters in terms of what we know works to ensure that people are able to access the best and most appropriate healthcare for their needs. We have been working with all parts of the system to ensure that actions set out in the winter plan are being undertaken consistently and as a matter of priority to help build capacity and cope with increased demand over the winter months. Like the previous health secretary, it is quite clear that the cabinet secretary simply is not doing enough to prepare health boards for this winter. During a recent visit to Borders general hospital, dedicated staff told me that they were already at capacity and facing a crisis this winter right across the hospital. On the day that I visited 80 out of 310 beds at the hospital were blocked due to delayed discharge and there was simply no further capacity to flex. Despite what the minister says, is it not time that this distracted and divided SNP Government focused on delivering a real and meaningful NHS recovery plan and a real strategy to deliver resilience this winter? I am a bit surprised at Mr Hoy's response because, given that we have not published a winter plan yet, he seems to have already jumped to a decision on whether it contains the right actions in it. What Mr Hoy probably does not recognise is that actually our NHS is under pressure right over the course of the year. Throughout the year now, rather than just during winter, winter becomes much more acute, which is why we are taking forward a range of measures in order to try to help to address these through additional investment and also through the redesign of services. What I can assure the member of is that what we will continue to do is to invest in our NHS and in particular we will invest in the staff who do a first-class job right across our NHS just in the way that Mr Hoy made reference to and we are doing that through the type of action that we are taking by giving them the best pay in the UK and, importantly, making sure that we avoid industrial action in our NHS to allow services to be delivered to patients on a consistent basis, unlike his colleagues south of the border. A couple of brief supplementaries. First, Bill Kidd. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. It is welcome that the Covid vaccination and winter flu vaccination programmes, pardon me, were started earlier this year, particularly in light of the new Covid variant. I am sure that we all encourage everyone that wishes to get the flu or Covid vaccine to take up this offer. Can the cabinet secretary provide any update as to the progress that has been made with the programme to date, please? Presiding Officer, we have made excellent progress to the start of our flu and Covid vaccination programme, with over 34,000 flu and 176,000 Covid vaccinations delivered in the first three weeks alone of the programme up to 24 September. Further, public figures detailing vaccine uptake by the GVCI, GCVI eligibility groups will be made available in the coming weeks via Public Health Scotland's dashboard. All invites for those aged 12 and over who are eligible have now been sent out and invites for under-12s will follow very shortly. I'm briefly Sue Webber. Cabinet secretary, you mentioned about building capacity and how that's key to tackling some of our backlogs. However, the national treatment centres are backbone to that solution, but I'm concerned that many are behind schedule now, and specifically the one that was BMI Carrot Glen is now no longer to be opened for the foreseeable future. How are we going to tackle our backlogs when there's such a backlog in producing the capacity? Cabinet secretary, tackling backlogs is a combination of providing additional capacity and making better use of existing capacity. As the member will know, by the end of this year, five of the new national treatment centres will be open. However, the member will also be aware that her colleagues in Westminster have cut her capital budget, which has resulted in less capital spending being available to us alongside that. Because of the disastrous mini-budget last year, construction costs through inflation have gone through the roof, which means that capital budgets are now of much less value than the Audit Scotland report just highlighted last week as a consequence of the UK Government's decisions on those matters. Those have an impact on how much capital investment we can make. I hope that the member will encourage her colleagues down in Manchester to make sure that they make the capital investments needed to allow us to roll out more of the national treatment centres right across the country. That concludes portfolio questions on NHS recovery, health and social care. There will be a brief pause to allow you front benches to change before we move to the next item of business.