 I call on Elena Whitham up to 10 minutes, minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Every life lost to drugs is a tragedy. Collectively, we feel the loss of the talent and the potential of far too many of our people. I offer my condolences to everyone who has felt this loss and my unwavering commitment to continue the work to turn the tide on this public health emergency. Families and people with real life experience of drug and alcohol problems tell me that there must be a commitment to change at all levels from the front line to local leaders and from public services to national leaders. This is reflected in the Matt implementation benchmarking report published by Public Health Scotland this morning. The report covers the year up to April 2023 and charts the significant progress that has been made right across the country since the first benchmarking report was published in June 2022. I am heartened by the progress shown in this report. However, there is still much work to do to fully implement the standards by April 2025 and for them to be sustainable by April 2026. From my previous work in homelessness supporting many people dealing with substance use issues and as a women's aid worker and indeed as a councillor campaigning for change myself I am fully aware that the targets we have set for local areas to implement these standards have always been ambitious. However, Matt's standards will save lives and make a long-term difference for people in treatment. Today's report includes maps comparing progress with the position in April 2022. The national picture is clearly improving as the maps also allow us now to chart progress area by area. Naturally, much attention will focus on the red amber green implementation tables and those are showing good progress on Matt 1 and 2. There has also been a transformation in rapid access to OST with 18 of the 29 local areas having fully implemented Matt's standard 1 compared to just one area in 2022. Likewise, Matt's standard 2 on choice is now fully implemented in 27 of the 29 ADPA areas. Overall, by April 2023, 66 per cent of Matt's standards 1 to 5 have been fully implemented compared to 17 per cent in 2022. 88 per cent of Matt's standards 6 to 10 have been partially implemented. I realised that we were aiming for 100 per cent implementation of Matt's standards 1 to 5 and partial implementation of Matt's standards 6 to 10 for this report. That has not been achieved and many will see that this is not good enough. Although I absolutely agree on the need for urgency and pace around reducing harm and saving lives, I also know from the outset many people did not believe that services could achieve what they have now achieved and it is better to aim high than not to take any attempt to make any significant change at all. All ADPA areas with remote and rural settings demonstrated innovation in terms of maximising use of technology, subsidised travel and flexible models of care so that people could benefit from equitable care and treatment and I really thank them for thinking outside the box. This report includes some case studies which reflect that change is already happening in many places. I have had the privilege to speak with a lot of groups, service providers and people accessing services over the past few months and I visited drop-in centres providing Matt to see improvements and change on the ground for myself. I have seen and heard of the progress being made and what the future plans are for full and sustained implementation of the standards. The report shows a dramatic increase in capacity and capability in ADPs for evidence collection and with almost all areas now collecting experiential feedback from people who have recently used services. However, putting reliable and sensitive systems in place for collecting this feedback is a major challenge. This will take some time to fully embed but it is undoubtedly the most important measure for whether the Matt standards are in place. Strengthening the experiential feedback is one of the four key recommendations made in the report along with building sustainable numerical data systems, establishing systems for more direct support and further development of guidance for implementation and assessment. The report also reflects on next steps for local and national partners to further improve the landscape to help services to make the necessary improvements and I expect everyone from every service to work collaboratively to deliver on this part of the on-going national mission. For avoidance of any doubt this Government remains committed to the continuing funding of the mission over the course of this parliamentary term. The report highlights the need for changes in healthcare models to support implementation of Matt in prison. We will be focused on establishing a more consistent approach to access and choice in justice settings, addressing data sharing challenges and sharing best practice on several models that will deliver better outcomes for people. A justice network for Matt implementation is already sharing experience across areas and identifying best practice models. For the remainder of the national mission we are also committed to focusing more on the care and support for people who have problems with benzodiazepines, stimulants and alcohol rather than focusing only on opioid use. This is absolutely imperative. We have already committed to all of this on-going work through the Scottish Government Cross-Government Action Plan which we published in January 2023. It sets out how we are responding to the final recommendations made by the Drugs Death Task Force and how the national mission is being taken forward through a whole Government, whole Scotland approach. It also includes detail on what we are doing to address workforce issues raised in this benchmarking report and also to tackle stigma. Matt standards are about delivering faster, more responsive services but they are also about changing hearts and minds including tackling stigma and discrimination. I make no mistake, I am acutely aware of the damaging nature of stigma and we must challenge it wherever and whenever we see it. There are innovations being taken forward by ADPs and local partnerships to help address Drugs Death and one that I know is of great interest to the chamber is the potential use of safer drug consumption facilities. I confirm that the Government remains committed to introducing the introduction of the Glasgow pilot and I will inform Parliament immediately when the view is reached by the Lord Advocate on the proposals from Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership and Police Scotland. Although there have been clear improvements made in response to the letter of direction issue to local services last year, we need to continue with formal oversight procedures and clear local accountability. We will maintain the requirement for quarterly progress reports from local areas against their implementation plans with monthly reports from areas of concern. This new benchmarking report will allow us to identify the areas that we now need to focus on. I will be writing to local areas in the coming weeks to update the oversight arrangements accordingly. I will also be meeting local leaders to challenge them on progress, particularly where we believe more commitment is needed from senior colleagues. We all want people to exercise their right to treatment but that will all be for nothing if the services are not in place. The letter of direction requiring local leaders to implement the standards will be remaining in place and I will continue to provide Parliament with regular updates on progress. The benchmarking report concludes that there has been a transformational change in improved access and choice of treatment for people with problematic drug use and a significant improvement in other match standards. That is a direct result of the hard work and collaboration between alcohol and drug partnerships including clinical third sector and lived and living experience partners and of a shift in culture that has overcome many barriers to change. Of course the continuing commitment from this chamber and all of you is helping to drive improvement as well. I thank the match standards implementation support team for their continuing hands-on support working alongside local areas and also Public Health Scotland for this vital report. Match standards are about driving change and improving outcomes. The standards are empowering people to demand the treatment that they deserve and there is no going back. We can now only go forward. To quote again from the report's conclusion, implementation of the match standards is a vehicle for change and not a sufficient end in itself. For this year and the remainder of the national mission, their priority will be full, equitable and sustained implementation of the match standards in all areas. Thank you. The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we'll move on to the next item of business and I'd be grateful if members who wish to ask a question were to press their request to speak buttons. I call Sue Webber. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The minister may be heartened by today's figures, but I am utterly dismayed. Originally, the Government planned to implement the standards by April 2022, but were forced to push the deadline to April 2024 with the promises that only standards 1 to 5 would be fully implemented by April 2023. Here we are. Today's analysis lays bare the failure of this SNP Government. Two thirds of standards 1 to 5 have not been fully implemented despite the promise of 100 per cent implementation. In the forward to the report, Tom Bennett from the Scottish Recovery Consortium highlighted that in many Scottish local authorities the failure to meet these expectations is leading to tragic outcomes. The minister's statement makes scant reference to the prison system, but the report in itself is totally damming. It states that clinical capacity to deliver the mat standards in prisons is insufficient and highlights structural and healthcare capacity issues across the prison service. It is shocking that the minister has remained almost silent on the problem in our prisons in her statement today. This is exactly the time when we should be intervening to support those who want to break the cycle of substance misuse. With the emerging drug trends unfolding in our prison system, can the minister tell us specifically what has been done to break the cycle of addiction in prisons? I thank Sue Weber for her question, and I recognise the passion that she has in this area of wanting to see change being driven forward, and I am absolutely committed to work with her and indeed members right across this chamber to ensure that we can do that. The mat standards have to work in justice settings. We will be pushing and supporting local areas, including healthcare teams and prisons to achieve the full implementation by 2025, as previously announced. There are specific challenges in justice settings as highlighted in the benchmarking report. However, we have already announced our intention to improve healthcare in prisons through new models of care, improvements of data collection, and setting up better links between services in prison and services in the local communities to address the issues identified in this report. The miss team this year will be supporting health teams in prison settings on embedding mat standards 3 in particular. That is round about a set of outreach, but I also anticipate that there needs to be meeting people when they are coming out of prison, which we know is an absolute area of concern and a potential for people to come to harm. We will continue to learn from best practice and the implementation of the mat standards, and we will engage with experts on the ground on the most appropriate ways to deliver those vital changes in all settings. I was in Glasgow this morning and I was hearing of the wonderful work that Cisco was doing in the prisons to deliver that peer-to-peer harm reduction in that setting, but also to make sure that they are doing that proactive outreach work when people are coming out of prison. I am happy to go and visit anywhere else in the country that we are seeing that work so that we can passport that learning between different areas. I will get you back later. I thank the minister for her statement, but it does represent an alternate reality. Let's be very clear. Today's report shows that once again the Scottish Government has failed to deliver on its promises in tackling this public health emergency. Three drug ministers in four years and none of them have made a dent in the problem. Let me remind the chamber that originally all 10 mat standards were to be fully implemented over a year ago. In March 2021, her predecessor said in this chamber, we will ensure that those standards are fully embedded across the country by April 2022. They failed. Then it became April 2023 for standards 1 to 5. And guess what? Failed again. And this has real consequences because Scotland's drug death figures hit their worst level in two years earlier this month. That's despite the Scottish Government declaring it as a public health emergency over three and a half years ago. Can the minister guarantee that all 10 standards will be fully implemented by April 2025 three years later than originally planned? Minister. I thank Dame Bailey for her question. I recognise that she also has a keen interest in this area. I am determined that we are going to see sustained implementation of these standards by the standards that are set out within the benchmarking report because there is no other option but to ensure that we prevent harm and that we save lives. I am going to make sure that those areas who are not where we want them to be will have continuous meetings with me on a regular and monthly basis because that letter of direction is going to remain in place. I also want to engage with local leaders on it. Those in local areas who are locally elected who I really think need to work in partnership with us to make sure that we drive that change forward. I call Clare Haughey to be followed by Sandesh Delhany. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the minister what steps are being taken to ensure local accountability and implementing the MAP standards with a view to driving improvements right across Scotland. Minister. I thank Clare Haughey for that question. Ministers have directed chief officers of health and social care partnerships and chief executives of their NHS health boards and local authorities to implement the MAP standards. For each local authority area, there is a senior figure that has been identified to lead on the implementation of MAP, which includes the publication and reporting on MAP implementation plans. Reports are provided quarterly for most areas, although areas of specific concern are required to report monthly on their progress and have lots of meetings with me. Ministers and senior government officials will be continuing to meet regularly so that we can try to ensure that there is local accountability. I have also just recently met Councillor Kelly, COSLA's health and social care spokesperson, and we both agreed that we need to harness the drive and commitment of local elected leaders to help to drive our national mission forward. I will be attending an upcoming COSLA board meeting to hear directly from them of their concerns, but also to work in collaboration with them. Sandesh Delhany to be followed by Emma Harper. I will start with the declaration of interests of practicing NHS GP. Drug deaths are still worryingly high in what is our national shame. The Scottish Government need to act, and they need to back our right to recovery bill. One of the actions that the Minister has outlined is the pilot for safe consumption rooms in Glasgow. I have had people speak to me with concerns about a consumption room being in their area. Whilst the Scottish Conservatives support the concept of a pilot and drug consumption room, before any decision is made, will the Minister publish a long list of exact areas where they might place the consumption rooms? Will there be an opportunity for residents around those sites to be able to feed into the consultations? Will they listen? I thank Dr Gilhane for his question. I recognise that we are in a position right across this chamber where we have an agreed position on the pilot for a safer consumption facility to be rolled out once we get that go-ahead from the Lord Advocate if that's the decision that she reaches. Once she reaches that decision there absolutely has to be consultation with the local area roundabout the area that's actually been identified for such a facility to be in place. That's absolutely correct that we do consult with the local community. I just say to Dr Gilhane that there's no doubt in my mind that a safer consumption facility and indeed multiple safer consumption facilities if we get to that point are a key part of harm reduction and saving lives. They're not the only part but they've been shown around the world to actually save lives. If we look across to Canada there's nearly 50 of them in operation at the moment. Emma Harper to be followed by Paul Sweeney. As the minister will know I've been working with her and her predecessor to tackle drug and alcohol related stigma which affects individuals, families and communities and which can have a negative effect on recovery. I welcome that now has specific information for health and social care staff on TURAS which is the learning platform for health and social care staff. They have this education around stigma but I think there is a wee bit room to go further. NHS Inform has a great drug and alcohol related stigma information in a short comprehensive format. So would the minister consider working with NES to put this information into a mandatory module on the TURAS platform for all health and social care staff not only those working in drug and alcohol addiction services so that we can truly help combat drug and alcohol related stigma. Minister, I thank Emma Harper for raising this crucial subject of tackling stigma and I know it's something that she's a champion of and as she knows the stigma prevents people from accessing the treatment and support they need and that they are entitled to and tackling stigma is a cross-cunt priority of our national mission on drugs which we published in our stigma action plan in January and I know that the former Minister for Drugs Policy, Ms Constance, wrote to Ms Harper early in the year to advise that officials had met with NHS Education Scotland and whilst there are not currently plans to develop a specific module on drug stigma it is a theme throughout the core skills modules within the Developing Scotland Substance Use Workforce section in the learning platform and I'll be happy to discuss making this training module a compulsory component for workforce training and I'll be happy to update Ms Harper on progress. We need to be followed by Audrey Nicholl. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Whilst I note the minister's comments on those prevention facilities and the principle of having them is surely a good thing progress is still painfully slow but I hope that we can work together in furthering this agenda as part of my member's bill across party. The minister will also be aware that the original target date for MAC standards 1-5 was April 2022 and despite the minister saying she's heartened her report, not a single ADP in Glasgow has fully implemented standards 1-5 by April 2023 12 months after the original target date. This was not a stretched target as the minister characterised this was a baseline particularly in a city like Glasgow so last year after that target was missed the former minister for drugs policy told the chamber when it comes to implementing MAC standards I'm not asking and I'm not taking no for an answer but here we are 14 months after that original target date and we are still miles off full implementation so can the minister please tell us today in the chamber when she expects to see full implementation of MAC standards 1-5 across Scotland given we have now missed two critical target dates and we should give a cast and guarantee that ADPs in Glasgow will have achieved full implementation of 6-10 by the target date of April 2025. I'm fully committed to making sure that ADPs right across the country including in Glasgow reach these targets and whilst I accept that they weren't originally a stretch aim and a stretch ambition I think that we cannot fail to recognise the amount of work that has gone on within local areas to drive change forward so I am committed to working with everybody across the chamber on this issue I'm committed to working with local leaders in their local areas whether that's senior people in charge of services or elected members that are in charge of making those changes forward so I absolutely give my guarantee that I will work as hard as I possibly can with my colleagues in the missed team and everybody across the local areas to deliver on that promise The recently published European drug report of 2023 highlights that across Europe opioids in combination with other substances remain the group of substances most commonly implicated in drug related deaths and the proportion of deaths in older age groups is increasing and furthermore it highlights that the hidden and stigmatised nature of high risk drug use makes preventing and responding to drug harm extremely difficult. With reference to mat standard 3 can the minister outline the progress being made to ensure people at high risk of drug related harm are proactively identified and offered support to commence or continue mat? One of the key aims of the national mission is to get people most at risk into protection treatment that provides and to wrap other support around them We know that being in treatment actually offers that protective surrounding that person but we also know that as time goes on that protective factor decreases so it's very important that the implementation of mat standard 3 is crucial to make sure that this support is in place Under mat 3 all people at high risk must be proactively identified and offered support and choice in treatment and support. This has been achieved through assertive outreach by services especially for those who have stopped attending services and also for those who have suffered a non fatal overdose. We need to ensure that there's clear pathways so that services are responding to that need and assertively going out to find those individuals and get them into those protective treatment services. We also need to ensure that there's support for transitions at key points so as I said previously settings are as in leaving a justice setting or even being discharged from hospital so mat 3 focuses services on those who have left residential justice and in patient services I call Alex Cole-Hamilton to be followed by Stuart McMillan. The minister's predecessor sought and won cross-party consenters for the introduction of mat standards but it is concerning the number of targets that have been missed in particular the fact that same day treatment we were meant to have universal coverage for same day treatment right now but more than a third of ADPs do not have that in place that can save lives but it may cost lives not to have achieved that target so can I ask the minister what specifically will her government do to ensure that ADPs are equipped with the resources necessary to achieve that standard of same day treatment particularly in areas of rurality. Minister. Alex Cole-Hamilton for that question and I absolutely understand the issues facing areas where there is remote and rurality consequences because in those settings it's very difficult to deliver same day mat standards one if people cannot get access to the treatment in place so for me it's important that we actually support innovation in that area and we help to passport where innovation has happened because we do know that in some remote and rural areas they have been able to achieve mat standard one so I'm happy to work across the different sectors, the different areas to make sure that we can passport that information and I think the meetings that we have with the ADP chairs is going to help us to do that work. Stuart McMillan to be followed by Gillian Mackay Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'd like to remind the chamber that I'm the vice-chair of Moving on Invercly, the local addiction service. Can the minister indicate whether the families of people living with drug and alcohol have been involved in the design of recovery services and treatments including the implementation of the mat standards? Minister. As part of the national mission the Scottish Government provides local areas with £3 million per year to ensure that those with lived and living experience as well as their families are involved in the design and delivery of local treatment and recovery services we also provide £3.5 million per year through our whole family approach fund to enable local services to provide support to families impacted by drugs and alcohol and we need to remember that the mat standards were also developed by the drug deaths task force which benefited from the views of those with lived and living experience which included family members and experience. The mat standards are not only of the Scottish Government's making but they are actually led by those who are at their front lines on it. Those voices were also reflected in the Public Health Scotland benchmarking report on mat standards specifically including four words from people with family experience and I've also recently met with family organisations after they were empowering families on the front line conference back in March and these are families who are feeling empowered to help to drive change on behalf of their loved one and indeed on behalf of themselves and we must listen to them. Thank you Presiding Officer, we know that there are specific barriers that face women particularly those with either caring responsibilities or young families. What is the Scottish Government doing through mat standards to support those women who are going through recovery from problem substance use? The Scottish Government has committed funding through the residential rehabilitation rapid capacity programme for the development of several projects which will support women and their families through recovery in Scotland. More than £5.5 million has been committed over this parliamentary term to support the establishment of two houses at Aberlure specifically designed to support women and their children through recovery. We also have had the opening of the Upper House in Ayrshire which is specifically looking at supporting women to enter and sustain themselves in recovery with their children. We do know that women experience their own specific issues when it comes to trauma, when it comes to related issues of poverty and deprivation and we have to assure that we support women who no longer have their children with them due to issues like domestic abuse and complex trauma. I've recently met with the Simon Communities group who tell me directly that they are working towards creating a safe space for women within Glasgow City Centre because they recognise the intertwined issues round about homelessness and substance use. So women absolutely have their own needs and I'm committed to ensuring that we deliver on them. Cree Coy to be followed by Rona Mackay. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The report identifies a clear lack of support for those tackling problems with alcohol, cocaine and benzos such as fake valium, a drug which is now present in drug deaths last year. It also identifies clear implementation gaps on standards 5 to 10. Minister, not enough progress is being made and too many people continue to die and isn't it the case that all we have here is a new minister with the same old excuses? Minister. I thank Cree Coy for that question but I refute his characterisation of myself. I think that I'm going to bring my own work to experience into this role and absolutely determine that we're going to see change. I also recognise the important point that he brings up round about the new and emerging substances that we are dealing with and I know that Sue Webber also mentioned that we're seeing them within prison sentence. So wherever those new substances actually come to the fore, we have to make sure that we're responsive to them and that's why going forward Mat Standards are going to be looking at benzodiazepines, they're going to be looking at stimulants including cocaine and crack and we're actually recognising the breadth of substances that people are using. When it comes to alcohol, I'm looking forward to working with the UK Government and the alcohol treatment standards that are coming forward so we actually can make sure that we wrap them into the Mat Standards as well. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can the minister provide an update on the support being provided to establish advocacy services and local relays and to empower families to have a voice in ensuring that systems and services are non-discriminatory to put their lived experience at the heart of services? Minister. I thank Rona Mackay for that question and I know that this is something that she is very passionate about. People with lived or living experience are greatly valued in our fight against drug deaths and they're often best placed to help people who currently have problematic drug use and can be trusted by the people who want help, especially in a assertive outreach situation. We also know that across the world harm prevention models have been often driven by the grassroots and people with lived and living experience so we need to absolutely harness that. We are building on our previous work of involving people with lived and living experience for example with the drug deaths task force, the residential rehabilitation development working group and the national mission oversight group. Local services also must involve people with lived and living experience and local decision making and I'm heartened to see across the country people in that situation actually being involved with local commissioning of services. That's when you're actually having people creating the service and their local area to best reflect their needs and we must harness those people who have that very unique input to give. That concludes the ministerial statement or point of order Rachel Hamilton. Thank you, Presiding Officer. From the 1st of July approval has been granted for the use of azulox in England. This will allow farmers and land managers to use the only viable means of controlling BRAC and to mitigate Alzheimer's disease control ticks protect biodiversity, allow walkers to walk safely and allow the safe grazing of livestock. I completely understand that the emergency authorisation process is not satisfactory for everyone and that we must in the long term find a better solution but it is an incredibly important public health issue and the government's apparent lack of understanding of this process was evidenced at First Minister's questions where the First Minister potentially misled farmers, land managers and anybody who comes into contact with uncontrolled BRAC in those responses he failed to mention a number of pertinent details a meeting of the UK expert committee on pesticides attended by a Scottish Government civil servant held on 18 April where it was noted that advice from 2022 remained unchanged and as I pointed out the devolved administrations can make their own decisions about the use of azulox the Scottish Government does not have to wait for other administrations to approve this because if that was true why has England been able to approve use? Presiding Officer we are elected representatives not mind readers when asking questions to the First Minister on behalf of our constituents we expect in the very least an honest response recent developments have found that the First Minister's response to my questions on azulox not to be transparent I secure a guidance on whether the First Minister may be required to correct the record and urgently deliver a statement on behalf of the Scottish Government to ensure approval is granted on the use of azulox this year I thank the member for her point of order the content of members' contributions are generally a matter for the member where a member is aware that there may be an inaccuracy a mechanism exists whereby the record can be corrected with regards to personal statements requests can be made and of course be considered I am not entirely clear that I caught all of the member's comments I will certainly reflect on the necessary response to the member that concludes the ministerial statement and we'll move on to the next item