Seòmar agus comataidhean

I thank the witnesses for their candid testimony. I was young at the time of the miners strike—I was a nine-year-old girl from the north-east—but if you were to ask me about some of the most defining newsworthy moments of my childhood, the miners strike would certainly be in the top three, so it has been important to hear the witnesses’ lived experience.

I also thank Jim Phillips for keeping a record of that experience through the work that he does. It is extremely important that it is documented for history.

My question is about the pardon itself. Is there an alternative to it? Do the witnesses feel that it is the right and proper means to go about what we are trying to do?

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that every general practitioner has access to a dedicated mental wellbeing link worker. (S6O-00588)

LGBT+ people have a higher need for mental healthcare, due to inequalities that are ingrained in our society, particularly in rural communities such as mine, where a natural support network is often not available. We lose such constituents to larger cities that have greater LGBT+ resources and support.

Does the minister agree that mental health workers are essential in ensuring that we can offer support to such individuals and reduce some of the inequalities in our rural communities?

When I stood for election in May this year, it was on a manifesto commitment to hold an independence referendum. I was elected by the people of Banffshire and Buchan Coast, who gave me that mandate. People want that choice presented to them.

People in the north-east have been putting money into the UK coffers for a long time, and they have now been hammered by the UK Government’s damaging Brexit and its mediocre, drop-in-the-ocean investment, which does not come close to what they have paid in for decades.

Does the cabinet secretary agree that the people of the north-east are entitled to choose who decides their future, particularly given the circumstances around a fair and just transition?

Thanks, convener. What version of the SI are we looking at, convener?

It is the final draft.

Okay—thank you.

Everything that you have all been talking to us about is overwhelming. It is very clear that many inequalities that have been highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic existed before it. They are issues that women have been championing intersectionally and on which they have been trying to get the message across for generations.

It is fantastic that we are hearing from you and discussing this today, but what can we really do to make a massive shift happen? We have heard about patriarchal structures; for example, evidence that although 80 per cent of people with autoimmune diseases are women, women are less likely to take time off to go to the doctor or for childcare because of perceptions. Is there a deeper underlying cause that we need to address, on top of making the practical and policy changes that we need to make? I suppose that that is a higher-level question, but I am very interested to hear your feedback on it. The question is open to any witness who would like to come in.

Good morning, everyone. I will ask about the labour market. The pandemic affected a different set of industries than usual recessions would have done. It was significantly gender specific. Women and men tend to cluster in different occupations, which shaped the gender implications of the pandemic. Female jobs are more at risk than male ones simply because women are disproportionately represented in sectors that have been negatively affected by the Covid-19 crisis.

The witnesses are all involved in addressing that dilemma with their intersectional lenses. What are the biggest obstacles to ending that disparity? Where can we do more for people who are affected? I put that question first of all to One Parent Families Scotland.

I thank Sir Dieter Helm for his comprehensive answers. I have found it absolutely fascinating, and my question has shifted every time he has given an answer. I will come in to mop up or sweep up, so to speak.

Although I have many questions, throughout it all, I have sensed a very top-down approach. We talk about the private sector and the public sector, and we also talk about the people managing the land. We are in a sensitive time for the environment. We talk a lot about the green economy and—to take you out to sea for a bit, as I have a coastal community constituency—the blue economy. We also have a wellbeing economy and a good food nation and all that combined to be thinking of.

You spoke about politicians making the decisions. Before I became an MSP, I was a councillor, and I saw a lot of good localised community action, particularly when there was storm damage such as we had recently and during Covid-19. We have spoken about public ownership for public good, but what about local ownership for local good? Farmers and fishermen see the changes in our environment before anybody else, and they might know the best way to manage those things. What are your views on taking a very localised view and on local ownership?