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I do not think that there is a particular issue in respect of ensuring that we have greater cyberresilience in remote and rural areas. Having grown up in an island community, I know that when a system fails, physically going to a clinic or hospital service is more challenging, because of travel time, transport connections and so on but, from a cyberresilience perspective, I do not think that rural or island communities are any more likely to be targeted by criminal gangs, such as the one that targeted Dumfries and Galloway, than other communities would be.

I could not say for certain, but the work is on-going.

Obviously, local health boards and integration joint boards are responsible for their own delivery, and we have clear expectations that they will ensure that services continue to be sustained and delivered. We work closely with them, particularly on the workforce. We have instituted the areas of work that Stephen Lea-Ross and Paula Speirs have already set out, but there are others, such as the ScotGEM—Scottish graduate entry medicine—programme for rural general practitioners, that ensure that we continue to support new entry into rural and island areas.

We have the highest fill rate in the UK for the priority foundation areas, which is a good thing when it comes to filling the vacancies in rural and island areas, The fact that we are competing well against the rest of the UK is a good thing and shows that the work that we are doing with IJBs and health boards is coming to fruition. Obviously, challenges remain, and issues are clearly outstanding in certain areas, but the progress is there. The work that Stephen and Paula have already set out will, I hope, continue to support local areas in developing their workforce strategies.

I will bring in Stephen Lea-Ross, as I am not as familiar with that issue, although I am familiar with the incredible work that NHS Education for Scotland does and, in particular, the way in which it is helping to inform some of the initiatives that we have already spoken about, such as ScotGEM and the rural fellowships. I will bring in Stephen on the specific examples that you asked for.

Yes. I co-chair the nursing and midwifery task force. There are areas of work that it is clear that colleagues on that group are keen to expand on, and given that recruitment and retention is obviously a very strong and live area, there will be a crossover between the work on the strategy and the work of the task force.

To follow up on Mr Sweeney’s question whether social care will be covered by the strategy, the advisory group includes the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Scottish Government officials and health board representatives, so social care will be covered.

That is a pertinent question on the wider issues that are beyond the control of the health and social care service in rural and island communities in being able to attract and retain staff. Mr Torrance rightly points to the issue of housing. I know from the most recent conversation that I had with NHS Highland about the situation at Portree that it is looking at what it can do from a housing perspective to support staff with their housing needs.

Wider measures such as the Scottish Government’s investment in the rural delivery plan and the emergency services key worker housing funds that we are bringing forward are designed to give local areas the ability to invest in ensuring that the social infrastructure is there to support people living and working in those communities and that those communities continue to be sustainable.

There are also wider political issues around attracting and retaining social care staff in particular. Mr Torrance and the committee will be aware of the recent decision of the UK Government to make it harder for social care staff to come to this country to work by stopping the dependants of those social care workers from being able to travel. Obviously, we are not in control of immigration and the decisions that are taken for us are having a detrimental impact on our ability to attract people to come and live and work here. Everybody is well aware that the impact of Brexit on our social care workforce was a near 10 per cent reduction in our social care staffing, almost overnight.

All of that strikes at the heart of the ability of social care providers to provide the services that we need them to provide, which has a knock-on impact not just on the people who we need to be providing those services for but on the rest of the health service, because there needs to be a clear flow through the health service and, if one part is under significant pressure, in this case social care, it has an impact elsewhere.

Paula Speirs would like to come in on the back of that.

It is the single island authority model. We are looking at what is possible with regard to local government and health boards working more closely together. Advanced discussions are going on with the island groups, with various levels of interest being expressed by those authorities.

In rural areas, there are more examples of that coming through.

Obviously, I am conscious of the need to ensure that we have as equitable access to health provision across Scotland’s geography as possible. Mr Sweeney points to an important conundrum on recruitment and retention. Typically, accident and emergency clinicians look for a fast-paced, ever-changing environment. That is what they thrive on. When I shadowed some accident and emergency shifts, that is what many of the A and E consultants told me. That is what drove them to go into accident and emergency, as opposed to any other specialty.

I have friends and family who use the Balfour hospital in Kirkwall. Far fewer people go through the accident and emergency department there than any of the accident and emergency departments in the central belt, for instance. That will have an impact on the attractiveness of the department. That is part of the reason why we have come through with the initiatives that Stephen Lea-Ross spoke about, to try to get people to specialise in remote, rural and island healthcare as early as possible. That means that they will probably take a more multidisciplinary approach to their training and will understand what they are going into. I hope that they will be more willing to stay in a remote and rural setting, understanding the fact that it is a very different environment from an accident and emergency department elsewhere.

I am also cognisant of the situation in Portree, which was a sad incident. My condolences go to the family of the person who lost their life. We are working with NHS Highland on bringing back 24-hour urgent care to Portree as quickly as possible.

I have not directly discussed the issue in relation to AHPs, but I am more than happy to take it away for Ms Mochan and report back. Indeed, I should probably be having such a discussion, so Ms Mochan’s suggestion is useful.