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I have been able to see the impact of that funding via the Corra Foundation in many of the community organisations that I have visited. As Ms Nicoll said, the fact that it has been possible to provide the funding on a multiyear basis is helpful.

In response to a question about the MAT standards statement, I set out that we are considering what comes next and what we can do to build on the national mission that is due to end next year, and that funding option will be part of that consideration. We will look at how we can learn from the organisations in which we have been investing and consider the impact that they have had and what we need to do next. That will ensure that there is clarity for organisations and individuals. In that way, we are seeking to build on the national drugs mission rather than feeling that, when 2026 comes, our work is done, as it is clearly not.

The charter’s publication was a critical moment, not only in Scotland but internationally, in understanding and embedding the rights of people who seek to access services. I found it an incredible day to be part of, as I heard from international experts and academics who talked so positively about the progress that was being made in Scotland and held up Scotland as an example for others to follow in relation to embedding the rights of people to access the services that they need. That was a positive development. The First Minister was present for the charter’s unveiling in December, and we are committed to it.

We want to ensure that we get the human rights bill right, that the drafting of it works and that there is support in the Parliament for it so that it can progress. We are taking the time to ensure that that is the case, which is why we partially support that recommendation from the people’s panel. We need to take the time to ensure that we get the bill right and deliver for people, because we understand its importance. We will continue to work on that matter in order to make progress.

I will need to come back to Mr Doris on that particular point, unless my colleagues can provide any further detail on it. We are certainly keen to ensure that any perceived barriers to organisations sharing data and referrals are removed, and that there is much smoother communication not only between different parts of the health service but between the health service and social care and, in this case, ADPs and those in the community and voluntary sector who are delivering services for those who need, and are seeking, treatment. We are working and engaging on that, but I will come back to Bob Doris on the exact detail that he asked for.

Good morning, colleagues. I am grateful for the opportunity to appear before the joint committee to reflect on the people’s panel’s report and to update you on the vital work that is under way to address the harms and deaths that, sadly, are caused by drugs and alcohol.

The last time I appeared before the committee was shortly after the publication of the 2023 drug deaths statistics. Those numbers told a story that, sadly, we have become all too familiar with, which is that, in 2023, 1,172 drug-related deaths were registered in Scotland, which was an increase of 12 per cent on the figure for 2022.

We must use every tool available to address the crisis. In that spirit, I welcome the work of the people’s panel. I thank the panel members and presenters, and the joint committee for instigating that important and valuable process. We should be heartened by the successes that are highlighted in the panel’s report, particularly our widely recognised naloxone programmes and the implementation of the Thistle facility in Glasgow. Those achievements were hard won, and I extend my gratitude to the people—especially the individuals with lived experience—who helped to make them a reality.

The panel calls for further and faster action, including on culture change, stigma and prevention. I assure you, convener and colleagues, that we remain committed to those principles across all our activity and focused on what works, and that we are using the evidence that we are aware of here and internationally to ensure that we target intervention and action where it is most needed. The Scottish Government has carefully considered the report’s conclusions and recommendations. As outlined in my written response to the committee, we are supportive of all the recommendations that have been made.

Since my previous appearance at the joint committee, our progress has continued at pace. The charter of rights, which was published in December, will support people who are affected by substance use to know and understand their rights in accessing support services. The value of lived experience and peer support in drug services has long been recognised, and we will publish new guiding principles on that this spring. Those principles, which are for all employers, regardless of sector, will set out how they can best support employees with lived and living experience to flourish in the workplace.

Whole-system and preventative change remains our utmost priority. In December, we published the mental health and substance use protocol, and we intend to publish the population health framework this spring. I am pleased to say that transition planning for after the mission ends in 2026 is also under way. In the statement to Parliament that I made earlier this month, I noted that we want to build on and learn from the foundation of the national mission to ensure that there is an on-going co-ordinated response to the harms that are caused by drugs and alcohol.

Scotland’s drug and alcohol deaths remain unacceptably high. Each death is a tragedy—a life lost too soon. However, we remain committed to change, driven by the belief that progress is both necessary and possible. In that vein, I welcome your questions and look forward to discussing the findings further.

First, what the panel’s report and statement demonstrate to me, not least in light of the fact that we have been able to support all the recommendations, is that, from a policy perspective, we are focusing on the right areas. From the panel’s perspective, we are focusing on the right areas. I am clear that we need to improve the pace, scale, co-ordination and consistency of the application.

As we build from the national mission, the services are being established, in some cases for the first time, and their co-ordination between different agencies needs to be supported. I heard that from the panel members who gave evidence earlier this morning, for which I am grateful. I accept that more needs to be done on that, and that there needs to be greater consistency. I am originally from Orkney, as Mr Balfour knows, and I know that ensuring that we get the provision right for people who live in rural and island communities, as well as those who live in urban conurbations, is critically important, as is ensuring that there is greater awareness—among not only those who have a drug dependency, but their families—of the services that are available.

In that respect, the situation is improving. The anecdotal evidence that I have obtained from speaking to family members, in particular, shows that action has been taken to reduce stigma and to provide clearer pathways for people to access services. Sadly, those pathways were not there for those whose lives have been lost. I have heard that directly from family members who have lost loved ones. However, they say that if their loved ones had experienced then what they would experience now, they would be in a different place. That tells us that we are making progress.

Mr Balfour asked who is responsible. Ultimately, it is me—of course it is me. I need to make sure that that information is available and is disseminated properly, and I need to do that in partnership with others.

Mr Balfour mentioned health boards and alcohol and drug partnerships. When it comes to, for example, the expectations around the delivery of the MAT standards, we need to ensure that the information is consistent, that the services are co-ordinated and that colleagues across the health service—Mr Balfour’s question pertained to this—are aware of them. Ultimately, that falls to me.

We are constantly driving to ensure that improvements are made. I hope that panel members, service users and medical professionals will recognise that improvements have been made, but there is more to do. The figures from last year demonstrate that. Too many people are still dying. The rapid action drug alerts and response statistics from the past quarter indicate a slightly more positive picture, but we cannot be complacent. I am certainly not, and if Christina McKelvie were here, she would say the same thing. We need to drive harder to ensure that there is consistency across the country and across all services.

I again thank Ms Haughey for raising this issue and the panel for giving their experience of the situation. It concerns me, too. The information is there, and we have been very clear with health boards and with alcohol and drug partnerships about the implementation of the MAT standards.

Alongside the consideration that Ms Haughey has offered on the role that Gregor Smith, the CMO, could play, I should say that I regularly engage with the British Medical Association’s general practice committee and the Royal College of General Practitioners. The issue is perhaps something that I could raise in my next discussions with them, to ensure that there is awareness among GPs and that they are accessing the information that is available. That would help to provide the consistency that we were discussing right at the start of this session in our responses to Mr Balfour’s questions, ensuring greater consistency in the application of the MAT standards and access to other services that are available.

I look forward to being able to contribute to that debate, convener.

We absolutely recognise that, particularly for community and voluntary organisations, funding certainty is critical for planning and for recruitment to the programmes that are delivered. Colleagues from the community and voluntary sectors have contributed today. We all support organisations in our constituencies and we want to provide as certain a funding landscape as possible and to support them in their funding applications. We absolutely recognise that providing that element of certainty for as long as possible helps them, sometimes, more than the quantum that they get, because the certainty allows them to plan and to shape their services in a way that year-to-year funding just does not. The fairer funding route has been developed to provide greater levels of certainty and multiyear funding.

As colleagues will be aware, we have an ambition to go further than that. We hope that the funding that we receive—and the certainty around that funding through, for example, the UK Government’s spending review in the spring—will allow us to have greater certainty in our medium-term financial planning in order to provide that level of budgetary certainty. Others across the Cabinet recognise the importance of doing that, not least for recruitment but also in relation to providing the space for those organisations to focus on delivering and building a service and delivering transformational change, rather than having to go through the cycle of funding applications every year—which, as we all recognise, is time consuming and requires a huge resource commitment. We are looking at what more we can do on that.

I will bring in Laura Zeballos or Maggie Page to provide more detail on that. We are looking, for example, at seeking to make sure that there is confirmation of the ability to share data across services, whether it be drug and alcohol services or, in this case, someone’s experience of their pathway through health and social care. The National Care Service (Scotland) Bill seeks to put in place a more robust process to ensure that proper data sharing is in place, because we recognise that there is a challenge with different services sharing data, even within the health service and between the health service and social care.

Laura or Maggie might wish to elaborate on our plans.