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I thank the panel for being here today and for the interesting stuff that is coming out. I am reminded of an NHS worker out in Lanarkshire who said that all this is like building an aeroplane while you are flying it, which was something that I could really relate to.

I am very interested in Chris Mackie’s comments about keeping people at the centre of things, choice, inclusion and citizens having not only access, control and ownership but security. The pace of things has been pretty mind blowing, but we are also facing huge demographic changes. We do need to reflect on what is happening, but how can we ensure that we keep the pace up and, indeed, accelerate things?

It is very short. There has been quite a bit of talk this morning about diversity and variation across the country, but I note that there is not a great deal of diversity on the panel today. Is that an issue that needs to be addressed, or do we have diversity across the teams as part of the collaboration and co-production? I just want to check whether that is the case.

We have been talking about the challenge of pulling together the data and information for effective use in primary care. The situation in social care is wholly different; it has really big gaps. Scott Heald mentioned public trust and confidence; because of going through Covid, people appreciate the importance of access to data, which is helpful. For quite a long time, our GPs have been incentivised to record core data in a standardised way. How could the NCS assist in bringing through something similar for social care?

I am sorry, convener—could I ask one more question?

Thank you all for coming along today. I want to ask you about advocacy services, which Ramon Hutchingson brought up. Fergus Ewing talked about the struggles that parents can have, and, as a parent myself, I have seen the parent-carer stuff coming through. The Morgan report backs that up as well, identifying that everything can be an on-going battle. Sometimes, parents can be seen as aggressive or demanding when they are actually at the end of their tether and are just trying to get something to happen for their child. Also, some parents suffer some of the anxiety and communication issues that their children have, but they are undiagnosed.

The Morgan report said that, quite often, the children with the most disruptive behaviours get the attention at school and the other children get ignored. There is often a situation in which the strengths of children with complex needs are not recognised but there are difficulties with the struggles and challenges of children who are very high functioning being recognised as well. They are quite often minimised.

For those reasons, advocacy seems to be an important factor. Ramon, do you have any evidence of that happening locally? I also wonder whether the other panel members support advocacy and agree that it should play a big part.

Do the other panel members agree that advocacy should play a big part in that regard?

Thank you. That was really helpful.

I am also interested in the balance of risks, because crisis is often very much a part of life for the children we are talking about. Existing distressed behaviours and anxieties have been exacerbated by the situation. We have had to balance risks to children’s mental health and wellbeing against the threat to life and to their physical health from spreading infection. Did we strike the balance somewhere in the middle or was it way off?

I am thinking about the positive things that were mentioned—some young people being able to engage better, red tape being cut for those who perhaps struggle with mainstream school, digital access being provided for non-attenders, and the opening of doors to creativity. Linda O’Neill talked about the doorstep arts sessions. Balanced against that is the idea that it was a bit of a lottery, depending on where people live, but cutting red tape opened the door to opportunities. I am interested to hear about any other positive things.

What do you see as being the priorities going forward, with regard to learning from experience and incorporating that in policy? That is quite a big question that goes first to Linda O’Neill.

I am just writing down little important points that Linda O’Neill made, or they will go out of my head—including targeted support for children in the area that she mentioned. I declare that I am a councillor on South Lanarkshire Council. I am also a parent to autistics.

This might be in the committee papers, so I apologise if I have missed it. What proportion of the children who went to hubs were vulnerable? The hubs also provided childcare for the children of emergency workers and key workers, such as our national health service workers, because they and their partners were not at home to look after their children. What are the statistics on that? I am not sure which witness might know the answer to that.

I ask the other witnesses to say whether they support advocacy, and I ask Ramon whether there is evidence of it happening on the ground, either locally or more widely, including internationally.

Convener, do you want me to mention the Morgan report while we are discussing this topic, or do you want to pick that up later on?