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I welcome the fact that people in Scotland are living longer, but they are not always living in good health for longer. In East Ayrshire in my South Scotland region, the total burden of disease is estimated to have increased by 2.6 per cent between 2016 and 2019. Will the Government provide an update on the targeted work that it is doing to promote healthy living across Scotland, particularly in our more deprived communities?

I have a few questions about those situations in which a reviewer rejects an application. How might that happen? What reasons might there be for such a rejection, and how might they be communicated to people who have applied?

In that case, do you feel that, if the legislation were to be changed, those cases would not increase in number and that you could manage them as you manage them at the moment?

That was helpful. Are there any other safeguards that you feel that we should put in place to ensure that reviewers are consistent?

Good morning, minister. We have heard evidence on public awareness, which you have spoken about in the past. What needs to accompany the bill in order to raise public awareness about the dangers of such procedures and how to identify reputable practitioners?

Similarly, how can we combat advertising and marketing that perhaps trivialises the procedures and makes it seem like they are not medical procedures? Do we have a plan for that?

To what extent is there consistency across Scotland, and could the bill help with that? Do we need to consider anything in that respect, or does consistency come about quite naturally?

Great. That partly answers another question that I was going to ask. I know that you have committed to doing that in the past, which is really helpful.

You indicated that we know that younger people are sometimes attracted to non-surgical procedures. The bill sets an age limit of 18. Will we need campaigning to ensure that younger people are aware of the pros and cons of such procedures? It has been suggested that a register of licensed practitioners should be created. How would that work and how would we ensure that people were made aware of it?

Thank you.

I thank Rona Mackay for bringing this debate to the chamber. As others have said, it is a historic first debate about the condition. I also welcome the visitors to the gallery, many of whom I met this afternoon. I want to give a special mention to Eileen Smith, who Rona Mackay mentioned, because we worked together almost 20 years ago. Eileen was a physiotherapist and, like many of our NHS staff, she gave her absolute all to support the clients we worked with, and it was a great privilege to work alongside her.

I thank all the visitors from Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland for meeting me and for the opportunity to hear their stories and to gain an understanding of some of the difficulties that they and their loved ones face. The people we meet in this place often shape us, and I found this meet-up useful in helping me to discuss policy in this area, and it was also heart-warming to be able to meet people who are so passionate about the issues that they wish to raise with us as MSPs.

Of course, I had prepared a speech for this debate, but I think that it is probably far more beneficial to share some of the information that was shared with me earlier today. I will use some of the language and the words that people used with me.

What do sufferers and their families want? As with so many of our constituents, they are not asking for too much at all. They want the condition to be understood, for parliamentarians to find ways to encourage understanding and patience, as Emma Harper said, and to support training in our businesses, the public sector and the wider community. They want people to understand that individuals with aphasia are not stupid or unable but just need some time to find the words.

As others have said, aphasia is a language and speech disorder that happens when the language centres of the brain are damaged. It is a long-term and life-changing condition—that is what many people shared with me today. It is mostly a disorder of older adults, and stroke is the major cause of adult aphasia, but it can also arise from brain injury or neurological disease.

When I worked in the health service, much of my experience involved working with people experiencing degenerative neurological conditions. In that role, I understood the power of language, the need for people to be understood and how speech, language and communication are the cornerstone of many of our interactions as human beings. Language and communication are crucial because they are the foundation of learning, they are key to relationships and relationship building and they help us to understand the world around us, particularly the shared world. They enable us to share ideas, build connections, develop empathy and succeed in our lives, whether that is in education, at work or in our social lives.