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I am particularly interested in discussing women’s and girls’ activity at community level, which witnesses have talked a wee bit about. It is so important that people can exercise and take part in activity in their communities. Do models exist out there that work well, in particular for women and girls? Are there examples either from this country or further afield?

Convener, can I just—

The importance of getting this right cannot be overstated. Delivering positive and tangible actions to improve diet and tackle obesity is crucial to improving the health of the nation and eradicating health inequalities.

However, we have yet another ministerial statement that shows little to no progress. The Government is no stranger to a strategy, but it has a terrible relationship with delivery. The minister should be here to explain why the SNP Scottish Government has made so little progress in the area since the plan was established five years ago. Please explain why so little progress has been made.

I am happy to be speaking in this evening’s debate. I reiterate my party’s support for hospital at home services, which we know to be vital for delivering the healthcare of the future by bringing hospital-standard care into the home using technology.

Although we agree with the benefits of the hospital at home programme, recognise its usefulness thus far and want its success to continue, it is disingenuous to suggest that investment here is anywhere near enough—we need widespread resource for our NHS, which is struggling on many fronts. We need the Government to explain its long-term investment plan for the hospital at home service.

It was right for my Labour colleague Paul Sweeney to set out the reality in our health service, which is the backdrop to today’s debate. One in seven Scots are on waiting lists, delayed discharge is alarmingly high and NHS staff, despite their great efforts, are being let down by a Government that—no matter how often it tries to argue to the contrary—has undervalued and underresourced that critical workforce. Our patients are being failed by the lack of support for the staff. Initiatives and programmes such as hospital at home are welcome, but the wider picture cannot be ignored.

It is also correct that we ask the Scottish Government to set out its plan for delivering hospital at home services for the longer term as an alternative to acute hospital care, so that that is understood, rather than such services being seen as a quick fix or a tokenistic gesture, which just allows pressure to be put back on acute services when funding falls short.

At this juncture, I wish to recognise the multidisciplinary nature of the service and the importance of various workforces within our NHS and social care services in its delivery. It is right that we commend Healthcare Improvement Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland for their work in this regard so far. I pay tribute to our allied health professionals, who make up the third-largest workforce in our NHS, who go above and beyond to deliver specialised care services for our most vulnerable people in the most challenging of times. We are all aware that, without doctors, nurses, carers and unpaid carers, and allied health professionals working together to meet the individual needs of every patient, hospital at home does not work, so it is right that we do all that we can to support them.

Therefore, it would be appropriate for the Scottish Government to listen to the concerns of, for example, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In its comments ahead of today’s debate, the college highlights concerns about a potential overreliance on unpaid carers, who are already under serious and significant pressure to look after those in their care, to provide support during periods of increased patient need. Indeed, the RCPE argues that the provision of hospital at home must be in addition to existing services, rather than a replacement for them, in order to ensure that the hard-won rights of older people to receive care in acute hospital settings—should that be most appropriate to their needs—are not lost. It would be useful for the minister to outline the long-term future of hospital at home and to address some of those important points in her concluding remarks.

Christine Grahame, who spoke before me, mentioned that she was unaware of the hospital at home service. If MSPs are unaware of the service, that gives us a sense of the extent to which people out in the communities understand the service. I see that the minister and the cabinet secretary are looking surprised—I know that they feel that the service is very embedded, but it does not feel that way to many people, and it would be useful to address that.

We need to consider the staffing challenges that we face: one in 10 GPs have formally closed new patient lists, the Royal College of Nursing Scotland confirms that community nursing teams are under extreme pressure, and AHP vacancies are causing stress, too.

That is all underpinned by a failure thus far to fully implement the safe staffing legislation that the Parliament passed years ago to protect an overworked workforce. We know that such services need to be met with strong protections for NHS staff. We should look back at that legislation to ensure that it is implemented appropriately in our wards and in services such as hospital at home.

We have touched on social care. All community services are undermined by the crisis in social care. The Government cannot avoid that. Carers are not being paid the fair wage that they deserve, and there are serious concerns across Scotland about the provision of well-funded and locally available social care.

It is clear, as Scottish Labour’s amendment sets out, that we will be able to deliver the standard of social care that is required and a strong hospital at home programme only by immediately uplifting social care pay. I mention the recommendation in the Feeley review to remove non-residential care charges. Those important issues have not been addressed by the Government.

I reiterate my party’s support for the intentions and aims of hospital at home and recognise that it is an important step in encouraging the use of alternative care options. A close friend of mine who has many years of community nursing experience tells me that patients seem less anxious, which must be a good thing for care. However, it is clear that there are issues in relation to support and resources for the NHS and social care workforce, and I hope that the minister addresses that in closing the debate.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My device did not seem to connect. I would have voted yes.

I thank David Torrance for bringing the debate to the chamber and allowing us to again talk about the very important issue of changing cancer outcomes. It is right that we use much of our members’ business debate time to discuss cancer, cancer treatment and the research that is needed to ensure that we fight and beat this devastating disease.

When we speak the figures for cancer diagnosis out loud, we know why we, as parliamentarians, spend so much time discussing, debating and analysing treatment paths. There were 35,379 new cancers registered in Scotland in 2021. That is an increase of 5.5 per cent compared with 2019, and it is in line with a long-term trend of an increasing number of cancer diagnoses over time.

When thinking of those numbers, the most important thing is to think of the person and families behind them. Behind every number is a person who will be unsure of what is ahead of them in the days, weeks and months ahead. We know that cancer can affect people physically, emotionally and financially, and it is also a huge emotional challenge for families and friends.

That is why volunteering and participating in communal events are so appealing for people. While fundraising, one gets the opportunity to participate in a group event and space to share experiences and stories, and perhaps to find some common ground. The lovely thing about race for life is that people at all fitness levels are encouraged to do what they can to contribute to the common goal of raising money for cancer research.

We need research into cancer now more than ever. Research has moved the goalposts and tipped the dial in the correct direction. During the past 40 years, cancer survival rates in the UK have doubled. In the 1970s, just one in four people survived the disease for 10 years or more. Today, two in four survive. Cancer Research UK has a clear goal of accelerating progress and seeing three in four patients survive the disease by 2034.

We are, of course, lucky to have excellent research facilities in our education departments, and I understand that Cancer Research UK leads research in areas such as cancer biology, cancer drugs, cancer trials, early diagnosis, immunotherapy, new technologies, personalised medication, prevention and radiotherapy. However, it would be wrong not to take this opportunity to note that Cancer Research UK made a decision to end core funding at the Beatson in the west of Scotland, which is one of the largest clinical trial units in Scotland. We need to continue to invest in those areas, so it is important that we recognise that Scotland can hold those trials, and it is welcome when research funding is placed in Scotland.

My final point, which I have raised repeatedly, is about the inequalities in prevention, care and access to cancer care treatments. For many of the most marginalised in our society, the chances of getting cancer, their experiences of cancer and the outcomes are worse due to factors and circumstances that are beyond their control. Key to reducing cancers and cancer inequalities is acknowledging and dealing with the root causes that blight many of our communities. Across Scotland, we know that the most deprived populations have worse experiences and outcomes than those in the least deprived areas do.

We must act with purpose to reverse those concerns. Early detection gives those who have cancer the best chance of life. We must use events such as race for life not only to raise awareness of the disease and to focus on the importance of research but as a reminder of the long way that we have to go to address health inequalities.

I really appreciate all the contributions in the chamber this evening, and I wish everyone who is taking part in race for life the very best.

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated in its budget 2023-24 for the roll-out of free school meals to all primary school pupils. (S6O-02273)

When I asked the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Shirley-Anne Somerville, about this in March, she recognised that

“a number of local authorities are facing challenges in planning for that substantial expansion of free school meals.”—[Official Report, 23 March 2023; c 66.]

Will the cabinet secretary outline what direct support is going where in the provision to councils to overcome such challenges? Has she given consideration to calls by organisations such as Aberlour, which asks Government to increase the eligibility threshold beyond the already promised extension to P6s and P7s in order to support low-income families?

I welcome this debate on a topic that is rarely discussed so openly in the Parliament, and I welcome some of the honest debate from members today.

I am sure that, for many, the opportunity to see these issues addressed at a national level will be refreshing, and I trust that we will continue to shine a light on these very serious matters in the weeks and months to come.

I know that many teachers and support staff have raised concerns with all of us about this very subject—as we have heard—and they are right to do so. Not enough is being done. I believe that councils would love to do a lot more to help if only they had the resources to do so, which is at the heart of the matter that we are discussing.

In fact, I have spoken to a number of teachers who have reported incidents in which they genuinely feared that that they or a pupil would be seriously harmed. What is really remarkable is that, in those cases, the teacher’s primary concern was the wellbeing of the pupil and what had led them to act in that way. That tells us a lot about the caring and professional workforce that we have.

In many such cases, the problem is rooted in emotional and mental health needs and a lack of provision for young people when they need it most. Much of that stems from the serious poverty and neglect that are evident in parts of our country, which are often hidden but are always there.

I am sure that many of you know that we have young people living lives that would be unimaginable to most of us and to most people in our constituencies and regions. That all contributes directly to worsening emotional, mental and physical health across the country.

I am sure that the cabinet secretary will agree that there is a crossover of briefs here. She does not need me to remind her that, currently, only 70 per cent of children and young people are seen within 18 weeks of a mental health referral, which is well short of the Government’s already modest target of 90 per cent. That is happening in a climate in which more than 10,000 children and young people were referred to child and adolescent mental health services in quarter 4 of 2022 alone. That equates to thousands of children who are waiting endlessly for referral, and even those who receive one are often waiting well beyond the point that they can bear.

I am sure that the cabinet secretary will recognise that the toll that such waiting times and lack of support are taking on young people is often intolerable. Teachers see the result of those difficulties day after day, yet, as we have said, selflessly, they continue to serve.

I am afraid to say that the Government is letting young people and the school workforces down, and a little bit of honesty is needed. The Government has failed to deliver on class sizes, teacher non-contact time, support for pupils with additional support needs and mental health support for young people. It has also failed to address harmful online content, continuing inequalities and cuts to youth services. Our teachers and young people deserve better. They need more action, with greater urgency, to address those challenges.

The cabinet secretary has said in the chamber that she is aware of how teachers feel. I am sure that she knows that teachers are overworked, overtired and, in many cases, lacking the necessary support staff to assist them in increasingly difficult classrooms.

Trade unions have been pointing out these issues for years, often with no significant response from the Government. Education unions and others have repeatedly raised how vulnerable many teachers and staff are to assault or worse.

I am sure that we are all genuinely fearful that the problem could go further if we do not take it more seriously. We know of some of the harrowing and sometimes tragic experiences that teachers face across the United Kingdom—some of those have been mentioned today. There is no room for complacency. We cannot assume that things that are happening in other parts of the UK will not happen in Scotland. We are facing a serious challenge and we must act now.

A summit is welcome, but it is not enough on its own. We need to ensure that the experiences that have been set out in the chamber today and by those with lived experience are listened to, but, more important, acted on.

Teachers are workers just like anyone else and they deserve the same level of respect and consideration that we would offer to anyone in a workplace and, indeed, to anyone in our family.

We need to raise awareness among parents and pupils that this is a real and prevailing situation that requires every effort from people across the board. For the situation to be considered in a meaningful way, we must engage pupils, parents and professionals.

I reiterate that it is welcome that we are having this debate, but it should have been on Government time. Although today’s debate is useful, it is important that the Government raises the topic again, as we are running out of time to act. I thank all members for their contributions.

Thank you. Laura Skaife-Knight, you are quite new in but does anything spring to mind?