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On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My app did not appear to connect. I would have voted no.

I thank Christine Grahame for bringing the debate to the chamber, and I welcome the new ministers to the front bench. On behalf of Scottish Labour, I also welcome global intergenerational week and all the work in Scotland that looks to bring people of all ages together to ensure that generations have the best chance of a healthy and happy life together.

The work of Scotland-based Generations Working Together is exciting, and the development of policy from the manifesto of 2021 gives us much to aim for. The vision of Generations Working Together is for a Scotland where different generations are more connected and where everyone can build relationships that help to create a fairer society. In order to have a fairer society, we must prioritise the health of our population, which must surely be a priority for any Parliament and any Government. That has become even more important over the past few years, as it has been difficult for people to be connected as much as we would all like to see, and as we talk about in the chamber.

We have heard in this debate—and many other times in the chamber—that being healthy means being not only physically healthy but mentally, socially and economically healthy. Each of those crucial aspects of life play a role in determining the health and outcomes of an individual, a family or a population. The intergenerational work that we are talking about is essential, and there is now really good evidence to support just how important it is. We all know of the benefits of learning from our parents, grandparents and neighbours, and we have heard many good examples of how we as a society can encourage that and build on it for those who, in a more modern society, do not always benefit from that naturally. Christine Grahame gave us some lovely examples of how people can be intergenerational together. I hope to watch her Twitter account and check that those emojis are all in the right place.

That must be addressed in an intergenerational way. I hope that all your “LOLs” are in the right place.

Evidence suggests that we can sometimes live in silos in Scotland today, but the development of intergenerational space gives us a chance to grow together and to feel safe to share experiences and events. That is known to help with learning, loneliness and physical and mental health, which are all really important. We know that health inequalities exist from birth and that they continue to negatively impact people throughout their lives and can determine outcomes in later life. If we believe that intergenerational policies will benefit people and communities of all ages, we must acknowledge that and build intergenerational space and activity with health inequalities at the core of that policy development.

We must be honest about policy development. The motion

“notes the calls on the Scottish Government, local authorities and all other relevant bodies to prioritise intergenerational work and develop policies and initiatives that promote intergenerational collaboration and understanding, across a vast range of policy areas, including health and social care, early years and education, and community planning.”

That describes work across the portfolios, but the reality is that we need to fund local government to allow those things to happen. Local government is key to the development of all those policies and if we truly believe in that work we will fight to retain local government funding.

I am short of time, so I conclude by thanking everybody for contributing to the debate. There is a lot to be done. We need to challenge some of the decisions that are made and some of the inaction, but I believe that we can make it happen if we look at the issue with some urgency.

Okay. You said that there is work to be done on different levels. There might be layers of things that require to be done, but this committee can build on existing work. It is important that, although certain avenues have been explored, some pressure is applied to get the last part over the line.

No, I was just going to agree.

Thank you for all the information. I am interested in what you said in your opening remarks about how you had already done some work on the issue before you approached the committee. Is there anything in that that we can follow up on? What commitments did you get that might not have been fulfilled yet? Tell us about the work that you did beforehand in case we can build on anything that has already been put in place.

That is no bother. I will be quite brief, because the information has been clear and I am incredibly supportive of what has come across.

Do you believe that the Government knows what needs to be done but is finding it difficult to make decisions about how to do it, or is the Government just not clear about what has to be done?

It seems to me that being a corporate parent is about the state, so as elected members we have responsibilities to hold people to account and to hold the Government to account. As experienced people, do you believe that the Government understands what has to happen and is just unable to deliver it, or do we need to be clearer about the stages that we need to go through to get what is needed to happen? It would be helpful for the committee to be clear about that.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I have connection problems with my app. I voted yes. Can I check that that has been recorded?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting national health service boards, including NHS Ayrshire and Arran, that have outsourced child and adolescent mental health services in order to reduce waiting times, to bring such services back in house. (S6O-02114)

We are well aware of the pressures that health boards and CAMHS face, but the issues with long waiting lists are long-standing, and that is due to Scottish National Party inaction. Health boards are now having to outsource CAMHS to reduce waiting times. I would have expected the minister to commit Government to returning services in house.

Is the Government committed to supporting health boards to return those services in house? If so, what is the timetable for that?