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I would appreciate it if you would do that. If someone has cerebral palsy and requires those injections, they should go to a medical practitioner to receive them. I would be concerned if people were routinely receiving medical treatment from people who are not medically trained.

I am not criticising the work that those bodies do, but neither of them have medically trained individuals. If we are inadvertently indicating to the public that they are somehow medical practitioners, I would be concerned about that. I am grateful for your agreement to look at that again and consider whether the two groups should be removed from the bill.

Okay. That is fine, thanks. The challenge is that we have heard so many positive managerial words over the years that more transparency would be really helpful. I will leave that there for now. You may be right that I should perhaps put that question directly to NHS Tayside.

Your report also stated:

“The mental health and learning disabilities Whole System Change Programme (WSCP) in Tayside has made some progress in addressing the issues identified by the subsequent IOAG, but substantial issues and challenges remain.”

Could you advise us of the areas where progress has been made and those where issues and challenges remain?

Is there any suggestion of when that plan would be put in place?

As constituency MSP for Dundee City West, which is within the NHS Tayside area, I am acutely aware of long-standing, widespread concerns about the provision of mental health services across Tayside. Like other colleagues, I am regularly contacted by constituents who have difficulty in accessing support. I am often contacted by families and friends of constituents who have not received anywhere near the level of support that they should have had. I am in contact with NHS Tayside on behalf of constituents every single day. Mental health provision—or the lack of it—is more often than not the reason that my intervention is required.

As we heard, David Strang was appointed chair of the independent inquiry into mental health services in Tayside in July 2018. His final report was published in February 2020, and the independent oversight and assurance group published its final report in 2023—yet here we are now, at the end of 2025. I know that my constituents in Dundee will be asking what progress has been made.

I am extremely concerned that NHS Tayside simply does not have the required expertise to make the substantial improvements to patient care that your report highlights or to improve confidence on the part of members of this committee, members of the wider Parliament and, most importantly, people living in the NHS Tayside area. I would be grateful for the Auditor General’s view on whether we have now reached the point where external oversight is required.

That is really helpful. My point is that there is a lack of confidence and it will take a long time for that to be restored. One factor that would help would be more transparency. You talked about having regular meetings. Will those be held in a transparent way such that my constituents, and the constituents of other MSPs in the room, will be able to access them, so that they can see that change and the required oversight are actually happening?

Okay. That is obviously a really important part of any such process. Thanks for that.

Auditor General, your report says that you

“expect to see NHS Tayside implement these actions within the timescales it has committed to”

and that you will

“continue to monitor progress with the issues highlighted in the report and consider further reporting as necessary.”

I know that the First Minister is also actively monitoring the situation and has committed to undertaking a review next month. Can you advise the committee what NHS Tayside has committed to and the options available to you for further monitoring and reporting?

Thanks very much for that. That will definitely be appreciated by my constituents.

Do Andrew Watson or Gavin Henderson want to add anything around this? There are obviously many shared responsibilities.

Thanks for that. That all sounds good. David, do you want to add your comments?

Gosh, I almost want to change my questions after hearing the points that David Anderson made in answer to Colin Beattie’s questions. I will try and shift a little bit, however.

David was mostly talking about the Scottish Government’s responsibilities and how it has interacted. I am keen that we all recognise that the Promise was made by not just the Scottish Government but other public bodies, too. It was a promise from the whole of Scotland that we all need to make sure that we are keeping.

I am keen to hear how we are managing to get the joined-up working that is required. I would be keen to hear from COSLA whether there is the correct engagement across local authorities. If we could hear from COSLA first, then maybe David Anderson could talk about the experience from his perspective on whether local authorities are managing to get the engagement that they require with the Scottish Government and with other significant public authorities, such as local national health services. Would Nicola Dickie or Fiona Whitelock want to come in first?