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Do any of the other panel members want to come in on that point?

A number of people have indicated that they want to come in. We will hear from Alex Cumming from SAMH first, after which we will go to Alex Pirrie from NHS Grampian.

Thank you. That sense of urgency is absolutely right, because these children and young people are only that age once and we need to get it right now. We cannot come back in five years’ time and decide that we should have done things differently. We need to try everything that we can to offer them and their families the support that they need.

I thank you all for the very useful and informative evidence that we have been given, which will allow us to consider our next steps. I am sorry that we ran out of time—I know that some people wanted to come back in. I simply say that, if you are so inclined, we would appreciate your submitting any written evidence to us through the clerks so that any of the points that you have been unable to make during this morning’s round-table session will still be captured by the committee and be a matter of record. We will look closely at those points.

As I think the Auditor General did, I also thank Donna Bell, who gave a commitment to come back with some more information for us, in relation to both the data that Sharon Dowey asked for and the 29 recommendations made by SAMH and the NHS NSS Information Services Division in the 2018 publication “Rejected referrals to child and adolescent mental health services: audit”. As members of the Public Audit Committee, we will find it very useful to understand what progress has been made in the pursuit of the recommendations in the Audit Scotland report.

I again thank you for your endurance this morning. It has been quite a long session, but I know that the committee has gained a great deal from it. I thank you for your time and your energy, and for the great deal of preparation that you will have undertaken before coming to the session.

I now draw the public part of meeting to a close.

Martin, time is running away from us, but you are making some extremely powerful and important points that I am pleased are now on the record. That will allow us to follow some of them up.

We are drawing towards the end of the evidence session. I ask any witnesses who want to come back in to keep any final remarks short if possible.

Colin, I do not know whether you have any further lines of inquiry.

Thank you very much for taking part in this morning’s round-table discussion. As I said, I am going to start with questions from MSPs, but panellists should feel free to come in when they want to make a contribution or a point. Sharon Dowey has a question to get us under way.

Thanks, Martin. I know that several other panellists wanted to come in on this point, but I think that you are all likely to be in the scope of some of the questions that Colin Beattie is about to ask. Do not feel that you need to strictly only answer the question that Colin asks if you want to go back and make any points that you think are important to make in relation to that conversation with Willie Coffey about how things are working on the ground.

Thank you, Alex.

I will go to Caroline Amos. There has been quite a push for counselling services to be available in secondary schools in particular; I think that some data and analysis came out about that fairly recently. How is roll-out of counselling services going on the ground, either from a Scotland-wide or a North Ayrshire perspective.

Hannah Axon, can you give us a local government perspective on that “steep hill” and where you see things going? How far away does the summit appear to be from where you are?

Alex Pirie, you are also a member of the joint delivery board. Do you have any perspective on the “steep hill” and where we are on it, and on the engagement of young people and families?

The principal item on the agenda is a round-table discussion on something that has been a recurring theme for our predecessor committee, Audit Scotland and the wider Parliament and public: the current state of child and adolescent mental health services in Scotland.

I will ask members of the committee to ask questions on particular thematic areas, but I want to stress that this is a round-table discussion. It is quite informal and there is nothing to prevent panellists from asking questions of one another if that is felt to be useful. If you want to come in and speak and you are in the room, indicate that to me or the clerks. If you are joining us by videolink, you can use the chat box function; put an R in there and we will take you as soon as we can. I remind everybody that, technically speaking, you do not have to activate your own microphone—it will be activated for you.

Finally, do not feel obliged to answer every question that is put. It may be that, as the conversation develops, particular areas apply to some of you and are probably less applicable to others. Come in whenever you want by indicating, and please feel free to have quite a free-wheeling discussion, albeit that we have to stick to a timetable.

I would like to invite everyone to introduce themselves, starting with the MSPs on the committee. I will then come to those joining us virtually before returning to the witnesses in the committee room.