I know well from a previous life the benefit that day centres bring to local communities and the people who use them, as do men’s sheds—they both play key roles in supporting their local communities.

The Scottish Government will continue to work with its partners to develop men’s sheds and to support the positive mental and physical health benefits that they provide.

I will also be delighted to chair the first meeting of the implementation group for our innovative social isolation and loneliness strategy in April. The strategy recognises the values of community initiatives of the sort that Mr Beattie describes, and we will build on that work when we take forward the strategy.

We will shortly publish the older people’s framework, which will be informed by older people, who have been in the driving seat for the framework the whole way. The framework will tackle the negative perceptions of older people, highlight the contributions that they make and tackle the barriers that they face. In my opinion, such initiatives play a crucial role for older people who may be at risk of social isolation and loneliness, and some of them have even told me that the initiatives have saved their life.