NHS Scotland’s staff pay bill is more than £10 billion a year, with spending on locum psychiatrists being a tiny fraction of that. As Paul Sweeney will be aware, spending on such locums is managed by local health boards. Boards should always seek to secure the best value when they enter into arrangements for the use of locum psychiatrists.

At a national level, as I mentioned in response to the question last week, we have established a medical locum task and finish group to review and improve the processes and practices that are adopted when locums are engaged locally.

In reference to the first part of the member’s question, I agree that there is undoubtedly a rise in demand. In some parts of the country, for example, we have seen a 1,500 per cent increase in requests for neurodevelopmental assessment. Those pressures could not have been predicted. That relates to the reduction in stigma associated with those causes, which is a really good thing, but it undoubtedly adds to the challenge in managing the current situation.