"Community link workers are a key part of our work to tackle health inequalities and connect people with support in their communities. Through the £190 million primary care improvement fund, we are investing in multidisciplinary primary care teams, including link worker services.

"In Glasgow, we have provided an additional £3.6 million over three years to strengthen link worker capacity across 80 general practices and specialist services, helping thousands of people to access support with issues such as mental health, poverty and wellbeing. We are also developing a national social prescribing framework to strengthen access to person-centred community support across Scotland."

I was keen to highlight the important work that is carried out by the community-run Partick Annexe, including taking referrals from across 14 general practitioner practices that do not have access to a community link worker.

The project was described to me as a support and social prescribing model, funded by vital investing in communities funding, which, as the cabinet secretary knows, is coming to an end.

As such, I wanted to ask the Scottish Government to work with Partick Annexe to support it to access whatever the successor funding might be, and to support local identified need, which is often masked in SIMD data due to the presence of wealthier nearby communities.

"The member makes a reasonable point, notwithstanding that we need to focus funding where there is evidence of greatest need. Currently, the SIMD is the best way for us to do that. However, I recognise that there are pockets of deprivation that are surrounded by affluence, and our third sector is vital to supporting those communities. The member’s example of Partick Annexe is a good one, and I know that it has received funding through the investing in communities fund for four years."