 The next item of business is topical questions, and any member who would wish to seek to request a supplementary question should press the request-to-speak button during the relevant question or indicate so in the chat function by entering the letters RTS, and again I would make a plea as always for succinct questions and answers to match. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on strep A cases in Scotland, including what it is doing to mitigate any risks. A number of children from England and Wales have sadly died from invasive group A strep infections since September. My deepest condolences go out to their families during this unimaginably difficult time. Reports of group A strep infections or gas, as it is known, have increased right across Scotland. There have been no reported deaths in Scotland related to group A strep or indeed invasive group A strep conditions. I understand, of course, that the reporting of gas conditions will be concerning and let me offer some reassurance. The vast majority of gas infections present as mild illnesses that are easily treated by penicillin or indeed other antibiotics. Invasive infections are, thankfully, very rare. Peaks in gas infections are expected during winter and spring, typically with spikes every three or four years. Current numbers do not significantly exceed previous spikes. Nonetheless, of course, we are not complacent. Health services right across Scotland are on alert. They will act swiftly to identify and treat gas infections. Guidance has been prepared for nurseries and schools, especially around maintaining good hygiene and managing outbreaks. Everyone should self-isolate until they have completed 24 hours of antibiotics. I will update further, if needed, but I stress again that the vast majority of cases are thankfully mild and easily treatable. Symptoms for strep A include a sandpaper-like rash, flu symptoms—temperature over 38, sore throat, swollen glands, a strawberry red-looking tongue. I would urge people who have symptoms like this, especially in those children around under 10, to speak to their GP because antibiotics can very much help in these cases. Yesterday, in the House of Lords, the option of using antibiotics in schools as a preventative measure was raised when cases were present in that school. Are the Scottish Government actively considering prophylaxis? I have asked Public Health Scotland and my clinical colleagues to give advice to that effect. The levels of gas infections that we are seeing, thankfully, of group A strep that is not invasive, are mild. The levels that we have seen have not been or exceeded the peak levels that we have seen in previous years. Thankfully, we have not seen any deaths so far in Scotland, but we are not complacent. We expect cases to rise over the coming weeks, hence why I have asked clinicians to give advice about the very issue that Sandish Gohani has raised. I have spoken to multiple patients in my GP surgery who are concerned about strep A and their children's health. Those concerns are only exacerbated when parents know that if their child does get sick, they will struggle to get an appointment with their GP, spend hours waiting for NHS 24, many hanging up with frustration or spending even longer in an A&E waiting room. Cabinet Secretary, today we saw the worst ever A&E waiting times with one in 20 over 12 hours of waiting. Can the cabinet secretary promise patients that they will not be spending 12 hours plus in an A&E waiting room this Christmas? What I would say to Sandish Gohani is that Public Health Scotland has issued an alert to healthcare services in Scotland, including clinicians and those in primary care, to be aware of the increase in incidents and potential severity of group A strep infections and its complications. That also includes recommendations for primary care clinicians to take a low threshold to prescribing antibiotics as penicillin is the first line therapy to children that are presenting with features of gas infection. I saw some media reports on potential shortages in other parts of the UK in relation to amoxicillin. I have checked with my clinicians and indeed with the chief pharmaceutical officer and she advises that there are no shortages of penicillin. Yes, I am confident that, if parents in particular raise the cases with their GP, they will be given the appropriate treatment. Vazgo's Royal hospital for children warned parents about attendance at A&E a couple of weeks ago. This morning's statistics reveal, as we have already heard, that our emergency departments are under incredible pressure. Can the cabinet secretary explain what additional capacity and guidance has been provided to health boards to ensure that children taking unwell can be seen without any delay? A very important question from Jackie Baillie, indeed. First and foremost, as well as strep A, we are seeing other respiratory viruses in children that has seen the increase in attendance at children's hospitals. That is borne out. Jackie Baillie is right to mention borne out in the statistics that have been released today. We have made sure that we are, as I have already referenced in my answer to Sandish Gohani, ensuring that all our healthcare services NHS 24 told me, for example, of the course of the weekend, that they saw a marked and significant increase in calls about children under the age of 14. All our healthcare services right across the board have been given the appropriate advice on what they can tell parents, the advice that they can give to parents and those that call in with concerns about strep A, but that is not just NHS 24 right across the board, including accident emergency services. What I would say is, of course, if you want more information, need more information about strep A, have a concern about the signs and symptoms that information is available online, I would, of course, go to your primary care clinician, your GP first and foremost, and they should be able to treat that condition with antibiotics. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that local government directors of finance have written to the finance secretary regarding an unprecedented £1 billion budget gap and of causal stating that the current spending plans will lead to job losses. Deputy First Minister, John Swinney. Presiding Officer, the autumn statement did not do enough to support devolved budgets to address the 41-year high inflationary pressures that are impacting Scotland's families, businesses and public services. I have already taken the unprecedented step of making an emergency budget statement to Parliament to re-prioritise over £1.2 billion of expenditure. Although most portfolios were required to make savings in that exercise, ministers took a conscious decision to protect local government and the funding available to councils actually increased. Despite that, Parliament should be under no illusion that we are facing the most challenging budget circumstances since devolution. I will set out the financial support to local government in the Scottish Government's budget next Thursday. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Right now, across local government, 6,000 jobs are at risk amid the cost of a living crisis. Earlier today in my region, Falkirk Council's executive was asked to agree to sell off 131 public buildings, swimming pools, Grangemouth stadiums, sports halls, gyms, villages and community halls and park buildings, all sold to fill their deficit and with it 200 jobs. Given the scale of the crisis in Gullfin local government, does the cabinet secretary acknowledge the seriousness of COSLA's call? Will he commit today to look again at the current spending plans for local government? I recognise the gravity of the financial challenge. I am faced with that every day in what I am resting with in the Scottish Government's budget just now, in dealing with the profound implications of inflation, public sector pay and energy costs. Those will be felt by public bodies the length and breadth of the country. I met with COSLA leaders last week, on Friday of last week, to hear their views on the Scottish Government's budget. My officials have followed up that discussion on Friday with supplementary discussions. As I indicated in my earlier answer, I will set out the financial support to local government in the Scottish Government budget next week. I look forward to seeing that set out. That is not politicians who are flagging the financial black hole. It is directors of finance who are saying that they are £1 billion short. It is an SNP COSLA president who has told us that the Scottish Government's spending plans, as they stand, will see council services either significantly reduced, cut or stopped altogether. It is the COSLA SNP resource spokesperson who has talked about councils stopping the preventative spending, which will end up costing the NHS significantly more money. The directors of finance have asked that the shackles of ring fensin are removed. Will the cabinet secretary agree to that and ensure that local government has the fullest flexibility to cope with this cost-eleving crisis? As Mr Griffin will know from the steps that I took in 2007 when I set my first budget out to Parliament, I took decisive action to reduce ring fensin back in 2007. I acknowledge that ring fensin has come back into a number of different areas, but that is largely to assured government and Parliament as well that expenditure decided in Parliament is being deployed by local authorities on particular policy priorities. No more so than on the challenges that we face in relation to social care, where the government is allocating substantial additional revenue, but we say delayed discharges at their highest level within our hospitals today, which is about the issues within the social care system. So there are tough issues to be wrestled with here. Mr Griffin cited the letter from the directors of finance, in relation to the point on ring fensin. One of the other points that the directors of finance made to me, and this is part of the dilemma that we all face, the directors of finance said that the Barnett consequentials in the UK government are targeted to support the vital services that local government provide. That would mean that if I followed that, that would mean that there wouldn't be any extra money given to the health service and I don't for a minute believe that's Mr Griffin's position. I've got to take a balanced position, so I can't do everything that's asked of me in this letter because it would be impractical to do so. It would starve the health service of resources and I don't think that anyone in Parliament wants that to be the case. Mr Griffin, thank you Deputy Presiding Officer. The local government core settlement has seen a real terms reduction of 15.2% since 2013-14, with COSLA noting in March that increasingly directed funding and pressure on core budgets mean councils have limited flexibility. Council leaders are saying that there is nothing else to cut and we also know now that the national care service is going to destabilise the planning and delivery of services within local government. Is the cabinet secretary looking at pausing the national care service given all the pressures that local government are facing and the disruption that it will bring? For all the reasons that I set out in my earlier answer, my last supplementary answer to Mr Griffin, the national care service is an important reform to ensure that we can make progress on addressing the challenges which I think all parties are agreed on about the delivery of social care within Scotland. The Government will take forward those proposals. They are the subject of consultation and dialogue. We are listening very carefully to what parliamentary committees say in relation to the national care service and will take forward the steps that the Government has already announced. I understand that the director of financial local government has written to the Scottish ministers calling for financial sustainability for local authorities. Would the Deputy First Minister agree that financial sustainability would be helpful for councils and essential services? Will he provide to people and communities? Yes, I agree with that point. The Government has increased local authority funding to the tune of 23 per cent since 2013-14. We have treated local authorities fairly. There is a real-terms increase in local authority funding of 6 per cent in the budgets from last year into this. We do all that we can within the resources that are available to us to ensure that local government is properly funded. To ask the Scottish Government what is its response to comments from the Auditor General to underspent its budget by £2 billion in the financial year 2021-22. The Scottish Government annual accounts provide explanations of all significant variances in the portfolio for out-turn statements and make clear that the underspend reported does not represent a loss of spending power. The underspend includes more than £900 million of non-cash and ring-fence budgets, is before allowing late funding adjustments of over £500 million and makes use of the limited carry-forward in the Scotland reserve. The Scottish Government has reported transparently on the carry-forward position at the provisional out-turn and will confirm the final out-turn position to Parliament shortly. All funding is fully utilised in supporting the 2022-23 budget. Murdo Fraser. I thank the cabinet secretary for his response. The Scottish Government is always telling us that it does not have enough money to spend despite the fact that we know that in the current financial year it has the highest budget ever in the history of devolution. Now we know, of course, from the Auditor General to underspent last year's budget by £2 billion. What is the carry-forward to this year's budget underspent and how much of that money that was not spent last year represents funds that came from the UK Government for Covid support, which was not spent on Covid support, but was siphoned off elsewhere? First Minister. First of all, can I just make clear to Mr Fraser, and I thought my original answer had done so, but I'll say it again just to try to make sure that I can make an impact on his presentation of all of this. 900 million pounds of the underspend reported by the Auditor General relates to non-cash and ring-fence budgets that the Government cannot spend on other items. It's in relation to annually managed expenditure, which is the control of the UK Government, and student loan support, which can only be used for student loan support on a demand basis, and we can't redirect it to anywhere else. Those are really, really, really basic points about the public finances that I would have thought Mr Fraser might have understood the length of time he's been in this institution. We assumed, when the budget was passed in the spring, of a £450 million carried forward into this financial year, that had risen to £550 million by March. I assure Mr Fraser that the underspend reported does not represent a loss of spending power in any respect by the Scottish Government. Murdo Fraser. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I noticed that the Deputy First Minister did not address the question of Covid support funds being siphoned off elsewhere, but last week the Auditor General also called for greater financial transparency from the Scottish Government and for them to fulfil their commitment to produce a consolidated account for the whole public sector in Scotland. Will the Scottish Government be fulfilling that commitment, and if so, when? In relation to the issue on Covid spending, the Government has spent in excess of the Covid consequentials that have been allocated to us. One of the comments of the Auditor General that Mr Fraser did not cite was this comment from the Auditor General and I quote, that independent opinion is unqualified. That means, in my opinion, I am content that the Scottish Government, consolidated accounts, show a true and fair view following accounting standards and that the income and expenditure for the year is lawful. I would have thought that that would have been quite a reassurance to Mr Fraser as a law-abiding citizen of the confidence that not for the first time the Government's accounts have attracted an unqualified opinion. We have an unqualified opinion for our accounts for every single year the SNP Government has been in office. That is a source of great reassurance to Mr Fraser. In relation to the point on transparency, the Auditor General also said that the Government has continued to strengthen aspects of its governance arrangements during 2021-22, and we will of course consider all the recommendations from the Auditor General to take forward our accounting practices. The two richest families in Scotland have more wealth than the poorest 20 per cent of the country. The Scottish Government often says that it has a fixed budget, but has the cabinet secretary had the opportunity to consider the STUC report published this week options for increasing taxes in Scotland to fund investment in public services, which outlines short-term measures that could be taken to raise over £1 billion and longer-term measures that could be taken to raise many more billions of pounds for public services. I am familiar with that report, and I am considering it as I come to take the final decisions in relation to tax choices that the Government will make and set out to Parliament next Thursday. I should make it clear to Katie Clark that in this financial year the Government's budget is fixed. Once we set our tax rates, they cannot be revisited during a financial year. Unless there are consequential decisions taken by the UK Government during a financial year, our budget is locked in, which is the difficulty that I am wrestling with in relation to finding adequate resources to fund the pay claims that we are facing during this financial year. There is a very hard limit on the money-available issue. Katie Clark raises a completely set of legitimate issues about future tax choices, but for this financial year, the budget is fixed. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Deputy First Minister, this has been a turbulent year, not least thanks to the economic mismanagement of murder-phrasers chums at Westminster. It is welcome that the Scottish Government has delivered on the requirement for a balanced budget. Can the Deputy First Minister advise whether additional fiscal flexibilities would have enabled the Scottish Government to even better respond to the pressures that households and businesses across Scotland are facing as a result of the rising costs? Mr Kid raises a topical point in relation to the mismanagement of the public finances, because at the Finance Committee this morning, the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility revealed that there would be an extra £40 billion worth in debt due to the fiscal mismanagement of the Conservative Government during the course of the last few weeks, £40 billion by 2728, with which we will all be saddled. There is no escaping the financial implications of that for us and for our citizens, and the Government's budget will be constructed to try to address those issues. Mr Kid can be assured that the Government is giving every attention to the challenges that he raises in his question, and we will do all that we possibly can to address the cost of living challenges that are faced by members of the public, the length and breadth of our country. Thank you, Deputy First Minister. That concludes topical questions. There will be a very short pause on the next item of business. The next item of business is a debate on motion 7093 in the name of Mary McCallan on COP 27 outcomes. I would ask those members who would wish to speak in the debate to please press the request-to-speak buttons, and I call on Cabinet Secretary Michael Matheson to speak to and to move the motion around 13 minutes please, Cabinet Secretary. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Today's debate addresses one of the most important challenges facing not just Scotland, but the international community. The latest report from the intergovernmental panel on climate change painted a stark picture about the damage human beings are causing to the planet. They stated that climate change is already causing widespread disruption in every region in the world. The 1.1 degrees centigrade of warming is resulting in droughts, extreme heat and record floods. There are estimates that in the next decade climate change will draw...